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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 19th Mar 2019, 10:39 am   #1
goldenfleece
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Default Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

I keep finding these at car boot sales and charity shops by the truckload! They must have been very popular (no pun intended) machines back in the day? The same deck was used on many different variations of this design I believe. All of them without exception have RUSTY hinges on the lift off lid!

Anyway, latest £3 deal from a junky type shop labelled as,'working but needs TLC to catch tape' I bought it, powered it on and attempted to play a tape. Tape ran, but no take up reel movement, but audio output was fine. No rewind or fast forward at all. Tape counter not moving. No magic eye lighting up.Recording from the radio input socket was excellent though, lovely crisp and clear output no no electrical issues at all, not even a crackly volume control!

Took it apart, nice and easy to access the chassis from the top, was in within 45 seconds and looking at the mechanism. The main belt was on the spindles but rather loose I thought, but thought it was just enough tension to do something at least. Polished up the rims of the take up spool as it was quite dirty, and hey, we had take-up tension, albeit not very strong, but enough to catch the incoming tape without help and wind evenly. Ideally I think the belt should be changed, but for this morning, it works ok.

The fast forward mechanism was totally jammed up with dry grease of course, and after removing the spring and various bits, the dried grease which was not unlike cement(!) was removed. With a bit of oil and loosening up the rest of the mechanism, fast forward was lovely and strong.

Rewind was a problem. It was a nightmare to free the mechanism from the spindle, the grease was seriously like superglue!! It took me an hour of delicate twisting and wiggling to get it free, but after a clean and an fresh oil, rewind sprang into life with far more pull than I would have expected from something like this, great power there.

Tape counter had also seized, but a bit of oil and turning and she counted away quite happily. I had noted the magic eye valve was not lighting up at all from when initially turning on the machine, but it had simply slipped out of its socket slightly, and needed just pushing back in and precisely re-aligning with the magic eye window. Lovely bright and accurate when recording too. I didn't change any components, nothing looked problematic and the original internals were functioning correctly, so for now, it shall remain original.

This little suitcase type machine is deceptively powerful, the pull of a horse on fast forward and rewind, and despite only JUST enough torque to run the take-up reel at present without slackening the tape, very crisp and clear sound and am very impressed with it.
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Old 19th Mar 2019, 11:59 am   #2
Nickthedentist
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

Good old BSR TD2 decks.

Machines using these used to turn up at every 1980s jumble sale I went to, usually for £1, and usually working or almost so.

Well done for restoring yours.

Nick.
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Old 19th Mar 2019, 12:14 pm   #3
Ted Kendall
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

Agreed - the BSR decks were an object lesson in economic efficiency. Not flash, but robust and of decent performance, and with a survival rate which other makes might well envy.
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Old 19th Mar 2019, 12:34 pm   #4
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

Does anyone know which years the TD2 was in production? It certainly had a long run, and it would be interesting to know which of BSR's equally robust autochangers were being produced at the same time.

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Old 19th Mar 2019, 1:39 pm   #5
Ted Kendall
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The original Monardeck, the TD1, came out in 1959. It had a belt drive capstan, and was swiftly replaced by the TD2, which had idler drive. It was joined by the TD10 around 1963, which was a stretched version offering three speeds and 7" spool capacity, also quite popular, and the piano-key TD20 in 1966, by which time the market was beginning to sag. It appeared in a Fidelity machine, but I haven't seen it elsewhere.

The TD2 ground on until about 1968 - the last machine to use it, I think, was the disastrous plastic-cased Fidelity Playmaster.
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Old 19th Mar 2019, 1:54 pm   #6
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

Thanks Ted.

Never seen or heard of a TD1, nor a TD20.

So it would appear that the TD2 was produced throughout most of the 1960s, making things like the UA15 the record deck "equivalent", if such a concept isn't a daft idea.
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Old 20th Mar 2019, 11:54 am   #7
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

In many quarters the BSR TD2 tape deck, and the contemporaneous BSR UA series of autochangers, were much reviled for their "value engineering". But in most cases, these have survived better, perform well and require far less maintenance than their Collaro or Garrard contemporaries!
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Old 20th Mar 2019, 5:24 pm   #8
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Very well built really considering it's a budget machine. Just played back a new recording made on it on a much better spec machine and it sounds great, very good frequency response and no pitch variation at all. In fact it records better on 'budget' old tape than more expensive machines of the period.

Where can I get a spare main belt for this? Or perhaps sourcing a generic replacement if I measure the current belt which is slightly stretched over time
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Old 20th Mar 2019, 6:30 pm   #9
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

Be wary of the selenium rectifier, I had this very model at my mother’s and because I had no tools there I just let it run as it seemed to be ok. It was fine for half an hour then bang! And the famous smell!
It went straight into the store so I can’t say whether it was old age or too high current drain that caused its demise.

“Goldenfleece” surely that must be Jason? Long time since we spoke, hope you are well.

Peter
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Old 20th Mar 2019, 7:01 pm   #10
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Hi there. Yes it's been a long time. How are you doing? Working on any nice machines?
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Old 21st Mar 2019, 3:54 pm   #11
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

The last tape recorder to use the TD2 was the Fidelity Braemar, which was a rehash of the Playmaster. It was made until 1971!
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Old 23rd Mar 2019, 8:59 am   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
Never seen or heard of a...TD20.
Fidelity Playtime.
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Old 23rd Mar 2019, 9:52 am   #13
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

What a wonderful brand name.....obviously aimed at the 'audiophile' market....
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Old 23rd Mar 2019, 12:19 pm   #14
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

The TD2 did much to establish tape recorders as an affordable luxury item. Many odd brands turned up in the ubiquitous furniture stores, invariably fitted with a TD2 and 'garden shed' electronics, usually priced at around 19 guineas. This was almost half the price of the equivalent Philips and Grundig machines.
Yes, they rumbled, and the controls were basic, but they did keep working after others' belts had turned to goo!
I find a hot-air gun and some easing oil can get those swing arms swinging again.
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Old 23rd Mar 2019, 3:24 pm   #15
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

We're looking back with modern eyes and ideas, an all too common trait these days. Back then they were new, exciting and affordable. For most people tape recorders and record players were the latest must haves. Hi-fi was a future concept (and marketing tool). Many would have been relegated to the attic once the novelty wore off, easily stored hence the high survival rate.
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Old 25th Mar 2019, 10:15 am   #16
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

They seem to be as tough as old boots to be honest. Physically able to survive a metre drop from a table to a floor (slight accident yesterday) without even so much as a dislodged valve!!! Don't think many machines would get away with no damage whatsoever! I am using it as a my main playback machine in my office, plus I am still very amazed at the sound quality and dynamic range on record, I am sure it beats machines that were more expensive.
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Old 25th Mar 2019, 11:51 pm   #17
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Default Re: Elizabethan Popular 200 restored

Its very lack of pretension is its strength - the essential bits are machined well enough, and mechanical simplicity and decent materials make it robust and reliable. Tutchings Electronics used them for language lab applications with great success - and few applications cane a deck as much as that.

It is interesting to note that Walter, who made machines of a broadly similar type, aimed at the same market, went bust in 1961, around a year after the TD2 appeared. No wonder - the Walter deck was ghastly. And the Hi Fi Yearbook for 1961 is chock full of TD2 (and Collaro Studio) based machines.
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