Removed from a special "slide in" loading cassette mechanism used in vintage Soundcraft (NZ) professional audio equipment, the MM106
Soundcraft Electronics (New Zealand) should not be confused with the more well known Soundcraft UK. The former company was formed in 1971 in Auckland by Barry Smith and Brian Stephenson and sold in 2007, the company being renamed to Soundcraft 2007 Ltd
Information is pretty scarce on the use of this cassette auto-changer system but I suspect it was part of a system Soundcraft was marketing called Seeburg - a form of continuous music entertainment provided through telephone landlines to clients.
To quote a document held by the Alexander Turnbull Library (National Library of NZ)
"It wears well, helping people feel bright and comfortable and glad to be there". In New Zealand the Seeburg delivery was via Post Office landline via the central telephone exchange. There were Seeburg music studios in ten New Zealand locations. The music was also available on a range of one-hour cassette tapes."
This was a 4 bay cassette player with auto-reverse, playback ONLY and intended to provide continuous tape based playback. There was no provision for recording using this equipment.
The magnetic head assembly described below is the ONLY head in the tape drive mechanism, which was made by Tanashin Denki Co. Ltd (Japan) under licence from Staar S.A Brussels - Belgium (the holder of the design patents)
It is quite possible that other Japanese cassette machines may have used this magnetic head assembly
The Soundcraft equipment dates from the mid 1980's
Cassette Magnetic Head Assembly
Model: H2336-0112
4 track - for auto reverse playback
Identification marks:
(Top side)
H
2336-
0112
(Underneath)
E.H
8x copper pins for PCB connection (4 x 2 rows)
Supplied complete with original mounting hardware (bronze leaf springs, main support bracket & 2x screws)
Each coil measures 397 Ohm
(Coils are connected "top down" i.e top contact and the next contact down is coil 1 and the 3rd contact from the top plus the 4th (last) contact is coil 2 - this is repeated on each side of the head rear)
I have sold my inductance meter equipment so I am unable to give the uH figures
Face of each head being offered has approximately the same wear, which is worn but they remain useable.
Wear pattern across the face is even, indicating the tape path was not skewed. I regret not taking a picture of the mechanism, quite an unusual design with TWO pitch rollers in the tape path
Head faces are not scratched
Since removal, the complete head assembly is safely packaged in sealed plastic and will be supplied this way
