MAGNECORD
was a US based taperecorder manufacturer. During the 1950's
Byer Industries here in Australia manufactured some models
of the Magnecorder under licence, import tariffs and transport
costs were the likely reasons for Magnecord not to import finished
machines. The first reference I have found relating to Byer
manufacturing Magnecord products comes from the Trade Reviews
and Releases page of June 1951 Radio And Hobbies, Page 71
BYER TO MAKE MAGNECORDER
Byer Industries Pty. Ltd., of 8 Dorcas St., South Melbourne, have been
granted the exclusive manufacturing rights of the American "Magnecorder"
for the sterling market. The new product will soon be available alongside
the company's already familiar BRS disc recording products.
It has been reported that the Magnecorder, which is in the professional
class of tape recording equipment, is used more extensively in the
United States than any other recorder of its type and promises to prove
extremely popular with Australian radio and electrical engineers.
It is understood that the first batch is already off the assembly line
and, for the present, manufacture will be concentrated around the JA
series, a twin unit, dual purpose combination.
The amplifier unit and tape drive mechanism are normally contained in
separate carrying cases for portability, but may be extracted quickly
and easily from their cases for rack mounting in studio or laboratory.
A feature of the Magnecorder is high quality combined with portability
and adaptability.
A range of multi-channel mixer units is in course of production to enable
two or more tape drive mechanisms to be coupled to a single amplifier for
continuous program recording.
We have received descriptive literature from the manufacturers, who we
understand, will be pleased to forward details to those interested.
Two months after the above press release, August 1951, The Myer Emporium advertised the Magnecorder. Today the department store chain is just known as Myer and is one of Australia's major department stores.
Radio And Hobbies, August 1951, Page 87
This ad shows more of the Magnecord range, mainly the JA series.
Proceedings of the IRE, August 1952, Page 310
Nearly two years after the Byer "77" was released to compeat with the Magnecorder Byer used comments by Magnecord to promote the quality of Byer equipment. I haven't been able to determine if Byer was still manufacturing the Magnecorder at this stage.
Proceedings of the IRE, August 1956, Page 263
This is the front panel of the PT6JAH amplifier unit.
A rear view of the PT6JAH amplifier unit.
If you have any comments or questions please contact me.