21/08/2026
In the mid nineties the Blaupunkt 104 series was state of the art German engineering. But it had one flaw, the laser used was made by Sony. Why was this a flaw? Because the rest of the components had an eighteen year lifespan but the laser had built in obsolescence - around 23 months. Sony made consumable car stereos you see, Blaupunkt did not.
Here we are testing the unit after a new CD reading laser had been fitted. We didn’t have to touch the rest of the internals.
Commercially it proved to be suicidal for the German brand, ironically, 40 years later they were proved right!
