This website documents the restoration of two vintage reel to reel tape recorders, the Wollensak 1288 stereophonic tape recorder from 1965 and the Wollensak 5750 from 1967.
Wollensak tape recorders were produced by the 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) Company from the 1950's through the 1970's. Oddly, Wollensak was originally its own company making very high end camera equipment and lenses.
3M acquired Wollensak, and hoping to capitalize on the brand name, released tape recorders starting in the 1950's with the T-1500 series, possibly their most popular tape recorder. This tape recorder was a workhorse, built to last out of aluminum with a powerful tube amplifier. They made "pseudo stereo" models and advanced into full fledged stereo machines over time.
By 1965, Wollensak was producing the 1200 series of tape recorders which were based on the T-1500 mechanics. The 1280 and 1288 used a hybrid type of amplifier, with the pre-amplification managed by transistors, and the power amplifier managed by twin 6T9 tubes. These tubes are enjoying a resurgence among audiophiles today because of their warm tone and characteristics.
In the 1960's, tape recorders were the hot audio item to have, along with turntables and other stereo components. Audio systems were a hobby for many, and the market seemed very bright, especially for reel to reel machines. Tape recorders came in all forms and sizes. In the United States, many of the popular tape recorders were made in Japan, and even some U.S. brand names (such as RCA and Westinghouse) had their tape recorders made for them by Japanese companies. But other U.S. makers designed and created their own tape recorders. One way to tell it the use of rivets to hold parts together. This seemed to be a uniquely American approach to tape recorder deck construction.
By the late 1960's, the cassette recorder was heavily competing with the reel to reel tape recorder market. Cassette format had been tried earlier in different ways, but eventually, the Philips/Norelco mechanism driving the "Compact Cassette" won out and tape recorders were made using this engineering.
Smaller reel to reel tape recorders began to wane (especially the little 3-inch reel portable machines) in favor of the cassette format. But due to early audio limitations, cassette tape recorders could not seriously compete with larger reel to reel machines that had better frequency response and stereo reproduction.
Nevertheless, the design of reel to reel machines had to change to keep consumer interest. Wollensak chose to deal with this by the development of what I call a "designer series" of reel to reel tape recorders, the Wollensak 5000 series, of which the model 5750 was a significant player. These were some of the most beautiful tape recorders ever made. The designer concept is born out by Wollensak's advertising of the 5000 series of tape recorders, ads which feature women and their needs and desires rather than those of the more stereotypical male audiophile. Sociologically, this reflected the increase on the role of women in society.
Things have changed a lot since the 1960's, and audio equipment, while much more convenient in its digital format (MP3, CD,s etc) in spite of it's brilliance lacks some of the warmth and character that was exhibited by the vintage reel to reel tape recorders, especially those that used tubes for amplification. So it is a valuable history lesson to understand these old tape recorders, and to hear their rich warm sound.
Please DO NOT ASK US how to sell your old machine or tapes or records. We will NOT respond to selling or value estimate inquiries.
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