Grundig Reporter 300L (1951)
The Reporter 300L is one of the earliest Grundig tape recorders. It is a reel-to-reel deck in a portable green suitcase, released in 1951. Documentation on this specific model is thin. What survives comes largely from a single German museum source (tonbandmuseum.info), so there are gaps.
Here is what is known. The 300L was part of Grundig's first "Reporter" series, which grew out of engineer Kurt Bier's post-war tape recorder development. Bier had originally planned to build his machine as the "Reporter 100" with Lumophon in Nuremberg, but that model never went into production. That held true even after Max Grundig bought Lumophon in May 1951 for 1.7 million Marks. Instead, Grundig put the Reporter 300 chassis and the Reporter 500L (as a case model) into serial production. The 300 chassis was also built into Grundig's large radios and console cabinets, and the portable 300L was the case version sold separately. The Tonbandmuseum notes the 300L and the chassis version were essentially identical in construction.
The original price was 998 Deutsche Mark. Monthly wages ran 150 to 250 Marks, so that was a lot of money. The Tonbandmuseum describes the Reporter 300 as "remarkably successful" for its time, though no period reviews or owner accounts specific to the 300L have surfaced. A well-preserved example was once displayed at the former Museum Brunn with a small identifying label.
Technical specifications for the 300L itself are almost entirely undocumented. The only component-level facts come from spare-parts listings: a Bosch KOMP 407 G 5001 capacitor (7 µF, 500/750V) and a FRAKO Elyt 2×50 µF (350/385V) have both been sold as parts pulled from 300L units, and the EM72 electron tube is confirmed as used in this model. No frequency response, tape speed, head configuration, or output specs have been found. (The 19 cm/s speed and 50 Hz–10 kHz response often associated with early Grundig recorders belong to the later 500L, not the 300L.)
A 300L recently appeared on a German classifieds site with a "Baujahr ca. 1953" note and a 20 € asking price. That conflicts slightly with the 1951 release date, and may reflect production spanning multiple years. The 1951 date comes from the more detailed source and is used here.
- Type: Reel-to-reel tape recorder, portable (green case)
- Released: 1951
- Original price: 998 DM
- Known tubes: EM72
- Known components: Bosch KOMP 407 G 5001 capacitor (7 µF, 500/750V); FRAKO Elyt 2×50 µF (350/385V)
Similar items on eBay
No exact Grundig Reporter 300L listings are live right now — these searches show current Grundig and similar vintage audio gear on eBay:
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.