[Jeffhs]

I agree wholeheartedly that this console should be restored to its former glory. Those old German sets (here I am referring to radios, as I've had no experience with German televisions) were and still are great performers when they are operating as they should. I think Zenith must have picked up (in the '50s-'60s) on some of the Germans' engineering techniques for audio amplifiers, etc. as Zenith radios can sound every bit as good as many German sets. The Germans, as I learned from reading a post on the subject some time ago here at AK (one can learn a lot from reading these things, as I have found in my short time as a member), pioneered and perfected audio systems that can produce very rich sound from very little audio output power (the 35C5 audio output tube in my Zenith C845 and K731, for example, is rated at perhaps just over one watt, and the 50EH5s in my stereo MJ1035 Zenith are fairly close to that). The bass response of all the better Zeniths is fantastic as well, and would likely put many German sets to the test. I like listening to an oldies radio program on weekends on my C845/K731, depending on where I am in my apartment when the program is on; the bass is so good in both radios that I hear notes in the music I never would have heard through a cheap transistor radio speaker.

"Kuba" is a brand of German stereo/radio/TV I had never heard of before now. When I first looked at the pic of the console under discussion here, I thought the unit had been made by Saba, as I was sure that was the name I saw both on the TV's CRT mask and the radio dial. Was genuinely surprised to find out this unit was made by Kuba. It is a fine piece of furniture as well. It wouldn't surprise me if these sets were found in a great many German homes 50 years ago; of course, that would depend on what the going price was for these units in those days, and the state of the user's wallet as well. I would guess those Kuba consoles weren't cheap by any stretch of the imagination, even in 1950s currency; they would probably approach the price of a new Cadillac in today's money.