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Object Timeline

1962

  • Work on this object began.

2017

2018

2021

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Tonearm Balance (Tonarmwaage)

This is a Tonearm Balance (Tonarmwaage). It was designed by Dieter Rams and manufactured by Braun AG. We acquired it in 2017. Its medium is metal, molded plastic. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

In the 1960s, the increasing sophistication of recording techniques and the rising popularity of the LP record contributed to a demand for high-quality audio equipment. Dieter Rams was a leading designer in this new market. Showing Rams’s acute attention to clarity and simplicity, the Tonarmwaage is a scale that allowed users to determine and then balance a phonograph’s tonearm settings.

This object was donated by Robert Greenberg.

  • Clock (USA)
  • steel (stainless), plexiglass.
  • Gift of Hank Horwitt.
  • 1991-140-8-a,b
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Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

Cite this object as

Tonearm Balance (Tonarmwaage); Designed by Dieter Rams (German, b. 1932); metal, molded plastic; 2017-51-3

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Bob Greenberg Selects.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1141960825/ |title=Tonearm Balance (Tonarmwaage) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=20 January 2021 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>