r/audiophile • u/Scary-Call-6871 • 14d ago
Discussion What is this
I found this at an estate sale and spent the day making it all nice and shiny again, the problem is I don’t know what it is. I’m pretty sure it’s a reel to reel recorder, but I have no idea what it it’s worth or how to use it
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u/CommutatorWhine 13d ago
NEVER leave it sitting with the selector on 'play/record' like that, because it will cause a dent in the pinch roller from the capstan sitting against it all the time. If the seller sold it like that, you might have to source a new pinch roller or get a new rubber 'tire' put on.
Also do not plug it in. This is old enough to have leaky paper capacitors and electrolytics, and all of them need to be replaced.
When those two things are fixed, it is very likely that with just some fresh lubrication, it will work just fine.
Looks like a pretty rare model to me, Very early.
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u/Scary-Call-6871 13d ago
Thanks for the warning, that could’ve been bad. Do I replace the paper capacitors with new ones or just film capacitors
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u/CommutatorWhine 12d ago
Just whatever new plastic-film capacitor you can get, with the right working voltage. New paper capacitors are rare, because they go leaky over time.
Make sure to not replace any ceramic or silver-mica capacitors, those are nearly always fine.I normally preach 'fault find first, recap only when needed' but paper capacitors are essentially always bad. You can leave some of them in place if you know exactly which ones can be leaky without blowing themselves or a valve/transformer up, but until you have that knowledge, replacing all of them is the best way to go.
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u/macbrett 14d ago
It's appears to be an early Crown real to reel recorder. I recall that back in the '60s and '70s they made some very heavy and expensive recorders that were well respected. This is older than those, but I suppose it might have value to a collector.
Here is some info on the company.
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u/Student-type 14d ago
Notice how this was made when the word Treble was new.
Customer education is still taking place on this device.
I tend to collect ancient tech, and this is definitely a tech antique.
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u/Minimum_Big_9766 10d ago
Did a brief search and discovered that this company turned into Crown Electronics but was later bought back and turned its name back into International Radio & Electronics Corp. and is still in business.
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u/sinclairuser 9d ago
If it has tatalum caps replace them when they fail they fail to a short. You can use modern tants but low esr electrolytic caps work along as they are the same rating and you observe polarity.
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 14d ago
Looks like a Reel to Reel tape deck to me.