Okke 70s
Super Member
I was just doing some lite reading on Sony history. Next thing I know, there is a Sony TC-130 sitting on my desk. A direct descendant from the TC-100, Sony's first retail cassette player. It was sold as "needs service" and indeed did not play at all. After digging in and fiddling with the wheels a bit, it became apparent a belt was entirely missing. I had the perfect one in the stash and voila the machine is actually fully functional.
I think this was the (relative) budget model in their line-up at the time. We're talking 1971 till 1972 here. It has an internal amp, and came standard with microphone and two speakers. I would not have cared that much for the mic, but it would have been nice to have the speakers with it. Optionally, one could apparently get a stereo mic with it, headphones, a "microphone mixing box" and a telephone pick-up. I'm assuming that last one would turn it in to a kind of answering machine, although I don't see how. There are no plungers or anything in here, that would allow for electronically controlled operation. The whole machine, cassette player and amp, has a total of three switches and three potmeters. Note how there are no VU meters.. And no record level control either. Apparently the "Sony-o-matic system" takes care of that automatically. Again, I wonder how.. There is no calibration function, and I see nothing in the schematic that looks like active gain control. Maybe it's just a rudimentary limiter? Other basic functions not included are a tape type selector of any kind, or an auto-stop mechanism. Oh, and it's frequency response is between 50Hz and 10KHz
. I'm going to have to check that out! The Sony TC-130 does however feature a "noise supress" function. No active circuit here either, just a rudimentary tone filter. It is however an incredibly rugged machine.
The set. 
Solid mechanics. 
...Ahh, funny guy!
As of yet it sound bad because of terrible WoW. My hope is that a new capstan belt wil solve that. The current one flaps around like in passionately played bass snare in a cartoon or something. All the control mechanics are cleaned and lubed, so that works smooth again now. Of the electronics I can only say rail voltige checks out, and all appears to be functioning well. A successful recording has been made. Now I hope the pinch roller is good enough. It looks okay-ish, and had it's rubber rejuvenator treatment.. I don't think I can even get it out of it's housing, like those you flap open. I mean, that is bad enough, but a least you got a shot with those. Does anyone have experience with these old Sony's and their pinch rollers? I'll also need a new belt voor the winding mechanics. The one in there is so badly deformed, that if it's stopped a the wrong point, it actually roles the tape back. Still it powers thru with ease actually, when winding. Oh, and the motor is a two-pole that runs on net voltage. No transformer involved. That's a first for me.
So what do you guys have laying around in terms of ancient cassette recorders?
I think this was the (relative) budget model in their line-up at the time. We're talking 1971 till 1972 here. It has an internal amp, and came standard with microphone and two speakers. I would not have cared that much for the mic, but it would have been nice to have the speakers with it. Optionally, one could apparently get a stereo mic with it, headphones, a "microphone mixing box" and a telephone pick-up. I'm assuming that last one would turn it in to a kind of answering machine, although I don't see how. There are no plungers or anything in here, that would allow for electronically controlled operation. The whole machine, cassette player and amp, has a total of three switches and three potmeters. Note how there are no VU meters.. And no record level control either. Apparently the "Sony-o-matic system" takes care of that automatically. Again, I wonder how.. There is no calibration function, and I see nothing in the schematic that looks like active gain control. Maybe it's just a rudimentary limiter? Other basic functions not included are a tape type selector of any kind, or an auto-stop mechanism. Oh, and it's frequency response is between 50Hz and 10KHz
. I'm going to have to check that out! The Sony TC-130 does however feature a "noise supress" function. No active circuit here either, just a rudimentary tone filter. It is however an incredibly rugged machine. The set. Solid mechanics. ...Ahh, funny guy!As of yet it sound bad because of terrible WoW. My hope is that a new capstan belt wil solve that. The current one flaps around like in passionately played bass snare in a cartoon or something. All the control mechanics are cleaned and lubed, so that works smooth again now. Of the electronics I can only say rail voltige checks out, and all appears to be functioning well. A successful recording has been made. Now I hope the pinch roller is good enough. It looks okay-ish, and had it's rubber rejuvenator treatment.. I don't think I can even get it out of it's housing, like those you flap open. I mean, that is bad enough, but a least you got a shot with those. Does anyone have experience with these old Sony's and their pinch rollers? I'll also need a new belt voor the winding mechanics. The one in there is so badly deformed, that if it's stopped a the wrong point, it actually roles the tape back. Still it powers thru with ease actually, when winding. Oh, and the motor is a two-pole that runs on net voltage. No transformer involved. That's a first for me.
So what do you guys have laying around in terms of ancient cassette recorders?
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