Background music tapes?

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
I recently picked up a stack of open reel tapes for a few euros. A couple of them were Philips stock with general 'background music' recorded at 1 7/8 ips quarter track. The quality of the recordings wasn't bad considering the slow speed.
This set me wondering if they were recorded for a tape deck that was capable of playing each of the four tracks in turn automatically, then using the stop foil as an end of track detector, to auto reverse, then play, the next track. Did such a machine ever exist?
Cheers, Pete.

[Andrew2]

There were a number of background music systems, some of them weird & wonderful, but I can't recall which (if any) used standard quarter inch tape. You Tube has a number of videos about these things by a guy by the name of Techmoan. Hop across to You Tube and type in Techmoan background music.
Even if you don't find what you want I guarantee you'll be amazed!

[Ted Kendall]

There was such a Philips machine pictured in Tape Recorder some time around 1968 - just two reels and a central headblock/capstan, playback only.

[ricard]

Philips SM9900 perhaps?

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philips_sm_9900.html

I've had one of those, it is auto reversing, and two track, and has an input for a microphone for making anouncements. More of a professional build than standard domestic recorders, three motors I seem to recall, with a direct drive capstan motor. I think it was 3 3/4 ips only though.

[Ted Kendall]

Yep, that's the kiddy!

[dseymo1]

There were also the auto-reverse Simon machines, though I doubt that many were used for background music.

[brenellic2000]

Brenell also produced a reversible autodeck based on the Mk.5 Srs3 (I have a prototype). Developed for the Music for Lease Company it was marketed as the 'Astronic Auto-music' c.1966. Metallic strips changed the track. The Bogen heads were centre track aligned either side of the central capstan to align with the unique tracking to prevent copyright infringement. (Brenell's Hospital deck was also uniquely aligned but used 16mm tape).

[Peter.N.]

The audio quality on Philips domestic machines was streets ahead of most others in the '50s, the EL3542 that I had gave usual 7 1/2 ips quality on 3 3/4 ips so I'm not surprised that the sound was good.

Peter

[barrymagrec]

Pioneer RT-707 and RT-909 machines were Stereo 1/4 track machines designed for auto reverse playback with a dual capstan mechanism in order to ensure good quality reproduction in either direction.

I am sure there were many other examples.

Leevers Rich produced a bidirectional 1/4 track version of their E200 machine in 1972 for SABC but only one was produced, not really a sucess.

[Edward Huggins]

Originally Posted by Peter.N.

The audio quality on Philips domestic machines was streets ahead of most others in the '50s, the EL3542 that I had gave usual 7 1/2 ips quality on 3 3/4 ips so I'm not surprised that the sound was good.

Peter

I was often able to hear their high end machines in the Philips Audio Labs in Eindhoven in the late 1960s. Using their own tape formulation, the sound and satibilty of piano/classical music at 1 7/8ips was astonishing. I think many Forum Members would be quite taken back, in spite of mixed opinions as to Philips' R2R capability.

[Restoration73]

Hitachi TRQ-777 was another stereo auto reverse.

[Peter.N.]

That's interesting Edward, Philips always seem to have been well ahead in technology, they could get 3 valves to do what most other manufacturers needed 5 for. The '30s, 'mono knob' sets although a pain to work on had variable IF bandwidth in the tone control circuit, didn't see anything like that from anyone else.

Peter

[ben]

There were many auto reverse machines, but remember that the tapes in question play at 1 7/8ips, which rules out the likes of Pioneer along with many of the 70s Japanese stereo units which typically had the reverse feature!