Cordon Bleu Solid State

[raddadiful]

I picked up a pretty cool table top console stereo a while back. I know nothing about it and can't find any info on the thing. It's called a Cordon Bleu Solid State. It has the original speakers, too. It runs a stereo, radio, and turntable that sits under a blue plastic cover. The stereo sounds awesome and looks just as good. Anyone out there know anything about Cordon Bleu? Thanks!

 

[raddadiful]

Images

Here are a couple pics.

 

[rlisin]

That is one strange brand name for a stereo. Reminds me I'm hungry.

Anyway, the receiver section looks like an OEM Sharp or Fisher product. The deck is a BSR. Sharp made console stereos for various strange local brands, and I have seen Sharp products with BSR decks. Fisher made consoles that also used BSR decks. Vertical tuning scale is also consistent with both brands. I have one like that, made for a German brand Universum by Sharp, and have seen similar Fishers.

Cheers,

Raf

 

[Retroman98]

I had a Magnavox all-in-one that looked similar, particularly the knobs on the receiver.

 

[Aussiekeeper]

Sounds Cheesy

 

[rlisin]

Good one, Aussiekeeper

 

[ms_enj]

Sounds Cheesy

Enough of those hammy jokes...

 

[geiman]

Cordon Bleu was a marketing company that sold housewares by appointment from catalogs. No showrooms everything was direct ship. These consoles were contract items from various suppliers. Electronics was a sideline. Their main product lines were cookware, fine china, crystal and silver service.

 

[FONSguy]

Its the same as a Lafayette LSC-100B, which I still have the Sams Photofax for around here somewhere. Lafayette used a Garrard 30 tt with a Varco TN4.

 

[raddadiful]

Thanks, everyone, for the info! It makes sense now that the stereo was some kind of special edition for the Cordon Bleu company. It's actually a pretty nice sounding piece of equipment, and you can't beat the uniqueness of it's appearance!

I have no plans to sell it, since I enjoy the novelty of it, but I am wondering how common or uncommon it may be. I'm kind of new to the vintage stereo realm, and, of course, have never heard of specialized stereos for companies, though the existence of them does not surprise me.

Thanks, again!