Kuba Komet

The KUBA Corporation manufactured the Komet from 1957 to 1962 in Wolfenbuttel, West Germany.

This set stands 5' 7" tall, it's over 7' wide and weighs 289 Lb. (216 x 171 x 75 cm - 85 inches x 67 inches x 30 inches). The design is reminiscent of a sailboat. The upper section rotates like a sail on a mast, allowing the viewer to swing the 23" black and white television and speaker system in the desired direction. The blonde-colored wood is solid maple and the darker wood is wenge, a rare timber found only in West Africa. A high-gloss, polyester varethane coating gives it a sleek, shiny finish.

The Komet was the complete Home Entertainment Center for its time. Opening the door of the lower cabinet reveals the rest of its multi-media features. The early models usually came with a pull-out, 4-speed Telefunken phonograph on the left, and a television tuner in the center which received both UHF and VHF signals, the Telefunken multi-band radio receiver on the right picked up AM, FM, SW and LW frequencies. KUBA also released models that featured a storage shelf, commonly used as a small bar or to store vinyl record albums, or for an additional charge, you could order a magneto-phone wire recorder. Wire recorders were the forerunners to reel-to-reel and cassette audio recorders.

The top cabinet or "Sail" has eight speakers; six speakers on the top of the sail and two horn speakers pointing forward located beneath the main console.

The suggested retail price for this model was 2,798 DeutchMarks or approximately $1,260, which at that time, represented more than a year's wages for an average worker

The KUBA Corporation changed hands several times before it closed its doors in 1972. There are very few surviving Komets in the world. This particular 1962 set, serial # 278039, the last of the series, was imported into the U.S.A. and found in Chicago, Illinois several years ago.

Here is a link to the Kuba Museum in Wolfenbettel, Germany. Arkay (a US company) made this model, the Fantasial, obviously inspired by the Komet, in 1960: