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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 15th Nov 2018, 10:07 am   #1
davidbi
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Default Ekco open reel model enquiry

Hi,
I am trying to find some model information on this Ekco open reel (I think I have attached an image). Does anyone know the model please? Thanks.
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Old 15th Nov 2018, 11:33 am   #2
paulsherwin
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

I can't give you a model number, but it looks like a typical early 60s British budget domestic recorder, with the ubiquitous BSR TD2 deck and an EM84 level indicator.
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Old 15th Nov 2018, 11:39 am   #3
ms660
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekco_rt366rt_36.html

https://www.service-data.com/section.php/2161/1/rt366

?

Lawrence.
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Old 15th Nov 2018, 11:48 am   #4
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

That certainly looks like it. It's odd in having all the socketry round the back, which must have been very inconvenient.
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Old 15th Nov 2018, 12:14 pm   #5
davidbi
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

Excellent - thank you for your answers and comments.
Lawrence - that is the one alright. Now to see what works...
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Old 15th Nov 2018, 12:44 pm   #6
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
It's odd in having all the socketry round the back, which must have been very inconvenient.
Wasn't that fairly common at least until the early 1960s? I'm thinking of a couple of Philips and Grundig machines which had all connectors on the back.



The again I have a couple of Luxor machines where all the connectors were on the front of the machine, certainly more convenient, but hardly asthetic.
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Old 15th Nov 2018, 12:51 pm   #7
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

These cheap TD2 based machines normally have the sockets on the main control panel below the deck. I guess this is a fairly early example though.
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Old 15th Nov 2018, 2:52 pm   #8
Edward Huggins
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

That generous valve line up suggests a far more complex record and replay circuit than was usually found partnering a BSR TD2.
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Old 20th Nov 2018, 4:44 pm   #9
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

There is an error in the RM listing, there is only one ECC83.

Mike
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Old 2nd Dec 2018, 6:43 pm   #10
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

It's pretty normal to have the sockets on the back. Indeed it still is. I've never quite understood this but I am told by the spousal unit that wires and plugs are considered unsightly by normal human beings
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Old 2nd Dec 2018, 7:20 pm   #11
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

I didn't know that E K Cole was in the R to R business.
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Old 2nd Dec 2018, 10:09 pm   #12
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

I think most of the big U.K. set makers had at least one R to R machine. Many using the BSR deck and simple electronic to keep the price down.
The BSR deck although not the best performer was solid and reliable, with simple electronics there was little to go wrong and any faults were easy to fix. It brought tape recording to a much wider audience.
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Old 2nd Dec 2018, 10:20 pm   #13
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Default Re: Ekco open reel model enquiry

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
I didn't know that E K Cole was in the R to R business.
I think this model may have also been marketed as a Ferranti so it's possibly just a generic "badged" machine, I'm not 100% sure though.

I have encountered two of these machines in the past over the years - slightly better that the Fidelity models of similar vintage that used the TD2 deck ISTR.

From memory one of the common faults with these machines was failure of one set of the mains switch contacts.

Andrew
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