The Clairtone Sound Corporation
The Clairtone Sound Corporation was founded in 1958 by Canadian electronics engineer and businessman Peter Munk with furniture designer David Gilmour. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company established an international reputation for stereo and cabinetry design in the 1960's.
Clairtone's logo (left) was as sleek as their product design.The most famous Clairtone design was the Project G series which featured groovy black globe speakers, with a wood cabinet. This series also introduced the now-standard modular approach to consumer audio.
The 7002 G2 from the Project G series.Clairtone's reputation was built on its use of futuristic designs, combined with quality materials as well as good marketing. A Project G system could be seen in the 1967 film The Graduate (an early example of product placement), and Frank Sinatra was a Clairtone pitchman.
An ad for the G-TV at Expo 67, courtesy of DC Hillier.Clairtone also manufactured television sets. Their G-TV model was featured in the Chatelaine House at Expo 67.
Click to see a Clairtone catalog and instruction manual from the late 60's.images: (1 & 3) flickr.com/photos/cote/
(2 & 5) clairtone.ca
(4) FOS Productions
Labels: flickr sets, vintage audio
posted by Jason Stockl @ 2:40 am
5 Comments:
That is unrelentingly gorgeous. Granted, it's no Rosita Stereo commander Luxus, but it definitely has its own fab appeal...
Spherical speakers! Why don't more contemporary hi-fi sets have these??
I've checked out the link. Wow!
We had a Clairtone G. They sounded great, and were thrillingly well-constructed. (though us kids rolled the speakers around sometimes).
I just found out that I work with the son of one of the principal designers of the "G" stereo among other products of the era.
The Clairtone product line was an incredible technical achievement, with the G being the pinnacle. We had a lesser console, but the sound quality and features for the time were unsurpassed. And to think it was an All-Canadian initiative as well.
Post a Comment