Elizabethan LZ612 Schematic & Instructions

[camtechman]

I've recently acquired this 'beast' (see pics) and, although it's in good physical condition it does have one or two electronic problems, the easy ones like noisy pots and gooey belts I've fixed but there is an underlying intermittent fault from the amp side of things.

The only circuit & data I could find was for a later(?) & smaller model, the LZ614 "Cameo" (From the Vintage Radio Service DVD)

Would abyone know of a source of a schematic for the LZ612 and, if possible, a user instruction manual? (although the latter is not essential)

Cheers,

Tony

[Nickthedentist]

Blimey, Tony, that is a beast! Looks like a very early Philips cassette recorder pretending to be a radiogram.

Is it all-transistor?

Could we have some more pics?

Hope you manage to find some more info.

Nick.

[camtechman]

Nick,

Yep the cassette deck is a Philips and, the speaker in this unit is a 10" (yep Ten Inch Goodmans).

It also has separate pots for mixing/controlling the inputs from Mic/Radio/Aux and thereby can also be used as a Public Address unit for voice, cassette &, if connected to the radio input socket, as a radio too, with voice over from the mic.

I would guess this unit was aimed at small clubs/society use.

It's also very heavy too !

I'll take some pics of the internals and post later on,

Tony

[Nickthedentist]

Interesting! Those early Philips machines were great, but let down by their tiny speaker. It will be fun to see how it sounds.

It reminds me slightly of the Goodsell and Coomber machines that schools used.

When does it date from, I wonder? Mid 1960s?

Nick.

[camtechman]

p.s. Yep it's all transistor with a m/p of AD141/142 as the final stage of the audio output and has a stablised psu (AD149 as the power transistor) but it also has a seperate lead/plug for 12v DC (controlled by a power selector switch on the control panel: Battery-Off- Mains)

The cabinet size is 17.5" (W) x 12" (H) x 7.5" (D)

[camtechman]

Not sure of date but it seems to look like mid to late 60's and one more thing, the wooden panels are solid TEAK!

[Nickthedentist]

Barry thinks c. 1966 in this thread: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?p=375068

[camtechman]

Thanks for that Barry.

[brenellic2000]

That thread is not in this context!

The LZ612 'monster' is circa autumn 1966. It was undoubtedly a Philips deck although not advertised as such. Mike Van der Molen most probably designed it before leaving Elizabethan in 1965 to set up Van der Molen; he then developed his massive 'Sonic 8' cassette based hi-fi cassette shelf-unit (21" wide) of spring 1967 which likely owed its development to the LZ612. I have a catalogue with the LZ612 - I was mightily impressed with its 5 watt power and 10" speaker (which acne pocked teenager wouldn't be?) but my measly pocket money didn't stretch to £45gn - yes £47-5-0d!

Elizabethan was by then under Lee Products and as the UK distributors for Hitachi, some Hitachi products were later rebadged 'Elizabethan'.

I never did develop any interest in cassettes either! (The Elizabethan and Van de Molen histories are in my book).

Barry

[camtechman]

Barry,

Thanks for that info...I'd forgotten the name of Van de Molen.

You say you have a catalogue with the LZ 612, is there any chance you could scan the LZ 612 and post it on here?

Cheers,

Tony

[Colourstar]

Ah, yes I spotted that beast at the NVCF! Very nice too.

I've just dug out my LZ614 from the bottom of the cupboard where it has lain for some years. It was given to me in the early 80s by the headmaster of my school, as he knew I liked this kind of thing.

Certainly they date from 1969 or earlier, as the mains plug has the old colour coding. I'd say 1967 would be about right.

Steve J

[camtechman]

Steve,

Thanks for the pics of your LZ614, it's good to see what it looks like.

I downloaded the R&TV schematic for your model, just to see if the circuit was similar to the LZ612 and, although the R&TV gave a description of the LZ614's style, it's better to see one and your pictures have helped.

Thanks,

Tony

[brenellic2000]

Houston, we have problem!

My late Elizabethan brochures are not where they should... I'll keep looking, but I have an awful (sorry, lovely) lot of files to hunt through...

Barry

[ben]

I'd say that was definitely aimed at the education market, judging from the cabinet , layout and input options. Great beast, Never seen one before, I want one now!

[camtechman]

Here are some pics of the insides of the "beast":

[camtechman]

I forgot to add that the audio amp is now in full working order.

Before that, there was an intermittent & noisy input stage when the mic was inserted, this was down to a faulty AC128 in the mic circuit and all the pots needed more than a spray with Servisol, in fact, they each had to be removed, de-constructed and given a good service and put back together, before they worked properly.

The next job however, is the usual removal of the decomposed drive belts in the Philips cassette unit and new belts fitted.

[Nickthedentist]

Very interesting, thanks!

Philips caps throughout as well, I see.

Nick.