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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 13th Aug 2019, 4:04 pm   #1
masterzarlak
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Default Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

Hi
I wonder if there are any experts here that can help me. My father in law passed away last year and this Dynatron reel to reel was in his home.

There are several tapes that we believe have recordings of his sons and daughters on and it would be great to be able to hear them.

I know nothing about these machines so please bear with me.

I managed to power it up and plugged in some headphones. I then popped one of the reels on and pressed play. The reels spin but there is no sound. Tried another tape and it was just the same.

I posted this on another forum and someone pointed out that I had the headphones plugged into the microphone socket! I now realise that there is a speaker outlet at the rear and I will set it up this week with a Marshall amp and try again.

Before I go any further with this I would appreciate any help out there.

Many thanks in advance.
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Old 13th Aug 2019, 6:27 pm   #2
paulsherwin
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

If these tapes are of sentimental value to you, it would probably be best to send them away to a specialist to be digitised. There are several forum members who could do this for you for a reasonable fee. There are a number of issues surrounding recovering old tapes which are much easier to deal with if you have the appropriate experience and expertise.
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Old 13th Aug 2019, 9:13 pm   #3
ben
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

I agree with Paul.
These machines normally have built in amp and speaker. If you get no sound it could be that either of these areas is defective, or for all you know the unit may be stuck in 'record' and erasing the tapes you are trying to play!

If you want to try and get this unit working, get hold of some sacrificial tapes from ebay or elsewhere. Do not try to use any tape you suspect may have irreplaceable recordings on.
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Old 13th Aug 2019, 10:00 pm   #4
Boulevardier
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

"I managed to power it up and plugged in some headphones."

Just to check an obvious point - as Ben points out, a recorder like this will be designed to primarily work with it's internal amp and speaker. You don't actually say whether you have tried this (ie, playing without any headphones - or anything else connected). Have you?

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Old 13th Aug 2019, 11:19 pm   #5
Lucien Nunes
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

It's worth pointing out that tape decks of this age very often do not work 'as-found' and indeed trying to operate them before repair can cause more damage, or as mentioned above degrade the tapes that you are trying to recover.

I agree that the best way forward, if you want to start a voyage of discovery about open-reel tape, is to get some unimportant tapes to test and adjust the machine with. You may well have to get your soldering iron out and change parts before it works to its full potential. However, if your primary interest is in recovering the content of the tapes, then the safest route is to get someone to make the transfer professionally, or at the very least beg, borrow or steal some time on a tested, serviced machine of the correct format.
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 1:09 pm   #6
masterzarlak
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

Hi all

Many thanks for your help, greatly appreciated. I have been busy this week so not had a chance to do anything more with this. I will see if I can find a reel on ebay as suggested and give it a whirl (literally!).

I now think I connected the headphones to the microphone socket - the one on the top right hand side. I will try it without this plugged in and see what happens.

I have sent off for an original manual I found on ebay and when this arrives I will have a better idea of how it is all supposed to work.

The idea of getting them converted by someone who knows what they are doing sounds very sensible. However there are quite a few tapes and I suspect some of them are just music recordings which I would not be bothered about - e.g. one has a card inside suggesting it is HMS Pinafore and some other Gilbert & Sullivan stuff. Any idea what sort of cost this would be please?

Thanks again.
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 8:57 pm   #7
AndiiT
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

Hi, I have just noticed that you are in Guisborough and I'm only up the road from you, I would be happy to take a look at your machine and also digitise your tapes for you. Feel free to PM me to discuss this further

Regards

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Old 15th Aug 2019, 11:17 am   #8
Edward Huggins
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

Can't understand why the OP does not just listen via the internal amplifier and speaker?
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 1:33 pm   #9
masterzarlak
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Default Re: Dynatron Tape to Tape - Help Needed

Hi
Thanks for the message. I didn’t realise it had an internal speaker when I set it up at the weekend.

As I said, I am totally unfamiliar with these things. I have been rather busy the last few days so haven’t had a chance to look at it since the weekend. Hopefully the local offer of help will sort it out.
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