The history of American Tivoli Audio began in 2000 with the Model One desktop monaural radio receiver, created by one of the founders of the company, the famous radio engineer Henry Kloss. A year later, a stereo modification with external acoustics, Model Two, was released. The latest creation of the outstanding designer is a portable PAL receiver, which has also become very popular. And in subsequent years, many new devices were released, equipped with network interfaces, digital tuners and iPod docks…
The history of Tivoli is a classic example of the realization of the so-called “American Dream”, when perseverance, work, talent, and, of course, a little luck allow you to achieve very serious business results even without huge financial investments. Years ago, few people had heard of the Tivoli company, but now its receivers are in the rooms of five-star hotels around the world, appear on the covers of fashion magazines, designers choose them for the most sophisticated interiors, and sales volumes do not decrease even in crisis years. The first Tivoli Model One tabletop radio was released in 2001, but its origins date back to the 1950s thanks to audio luminary Henry Kloss. It was he who developed the world’s first compact speakers AR-1. Previously, the idea that the speaker could not stand on the floor was not even considered. A copy of this column is now in the Smithsonian Institution museum in the USA.
The Model One receiver, assembled in a natural wood case and equipped with clear analogue controls, really became a pleasant exception among Hi-Fi equipment, full of numerous buttons and switches, and manufactured mainly in aluminum-plastic cases. Another key to the Model One’s appeal was the Kloss-designed 5:1 tuning control (vernier), which provides very precise station tuning even on the crowded FM band. If you try to describe the Model One receiver in a nutshell, you can say that it is made to last. A high-quality broadband speaker with a serious magnetic system, a good amplifier, and, most importantly, an expensive “custom-made” GaAs transistor in the receiving part. Such transistors are used in field radio stations in NATO troops, in space communications receivers – wherever it is necessary to obtain reliable radio signal reception without interference and distortion. But in “home” receivers, GaAs transistors are practically not used due to their high cost and complexity of installation. But Kloss came up with the technology to successfully use this component in mass production. The result is a receiver that sounds surprisingly powerful and rich for its small size, capable of providing clear signal reception both in the city and outdoors. It is no coincidence that the most authoritative audio magazine Stereophile awarded the Model One the status of a “recommended component in class A.” It is the only tabletop radio to ever receive this award.
The main direction for promoting Tivoli radio was not the Hi-Fi market (here, receivers of this brand were already well known and were happy to buy), but “related” areas of business. Not a single fashion world exhibition in Milan, Paris, New York or Tokyo was complete without huge Tivoli stands. The windows of boutiques, spa salons, travel agencies and restaurants are full of colorful “radio bricks”; they appear in the television studios of leading channels during evening talk shows. Based on the Model One, which became a cult classic in record time, the Model Two was developed, which had a stereo sound path, and to which it was possible to connect a second speaker – made in the same finish and design, and in the same form factor as itself. radio. Then came the long-awaited Model Three, a clock/alarm clock radio. For those who would like to assemble a “complete” stereo system based on Tivoli, a CD set-top box and an active subwoofer were released – of course, completely consistent with radio receivers in appearance. A little later, the Tivoli MusicSystem appeared – a combined stereo system equipped with a CD player and a built-in subwoofer.
The next model in the Tivoli catalog, which could be compared in popularity to the Model One, was the portable PAL receiver – Portable Audio Laboratory. A very simple and stylish device, capable of running on batteries or accumulators (charger included), assembled in a rubberized case that is not afraid of sand, water splashes, or falls – you can’t imagine anything better for country walks. The presence of an input for connecting a player and an output for stereo headphones successfully complemented the PAL functionality, and the receiver very quickly became popular among fashionable youth around the world. PAL is available in a wide range of colors from white to black, and can also be customized in any custom colour. Of course, Tivoli could not ignore the popular iPod player, having developed several models of radios for use with this gadget. One of these models is the iSongBook, based on the SongBook, but equipped with a retractable dock for installing an iPod, and a second removable speaker. And the second device with the funny name iYiYi was developed, as they say, “from scratch.”
