Soundscriber Excecutive

[tape]

I recently aquired an old Soundscriber dictation machine.
It's a somewhat rare 'excecutive' model, different from small portables and the big old ones. It was produced in the 60'ties.
It records on 6" discs.

The patent application and schematics can be seen here:http://totem.menneske.dk/batch_totem/ARCHIVE/MANUALS/SOUNDSCRIBER/soundsriber%20excecutive.pdf

The machine appears to be working fine - it powers up and the turntable spins.
My problem is that recording, playback and start/stop is all controlled from an external control unit that includes a microphone/speaker - and my unit lacks this controller!
It goes into the side via a 6 point 'input'
By short circuit two points I can get the turntable to spin.

I would like to record with this of course, and has been probing everywhere inside the machine, using an external amp.
In theory I should be able to hear sound from the recording head (acting as a smalll speaker)
This procedure works fine with other recording head (simply attached an audio signal from external speaker directly to the recording head)
However I get no sound and nothing gets embossed.

Any suggenstions greatly appriciated!

What maybe complicates things is that the machine is a playback/recording unit using the same needle (the difference between playback and recording seems to be simply a change of angle of the needle:-)

Could be of course that the machine is simply dead, but I have a strong feeling that the normal way of connectiong an external amp directly to the recording head does not work here - possibly because of pretty complex switching. The machine has forward/reverse mechanism and the abillity to playback instantly what has been recorded, while still in recording mode etc. Eg. it's my ffeling that some switches has to be active before the machine can record.

I hope this post makes sense.

[agfamatic]

well if you can read schematics you might be anable to make your own control bord with some swithes and simply wire it to the right conections on the machine. then you will be anable to control the playback and record funktion on the machine.

before you hoock up a external amp to the head you need to check what kind of head it uses if its a mangnetic head its no problem but if its a cristal head you will need a very strong amp to make it work.

[tape]

no too good at electronics i'm afraid.
It puzzles me that there is no sound in the recording head when I connect it directly to an external amp. The needle is attached to a pretty small driver coil. I do not know how to tell if the head is magnetic or crystal but I believe that all Soundsriber heads are magnetic, but I could of course be wrong

[agfamatic]

you sayd that it was made in the 60s is it a solid state unit? (solid state = all transistors no tubes/valves) becoase if it is it proboby have a mangnetic cutting head

[tape]

yep, no tubes.
powers up and spins fine.

two wires is going into the driver coil, but no sound no matter how loud signal I feed in.

[blacknwhite]

yep, no tubes.
powers up and spins fine.

two wires is going into the driver coil, but no sound no matter how loud signal I feed in.

Check head for continuity (non-infinity "Ohms" reading on multimeter)

If the head is blown, OR if the connection between the lead wires & the actual coil is otherwise physically broken, the Ohms reading will be infinity, sometimes represented as "--" on digital meters. Check for broken wire between leads and coil.

If the reading is zero, then the leads are somehow shorted: DON't connect it to any more amps. Check for crossed / touching wires between leads & coil.

If the reading is something between 8 and 500 ohms, that sounds good as far as the coil goes; it must be mechanically jammed.

(If you don't have a multimeter w/ "Ohms"/resistance measurement, you can get a cheapie from your local Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc)

[tape]

thank you for the suggestions.
I have been looking inside the machine all day, comparing it to the patent drawings. There are some minor pshysical differences between the patent and my model, so at first I thought that the recording head in my machine was just a newer one than the one in the patent - it has now occoured to me that I have been looking at the playback head!
the recording head is simply missing, taken out, gone.

I feel pretty stupid now!
All along I thought it was a combined playback/recording head, but was all along puzelled about the small driver coil. The haed has been removed very smoothly, not cut wires. So sorry for the VERY dumb qustions.
I guess this machine is useless now - a replacement head is probably impossible to get...

[agfamatic]

dont give upp!

you might be anable to find a old cheap magnetic cutting head on ebay or on this forum ther are propoby a lot of people here that have some old cheaper cutting heads laying around. so just ask around.

but becoase you may not find a cutting head thats designd for you machine its importent that you check the ohm on the head so that you not blow your amp and you will propoby need modify you unit so that the new head will fit on the recording arm.

[emorritt]

Not stupid questions at all tape. These machines in their various incarnations show up on eBay quite regularly. I'm not sure if the 'guts' changed much or not over the years, but a recording head from an older unit might work in yours. The pickup was sort of strange; the needle is backwards so the arm can face the same direction as the recorder but still track the embossed groove properly. I think unit and the "external control" you refer to is what is seen in the photo:



It's just a switching unit to control start/stop with a small loudspeaker that functioned as a mic as well. Looking at the internal wiring of the plug for the control should reveal what you would need to build.

"NO MORE PLASTIC RECORDS!!! EVER!!!" "Yes, Mommie Soundscriber..."

[cymbalism]

"NO MORE PLASTIC RECORDS!!! EVER!!!" "Yes, Mommie Soundscriber..."

had a laugh out loud with that one, nice!

[tape]

thanks for the thumbs up and recommendations. I think I was simply embaressed by the fact that I had looked for hours at a machine, wondering why I could not get any sound to the cutting head, then discovering that it was missing and I was fiddling with the playback head.

I doubt a cutting head for this machine can be found - it looks very specialized - there is almost no space to fit in another head(eg. from anoher soundscriber) so I guess it has to be a DIY head.

The machine is very nice and can be recommended just for the options like variable speed, and embossing of 6" discs instead of 4" as the small portable soundscribers...

[emorritt]

Do you have a pic of the playback head? From that I could probably tell if one from another scriber would work; like I said I don't think they really changed the 'guts' much and if that's the case just picking another unit off eBay would get you a head. Yeah, putting another cutter in there probably wouldn't work, even an M-41 would be too big and I have no idea without looking at a schematic what kind of power those machine put to the head; my guess is not much. I used to have one of the older wooden ones with both heads but got rid of it years ago. I still have the brochure and transcriber's headset - it's a very small plug-in speaker with 'listening tubes' ala an early Edison phonograph.

[graph]

Hi guys, just wonered if;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-RECORDON-DICTAPHONE-RECORDING-MACHINE-DISCS-/370423014297?pt=UK_Consumer_VintageAudio_RL

-Could that unit, recently for sale on ebay, be of any asistance/information here?

Cheers.

[emorritt]

No; that's a Brush "Mail-A-Voice" with a different brand name. The basic Brush unit was made and sold in a variety of brands/configurations. There was even a toy version. These were entirely magnetic even though the 'recording disc' was round and turned on a turntable the whole process was magnetic. The Soundscriber was an embossing unit.