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The Wollensak 5750 vintage tape recorder is a remarkable machine for its time, in some ways very innovative and progressive. This page discusses my conclusions about the machine since performing the restoration/rebuild.
<-- To Right - Take Up Reel Section
Features:
Below
is a list of features mentioned in ads for the Wollensak 5000 series tape
recorder:
-
"Walnut
Wraps" - The wood casing for the main cabinet and wing speakers on some models,
including the 5750.
-
Wollensak
Control Central - They call it "...a complete sound studio in a hand span".
Most of the control of the tape recorder is managed in this section.
-
High
Speed Search Control - The fast forward and rewind functions of
the tape recorder controlled by a single lever.
-
Power
Activated Push Buttons - Control for Stop, Play and right and left Record.
-
Precision
VU meters - for monitoring the sound levels coming into the tape recorder
while recording.
-
4-Speed
Operation- 7-1/2, 3-3/4, 1-7/8, 15/16 ips (inches per second) tape
travel speed. The Wollensak 5750 had three speeds, dropping the 15/16 ips.
-
Extra
Large Balanced Flywheel - To provide constant speed and minimize mechanical
wow and flutter.
- Solid
State Circuitry - All transistor amplifiers at a time when tube type amplifiers
were still common.
- Sleek
Look in Superb Sound - Calling attention to the design and sound
quality of the tape recorder.
Technical
Specifications:
Below is a
list of technical specifications provided about the Wollensak 5000 series
tape recorder:
- Unidirectional
playback and record.
- Frequency
Response: 40-17,000 Hz ± 3 dB @ 7-1/2
ips
- Wow & Flutter
.25% @ 7-1/2 ips
- S/N
(Signal to Noise) Ratio: 48 dB @ 7-1/2 ips
- Output
3 Watts music power with 5% THD (Total Harmonic Distortion)
My Conclusions
After restoring
and rebuilding my vintage tape recorder, I have drawn some conclusions
of my own about the Wollensak 5750.
"Walnut
Wraps" - Well, more like mahogany wraps stained to look like
walnut wraps. Walnut is
rare and expensive. It made sense for Wollensak to use Philippine mahogany
and stain it. However, if they had stained it as dark as it was on the machine
I got from E-Bay, they may have gone overboard. The wood cabinet is very
well constructed and the wood is solid (no veneers) and has a beautiful grain
which, when lightly stained and waxed, shines with warmth and beauty.
Wollensak
Control Central - They call it "...a complete sound studio
in a hand span".
Most of the control of the tape recorder is managed in this section. I wouldn't
exactly call it a "sound studio" but it is a nice feature that one could
purchase a matching separate tuner module and play it through the tape recorder.
High
Speed Search Control - The fast forward and rewind functions of
the tape recorder controlled by a single lever. The "high speed" claim is
a bit misleading. Since the rewind and fast forward takes power from the
capstan flywheel, not the motor, this changes proportionally with the tape
speed selected. Still, it is functional simply because there is less tape
used at lower speeds, so searching at such speeds is more accurate when the
search function is coupled to the tape speed.
I ran a comparison
between the Wollensak 5750 running a 1800-foot reel of tape in fast forward,
a TEAC 4010SL (a later machine with an independent fast forward drive motor),
and a Panasonic - RQ-705 mono tape recorder from the same time period as
the Wollensak 5750. The Panasonic which was a popular machine at the time,
tapped the motor itself for the fast forward and rewind functions. Changing
tape speed s had no effect.
This is by
no means a benchmark, but the TEAC was considered a "high end" audio machine
with "professional" performance, and the Panasonic is used to represent the
performance from other machines of the day. Here are the results with all
machines set to 7-1/2 ips (only effective on the Wollensak 5750):
Wollensak
5750: Fast Forward - 1 Min 48 Sec, Rewind - 1
Min 44 Sec
TEAC
4010SL:Fast Forward - 1 Min 42 Sec, Rewind - 1 Min 40 Sec
Panasonic
RQ-405: Fast Forward - 4 Min 02 Sec, Rewind - 4 Min 34 Sec
The Wollensak
claim of high speed search is accurate in comparison to some other machines
of the time.
Power
Activated Push Buttons - Yes, this is true, thanks to the "power
cam", and as innovative as the concept was, I am not sure it was implemented
in the best way.
The issues
I have with the concept are that there is no manual over ride in case the
cam is stuck or broken, and that there is no speaker or sound disengagement
when the cam is trying to move the transport plate away from the head and
capstan during a stop operation. LV (later version) models may have addressed
these issues.
Certainly,
this approach seems quite unique and necessary. The older model 1500 Wollensak
tape recorder which was tremendously popular, had push buttons that were
"finger breakers" because the "action" was so stiff. Even the Panasonic RQ-705
(which has push buttons) is almost painful to operate - so it is easy to
understand why Wollensak went for the "power activated" pushbuttons. The
TEAC machines of the time had push button operation, but they used solenoids
to do the work, and the cost of adding power solenoids was probably not something
that appealed to Wollensak, which was trying to keep costs for the 5000 series
down in order to stay competitive.
Precision
VU meters - Uh, not quite. The VU meters used in the Wollensak 5000
series do match the overall look and design of the machine, but precision?
Not likely. They have no internal adjustments for one thing, and they have
no scale printed on them. They are simple enough, but basically, the way
to read them is: if the white needle is in the black zone, the recording
will not distort. For balancing the channels, without a scale, it is
guesswork, which hardly makes them precision. A nice pitch for the ad, but
in practice, not really true. Still they look nice and uncluttered.
4
-Speed Operation - By the time the 5750 was being made, it had only
three speeds. This still put the Wollensak 5750 in a class with other "good"
machines of the time, which also had three speeds.
The
tape recorder was compatible with most other reel to reel tape recorders
of the time, including small battery powered "portable" recorders.
The slow
speed of 15/16 ips was almost useless anyway except in very special needs
situations (i.e. a radio station recording all day programming) - very few
home reel to reel tape recorders used this speed, and although it would save
on tape use, it was not appropriate for music recording. It made sense for
Wollensak to drop this speed.
Pitching the
4-speeds may have had an appeal for consumers who were looking for the greatest
"bang for the buck", but it was not anything a serious audiophile
would consider an advantage. The only home reel to reel tape recorders I
found that offered the very low 15/16 ips speed were made by Emerson-Telectro.
These were considered average home tape recorders. UHER had a portable 5-inch
reel tape recorder that used the 15/16 ips speed. It was considered a professional
machine and was rather expensive, but it only used up to 5-inch reels.
Extra
Large Balanced Flywheel - One of the key factors in a reel to reel
tape recorder is tape speed accuracy. If the capstan does not pull the tape
across the record and playback heads at a constant speed, "wow and flutter"
can result. One way to minimize the problem was to use a heavy and dynamically
balanced flywheel for the capstan. The flywheel in the Wollensak 5750 is
such a flywheel as evidenced by the countersunk and holes drilled in it to
ensure its balance.
Solid
State Circuitry - The amplifier in the Wollensak 5750 has 14 transistors
(ridiculously small by comparison with today's IC chips) which for the time
was generous. Wollensak amplifiers have a tendency to "run hot" and there
are heat sinks on the transistors to keep them cool, plus there is a large
vent in the back of the machine to provide a constant air flow (assisted
by the motor fan.)
Sleek
Look in Superb Sound - Definitely and certainly - depending. The
design is beautiful, it looks fantastic and the appearance has never been
duplicated (although AKAI in the 1980's came out with a very impressive tape
deck that had a similar "look".
) It gives me pleasure to watch it, but then I am mesmerized by screen savers,
and fractals, so...take it for what you will.
No matter
what, the look is extraordinary for the time - the 5800 reel to reel tape
recorder, with its large speakers and matching tuner module was over 6 feet
long! Hanging on a wall (as shown in some of the ads of the time) it made
an impressive site - almost like a work of modern art. The 5750, although
shorter, is still quite impressive. I don't think anyone could argue that
anyone else made a tape recorder that looked like that! Talk about thinking
outside the box... these guys re-invented the box!
The sound
is quite good in many areas. But I do feel the 5750 is hampered by its relatively
common speakers. A two way speaker (with a woofer and tweeter) would have
provided better sound quality, as would the use of a tuned port enclosure
instead of an open back. The amplifier is small, even for the time - 3-watts when
10-watt amps were more common at the time. Yet, these little criticisms
don't stand up when I consider the other side of the Wollensak equation:
There is a
good match between the speakers and the amplifier. I find that when I play
the tape recorder, I rarely turn the volume past "3" (on a scale
of 1 to 10) - the sound fills the room, and can be clearly heard in other
rooms of the house, yet is not oppressive they way a boom box is with its
overdriven bass. The Wollensak sound carries so well because it is clear
and clean.
The stereo
effect is very good, depending of course on the source material (i.e. a mono
tape won't have ANY stereo separation.) The distance between the speakers
(the main cabinet), seems ideal for good stereo separation and there is no
need to remove the speakers to try to improve it.
When played
through a stereo system, the sound of the Wollensak is excellent, with good
bass response and adequate high end response, easily matching that of a current
day cassette recorder.
When played
through the headphone jack (now that I re-wired it for correct orientation)
the sound really comes to life! I tried playing the Wollensak through the
Marantz Stereo, listening to it on the Marantz headphone out, but I found
the Marantz wasn't necessary. I plugged the headphones into the Wollensak
output jacks and it pretty much blew me away. Such clarity (even with weak
filter caps!) That stereo separation really comes though on the phones.
Only a CD with wider dynamic range sounds better. Wollensak was probably
ahead of its time with the sound quality, hampered only by the speakers.
One thing
that is important is the source material. Because I have vintage tapes, I
can hear the Wollensak with true source material. For example I have a Columbia
recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in the
Mendelssohn Italian Symphony. I am not sure of the date (there's none give
on the box or reel, but I expect it must be from 1967 or possibly the early
'70's.) This was when the NY Philharmonic was unusually precise and clear,
with a marvelous crisp sound. Bernstein conducts the music wonderfully, and
whoever engineered the recording had incredible sensitivity for the musical
lines -- everything is so clear and jumps out! It's a marvelous musical trip.
I tried the same recording on my TEAC 4010SL, and it just wasn't the same,
although it was very good. Yet, there was something missing in the TEAC's
performance -- or maybe I am just so involved with the Wollensak 5750 that
I am hearing things.
Summary
I have been
impressed, delighted, engaged and challenged with my Wollensak 5750 reel
to reel tape recorder restoration/rebuild project. It has brought me hours
of enjoyment and a great sense of accomplishment. I am very glad I got "into"
it.
I take great
pleasure in listening to my vintage tapes on the machine (somehow the sound
is not as warm when I play the tapes on my TEAC 4010SL) and I feel I have
recaptured a bit of my own audio history by now owning a machine that I admired
so many years ago, yet could not afford to buy.
Does a CD
have better sound quality? You bet! But it doesn't have the warmth or the
nostalgia and certainty not the beautiful appearance of the Wollensak 5750.
I have seen some very impressive looking CD players (some of which sound
remarkably disappointing!) but it's just not the same thing.
For convenience
and sound quality, a CD player is a superior piece of audio equipment, there's
no question about it. But it is also something that was developed much later,
based on tremendous progress in audio equipment production.
I like to
think that the Wollensak 5000 series was an innovative, progressive and significant
development in the reel to reel tape recorder arena. It didn't last long,
and by the lack of information on this series, it seems that I am in the
minority being impressed with the machines. But it doesn't matter, I am having
a good time, and my restored tape recorder is a source of pleasure. When
it comes down to it, that's about the best testimony one can give about a
piece of audio equipment.
I thank the
3M company for making the machine, and I am grateful to E-Bay and the seller
of this unit for making it available to me.
I guess in
a way, one can recapture the past and by looking back to where we came from,
we can appreciate how far we have come since then. That's part of the "lesson"
for me here.
As I thread
up the tape recorder I sometimes think, "What a nuisance this is!" and then
realize the drive behind the compact cassette. As I fast forward, and rewind
the reel to reel tape recorder, I may think, "This is so clumsy" and then
realize the value of a CD with its ease of search.
But when I
listen to the Wollensak 5750 reel to reel tape recorder, I feel a little
warm and fuzzy, and I think, "That
was quite a time in 1967, it's nice to remember it in such a positive light,
it's nice to remember great teachers and the wonderful adventures of my youth
and re-live them."
