I SPY STUFF / Voice Recorders

I have a very similar unit but it is badged Magnavox and is stereo and without speakers or internal amp. Mechanically it is identical, just with a different head cluster (mine had three stereo heads) and two level indicators. Only issue with mine is that the motor makes a loud purring sound when in play, so it may need some rubber bushings replaced. Mine also makes that horrendous sreech when engaging rewind. Design flaw perhaps?

you need to clean the sound/volume barrel because when you turn the volume up or down you hear scratchiness in the speakers

i actually own 6 reel-to-reel tape recorders, a akai gx-210d, a akai gx-4000d, a akai 4000ds mkII, a grundig tk341 deluxe, a revox a77, and a sony tc-252d. the mechanism of your panasonic looks a lot like the mechanism on my sony. the main control for all the functions works the same. i have never seen such a mono device before, all my decks are 4-track stereo.

nice alnico speakers probably 1.5 watts, did you get any tapes for it

I've had very good results buying tape from E-Bay. I do the Buy It Now-- found some good bargains. Some are blank, some have music--you never know what you'll get. Check prices (watch the shipping, sometimes sellers gouge on that) you might find a good solution. You can usually tell from the photos what kind of condition the tapes are in. And if you need an empty reel, some are on E-Bay! Some empty plastic 8mm film reels fit on tape recorders too!

I think the "Easy Matic" setting is auto level control, because you see it makes my voice peak much higher on the meter than the other settings, and the "Mood Selector" switch probably adjusts the sensitivity of the auto level control. I still need to get a blank tape to try it out. I found one in the thrift store recently but it was so old and mildewy that I didn't even want to touch it!

That is an interesting machine. It sounds like a standard 2-track mono unit. These machines always play back one of the stereo tracks in reverse because of the staggered use of tracks on 4- track stereo units. Ironic that it has two speakers and two mic inputs. What were they thinking? No tone control, or that switch you mentioned may be a simplified tone control with fixed settings.

Nice! I have a RQ 705 (from about 1968)That I've been working on. Thanks for showing the inside of the machine. Good luck with the tapes.

This is a 2 track by the way.

Very nice Panasonic! I hope you can find some tapes to record on. If you don't but have empty reels, you could get an 8-track of music you don't like, and wind the tape to a reel. Just remember to wind the tape facing IN, not out.

This it too weird! I bought a vinyl copy of that DeCormier folk music LP at a yard sale on Saturday, the same day that you uploaded this video. We've entered the Twilight Zone (:->

Hmm. Sounds like the machine is made to record and playback on the entire width of the tape. Interesting machine and tapes too.

use a elastic band as a replacement belt

i love the old reel to reel

Nice machine.

I'm guessing as there's no track selector switch, it's 2 track mono. Nice find. Despite hearing 2 sides at the same time it sounds pretty good.

could you do a start up vid of all your computers and laptops

lol funny hearing both side at the same time

That's a thing of beauty.