NEW KITCHENER MUSEUM PHOTOS - ORIGINAL PROTOTYPE CIRCA

Many thanks to Wes for taking these photos during his recent visit to visit to the Kitchener museum - the home of the original Electrohome Circa stereo system prototype. I had been after one of the curators there to take a few photos for me to share with anyone interested because good photos of the prototype are very hard to find online. I am told by Wes that it is being stored under some stairs! Hopefully the folks at the Kitchener museum are designing a new permanent display for this important piece of mid century design.

Electrohome Circa prototype. Photo by Wes Fyck.

I had always thought that the prototype was wired up to at least partially work - perhaps with a one-off am/fm receiver - amplifier, and at least some speakers. Don't forget that this unit was designed during the initial exciting phase of space exploration - all of a sudden there were man-made satellites orbiting the Earth, and people planning to go to the moon! I know that the original plans for the Circa system was very forward-looking, and was to include such futuristic features as communications, and the ability to order things from stores in the
convenience of your own home (sound familiar?).

One of the internal panels being restored. Photo by Wes Fyck.

Electrohome designers had seen the future - many things that we take for granted now were design features of this very cool looking prototype. But, it turns out, that as a prototype, it was completely non-functional - at least in terms of a stereo/communications/internet predecessor. It turns out the cool brushed aluminum trim plates house dials, knobs, and lights that are non-functional... other than a few fake push buttons and blinking lights. Here is a shot of one of the internal panels that has been removed and is currently undergoing restoration - still pretty cool if you ask me. It has a very Star-Trek-y feel to it. Although the production Circa stereos that would be made a few years later had less in the way of buttons and dials, I think that the overall feel of the production Circa 703 is very similar to the prototype - though that aluminum or stainless steel ring on the prototype would certainly look great on the 703's teak base plate!

Patent(?) model for the Circa prototype? Photo by Wes Fyck.

One of the other very neat things that I had no idea was in existence was a small model of the prototype Circa. I know that in the past, models were required for patent purposes, so this may be a patent model, but I can't substantiate that claim.I can't quite make out what the device mounted to the top of the cabinet is supposed to be, and the model is slightly different in other ways from the Circa prototype - the stainless trim is absent from the base plate, no indication of opening doors on the upper surface, but it is still clearly meant to represent the design aesthetics of either the prototype of the 703 Circa model.

Circa system 'Sound Chair'. Photo by Wes Fyck.

There are also some great shots of the 'Sound chars' that were designed to go along with this system.  Some of the production chairs are visible in the advertising section of this blog. The prototype chair (below) I think has a vibe similar to Captain Kirks' chair in the original Star Trek television series - yeah, Kirk's chair is short and wide, and this one is taller and narrower, but the original Star Trek series aired from 1966 to 1969, and I think that the television series may have been a strong influence in design decisions influencing the capabilities the Circa system was supposed to have, and in the layout of the buttons/dials/displays of the Circa and the accompanying chair. Just look at those buttons! Not only had Electrohome foreseen internet-like capabilities from in-home entertainment devices, but apparently that had also been thinking about some kind of remote control device for the Circa - certainly the company was looking to the future, and breaking new ground. Unfortunately, the technology didn't exist in the late 60's to be able to bring this vision of the future into North American homes.

Thanks again Wes, for the photos and descriptions!