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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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11th Oct 2019, 8:42 am
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#1 |
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Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Coventry, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 4
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EMI L4A tape recorder
Hi all, my first post here and I’m hoping someone can help me.
I’ve inherited my father-in-law’s “technology” including a lot of older stuff like this EMI tape deck. I would like to try and get it going in order to transfer any of the audio, as my partner knows that her father used to record her every year. Having looked at it, I removed the plastic box at the bottom of the unit and found this lead. My question is - what plugs into it? Is it a battery box or mains....? My problem is I can’t (yet) find a corresponding connector, but then I have got another 30 boxes of stuff to rifle through 
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11th Oct 2019, 11:07 am
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#2 |
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Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,208
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Re: EMI L4A tape recorder
As that lead (I assume the grey one in the first photo) appears to end in a socket (rather than a plug) I would be very surprised if it went to the mains (as this would mean the mating connector had mains on exposed plug pins).
Most likely it went to a special (rechargeable?) battery pack. |
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11th Oct 2019, 11:21 am
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#3 |
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Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Coventry, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 4
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Re: EMI L4A tape recorder
That would make sense, as the plastic box I removed to get at it was battery-box shaped. Just no terminals or connector.
It looks like I need to keep searching for the external battery supply lead.... |
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11th Oct 2019, 11:21 am
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#4 |
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Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,288
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Re: EMI L4A tape recorder
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron. |
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11th Oct 2019, 11:51 am
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#5 | |
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Octode
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 1,969
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Re: EMI L4A tape recorder
Quote:
If it's mainly to transfer the tapes, you might be better off selling the L4 to a collector of vintage gear and the proceeds could pay for an expert transfer of the family tapes using better, modern equipment, which will probably give a better result and not risk damaging the tape recordings. If you did decide to use the tapes on the machine I'd first acquire an unimportant tape for repair and testing purposes, and only play the family tapes when it's certain the machine is in top condition and won't damage them. |
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11th Oct 2019, 1:37 pm
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#6 |
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Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Coventry, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 4
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Re: EMI L4A tape recorder
Thanks for the tip. I read that in one of the stickies.
We know there’ll be people who can transfer audio to a newer format, but if I can get the EMI going, I can do that myself before selling it on. 
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12th Oct 2019, 9:37 pm
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#7 |
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Heptode
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Camberley, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 805
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Re: EMI L4A tape recorder
handbook & circuits information here:-
http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/emi/st...-l4-index.html regards |
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