BRIONVEGA CRISTALLO 123 23 " YEAR 1960

The BRIONVEGA CRISTALLO 123  23 "  is a B/W television from BRIONVEGA designed by R.Bonetto with 23 inches (59cm) B/W Screen with VHF selector and UHF selectors tuner.

- The  BRIONVEGA CRISTALLO 123  23 " is first television developed and produced by BRIONVEGA   the emerging italian industry era with special design in the 59's / 60's.

- The  BRIONVEGA CRISTALLO 123  23 " is also first BRIONVEGA television  honoured with a premium at the  " triennale of Milan In Italy in 1960 " .International Art Meeting.The Milan Triennial XII was the Triennial in Milan sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) on the 5 May 1959.

The Milan Triennial (Triennale di Milano) was established in 1923 as a 3 yearly architecture and industrial design exhibition held in Monza and then, since 1933, in Milan.

- The  BRIONVEGA CRISTALLO 123  23 " is also first BRIONVEGA television with both VHF selector and UHF selector channel tuning features.

Tuning is obtained with rotatable drum selectors for VHF and variable rotatable capacitor for UHF.

A rotatable drum containing twelve pre-defined channel-specific filters determines the received channel, where the inductors of the input matching, the channel filter and the LO tank circuit are changed. The tuner is divided into two chambers for maximum isolation between the sensitive RF input and the mixer-oscillator-IF section with its much larger signals. Also on the drum there are eventually two separate sub-modules.

It's completely based on tubes technology.

With this concept, which essentially turned the tuner module into a kind of Lego building block construction, many different tuners became possible. Depending upon the country of destination and its associated standard and IF settings, the required filter modules would be selected. Service workshops and tv fabricants could later even add or exchange modules when new channels were introduced, since every inductor module had its individual factory code and could be ordered separately. As a consequence more versions of the tuner were produced, covering at least standards B, B-for-Italy, C. E, F and M.

The principle of the drum tuner. On an axis two times 12 regularly spaced channel-specific filter modules are mounted. In front are twelve channel filter modules for both the channel filter and LO tank circuit tuning. Seven contacts are available, and one module is shown removed. The second row contains 12 modules with five contacts for the input filter circuit. In the tuner module the front section (for mixer-ocillator and channel filter) is separated by a metal shield from the rear RF input and pre-amp section. [Philips Service "Documentatie voor de kanalenkiezers met spoelenwals", 1954]

Examples of the filter modules as used in the drum tuner. Left the 5-contact input filter, right the 7-contact BPF and LO tank filters. In both modules the coils are co-axial for (maximum) mutual coupling.

The second new valve introduced in the tuners family was the PCF80, a triode-pentode combo valve specifically designed for the VHF mixer-oscillator role. First order the circuit principles didn't change too much from the previous ECC81 based generation, with the triode acting as a Colpitts oscillator with a tuned feedback from anode to grid. The oscillator voltage was minimally 5V at the grid, and would be inductively coupled to the input of the mixer pentode. This inductive coupling was achieved by putting the oscillator coil S7 and the BPF coils S5 and S6 on the same rod inside the drum tuner filter modules, see Fig.5 above. By adjusting the distance between these coils for each channel filter module, the coupling constant could be kept more or less constant across all channels, providing as much as possible a frequency-independent mixer performance. For the mixer the pentode replaced the previous triode, providing more feedback isolation between anode and grid. All in all the new tuner must have given a considerable performance improvement compared to the previous generation.

Television receivers currently being manufactured for consumer use were capable of operation in either the VHF (very high frequency) or UHF (ultra high frequency) bands of frequencies. In order to provide this capability, however, it is necessary to include two separate tuners or tuning circuits in the television receiver with one of these circuits being utilized for VHF reception and the other being used for UHF reception. The VHF tuner conventionally is a turret type of tuner having 13 detented positions which accomplish the coarse tuning or channel selection of the VHF tuner and a separate control is provided to effect the fine tuning at each of the channel positions. Generally, mechanical channel selecting devices for VHF television tuners fall into two groups, namely, the rotary-switching type or the turret types. Turret type tuners include an incrementally rotatable channel selector shaft for selectively connecting certain ones of a plurality of tuned circuit elements to each of a plurality of channel selector positions. UHF tuners generally employ a separate control mechanism or a tuning knob and use a dial indicator of a type commonly found in manual radio receivers. UHF tuners for television receivers are usually of a continuous tuning type similar to the tuning system adapted for radio sets. Therefore, the tuning in UHF channels has been extremely difficult as compared to the tuning in VHF channels. Such continuous tuning systems for the UHF tuners has heretofore been sufficient, since only two or three UHF channels have been authorized in one locality. However, where more UHF channels, namely seven or eight channels, are available for reception, a non-continuous type UHF tuner, which enables simpler tuning operation, is desired. Nevertheless, this continuous tuning system has heretofore been satisfactory, because there were only 2 or 3 UHF band channels or stations available for reception in an area. But, where there are an increased number (7 or 8 or more, for instance) of UHF band channels or stations available for reception, a non-continuous or intermittent tuning system as is adopted for the VHF tuner is preferable.

More desirably, the fine tuning control is presettable, so that the desired channel may be readily selected by merely turning the main channel switch-over shaft. The use of two separate tuning control mechanisms in order to effect the VHF and UHF tuning of the receiver is  at best; and when a receiver is provided with remote control capabilities, generally only the VHF band of frequencies may be remote controlled and the UHF channels still must be selected manually at the receiving set location.Conventional turret tuners still leave room for improvement, especially as far as minimizing the tuner size and dimension, and simplifying the assembly, as well as lowering the manufacture costs and improving the tuner performance are concerned.

Brionvega is (was) an Italian electronics company, established in Milan in 1945.

Vega, BP Radio, Brionvega, Brion & Pajetta; Milano, Lissone (MI) (I)
Abbreviation: vega
Products: Model types
Summary: Society B.P.M. (1945) Vega - BP Radio (Fabbrica Apparecchi e Accessori Radio, Perito Ind. Brion & Ing. Pajetta)
Via Pacini 59, Milano (1948)
Via Ampère 61, Milano (ca. 1950)
Brionvega Formenti Sèleco Spa
Via Dante Alighieri 43, 20035 Lissone / MI

Good design is no longer simply for an "elite" but is demanded by a far wider audience interested in continuous development.With so many designs and products available, how is it possible to distinguish a truly outstanding design from one that is simply trendy. World famous designers: Hannes Wettstein, Mario Bellini, Richard Sapper, Marco Zanuso, Castiglioni brothers and Ettore Sottsass, have tried to come up with the answer to what constitutes the perfect design. In finding inspiration, when designing for Brionvega, these people look beyond every day fashion and look for examples which are outstanding in their beauty. They also pay attention to people's attitude and how they relate to everyday objects.


Historically speaking, Brionvega is one of the most famous radio and Television manufacturers, thanks to its products, born from the collaboration with well-known design firms. Over the years, from its establishment, Brionvega has made some industrial design corner-stones, such as the radio "cube" TS502 from 1963, the Algol and Doney portable TV, and the radio-phonograph RR126.

 The company was founded in 1945 by Giuseppe Brion and engineer Pajetta. Initially called B.P.M. Company and manufacturing electronic components, the business became known as Brionvega in 1960. In the early 1960s, two unusually designed portable television sets, designed by Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper, were launched by Brionvega by the names "Doney" (1962) and "Algol" (1964).

Brionvega became famous for a number of exceptional designs (algol, doney, ts502, rr126). A few of their designs found their way into the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

2007 DONEY CVT set ( V.Cometti) numbered edition, ALGOL CVT set (V.Cometti) numbered edition,
ALPHA LCD CVT set (V.Cometti)

2002 TVC DOGE 32" (M.Bellini)
1992 GLASS CUBE CVT set (M.Bellini) crystal cubic-shaped television
1992 25" and 28" QUADRO CTV set (M.Bellini) forerunners of the flat screens
1990 15" BEST CTV set (M.Bellini) with triangular rear case
1989 11" ALGOL CTV set (M.Zanuso) newly designed
1988 SINTESI CTV set (R.Lucci-P.Orlandini) with the characteristic orientable loudspeakers
1983 26" CORO PANSOUND CTV set (R.Lucci-P.Orlandini)
1980 23" MEMPHIS CTV set (E.Sottsass) limited series
1980 20" LED CTV set (M.Bellini)
1979 26" ALTA FEDELTA' CTV set (M.Bellini) high audio performance technology
1978 15" MONITOR TV Set (M.Bellini) whose packaging will serve as model for the manufacturing of future PC monitors
1978 15" MONITOR TV Set (M.Bellini) whose packaging will serve as model for the manufacturing of future PC monitors
1969 17" VOLANS TV Set (M.Bellini)
1969 BLACK ST 201 TV Set (M.Zanuso-R.Sapper) first small size TV set designed to be a decorative piece
1968 ASTER TV Set (M.Bellini) sculptural, audio devices in the base
1967 12" DONEY TV Set (M.Zanuso-R.Sapper) evolution of the 14" version
1964 19" SIRIUS TV Set (M.Zanuso)
1964 11" ALGOL TV Set (M.Zanuso-R.Sapper) on display at the MoMA in New York.
1962 14" DONEY TV Set (M.Zanuso-R.Sapper)first transistor portable TV set in Europe, awarded with the Compasso d'Oro.
1961 23" ORION TV Set (M.Albini-F.Helg)
1959 23" CRISTALLO TV Set (R.Bonetto)
1954 Television is becoming widespread.
1945 Giuseppe Brion and engineer Pajetta found the B.P.M. company (initially electronic components), which in the 1960's will become Brionvega, specialized in TV sets.

The BRIONVEGA stylish design is well recognized around the world for it's particularity.
The television here in collection The BRIONVEGA CRISTALLO 23 " 123   . is a clear example of that style.

Rodolfo Bonetto

(Milan 1929-1991) designer. Began his activity in 1958 operating in the durable consumer goods sector and industrial goods sector in various fields: from domestic appliances to bathroom fittings, automobiles, musical instruments, radios and airplane instrumentation panels. “A cultured factory worker”, as V. Gregotti described him, he successfully managed to combine a thorough understanding of production technologies and materials with ergonomic considerations and a very ethical attitude to formal research. He taught at the Hochschule für Gestaltung of Ulm (1961-1965), and has been awarded six Compasso d’Oro for objects such as the Sfericlock alarm clock (Veglia Borletti, 1963); the O.C.N. numerical control machine tool (Olivetti, 1967); the automatic microfilm apparatus (BCM, 1970); the interior for the 131 Supermiriafiori (Fiat, 1978). Between 1972 and 1975 with N. Matsunaga, he designed the tooling centre Horizon 2 (Olivetti) up to the Wiz multi-purpose generator. Creator of the Fire engine (1984) for Fiat, the Rotor, public telephone for Sip (1989) and the mechanism for automatic gate opening Cross 6 (Novotecnica), he has been a member of national and international juries and president of Ic sid from 1981 to 1983. Bonetto is the only Italian designer never to have put his name to architectural projects, as he was always solely interested in large-scale production. After his death, he was dedicated the Compasso d’Oro 1991 as a tribute to his overall activity, which now continues with the Bonetto Design Studio, run by his son Marco, who, in 1994, founded the Bonetto Design Centre in Montecarlo dedicated to his father’s memory, a centre for ideas and services for the new areas of design.
[from A. Pansera ( edited by), Italian Design Dictionary, Cantini, Milan 1995, in the updated volume (January 1998, edited by Tiziana Occleppo) from the CD Rom “Navigando nel design” (edited by A . Pansera, art direction Oderso Rubini for Studio Equatore) 1995]

Rodolfo Bonetto had his first meeting with Raimondo Guzzini in 1967, as is shown by an entry in the records in which Bonetto used to carefully note down all his working relationships. He designed for the Fratelli Guzzini until 1971 and up to 1986 for iGuzzini illuminazione.

Some References:

^ "Ex Sèleco a un imprenditore udinese", Articolo del Messaggero Veneto del 18 febbraio 2010

"Brionvega History". Brionvega.tv. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  "2008 Brionvega reissues". brionvega.tv.
 
"Cuboglass TV History". brionvega.it.

 

A good point  on good  old  B/W Televisions.....................

The Sixties was a time of great change for TV. At the start of the decade there were just monochrome sets with valves, designed for 405 -line transmissions at VHF. By the end there was 625 -line colour at UHF, with transistorised chassis that used the odd IC.

The following decade was one of growth. The "space race" had begun in 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik 1 and terrified the Americans. Thereafter the USA began to spend countless billions of dollars on space missions. This got underway in earnest in the Sixties, with the announcement that America would be going all out to get a man on the moon by the end of the decade. There followed the Mercury series of earth - orbit missions, then the Apollo launches. Success was achieved in 1969. Most of these missions were televised, and in those days anything to do with space was hot stuff. It was inevitable that everyone wanted to have a television set. At the time an average receiver would be a monochrome one with a 14in. tube - there was no colour until 1967. It would cost about 75 guineas. 
TV sets were often priced in guineas (21 shillings) as it made the price look a bit easier on the pocket. Anyway 75 guineas, equivalent to about £78.75 in 2000's currency, was a lot of money then.  For those who couldn't, rental was a good option. The Sixties was a period of tremendous growth for rental TV. 
Much else was rented at that time, even radios, also washing machines, spin driers, refrigerators and, later on, audio tape recorders (no VCRs then). 
For most people these things were too expensive for cash purchase. 
There were no credit cards then. And when it came to a TV set, the question of reli- ability had to be taken into account: renting took care of repair costs. 

TV reliability.........The TV sets of the period were notoriously unreliable. They still used valves, which meant that a large amount of heat was generated. The dropper resistor contributed to this: it was used mainly as a series device to reduce the mains voltage to the level required to power the valve heaters. These were generally connected in series, so the heater volt- ages of all the valves were added together and the total was subtracted from the mains voltage. The difference was the voltage across the heater section of the dropper resistor, whose value was determined by simple application of Ohm's Law. 
As valves are voltage -operated devices, there was no need to stabilise the current. So the power supply circuits in TV sets were very simple. They often consisted of nothing more than a dropper resistor, a half or biphase rectifier and a couple of smoothing capacitors. If a TV set had a transformer and a full wave rectifier in addition to the other components, it was sophisticated!
 As the valve heaters were connected in series they were like Christmas -tree lights: should one fail they all went out and the TV set ceased to function. Another common problem with valves is the cathode -to -heater short. When this fault occurs in a valve, some of the heaters in the chain would go out and some would stay on. Those that stayed on would glow like search- lights, often becoming damaged as a result. Dropper failure could cause loss of HT (dead set with the heaters glowing), or no heater supply with HT present. When the HT rectifier valve went low emission, there was low EHT, a small picture and poor performance all round. CRTs would go soft or low emission, the result being a faint picture, or cathode -to -heater short-circuit, the result this time being uncontrollable brightness. On average a TV set would have twelve to fourteen valves, any one of which could go low -emission or fail in some other way. All valves have a finite life, so each one would probably have to be replaced at one time or another. The amount of heat generated in an average TV set would dry out the capacitors, which then failed. So you can see why people rented! 

The CRT could cause various problems. Because of its cost, it was the gen- eral practice to place its heater at the earthy end of the chain. In this position it was less likely to be overloaded by a heater chain fault. But during the winter months, when the mains voltage dropped a bit, it would be starved of power. This would eventually lead to 'cathode poi- soning' with loss of emission. The 'cure' for this was to fit a booster transformer designed to overrun the heater by 10, 20 or 30 per cent. It would work fine for a while, until the CRT completely expired. At about this time CRT reactivators came into being - and a weird and wonderful collection of devices they turned out to be. Regunned tubes also started to appear. You couldn't do this with the `hard -glass' triode tubes made by Emitron. These were fitted in a number of older sets. Yes, they were still around, at least during the early Sixties.

Developments................... A great deal of development occurred during the Sixties. Many TV sets and radios made in the early Sixties were still hard -wired: the introduction of the printed circuit board changed the construction of electronic equipment forever. The first one was in a Pam transistor radio. PCBs were ideal for use in transistor radios, because of the small size of the components used and the fact that such radios ran almost cold. 
They were not so good for use with valve circuitry, as the heat from the valves caused all sorts of problems. Print cracks could develop if a board became warped. If it became carbonised there could be serious leakage and tracking problems. In addition it was more difficult to remove components from a PCB. Many technicians at that time didn't like PCBs. As the Sixties progressed, transistors took over more and more in TV sets. They first appeared in a rather random fashion, for example in the sync separator stages in some Pye models. Then the IF strip became transistorised. Early transistors were based on the use of germanium, which was far from ideal. 

The change to silicon produced devices that were more robust and had a better signal-to-noise ratio. 
Car radios became fully transistorised, and 'solid-state' circuitry ceased to be based on earlier valve arrangements. Many hi-fi amplifiers had been transistorised from the late Fifties, and all tape recorders were now solid-state. 
Both reel-to-reel and compact -cassette recorders were available at this time. Initially, audio cassette recorders had a maximum upper frequency response of only about 9kHz. 
To increase it meant either a smaller head gap or a faster speed. Philips, which developed the compact audio cassette and holds the patents for the design (which we still use in 2000!) wouldn't allow an increase in speed. Good reel-to-reel recorders had a fre- quency response that extended to 20kHz when the tape speed was 15in./sec. 
This is true hi-fi. In time the frequency response of compact -cassette recorders did improve, because of the use of better head materials with a smaller gap. 
This led to the demise of the reel-to-reel audio recorder as a domestic product We began to benefit from spin-offs of the space race between the USA and the USSR. 
The need to squeeze as much technology as possible into the early computers in the Mercury space capsules used by the USA lead to the first inte- grated circuits. 
This technology soon found its way into consumer equipment. Often these devices were hybrid encap- sulations rather than true chips, but they did improve reliability and saved space. The few chips around in those days were analogue devices.  To start with most UHF tuners used valves such as the PC86 and PC88. They were all manually tuned. Some had slow-motion drives and others had push -buttons. They didn't have a lot of gain, so it was important to have an adequate aerial and use low -loss cable..............................