Wyndsor Vanguard

[bojitchko]

Hello! I have this tape recorder. Does anyone know more about it? I can not find anything.

[Alistair D]

Not much other than the tape deck is a Magnavox 363 from the 60s.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/magnavo...orter_363.html

Al

[bojitchko]

It is not same. Mechanics of Magnavox may be the same, but everything else is very different.

[Alistair D]

The Magnavox 363 deck was fitted to various tape recorders. I think it may also been sold to anyone who wanted to build their own.

Al

[djwells01]

You may find some useful info here -

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=82310

BTW - When I was young in the early 'Seventies, our family were given one of these by a relative, advertised as "Semi-professional" in the user manual, all long gone I'm affraid

Duncan

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by bojitchko

It is not same. Mechanics of Magnavox may be the same, but everything else is very different.

By "deck", we mean the mechanics

It was common for manufacturers of tape recorders to buy the decks/mechanics from someone else rather than make their own. Magnavox was one supplier, Collaro was another, and BSR was an even more popular one.

By the way, this is a fairly ordinary domestic machine. Good fun, but nothing to get too excited about.

Good luck with it,

Nick.

[bojitchko]

It's pretty ambitious - three speeds, three heads, optional stereo, regulators low and high...

[ben]

First time I've ever seen a 363 with three heads!
Good luck in reconditioning all those idlers

[Maarten]

To get more information on the machine as a whole, could you post a few more pictures, look for any labeling, etc.?

[bojitchko]

It is disassembled now for full restoration. When I do it will get more photos.
Thanks for desire to help me!

[dseymo1]

I think I dimly remember these, and various related models, being offered in 'kit' form - in reality, ready-built electronics, deck and case ready for marrying together.
Since to do so would have taken only a couple of minutes on an assembly line, I guess the gimmick was that the owner could claim to have 'made it himself' (rather like cake mixes).

[Nickthedentist]

...and possibly avoided Purchase Tax too?

[dseymo1]

Good point Nick - I suspect you're right!

[julie_m]

It certainly looks a bit "prosumer", with 6.3 sockets, three heads and a proper moving-coil level meter .....

[Welsh Anorak]

Hi
It looks an interesting machine. Odd choice of deck, though - the Collaro was the one most aspiring hi-fi decks used. Maybe the constructor had a choice.
Does it have off-tape monitoring which the three heads would suggest it has? Is it valved or transistor?
Good luck with the resoration - as Ben says the idlers will be a bit of a challenge.
Glyn

[david freeman]

The Collaro Studio was replaced by the Magnavox 363 around 1963. Manufacturers such as Truvox, Wyndsor and Elizabethan used the 363 in some of their recorders. The Wyndsor Vanguard was the most ambitious model in their range of tape recorders and retailed for 59 guineas around 1966.

[wd40addict]

To clarify a bit Magnavox in the USA bought Collaro in the early 60s. It seems like the record decks ceased to then be available to OEMs. However the studio tape deck gave way to the 363 "Studiomatic" which was built into machines by all the usual suspects. Christopher Collaro had left the firm he founded in 1958.

The Vanguard was an honest attempt at an enthusiast's machine, probably aimed at those who couldn't afford a Brenell or Ferrograph. From the attached reviews it seems to have two poorly thought out facilities:

1 no input mixing

2 tone controls as part of the tape preamp rather than the power amp making source/direct switching somewhat pointless and limiting its use as a straighthrough amplifier.

Regards,

Paul

PS: Does anyone have the schematic?

[bojitchko]

Mechanics is ready.

[wd40addict]

What condition was the rubber idler under the pulley on the motor shaft? This is what normally kills the 363 decks.

Regards,

Paul

[Michael Maurice]

Originally Posted by wd40addict

Christopher Collaro had left the firm he founded in 1958.

Are you sure he founded it in 1958? Collaro goes back a lot further than that, probably to the 20's or 30's

Michael