Although produced between 1971 to 1981, I feel that the Bang and Olufsen Beolit radio series' detailing is still rather deft.
The 'chassis' is made up of aluminium strips, holding plastic shells at the back and the front which encompass the soft material grilles for the speaker.
The controls for the radio are spread out along the front and back edges of the top face. On the back edge are buttons for AM/FM selection and sliders for volume and tone. The entire front edge is a horizontal tuning slider.
What i find interesting about the tuner is the fact that the slider can be pushed quickly up and down the length for coarse tuning. But to tune precisely, two small kinked wheels are rolled under the finger to give fine control.
I think a concept similar to this could be utilised in a DAB system where countless stations are available. For an example, a dual rotary knob for tuning between the different DAB stations could be used instead of a slider. The outer knob cycles through the entire list of stations available (coarse tuning). The inner dial weeds out and cycles through the top few most listened to stations (fine tuning).
Structurally the radio is a square of four lengths of extruded and cut aluminium, with the front and back plastic shells tucked in.
The base plate of the radio can slide. Sliding it a little way first unlocks the back shell. Removing the back allows the base to slide more, which releases the more rarely removed front shell. All this is achieved with a clever system of grooves and nooks. Coming off first, the back shell gives access to the battery. Cleverly, the front shell reveals the repair manual (for those of you who often lose it after setup)!
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Cynthia Tang
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