Philips cassette recorder EL3300/00
 

Came into my possession yesterday and hopefully will be able to get working once I get the chance to find time. Only seen an EL3300/15A if I remember so wondering if this predates?:shrug:

Re: Philips cassette recorder el3300/00
 

The /15A /00 I believe refers to the country/market it was for, rather than age. I think the earlier 3300 was brownish rather than grey too. I'm sure camtechman will be here in a minute to set us straight!

Re: Philips cassette recorder el3300/00
 

Quote:

Someone called ?!

It's certainly a "First" model EL3300/00, Made In Holland: AH 02, 16th week 1964. With red badge on TRH corner of speaker grill.

The colour is brown but sometimes, depending on ambient lighting, it can appear chocolate brown or greyish/brown. Also the first model came with that microphone and a grey leather case too. Also, it doesn't have an accidental over-record mechanism and the motor has a built in centrifugal speed regulator, not a separate electronic circuit speed control.

P.S. The motor may play back slightly slower. If you play a commercial musicassette (1 & 7/8 ips) you will notice and de-constructing the motor is not advisable.

But I have an issue with you !!! ..... yours is 7 weeks older than my one (23/64)..GRRR!>((

Re: Philips cassette recorder EL3300/00
 

Thanks for all your replies. Now all nicely cleaned up and opened up too, expecting to face the usual black goo but nice surprise all clean as a whistle inside with just a small belt to replace. Someone had used a rubber band which remains were easy to remove. Bad news only very faint sound on play back, so will have to pass over to someone with a bit more know how.

Re: Philips cassette recorder EL3300/00
 

'Made in Holland' should probably be in quotes as it should on lots of Philips audio stuff from the 1960's and 70's. It was probably printed on the set for customs (goods were probably first declared in their Eindhoven warehouse, not at the gate of the factory) or for name recognition (Philips = Holland), not to reflect the actual factory which was 9 times out of 10 one of their Belgian locations. AH indicates manufacture in Hasselt Belgium, which was their main knowledge center for record players and cassette recorders at the time.

Given the early date, the serial number itself is a bit high. I'm not sure how they counted, maybe I'll find out some day. The letter A behind destination-execution /15 indicates some (later) variant, but a /15 can be just as old as a /00 except it would be destined for the UK market.

Re: Philips cassette recorder EL3300/00
 

Hello
I have the slightly later model which has a rectangular record button.
These machines where the first domestic portable tape recorder capable of good quality.
The little reel to reel machines Clarion and Grundig cub come to mind were awful in the wow and flutter department!
I can well remember the first time I heard one of these machines playing music been blown away, as they say today!
Certainly the compact cassette was amazing for its time although the length of recording was a serious drawback if you wanted to record a concert or play and yet nobody seemed to notice they sold like hotcakes!