In other words, a point in time where companies like Philips, Sony, Grundig and yes, Telefunken were still heavily engaged in the consumer audio market – and offering some pretty ambitious products. The CS 20 (along with the almost identical STS-1) was Telefunken’s top of the line turntable, a compact, slim-line, direct-drive, integrated record player, delivered complete with arm and cartridge. It offered user adjustable, quartz-locked 33 and 45 speeds and two motors – one for the platter and the other to drive the fully automated tonearm. Front panel knobs and buttons gave you access to speed select and trim as well as the tonearm controls, allowing you to operate the deck with the low-profile smoked plastic dust-cover closed. The cartridge of choice was Ortofon’s LMA12 Concorde moving-magnet, the integrated headshell design reducing mass to the point where it allowed the company to use a tiny counterweight weighing a paltry 49g – fine with the Ortofon but use anything else and it soon becomes a struggle to achieve correct VTF. (By way of comparison, the lightest c/w that VPI offers is 100g.) Not surprisingly, the captive arm-lead was fitted with a 5-pin Din plug.
None of which might be considered particularly encouraging, especially as Telefunken enjoy no great reputation for their turntables. But that’s the whole point: Telefunken didn’t build turntables – meaning that they went outside to specialist manufacturers to source their parts and assemblies. And that’s where the CS 20 gets interesting, because the motor unit was bought from Micro-Seiki while the arm gives every indication of being manufactured by Audio Technica. Combine those excellent basic ingredients with a solidly built plinth that’s surprisingly dense and you’ve got a product that well deserves the appellation, ‘Sturdy Unit.’ The complete ‘table weighs in at a surprisingly chunky 8kg – or seventeen and a half pounds. By way of comparison, the original SL-1200 – a somewhat larger turntable with a legendary reputation for its solid construction – weighed 10kg! Put all that information together and what you’ve got is the potential for a bona fide wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Time to go shopping…
Obviously, you can’t just pop down to your local audio emporium and pick up a CS 20. Instead, you are going to be shopping for one second-hand and then embarking on a little DIY… EBay and other, audio dedicated sites are the place to look and you shouldn’t struggle too hard to find a unit in decent condition. What you are looking for is a CS 20 or STS-1: avoid the cheaper CS-10, which was around half the weight, lacked the quartz-locking and automated arm. The CS-20 was supplied with a standard black/brown chassis and top-plate and a choice of brushed silver or ‘black’ front panels, the latter being considerably harder to find and generally fetching a premium. The black unit that I bought and which is shown in the photos cost me €200. Apart from the inevitable scratches on the lid, it is immaculate, works perfectly and the brown enamel paint that ‘seals’ the screws holding the bottom board is still intact, suggesting that nobody has even been inside it. These things were built to last – and they do.
