Braun HiFi LE1 Elektrostatic Loudspeaker with Braun Tube Amp CSV 60, Receiver CE 15, Turntable PCS 5, Kangaroo HiFi Sideboard

braun LE1

braun LE1

The LE1 is the most beau­tiful and pio­nee­ring spea­k­er design by designer Dieter Rams, which appeared on the mar­ket towards the end of the 1950s. The Laut­spre­cher­ein­heit 1, model desi­gna­ti­on LE1, is an abso­lu­te rari­ty. Through braunau­dio vintage you can obtain the ico­nic elec­tro­sta­tic spea­k­ers in per­fect tech­ni­cal con­di­ti­on with the accom­pany­ing ampli­fier, radio recei­ver and turn­ta­ble and the Kan­ga­roo hifi stand as shown here above.

Braun HiFi LE1 Elektrostatic Loudspeaker

electrostats

The mas­si­ve front with the cur­ved metal gril­le com­bi­ned with the slim stands made of nickel-pla­ted tubu­lar steel defi­nes a high­ly aes­the­tic design and thus also visual­ly cor­re­sponds to the abso­lut­e­ly natu­ral and clear spa­ti­al music repro­duc­tion of elec­tro­sta­tic spea­k­ers. The design of the Braun LE1 with its clear form lan­guage has lost none of its fresh­ness to this day and in a his­to­ri­cal con­text is undis­pu­ted­ly the inspi­ra­ti­on for the design of today’s Apple computers.

Braun HiFi LE1 Elektrostatic Loudspeaker

The mas­si­ve front with the cur­ved metal gril­le com­bi­ned with the slim stands made of nickel-pla­ted tubu­lar steel defi­nes a high­ly aes­the­tic design and thus also visual­ly cor­re­sponds to the abso­lut­e­ly natu­ral and clear spa­ti­al music repro­duc­tion of elec­tro­sta­tic spea­k­ers. The design of the Braun LE1 with its clear form lan­guage has lost none of its fresh­ness to this day and in a his­to­ri­cal con­text is undis­pu­ted­ly the inspi­ra­ti­on for the design of today’s Apple computers.

clear design

Elec­tro­sta­tic loud­spea­k­ers with a foil that is set in vibra­ti­on by high fre­quen­cy were a tech­ni­cal inno­va­ti­on that was signi­fi­cant­ly deve­lo­ped by Peter J. Wal­ker at the Eng­lish loud­spea­k­er manu­fac­tu­rer QUAD in the cour­se of the 1950s and later pro­du­ced in series under the desi­gna­ti­on ESL-57. Braun’s mar­ke­ting depart­ment reco­gni­zed the poten­ti­al of this new type of music repro­duc­tion with its rec­tan­gu­lar dia­phragm sur­face and licen­sed QUAD’s tech­no­lo­gy, which was alre­a­dy more matu­re at the time, in 1959.

buy braun LE1
Braun HiFi LE1 Elektrostatic Loudspeaker

Tech­ni­cal data LE1: WHD 83 x 77 x 32 cm. Power sup­p­ly 220/110 Volt 50–60Hz. 2 woo­fer sys­tems, 1 midran­ge sys­tem, 1 twee­ter sys­tem. Metal frame light gray, front per­fo­ra­ted metal pla­te gra­phi­te. Foot frame steel tube nickel-pla­ted. Trans­mis­si­on from 45 – 18000Hz. Power hand­ling 15 watts into 15 ohms.

klares design

Braun HiFi LE1 Elektrostatic Loudspeaker

Tech­ni­cal data LE1: WHD 83 x 77 x 32 cm. Power sup­p­ly 220/110 Volt 50–60Hz. 2 woo­fer sys­tems, 1 midran­ge sys­tem, 1 twee­ter sys­tem. Metal frame light gray, front per­fo­ra­ted metal pla­te gra­phi­te. Foot frame steel tube nickel-pla­ted. Trans­mis­si­on from 45 – 18000Hz. Power hand­ling 15 watts into 15 ohms.

Elec­tro­sta­tic loud­spea­k­ers with a foil that is set in vibra­ti­on by high fre­quen­cy were a tech­ni­cal inno­va­ti­on that was signi­fi­cant­ly deve­lo­ped by Peter J. Wal­ker at the Eng­lish loud­spea­k­er manu­fac­tu­rer QUAD in the cour­se of the 1950s and later pro­du­ced in series under the desi­gna­ti­on ESL-57. Braun’s mar­ke­ting depart­ment reco­gni­zed the poten­ti­al of this new type of music repro­duc­tion with its rec­tan­gu­lar dia­phragm sur­face and licen­sed QUAD’s tech­no­lo­gy, which was alre­a­dy more matu­re at the time, in 1959.

Original Photo Braun LE1 Studio2 Catalogue 1959

Braun LE1 loud­spea­k­er and Stu­dio 2 (CV 11, CS 11 and CE 11) Illus­tra­ti­on: Braun 1959 catalog

staging

The puristic pre­sen­ta­ti­on of the ste­reo sys­tems in the Braun pro­duct cata­logs from the 50s and 60s is one of the inspi­ring insights for vintage enthu­si­asts. In this cata­log image, the LE1 with the Stu­dio 2 is pre­sen­ted sober­ly and unpre­ten­tious­ly, cle­ar­ly fol­lo­wing the ‚less but bet­ter‘ prin­ci­ple. Abso­lut­e­ly tim­e­l­ess, ico­nic, still under­stan­da­ble and com­pre­hen­si­ble today.

Elec­trostats are opti­mal­ly pla­ced in lar­ger rooms in rela­ti­ve pro­xi­mi­ty to a wall, wher­eby the spa­ti­al hea­ring and the out­stan­ding repro­duc­tion qua­li­ty is best play­ed out and experienced.

staging

The puristic pre­sen­ta­ti­on of the ste­reo sys­tems in the Braun pro­duct cata­logs from the 50s and 60s is one of the inspi­ring insights for vintage enthu­si­asts. In this cata­log pre­sen­ta­ti­on, the LE1 with the Stu­dio 2 is pre­sen­ted sober­ly and unpre­ten­tious­ly, cle­ar­ly fol­lo­wing the ‚less but bet­ter‘ prin­ci­ple. Abso­lut­e­ly tim­e­l­ess, ico­nic, still under­stan­da­ble and com­pre­hen­si­ble today.

Originalfoto Braun LE1 Studio2 Katalog 1959

Braun LE1 loud­spea­k­er and Stu­dio 2 (CV 11, CS 11 and CE 11)
Illus­tra­ti­on: Braun 1959 catalog

In this cata­log pre­sen­ta­ti­on, the LE1 with the Stu­dio 2 is pre­sen­ted sober­ly and unpre­ten­tious­ly, cle­ar­ly fol­lo­wing the ‚less but bet­ter‘ prin­ci­ple. Abso­lut­e­ly tim­e­l­ess, ico­nic, still under­stan­da­ble and com­pre­hen­si­ble today. Elec­trostats are opti­mal­ly pla­ced in lar­ger rooms in rela­ti­ve pro­xi­mi­ty to a wall, wher­eby the spa­ti­al hea­ring and the out­stan­ding repro­duc­tion qua­li­ty is best play­ed out and experienced.

amplifying

For the ope­ra­ti­on of the elec­trostats were recom­men­ded either the legen­da­ry Braun stu­dio 2, con­sis­ting of the com­pon­ents CS 11, CE 11 and CV 11, the Braun CSV 13 or the powerful Braun CSV 60, all of which are tube ampli­fiers with spe­cial con­nec­tions and high-impe­dance out­puts for the LE 1. Opti­mal is the CSV 60 with 2 x 30 watts out­put power with the recei­ver CE 16 and the turn­ta­ble PCS 5. Pro­vi­ded that the vintage ampli­fier and the spea­k­ers LE1 have under­go­ne a careful revi­si­on of the sophisti­ca­ted tech­no­lo­gy, not­hing stands in the way of the ori­gi­nal musi­cal high enjoyment.

buy braun CSV 60
Braun Tube Amp CSV 60& Receiver CE 15

Tech­ni­cal data CSV 60: WHT 40 x 11 x 32 cm, out­put power 2 x 30 watts sine wave (mono 60 watts), fre­quen­cy ran­ge 20 – 30,000 Hz, inputs: turn­ta­ble, tape recor­der, radio recei­ver, micro­pho­ne. CE 16: WHT 20 x 11 x32 cm, ful­ly tran­sis­to­ri­zed radio recei­ver for medi­um wave, FM mono and ste­reo. Both devices sheet steel pain­ted light gray, front panel aluminum.

amplifying

Braun Tube Amp CSV 60& Receiver CE 15

For the ope­ra­ti­on of the elec­trostats were recom­men­ded either the legen­da­ry Braun stu­dio 2, con­sis­ting of the com­pon­ents CS 11, CE 11 and CV 11, the Braun CSV 13 or the powerful Braun CSV 60, all of which are tube ampli­fiers with spe­cial con­nec­tions and high-impe­dance out­puts for the LE 1. Opti­mal is the CSV 60 with 2 x 30 watts out­put power with the recei­ver CE 16 and the turn­ta­ble PCS 5. Pro­vi­ded that the vintage ampli­fier and the spea­k­ers LE1 have under­go­ne a careful revi­si­on of the sophisti­ca­ted tech­no­lo­gy, not­hing stands in the way of the ori­gi­nal musi­cal high enjoyment.

Braun Tube Amp CSV 60 Rear View

cabling

The CSV tube ampli­fiers have spe­cial out­puts for elec­tro­sta­tic loud­spea­k­ers. With a 4‑pole cable the loud­spea­k­er signal is led par­al­lel to the mains vol­ta­ge direct­ly from the ampli­fier to the loud­spea­k­ers. This is actual­ly not a good idea under today’s safe­ty aspects, espe­ci­al­ly sin­ce the­re is no pro­tec­ti­ve earth con­duc­tor on the ampli­fiers and the LE1. The­r­e­fo­re it is recom­men­ded to do wit­hout this spe­cial wiring and to run the spea­k­er cables and the power sup­p­ly sepa­ra­te­ly. For this pur­po­se, the­re are cor­re­spon­ding 2‑pin DIN spea­k­er jacks with the neces­sa­ry 15 ohms for the LE1 on the back of the­se amplifiers.

cabling

Braun Tube Amp CSV 60 Rear View

The CSV tube ampli­fiers have spe­cial out­puts for elec­tro­sta­tic loud­spea­k­ers. With a 4‑pole cable the loud­spea­k­er signal is led par­al­lel to the mains vol­ta­ge direct­ly from the ampli­fier to the loud­spea­k­ers. This is actual­ly not a good idea under today’s safe­ty aspects, espe­ci­al­ly sin­ce the­re is no pro­tec­ti­ve earth con­duc­tor on the ampli­fiers and the LE1. The­r­e­fo­re it is recom­men­ded to do wit­hout this spe­cial wiring and to run the spea­k­er cables and the power sup­p­ly sepa­ra­te­ly. For this pur­po­se, the­re are cor­re­spon­ding 2‑pin DIN spea­k­er jacks with the neces­sa­ry 15 ohms for the LE1 on the back of the­se amplifiers.

buy braun CSV 60

turntable

The Ori­gi­nal Braun turn­ta­ble model PCS 5 is an impres­si­ve pie­ce of craft­sman­ship. The tone­arm has ela­bo­ra­te adjus­t­ment opti­ons for per­fect record play­ing com­fort and has been equip­ped with a tone­arm lift for manu­al ope­ra­ti­on. Tech­ni­cal main­ten­an­ce in a qua­li­fied work­shop ensu­res that the PCS 5 turn­ta­ble will func­tion as it did on the first day, and will con­ti­nue to do so for deca­des to come. Need­les can be reor­de­red. When this ste­reo is then posi­tio­ned on a Kan­ga­roo side­board, the inno­va­ti­ve spi­rit of the 60s is defi­ni­te­ly evoked.

Braun Tube Amp CSV 60, Receiver CE 15, Turntable PCS 5, Kangaroo HiFi Sideboard

turntable

Braun Tube Amp CSV 60, Receiver CE 15, Turntable PCS 5, Kangaroo HiFi Sideboard

The Ori­gi­nal Braun turn­ta­ble model PCS 5 is an impres­si­ve pie­ce of craft­sman­ship. The tone­arm has ela­bo­ra­te adjus­t­ment opti­ons for per­fect record play­ing com­fort and has been equip­ped with a tone­arm lift for manu­al ope­ra­ti­on. Tech­ni­cal main­ten­an­ce in a qua­li­fied work­shop ensu­res that the PCS 5 turn­ta­ble will func­tion as it did on the first day, and will con­ti­nue to do so for deca­des to come. Need­les can be reor­de­red. When this ste­reo is then posi­tio­ned on a Kan­ga­roo side­board, the inno­va­ti­ve spi­rit of the 60s is defi­ni­te­ly evoked.

digital music

To enjoy the pre­cise musi­cal repro­duc­tion of the elec­trostats, you can also con­nect a CD play­er and a web play­er to the CSV 60. Cor­re­spon­ding inputs are available as 5‑pin DIN jacks on the ampli­fier. With a pro­fes­sio­nal web play­er one can use the num­e­rous high-reso­lu­ti­on music strea­ming offers. In par­ti­cu­lar, the Argon Audio Solo from HiFi Klub­ben is a con­ve­ni­ent high-end music strea­mer that brings the pre­cis­i­on and cla­ri­ty of the LE1 to sound. For tho­se who desi­re the tim­e­l­ess design of the LE1 with today’s sophisti­ca­ted tech­no­lo­gy, a moder­ni­zed reis­sue of the LE1 can be found under the desi­gna­ti­on LE01 at Braun-Audio.com.