LeBron James' Clairtone G2

The greatest basketball player of all time bought a 1966 Canadian stereo console with globe speakers. Then he asked the internet how to restore it.

The Scene

On November 15, 2021, LeBron James posted on Twitter with the kind of unguarded enthusiasm you almost never see from athletes worth a billion dollars. He'd found something at a vintage shop and couldn't contain himself: he'd purchased a Clairtone Project G2 stereo console — a 1966 Canadian-designed piece of space-age audio furniture with two globe-shaped speakers flanking a central turntable and amplifier unit, all mounted on a single sculptural pedestal.

The post went viral. Not because LeBron was collecting vinyl — plenty of celebrities do that — but because the G2 is one of the most visually striking audio devices ever manufactured. It looks like something from a Bond villain's living room, or a set piece from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The fact that LeBron needed it restored only added to the charm. Here was a man who could afford any audio system on Earth, and he was geeking out over a 55-year-old Canadian console that needed work.

The Gear

The Clairtone Project G2 was designed in Toronto in 1964 by Peter Muller, Hajo Muller, and Frank Chicken for Clairtone Sound Corporation. It was the company's flagship — a stereo console that treated audio equipment as sculpture. Two detachable globe speakers sat on either side of a central wood-and-chrome cabinet that housed a turntable, AM/FM tuner, and solid-state amplifier.

The G2 was a commercial hit in the mid-1960s, appearing in the homes of Frank Sinatra, Hugh Hefner, and Oscar Peterson. It was the stereo console for people who thought stereo consoles were furniture — and who wanted their furniture to look like it had landed from another planet.

Clairtone went bankrupt in 1972 after an ill-fated expansion into television manufacturing, but the G2 survived as a design icon. Restored units now sell for $10,000–$18,000, making it one of the most valuable consumer audio products from the 1960s. The globe speakers are the signature — they can be rotated to adjust the stereo image, and they look absolutely nothing like any other speaker ever made.

"Purchased this vintage record(vinyl) player for the crib! Absolutely love it but it needs to be restored!"— LeBron James, Twitter (November 15, 2021)

Why It Matters

LeBron's post introduced the Clairtone G2 to an audience that had never heard of it — millions of followers who suddenly wanted to know what those globe speakers were and where they could get one. Vintage dealers reported a spike in G2 inquiries in the weeks following the tweet, and auction prices ticked upward.

The G2 represents a lost era of audio design, when manufacturers believed that a stereo system should be the centerpiece of a room, not hidden inside a cabinet. The globe speakers aren't just aesthetically striking — they're functional, designed to be aimed and adjusted for the listening position. It's audio engineering disguised as mid-century sculpture.

For collectors, the G2 is a blue-chip investment. A restored unit at auction in 2019 sold for $13,500 CAD. Prices have only climbed since then, driven by the broader mid-century modern revival and, yes, by LeBron's endorsement. If you can find one that needs restoration, you're looking at a project — but the payoff is owning one of the most beautiful audio devices ever made.

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