The Visionary Frequency: The Foundation of Loewe and the Birth of Electronic Television, 1923

In January 1923, Dr. Siegmund Loewe established Radiofrequenz GmbH in Berlin-Friedenau alongside his brother David. Recognizing that early multi-tube radio receivers were exorbitantly expensive and mechanically cumbersome, Loewe engineered a monumental breakthrough in 1926: the 3NF multi-valve vacuum tube. By integrating three triodes, two capacitors, and four resistors into a single evacuated glass cylinder, Loewe created the direct conceptual ancestor of the modern integrated circuit, drastically lowering production costs and popularizing radio across Europe.

By 1930, Loewe’s laboratory had expanded into high-frequency image transmission. Working in tandem with young research physicist Manfred von Ardenne, Loewe achieved a historic milestone in 1931: transmitting continuous moving pictures using cathode-ray tubes without mechanical scanning discs. This breakthrough established Loewe as an indisputable pioneer of electronic broadcasting, cementing Berlin as an epicentre of twentieth-century telecommunications.

Following wartime devastation and persecution under the Nazi regime, Loewe reconstituted its manufacturing headquarters in the historic Franconian town of Kronach, Upper Franconia, in 1948. Throughout the postwar decades, Loewe married relentless acoustic and visual innovation with minimalist German design, collaborating with Bauhaus-influenced industrial designers to create premium home entertainment systems that functioned as architectural furniture.

Today, Loewe’s Kronach campus remains an active center of German audio-visual craftsmanship. The brand’s centenary archive chronicles an unbroken thread of engineering idealism, proving that technological innovation reaches its highest expression when harmonized with timeless industrial form.