Early Car cassette Players

[mickjjo]

Ah! the dreaded Philips N2607, I've still got my one from 1972, As Ben said an ergonomic nightmare to use, sounded good with its AD161/162 output transistors but mostly a two handed job to operate as the Mini I ran at the time offered no convenient way to mount the thing securely.
I also still have a Harry Moss 343 radio/cassette from a year or two later, Quite a flash thing in its day, I usually left the cover screws out to enable the chewed cassettes to be untangled quickly, It worked fine with TDK tapes though, but no rewind or locking fast forward.
The stereo FM radio was a novelty but in practice the red stereo beacon light would flash on and off and you couldn't switch to mono for hiss free reception so it was mostly used on AM, Happy days!

Regards, Mick.

[Nickthedentist]

Harry Moss... haven't heard that name in a couple of decades. Weren't they big with the catalogues?

[ITAM805]

Originally Posted by ben

I had almost this exact one, also badged Pye. It had thumbwheel vol and balance controls though. Very nice unit, don't recall what I did with it. One day I'll pick up another!

Now you mention it Ben, mine was the same with thumbwheel controls. Found this on YT, the guy says it's from 1974.

['LIVEWIRE?']

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

Harry Moss... haven't heard that name in a couple of decades. Weren't they big with the catalogues?

You could be right, Nick. Harry Moss later metamophed into Audioline, who produced a wide range of Car Stereos and other gear, but are themselves now gone, AFAIK

['LIVEWIRE?']

That PYE Cassette Player (model 2252 IIRC) was probably the first AutoReverse machine on the UK Market, somewhere around 1974

[cmjones01]

I had a Philips car cassette player which came from a jumble sale some time in the early 1980s. The cassette went in end-on into a sort of carriage which you then had to press down. It locked down electrically with a solenoid and the tape would then play. It had fast forward/rewind control on a chromed plastic lever concentric with one of its knobs: there was a balance knob and tone switch at one side and a volume/power knob at the other. There was no radio, and I think it had AD161/2 output transistors. It had a slightly crazy Philips design feature: the auto-stop was achieved with a circular PCB on the take-up spool which had sprung fingers contacting it. The pattern on the pcb produced pulses which, when they stopped, stopped the tape. The arrangement was about as reliable as you'd expect...

I can't remember the model number, though. Any ideas?

Chris

[Jimmyhaflinger]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

Anyone remember a Sharp where the cassette was inserted lengthways, as in modern practice, but then had to be forced down into the cassette well manually by pressing hard on a big, chromed lever?

I had this Sharp many years ago, the mechanism was a piece of junk; the capstan bearings were made of plastic and were totally worn out of course.

It was from 1975-76

[ben]

Originally Posted by cmjones01

I had a Philips car cassette player which came from a jumble sale some time in the early 1980s. The cassette went in end-on into a sort of carriage which you then had to press down. It locked down electrically with a solenoid and the tape would then play.

That's the one I was trying to describe in post 20! Wonder what model it is. Might have to ask my friend if he still has it.

['LIVEWIRE?']

The Philips Cassette player described by Chris in post#26, IIRC came in two versions, one as an 'add-on' deck, which was used in conjunction with an exsisting (mono) car radio, and the Stereo self-contained one described. I think the model nos. were N2200 & N2202, and they had black plastic covers over the metal cases. The same mechanism was used in the MW/LW Radiio/Cassette Player which came out in around 1970/71. That cost about a week's wage back then! The pulse switch (Tape end sensor) did give some problems, but Philips weren't the only ones to use that system. Autovox/Motorola used a similar part in the MA754/252. A 'push down' mechanism was also used by Sanyo
two of whose models were rebadged by Radiomobile as the 308 & 309CSR in the mid 70s

[Jimmyhaflinger]

There was also a MW-LW-VHF/FM stereo unit based on that Philips push-down mechanism, the amp was in a separate box and used AD161-162 transistors, these were a nightmare to work on

Autovox also used a pulse switch to sense the end of tapes but in this case the wipers were stationary and the PCB was attached to the reel spindle, these were more reliable than the Philips counterpart

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by Jimmyhaflinger

I had this Sharp many years ago, the mechanism was a piece of junk; the capstan bearings were made of plastic and were totally worn out of course.

That's interesting. I found one thrown away in the mid 1980s and it worked superbly after a quick service. I installed it in our school common room, built into an old HiFi speaker with a 12V power supply salvaged from an old B&W portable TV, and it performed brilliantly until I left school.

Maybe earlier/later variants had metal capstan bearings?

N.

[sp10mk11]

Sharp were ******* for cutting engineering corners though

But I have never seen a tape transport without brass bushes etc for the capstan shaft.............I suppose it will have come to that at some time.........moan moan when I were a lad moan moan

Though I still have a fondness for some of there old products

Gary

[kirstyd]

iI had the PYE unit shown above in my Cortina it came with those plastic speaker cabinet that were designed to be screwed to the parcel shelf they were awful. but with some decent speakers fitted in the doors it was vastly improved rather like some of the run of the mill stereos back then, fit some half decent speakers and diffrence could be astounding

[unitaudio]

The idea with the shelf mount speakers was to cut holes in the shelf below the speakers to allow the rear sound of the speaker to resonate in the boot cavity. This kind of defeated the object of fitting shelf mount speakers! It considerably improved what little bass was available though. Flush mount speakers in the shelf or doors were always better. Shelf mount plastic open bottomed speakers were nearly always really cheap 4" units but flush mounts were often (but not always) 5.25" or 6.5" sizes which has to help matters.

Regards,
Paul

[Tim]

Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?'

The Philips Cassette player described by Chris in post#26, IIRC came in two versions, one as an 'add-on' deck, which was used in conjunction with an exsisting (mono) car radio,

..was that the one that outputted at RF via an aerial connector, which the would be listener presumably tuned his radio to to listen? I found a device such as this, definately a cassette player, but with only power and short stub of aerial cable with a "car aerial" in line socket on the end. It was, from memory a moulded socket, and looked original. It was years ago, and I can't remember the make(But it could have been Philips). I do remember it wasn't that big. I couldn't get it to work and I think it got broken up for bits.......

['LIVEWIRE?']

Tim, the Philips 'add on' cassette decks were all fitted with a cable terminated in a DIN Plug which plugged in to a corresponding socket on the Radio. They also produced fly leads with a 5 pin DIN socket that could be fitted to (mono) radios which didn't incorporate a tape (Aux-in) socket ex factory. The tape decks incorporated a changeover switch operated as the cassette was inserted, which selected either tape or radio audio, and also switched a (12v) DC supply to power the deck. Quite a few 'add-on' decks were produced by Blaupunkt, Philips, and Radiomobile, including some for use with stereo radios. This system goes back to maybe even the late 1950s, when it was used in the 'Auto Mignon' 45rpm Car record Player. The cassette decks which modulated a carrier so that the tape was played into the radio via it's aerial socket came later. I don't remember what brands they were, probably Binatone or Amstrad

[suebutcher]

The Philips RN582, from Practical Motorist, February 1968.

['LIVEWIRE?']

I remember those, Sue. £35 in 1968 would have been more than a week's wages to most folk then. When I started work in the radio repair trade in late 1971 my gross weekly wage was only £25 per week, later raised to, I think, £35. As to the RN582, it was only mono, with a MW/LW radio, and about 5 watts audio output, IIRC.