About the Company
Schaub-Lorenz was a long-established German brand of consumer electronics that did produce a small but notable set of reel-to-reel tape recorders, primarily in the 1960s, before shifting focus to other audio and radio products. It was not a traditional specialist tape recorder manufacturer like Revox or Telefunken, but rather part of a larger consumer electronics lineage.
Brand / Company: Schaub-Lorenz (Standard Elektrik Lorenz / ITT-Schaub-Lorenz)
Country: Germany
Reel-to-Reel Production Era: 1950s up to late 1960s
Market: Consumer / home audio / high-capacity domestic systems
Technology: Solid-state electronics (majority of tape decks)
Parentage: Formed through mergers and consolidations involving Schaub, C. Lorenz AG and later Standard Elektrik Lorenz (SEL) and ITT.
The brand itself originated from Schaub Apparatebau and C. Lorenz AG, leading to Schaub-Lorenz as a combined label in the late 1950s–early 1960s when SEL consolidated its consumer electronics lines.
Tape Recorder Production & Notable Models
Rather than producing a full range of standard consumer hi-fi reel decks, Schaub-Lorenz is best known for a few innovative and unusual large-format tape systems introduced in the mid-1960s that pushed the boundaries of tape capacity.
Music Center 5001 (1965–c.1968)
Category: Consumer / home music center with tape recorder.
Electronics: Solid-state.
Format: 126 tracks on wide tape (~10 cm wide) — unique high-capacity design.
Speeds: 7½ ips (approx.).
Reel Size: Very large, custom tape.
Application: Designed for very long continuous music playback — up to dozens of hours without reel change.
The 5001 was an unconventional music center concept that recorded audio in many narrow tracks across a 10 cm wide tape, enabling very long playtime far beyond standard consumer decks. It was a technical showcase rather than a mass-market product.
Music Center 5005 (Mono Console Unit)
Category: Integrated home audio console with reel recorder, radio, and turntable.
Electronics: Solid-state.
Format: Full-track mono tape at 7½ ips.
Reel Size: Large — >10.5″.
The 5005 combined a reel recorder with other entertainment functions, such as radio and turntable, in a large console — typical of some 1960s “music center” visions.
Stereo Tape Recorder 6000 (Export Model)
Category: Export consumer deck (mostly U.S. market).
Tracks: Stereo quarter-track.
Speed: 7½ ips.
Reel Size: Large (approx. 10.5″).
Voltage: 110–120 V U.S. export version.
This model was a more conventional stereo recorder built for export, blending high-capacity tape with familiar consumer formats.
Historical Development
Lineage and Mergers
The Schaub-Lorenz brand traces back to:
G. Schaub Apparatebau, founded in 1921 — an early German maker of radios and audio gear, later absorbed by C. Lorenz AG.
C. Lorenz AG, established in 1880 and later merging into Standard Elektrik Lorenz (SEL) under ITT ownership.
In 1961, Graetz KG and SEL consolidated consumer electronics divisions under the Schaub-Lorenz moniker, setting the stage for the mid-60s tape recorder projects.
The reel-to-reel activity peaked in this period (mid-1960s) and then ceased by the late 1960s as mainstream demand for consumer open-reel recording diminished and SEL focused on other products.
Technical & Market Characteristics
Innovation Over Volume
Unlike mass-market reel decks from Akai or Telefunken, Schaub-Lorenz tape recorders were often experimental or highly specialized — especially the Music Center units with unusual, wide multi-track formats intended for extremely long continuous playback rather than standard recording.
Consumer Entertainment Position
The brand’s entry into reel-to-reel was part of a broader consumer electronics portfolio — radios, TVs, music centers — rather than a dedicated tape-recorder business. This context explains why standard standalone reel decks are rare from Schaub-Lorenz compared with other brands.
End of Tape Recorder Production & Legacy
By the late 1960s, with compact cassette formats emerging and hi-fi reel-to-reel sales contracting, Schaub-Lorenz’s uncommon designs were discontinued, and the company moved away from bespoke reel recorders. The brand itself persisted in radios, cassette devices, and other audio gear into the 1970s and beyond under ITT and later Nokia ownership.
Today, Schaub-Lorenz tape recorders — particularly the 5001, 5005, and 6000 Music Centers — are collector curiosities due to their unusual engineering and large-format tapes rather than examples of mainstream tape recorder production.