Reel-to-reel tape decks (was Re: ZX81 denigrated!)

[Philip Pemberton]

In message <m1CZImz-000JEEC at p850ug1>
          ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:

> That was a farily standard connector on Philips tape recorders. The 
> middle pin is a locator only -- the real reason for it was to stop the 
> plug going into European mains scoksts (!).

Heh.

> One of the outside pins 
> should be martked with an earth symbol, the other is (of course) the 
> signal pin. The original plug was unpolarised, but carried a red dot to 
> indictate the signal pin.

the problem now is, where can you get the plugs?

> Said machine is Stereo, 4 speed (including 15/16 ips [1]), can copy one 
> mono track to the other while mixing in the microphone input, and so on. 
> The speakers are somewhat Heath-Robinson. There's one in the case, used 
> for mono playback and the left stereo channel. And another in the lid. 
> For Stereo playback you uncoil a lead from a slot inside the lid and plug 
> it into the RH extension speaker socket. Then put the lid on the right 
> side of the machine, about 2m away. Of course you can also connect up a 
> pair of speakers or a stereo amplifer/speaker system...

Sounds like a nice machine. Vacuum-tube or transistorised?

> It's not in Poole and Molloy, at least on that I can find. Can you give 
> me more description, so I can see if I can identify the Philips equivalent.
> 
> In particular : 
> 
> It's 4 track, does it have a Stereo socket [3]?

> [3] Another odd idea of Philips. On some later 4 track machines there was 
> a 3 pin DIN socket, the connections being the lower (track 3) head 
> winding, ground, and +16V (normally obtained by potting down the HT+ 
> line). You could connect a special Philips pre-amplifier there and : 

Not to my knowledge. I'll have to drag it out again and check the
destructions. The only 3-pin DIN on there that I know of is the microphone
input socket.

> What's the cabinet made of (most were rexine-covered plywood, a few later 
> ones were plastic)

The manual says "Plastic-covered wood". The areas of plastic-paper covering
that are peeling reveal wood underneath.

> How many speeds, what are they

Single speed.

> What controls and connectors do you have?

Play, fast-forward, rewind, stop, record, Superimpose (disables the erase
head), tone control, volume control (with track-switcher on the outer ring,
volume on the inner ring), record level adjust, and a cute little EM84
magic-eye built into the stop button.
As far as connectors go, there's:
  3-pin DIN: Mic.
  3-pin something-or-other ( O | O layout): Record player / radio input
  3-pin "                " ( O o O layout): Headphone output
  3-pin "                " ( O o O layout): Speaker output

Thanks.
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