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Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc.

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Old 1st May 2021, 4:19 pm   #1
oldbury863
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Default Elizabethan LZ34 oddites

I've just acquired an Elizabethan LZ34 to refurbish but I've discovered a couple of oddities about this machine that I thought I'd share. The front panel has a socket labelled 'radio' that is a 'line in' but I discovered that this input is routed directly to the top of the volume control with no switching! This means that as soon as the input is connected to the machine, it will be heard (very loudly) through the loudspeaker when the machine is in the 'stop' or 'play' positions. Apart from the sheer inconvenience of having to unplug the input before listening to a tape or even before stopping the recording, the monitored sound in the stop /play position is very bass - heavy due to the equalisation circuit. This machine also has no stop / play muting switch fitted either, something I have never come across before. That at least would have prevented the monitoring when in the 'stop' position. Thinking that maybe my machine had been 'got at', I downloaded the circuit for it but that only confirmed that this is indeed how how they are! (see attachment) I tried to reason that these omissions were simply down to cost cutting but what's odd is that there are spare ways on the record / play switch that could have been utilised to prevent this mixing of the input signal with the playback one. Utterly bizarre.
I also felt that the hum levels were a little higher than I would expect but that was resolved when I fitted a screening can to the ECC83! Did it ever have one?
I should add that the machine is now functioning well in every respect regarding it's performance but I probably will re-route that socket through the switch for ease of operation in the future.
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Old 1st May 2021, 7:05 pm   #2
AndiiT
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Default Re: Elizabethan LZ34 oddites

Hi, I too am the owner of an Elizabethan LZ34, mine says Spinney on the box however it is just a mail order catalogue badged version of the LZ34.
I also own an Elizabethan LZ29 which has mixing facilities where there is a separate mixing control, so it's highly likely that the lack of a mixing control on the LZ34 was indeed a cost-cutting exercise despite probably being marketed as having mixing capabilities.

It should also be remembered that probably the majority of users would rely on the microphone for recording purposes, only the more "experienced" users connecting source equipment via the radio input.

Regards

Andrew
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Old 1st May 2021, 10:47 pm   #3
Reelman
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Default Re: Elizabethan LZ34 oddites

My Elizabethan Automan 4 from 1967 was the same, the radio input was “live” all the time. It was quite useful at the time as a record deck amp or with a Mike, a PA amp although you had to shout!

Peter
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