Aug - AmericanRadioHistory.Com

TESTED IN THE HOME
Continued from page 76
even the best- designed enclosure, and add
unattractive coloration to the sound as well.
The Argos enclosures are good in this
respect.
Each enclosure will accommodate an 8 or
a 12 -inch speaker; there are mounting bolts
tor both sizes. Each has also a cutout for a
small compression tweeter. There are terminal
connections for speaker wires on
each cabinet, and rubber feet are supplied.
The fabric finishes may not be strong features,
but the prices certainly are, and the
cabinets can be painted. We believe that
they are excellent buys. - R. A.
MANUFACTURER'S COMMENT: One additional punt
on the side of versatility should be noted: the
size of the tweeter opening is such as to make a
properly dimensioned bass -reflex port if the tweeter
panel is left off completely, giving excellent results
with a 12 -in. coaxial speaker.
Mohawk Midgetape
SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer):
very small tape recorder -playback unit, battery
powered. Recording time: 1 hour (1 7/8 ips, both
sides of 3 -in. tape cartridge). Inpet: high impedance.
1 millivolt minimum. Output: 3 milliwatts at
2,000 ohms. Response: 200 to 4,000 cycles. Wow
and flutter: less than 0.7 %. Noise: 35 db below
maximum recording level. Batteries: motor and
filament battery, 8 volts and 1.3 volts. lasts 45
hours; 30 -volt B battery lasts 100 hours. Tubes:
2- CKS49DX, CK542DX. Dimensions: 8 in. by
3 7/8 by 1 7/8 overall. Weight: 49 ox. including
batteries. Accessories Included: loaded tape cartridge,
set of batteries, clip -on lapel mike, playback
earphone. Prim: $229.50. Manufacturer: Mohawk
Business Machines Corporation, 944 Halsey Street,
Brooklyn 33, N. Y.
If you can appreciate the beautiful precision
of a tine watch, or a faithful reproduction
in miniature of a sailing ship, the Midge -
tape will fascinate you. This battery -operated
recorder will tit inconspicuously in a
topcoat pocket and you can make perfectly
good recordings, with the microphone nowhere
in sight, anywhere you can ride or
walk. Even the motor is battery -operated,
so you don't have to wind up a spring
every few minutes. You can record continuously
for a half hour on one side of the
tape in a small cartridge, turn the cartridge
over (or pop in a new one) in about ten
seconds, and you're in business for another
half hour. The machine will play back to
you through a miniature earphone or you
can use an accessory AC- powered amplifier
and speaker ($35.00) that matches the
recorder in size.
Before we go much further, we should
point out that this isn't a hi -fi tape recorder.
Its response range encompasses about that
of the usual table model AM radio - perfectly
suitable for intelligible speech and
music reproduction, but not much more
than that. Outside business and professional
applications (of which there are a great
many) its only appeal to hi -fiers is in its
novelty and its potentialities as a gadget to
have a lot of fun with. We've had the
Midgetape for several weeks, and in that
time have: 1) created a minor case of mass
hysteria at a cocktail party, by playing back
a half hour of conversations with guests
who didn't know they were being recorded
(we don't recommend this as a regular
practice); 2) proved to a doubting friend
that our parakeet does. too, talk when no
one is around; 3) demonstrated to our
78
Fairchild 220 Cartridge
We can make this the shortest TITH report
in history: Fairchild's 215 series was excellent
indeed; the 22o is better all around.
Frequency response has been extended to
somewhere around 15 to 17 kc and a slight
peak in response, which used to occur in
the 12 to 14 kc zone, has been moved out
Fairchild 220
cartridge: it's
even better
than the 215.
young son, with an emphasis no word
description could convey, how much noise
he made while eating and how strident was
his conversational voice; 4) obtained a recording
of an intermittent engine noise in
our car for the benefit of the garage mechanic.
This is only a partial list.
There are only three controls on the
Midgetape, all on one end. The master off -
on lever starts the drive motor and supplies
power to the tubes, which are of the instant-
heating type; the recorder is in full
operation less than a second after this lever
is thrown. Another lever has only two
positions: Record and Play. Due care will
have to be taken not to start the recorder
with this in the Record position if it isn't
desired to record; you'll get tape erasure if
you do. Finally, there is the volume control,
effective on both record and playback.
It has painted marks for close -to and conference
pickup positions. The microphone
has high output and the amplifier is very
sensitive - you can overload the tape if
you aren't careful but, by the same token,
you can record sounds at a great distance,
or very weak sounds.
The microphone input and the playback
output sockets are at the same end of the
unit. Available in addition to the lapel
mike supplied are a telephone pickup coil
($10.00), a throat mike ($19.75), and a
wrist mike that looks like a watch ($33.5o).
By pushing a slide latch you can open the
tape compartment for access to the tape
cartridge, capstan, and heads. The cartridge
has takeup and supply reels one over the
other, both fully enclosed. Only a loop of
Mohawk Midgetape
is completely self -
contained, doesn't
require winding up.
to about 17 kc. The sound has the same
clarity which characterized the 215s.
Perhaps of primary importance from
most points of view is the fact that the
output of the Fairchild has been substantially
increased. With the old series, it
was sometimes necessary to use a transformer
to boost the output so that the
cartridge could be used satisfactorily with
preamplifiers which did not boast extreme
gain. And the transformer led to hum
pickup problems, unless due care was used.
The extra output of the 220 eliminates
these headaches. It should work perfectly,
without a transformer, with any modern
preamplifier. - Note, incidentally, that the
Fairchild is a low -impedance unit; therefore
it can be used at a considerable distance
from the preamplifier. As an experiment,
we ran 5o ft. of shielded cable
between cartridge and preamp input; there
was no noticeable deterioration of quality.
All of which adds up to: a tine product
made still better. - C. F.
tape is outside the cartridge. It is marked
"First half hour" on one side, "Second half
hour" on the other; on each side there is a
slot showing the amount of tape left to
record, with marks showing the time in
five -minute intervals. There is a corresponding
slot in the recorder case, and the
time marks are also printed on the outside,
so you can tell how much time you have
left without opening the case. During recording
or playback the cartridge reels are
driven by the motor, as is the capstan; rewinding
is done by hand, however, to conserve
the battery. There is a crank on the
outside of the case for this purpose -it
folds flush with the case when not used.
One turn of the crank rewinds about three
seconds of the recording, and the entire reel
can be rewound in less than a minute. Extra
tape cartridges cost Si .5o.
At the end opposite the controls is another
hinged section that opens to replace
the batteries. The larger battery supplies
power for the motor and tube heaters; this
lasts for 45 hours of operation and costs
$9.50. It is made by Mohawk especially
for this application and is obtainable only
through Mohawk distributors. There is a
pilot light on the side of the case that indicates
when power is on and also the motor
battery condition; when it goes out entirely
the battery is good for five hours more.
Tube plate voltage is supplied by a smaller
battery good for zoo hours, and which
costs $2.00.
Altogether, this is a unique, well -made
gadget that has many practical uses as well
as a lot of amusement potential. - R. A.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE