philips: B5X43A; Pallas Stereo- Plano History

Plano is a (later) expression for a certain type of receiver Philips created in the mid 50s. Normally you werde faced with a radio cabinet that shows some loudspeakers in the front, later also at the sides to create a so called 3D-impression.

Philips was not the only one to create new unconventional looks for radios - you find many examples in different countries - but I think none was that consequent a long many years than the Plano line of Philips.

Here we want to link all Plano models plus apart the models which were not really "plano" because the upper part was bent back.

I would like to know which model was the first in the Plano line. It could well be the BX642A.
I will ask some collectors from the Netherlands if they can help us - for instance
h*t*t*p://home.zonnet.nl/robkrab/plano_history has published 4 pages about the Plano line.

I wonder if we soon get together this exceptional line of high standing radios.

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On the issue of clarifying the different types and characteristics for the Philips Plano radios, I submit the following factual information based on 4 radios owned by my friend Robert Swart of Alameda, California and by myself:

We have two B5X33A /54 receivers that have a transistorized multiplex decoder but no stereo indicator lamp.  Their diagram is identical to the one at Radiomuseum for the B5X43A model, except that the decoder only has 3 transistors and 6 diodes, that is, only the actual decoder exists in the B5X33A model.  Both Robert's and my sets have a US dial, without radio station names.  FM reaches to 108 MHz.

I have two B5X43A /74 radios with a decoder that includes a small separate circuit board with 3 transistors and 3 diodes to feed the stereo indicator light.  This board is mounted on top of the decoder.  The diagram at Radiomuseum for the B5X43A model is exactly correct for my two radios.  One of them has a US dial, without station names, and the other has a European dial with station names, both to 108 MHz. 

I also have a Philips Service document for model B5X43A/00/01 that clearly has no stereo indictator light at all.  I do not have a schematic in that document, the drawing for the chassis indicates only with dotted lines the possible 6 wires that would go to a stereo decoder, but apparently the decoder may not have been in the early B5X43A models.  There is no mention of stereo multiplex or of the existence of transistors in the /00/01 document.

I hope that this information can be confirmed and/or clarified in the future.

Thanks for your attention.

Jorge Llacer
Los Gatos, California, USA

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