BERLIN: Anyone who was moderately trendy had globe speakers in their flat in the 1970s, but only the coolest of the cool brought them along in their car, perched on the parcel shelf.
If you drove a Volkswagen Golf Mk1, a Ford Capri or an Opel Manta in the 70s or 80s, there were definitely two globe speakers on the parcel shelf - one on the left, on the right.
And now, 35 years since one of the big speaker manufacturers, Blaupunkt, stopped production, the '70s and '80s are back again: The company is reissuing these retro-looking speakers.
Blaupunkt is of course targeting classic car owners who have always wanted to screw the circular speakers onto the boot lid, or whose original LAZ 6525 model stopped working a while ago; drilling template and screws are sold along with the speakers.
The Globe Speaker, as the reissue is known, is equipped with a 3.5-inch full-range speaker. The manufacturer gives a power rating of 25 watts and frequency response of 100 to 20,000 Hertz; by comparison, the original's peak power was 10 watts.
The price is around US$45 (RM184), which is quite modest compared to the amount that classic car owners users usually invest in old-school equipment for their rides - perhaps it's time to bring the spherical speakers to newer-looking cars as well.
