BALMORAL TAPE PLAYER, 1960's

Balmoral Electronics Ltd appear to be a small electronics establishment making equipment out of readily available parts. It seems the housing was a standard box designed specifically for the BSR TD2 tape deck, the amplifier consisting of a small chassis with an EL84 and ECC83 valves and associated parts, with a mains and speaker transformer fixed to the underside of the tape deck. BSR (Birmingham Sound Reproducers) introduced the TD1 deck (sometimes called The Monarch) in 1959 with a price of £12-12-00, the TD2 was released in 1961 and ended in 1964. The 5.75-inch reels moved at 3.75 Inches per second controlled by a single short 'Joy stick' knob. In this particular example the Erase head and control have been removed, normally recording is possible by moving the volume knob on the left to the left, whilst pushing the right control knob forwards. This machine is playback only and the volume knob is fixed and replaced with an off the shelf standards example. This object was found by a Museum director in a skip in Hemel Hempstead during 2007, and may have been used by a school, being playback only.

A1615