Brief history of Panasonic Bottlehead

[hibuhibu]

Ever wonder why Panasonic, who is known for making pretty average head units, out of the blue created the Bottlehead Head Unit? That is because Panasonic's history has alot to do with Vacuum Tube. Bottlehead Head Unit truly represents Panasonic's history and spirit.

Panasonic is probably known more for making TVs these days( I could be wrong. You could think otherwise).
But its history has alot to do with Radios. Yes, a Vacuum Tube Radio. They were one of the early adapter of Vacuum tube radio back in the days in Japan.
To explain the significant symbol your Bottlehead has, I need to explain the founder of the Panasonic Corp. The founder of the Panasonic today is a person named Matsushita. He is known as a godfather of family oriented Business management. His management was truly remarkable and still regarded as one of the top benchmark for many companies out there.
The philosophy and vision of Matsushita was that one needs to produce in order to truly contribute to the society and the world as a whole. He believe that one should work to make the world a better place for the OTHERS, and his philosophy truly showed in his management style and his products.

Back in the days in Japan, workers were paid and treated very very poorly because most of the workers left to home everytime farming season came. There was no loyalty between the owner and workers. For the owners, workers were only temporary and intrustable. For workers, owners were only greedy mofus ripping off the back of the poors.
Matsushita innovatively changed this relationship between white collar and blue collar. For ex, Matushita built safe homes for the workers, recreational place to enjoy, schools for children of workers, and instead of 6 days of work, he only made them work 5 days!(Back in the days, this was shocking and regarded as stupid move) He truly believed in familiness within the company and took it to practice. Let me give you another example, after WWII, America forced Panasonic to very limited produciton(pretty much shut down the company for a while), but Matsushita DID NOT LAY OFF SINGLE EMPLOYEE. When there was a severe recession in Japan, he still DID NOT LAY OFF SINGLE EMPLOYEE. He is founder truly took Family Management to practce. When everyone thought this was a stupid move(some of us still think that), it was a remarkable move because every one of his employee were happily willing to work more for less and die(in severe term) to keep the company(Family) alive.

Matsushita's(Panasonic's) philosophy also drove his products! In the early days of the company, two of the major products they produced was light bulb sockets and Vacuum Tube Radio.
Matsushita, just like Edision, wanted to make the light brighter so poor people of japan could use more light at night so he innovated double sockets that held two light bulbs! It became a huge hit and gave Matsushita a foundation for his company!

The next big step was the Vacuum Tube radio. (Here it comes...) One day, Matsushita was listening to a radio and noticed that it was terribly unreliable. So he ordered one of the technicians to study and modify the radio so that a company can start producing reliable radios that regular people could afford.
It was another another success, but Matsishita did not stop there.
To him, his success was the biggest challenge of the future, and took the radio to the next step!!!

Ta dah~~~
The Vacuum Tube Radio!!!! was born with the collaboration of Phillips and Panasonic!!!! The new radio was louder, cleaner, and still reliable! This was again, another huge hit and it drove company to the next level and played historical part in driving the company to what is known today as "PANASONIC."

So there you see, the Bottlehead Radio some of you guys own is truly a remarkable piece of machines, not only because of performance, but the history and spirit of the company it represents!!!!

Just wanted to share some knowledge and great spirit. I apologize for terrible writing skill, and I dont think I truly delivered it too well. I used to be a heck of a writer back in the days. but sigh...

Anyway, be proud Panasonic owners especially the ones with the bottleheads!


p.s I was not sure to put this in off topic or here, but if you, administrator, feel that this belongs to somewhere else. Please move this thread.

[dftnz7]

I'm going to buy a Panasonic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!

[buchaja]

Thanks for the story, I realy enjoyed reading it. It is OT material, but nonetheless...

[Mooble]

Every now and then Panasonic comes out with a remarkable product.

I lucked out and bought a used DVD-H1000 for $200. That was Panasonic's $3,000 reference DVD player. The damn thing is made from a solid block of billet aluminum and weighs about 45 lbs. As a DVD player it is outclassed by even a $250 Oppo today, but it is still an audiophile grade CD player which is how I use it now. $200 is not much to pay for a top quality CD player.

[Arc]

Thanks for the write up. I love my Bottlehead.

[Autophile]

Thanks for the information. Really appreciated.

I am a proud owner of Panasonic Bottlehead. Would love to have a thread about the unit's design, evolution and possible mods.

[hibuhibu]

Glad you guys enjoyed the story.
It is sometimes very delighful when you know why and how company created a product you use today.(Just like we learn why Edison created light bulb in history class).
Like I said, just wanted to share the story. By the way, Panasonic makes quite good audio components too such as audiograde capacitors. They are regarded as good as Elna capacitors or better(Personal preference).
I would love to own the bottlehead myself just because of what it symbolizes and of course the performace.
It is keeper for sure. Enjoy yours!

[Autophile]

Originally Posted by hibuhibu

I would love to own the bottlehead myself just because of what it symbolizes and of course the performace.
It is keeper for sure. Enjoy yours!

Its a tough find. Panasonic manufactured them in limited numbers. Look today if you want one.

[Fixtion]

i have been and always will be truly faithful to my bottlehead.

the feelings towards my bottlehead now knowing the history make me even more proud, and give me a sense of humanity knowing the practices of Matsishita.

great write up!

-fixtion

[cheesehead]

Very nice read!

And I think it's fine here in general audio.

[squeak9798]

Originally Posted by Autophile

Thanks for the information. Really appreciated.

I am a proud owner of Panasonic Bottlehead. Would love to have a thread about the unit's design, evolution and possible mods.

http://www.elitecaraudio.com/forums/...hreadid=110963

[pianist]

sure am a very proud owner of mine...
thanks for writing this short history

i'm probably going to replace the tube with a vintage western electric diode in the near future

[fish_ink]

what would be the benefit of changing the tube out for one of the western digital ones

[azngotskills]

I would assume a different sonic signature...well probably measurable but not sure if it would be audible