britishvac: Grundig or Capetronic?

I've read that Grundig did the radio for the Goblin 870 (later Swan). However it's not the style of any Grundig radio circuit I know of that era. Most sets with the TDA1220 AM/FM IF amp use a TBA820, not the TA7xxx (I can't read it!) SIL IC package. Philips, Telefunken, ITT. Do ANY Grundig sets use the TDA1220? Most of the late 1970s and early 1980s seem to be discrete IF.

The PCB clearly says Capetronic who was a Hong Kong manufacturer.

Grace's Guide says of BSR: (Rmorg: Birmingham Sound Reproducers)

1970 Dr McDonald sold a large amount of his shares to the public; name of the company was BSR Ltd^.

1971 BSR acquired Bulpitt and Sons. Known as BSR Housewares, Swan Housewares became a subsidiary.

1973 BSR Housewares bought Goblin (BVC).

1977 Acquired Judge International, a pots and pans manufacturer

1981 BSR bought Hong-Kong based consumer electronics manufacturer Capetronic International for £2.8 million. This move formed the basis of main BSR division in Far East.

Later Goblin, Swan, Roberts, Morphy-Richards and many other UK brands became part of Glen-Dimplex.

My conclusion

By 1973 "Goblin" was a BSR brand. The Goblin Teasmade 870 was indentical to the 860, a cost reduced version of an earlier model. The 870 PCB was obviously made by Capetronic, who BSR later bought. The indentical model to the Goblin 860 and 870 was later sold as the Swan 860 and 870, a brand owned since 1971 by BSR.

The design isn't like any Grundig I have seen. Quite a few other late 1970s early 1980s European / UK  models do have two transistors and the TDA1220 but always wiith the TBA820 or similar. The SIL TA7xxx IC for the audio amp  is more like in Far East designs, maybe a Toshiba chip? Did Grundig design it? It seems unlikely. It looks like a generic two transistor plus TDA1220 with the Toshiba style SIL audio amp added. Certainly Capetronic made it.

 

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The last page of the photocopied operating manual I have is dated 1981 and Goblin is identified as part of BSR Housewares.

The 860 and 870 were assembled just outside Belfast in the Goblin factory. BVC / Goblin made fuzes and other military items in Bangor, N.I., near Belfast during WWII and then moved to somewhere between Castlereagh and  Newtownards (near each other) on the outskirts of Belfast. It's claimed that though the Goblin Timespot Clock Radios have the plate 'Leatherhead, England', that the NI factory did make them. BVC kept the industrial vacuum cleaning divsion when they sold the domestic brand and factories to BSR. The Goblin domestic products where BSR from 1973 and later the Teasmade was rebranded Swan, though BSR had owned that brand since 1971.

I don't know when BSR disposed of the brands, nor when BSR ended, nor when Glen-Dimplex acquired them.

A connection to Grundig seems unlikely apart from the fact that the radio has no similarity to any Grundig chassis?

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