1944– Founded in San Carlos CA. by Alexander M. Poniatoff. The name AMPEX stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence.

1948– Model 200A First Ampex Tape Recorder

Early 1950s– Ampex produces 1 and 2 track machines using ?1/4-inch tape.
Model 400 affordable professional quality audio recorder.

1952– Produces a Hi-Fi movie sound system using sound magnetically recorded on 35mm film, first used in movies The Robe (1953) and Oklahoma (1955) (35mm & 70mm)

1953– April, Model 350 replaces Model 400

1954– Unknown Truck Driver, Elvis Presley records first single, “That’s All Right” at Sun Studios in Memphis using Ampex reel-to-reel

1957– Wins Emmy award for inventing the Video Tape Recorder (VTR)

1958– NASA uses Ampex data recorders and magnetic tape

1959– Ampex buys Orradio Industries in Opelika, Alabama, changes to the Ampex Magnetic Tape Division

Late 1950s– Introduces $10,000 Multitrack Machines that record 8 tracks on 1 Inch Tape.

1960– The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards Ampex an Oscar for Technical Achievement

1965– AG-350 First all-transistorized Audio Recorder.

1967– World’s first 16 Track Tape Recorder, MM 1000

1979– ATR-124, Most advanced 24 Track recorder with audio specs rivalling the first digital recording machines. With high price tag, Ampex sells only 50-60

1983– Leaves the professional audio tape recorder market

1995– Ampex Recording Media Corporation spins off in as Quantegy Inc

Ampligraph appears to be very short-lived US tape recorder manufacturer that we found in a buyers guide. As compared to so many lower-priced tape recorders in 1961, the Ampligraph 66 at $335, looked to be worthy of investigation. Very little information is available, however this article,  also from 1961, gave us a clue, that something half decent was produced. Who knows if they got many out the door.

Arvin, was a brand of Noblitt-Sparks Industries

Astrocom of Oneonta NY, was founded in 1961 by Derwood Lifgren and specializes in electronic design and manufacturing for space programs, the military, municipal police departments, and industry and has worldwide distribution.

They made a brief foray into tape recorders in the late’s 60s and early 70s and also produced a quadraphonic cassette deck.

The company is still in business here in 2022.

1930’s Bell Sound Systems was founded by Floyd W. Bell in Columbus, Ohio. Bell Sound Systems manufactured hi-fi components, and developed the first commercially available reel-to-reel tape recorder

1940’s Bell manufactured public address systems, hi-fidelity amplifiers, tuners, and magnetic tape recorders

1950’s The company reached its peak with its space-age hi-fi and stereophonic components.

1953 Bell Sound was acquired by Thompson Products. Bell became a wholly owned subsidiary of Thompson Products (TP). Bell introduced the Bell 3D Bin-aural amplifier in, the first commercially available stereo amplifier for home hi-fi use. The name Thompson, Ramo Woolridge (Bell Sound Division) was often used in the 1960s

1957 Bell Sound released new amplifier and tuner models housed in vinyl-clad steel that looked like saddle leather. The new product line included the Model 2315, 2325, and 2360 (which produced 50 watts) amplifiers, the Model 2520, 2521, and 3070 AM-FM tuners, and the Model 3030 stereo amplifier. Bell changed their marketing and distribution strategy from specialized electronics/hi-dealers to general retail outlets such as department stores. This strategy change, with an increase in competition is said to have brought on the end of the company

1959 Bell introduced Carillon Model 6060 which produced 30 watts per channel using four EL34 power tubes.

1965 Bell Sound Systems stops manufacturing hi-fi components

1946– Emmanuel “Bert” Berlant (1911-1985) started Berlant Associates Inc, producing hi-fidelity audio equipment
1948– Berlant developed the magnetic transducer head for recording audio on magnetic tape. Berlant’s professional grade products were used by recording studios and radio stations
1949– Berlant started manufacture of dictating machines using the new magnetic tape recording technology
1950– Berlant introduces three Concertone models,the basic 1401, without a frame, the 501 a portable suitcase model and the 702, a professional grade recorder with console cabinet

1954– Berlant Concertone 20/20 Series 30 introduced. This was an early vertical reel to reel model marketed to radio stations for its dependability, performance and simplicity.
1962– Concertone 505 4RK “Reverse-O-Matic” model that features four heads and four track recording, allowing the user to record in both directions, making recording easier and cheaper.
1963– American Concertone licensed the rights to manufacture the Model 505 to TEAC (Tokyo Electro Acoustic Company)
1970’s– The company stopped producing audio equipment

American Concertone was started by  Bert Berlant  and his Concertone machines were sold under both names. The top model 607 was one of a few US machines that could give the Ampex 351 real competition.

In 1962 American Astro-Systems, an Aerospace firm in South El Monte, CA bought Concertone from Berlant and began to manufacture the subassembly of the Model 505 in Japan by Teac. Final assembly and QC was done in South El Monte and Culver City CA.
In 1965 all the US operations were moved to South El Monte, where they began development of an automatic tape reversing mechanism for bi-directional 4 track playback. This asymmetrical capstan drive designed by Deiter Brandt and Richard Schullenberg was first used in the American Concertone 800 Reverse-O-Matic. Al Solfe was Concertone’s chief engineer.
Apparently Berlant left the company in 1963 and Arne L. Berg and Kenneth M. Williamson ran the company.

The Concertone 605 was a great prosumer recorder with new front shielded 2 and 4 track heads in a removable head assembly with full remote control developed by Al Solfe. This recorder had full pro specs and was a quality recorder. It was later sold under the Concord brand and TEAC as the R2000.

It seems Concertone also had a relationship with another Japanese company, Dokorder but not much is known about that.

The above information is a compilation of what can be seen on the fine Museum of magnetic sound recording website

1960’s Concord Electronics Corp., the American re-seller of Japanese made consumer electronics, was founded

1961 Introduced the Model 103 open-reel tape recorder

1962 Released the model AF-40 AM-FM receiver with stereo amplifier.

1965 Released the model 4444 open-reel stereo tape recorder

1967 Concord released the model 501 D tape deck

1970 Released the model 776 stereo automatic reverse reel to reel recorder, and the model 300 tape recorder with “Reverse-A-Track”

1975 Released the model 330 transistorized tape recorder

1980 Introduced the F-101 cassette recorder

Crown Reel to Reel History Clarence C. Moore (1904-1979) Built his first audio amplifier when he was a senior in high school. Known across the community as Loud Sound Clarence, he was a man with broad interests and knowledge, who earned a degree in math, music and english. He became a pastor and schoolteacher in Michigan. In the 1930’s, Clarence heard about a missionary organization in Ecuador that was having problems with their transmitter as a result of wild voltage swings. He had already solved similar problems on his farm where there was no electricity, having hooked up a generator to an old Model T. A visit to Ecuador resulted in him becoming pastor and chief engineer of Radio Station HCJB, now called Reach Beyond. His missionary work in South America continued for six years between 1939 and 1945.
He returned to Elkhart, Indiana and started consulting for a range of Christian organizations who were transmitting all over the US. One of the first consoles that he built was used by Billy Graham for his first radio message.

After the war, as new tape-recorder technology was developing in the US, he was approached by missionary with the idea of putting a tape recorder together with an amplifier for ease of field operation in Brazil and six weeks later the prototype was finished. Along the way, other people saw what he was doing and soon he had an order for six more and this is the founding story of International Radio and Electronics Corporation in 1947.
His son Clyde, the first employee, was given his first job, to clean out the 20×40′ foot building that was to be their new assembly area, that had previously been a chicken coop. Clarence and his talented wife Ruby began their foray into tape recorders studying and improving what few models of tape recorders were available by Magnecord, Recordio, Pentron and Crestwood. The intention was to make a more durable tape recorder suited to missionaries, who could use them in remote locations worldwide. In 1949 they patented the world’s first tape recorder with a built-in 15w amplifier, which hit the market in 1950. It was unique at the time to combine a mixer, an equalizer and a power amplifier into one product. This Integrated type of R-R tape recorder became quite popular with many manufacturers in the 50s and would continue to sell well into the early 60s.

The First Electronic braking was an early concept Clarence developed, as mechanical brakes often proved to be unreliable. One day after work Clarence approached one of his engineers asking –  I know that AC voltage makes a motor run but what would happen if you put DC to the motor? The response was- it would make it stop. So that evening he set up an Experimental prototype which was demonstrated the next morning. By switching out AC and differentially putting DC on the back motor, switching through functions, the tape came to a smooth stop. Three motor Crown machines became the standard and this type of breaking was revolutionary at the time.
In 1959, Crown decided to produce a tube amplifier to sell separately and two Models were produced, the 30-30 & 15-15 which were often sold with tape recorders.
The name was changed to Crown international in the 60s, a name that was suggested by Ruby.
They continued producing tape recorders as their primary product and the manufacturing facility was increased to 20×80 feet followed a little later by 40 x 80 which would eventually double in size again in the late 60s.

Enter Clyde Moore In 1963, Clarence’s son Clyde had finished his engineering degree but his father saw greater potential and benefit to the company for him to go into sales. So, back to the University of Michigan Clyde went and brought home a stack of books on sales and marketing. They only had two sales reps at the time and these guys also sold other companies product, but with Crown, they had no rep agreements. Clyde decided to give these guys a much more fair agreement and compensation, where the reps were paid 21 days after shipping the product which was never done by their competitors. What followed is that some of the top sales reps in the business heard about this and they all wanted to work at Crown. He then went to work on the dealer agreement which was renewed annually and had the dealers committing to a program that ensured the customer’s support would be second to none. Very few companies other than Crown offered one year warranties at that time. Thanks to Clyde, Crown also had a way of keeping their employees really happy having a turnover rate of 7% which was extremely low.

Another son, Edwin C. Moore, worked for Crown while in college, as the sales manager, but left in 1963 to become the general manager of Christian ministry radio stations WCMR and WXAX in Elkhart as well as two stations in Fort Wayne.

1960- The beginning of studio quality recorders  Crown designed and manufactured Tube-based tape recorders until mid 1964.  The best ones can be identified from the serial number starting with C. Production of these started  in late 1962. The B Decks that preceded them in 1960 were very good in their day, but suffered from a badly designed head assembly, where the removal of the headcover reveals the heads are attached to it. Very hard to align. Furthermore, the piano key function buttons which probably looked quite neat at the time, have potential for failure 60 years later. The Crown 1000, The rarest of them all (Only 2 known to exist now) also had this head assembly. Another super rare one, the 1400 (Only 2 known to exist) Came  out a bit later, with the good head assembly of the C Deck.

The first really serious tube recorders and very likely the best sounding Crown machines ever made, are described as C Decks or transports. They are the early 800 Series and the serial number starts with C. Both the B & C tape recorders were paired with mono or 2x Mono =stereo, Tube electronics, model RP-3 which had three different iterations.
Introduced in August 1964, the SS-824, was their first solid-state machine and manufactured for two years.
The 700 and 800 Pro Series decks were the next evolution where the first 700 showed up in mid-late 1966 and the 800 in Late 1967.

Crown suffered a brief setback on Thanksgiving Day in 1971, when a fire destroyed over 60% of the factory and inventory. The company was underinsured and they were just completing another renovation. Unfortunately, the only building that did not catch fire was the one that they stored obsolete components and discontinued models in. Even though Crown had a pretty significant bank loan at that time, they also had a very large order that represented about three months of production and their banker suggested if Clyde could find a new building to resume production in, the bank would take care of the money side. With remarkable resilience, they were back up and running 6 weeks later, with many of the employees volunteering to work for free, during the transition.
The name changed once again in 1975, when the stockholders voted To change the corporate name to Crown International Inc.

In mid 1976, Crown began a serious study of the cassette market which was now beginning to hit full stride,  comparing all the Higher End manufacturers specs & features in three price points to determine what would be needed in each, $700, $1000 & $1600. Solid competition for Nakamichi would be the primary  goal.
Ultimately, they decided not to go into the cassette market.

With reel to reel tape recorder sales falling off fairly significantly, the decision was finally made to discontinue producing tape recorders in Dec. 1977 and the last SX822 was sold to Clarence Moore.
By law they were required to maintain parts inventory for seven years. After that, The tape recorder parts inventory, service manuals, card file of past clients and more was sold to John Haines (who had been working a Crown since the mid-60s and had become service manager)
This inventory was eventually transferred to Chuck Ziska, when John retired.

Continuing forward in amplifiers, tuners and various other audio products Crown started to shift their focus into professional audio. Don Eger started the Techron Division in 1981 marketing to industrial and OEM manufacturers.
They launched a completely new amplifier design with the PSA-2 which had built-in computer technology to maximize the output transistors performance. This Grounded Bridge circuitry was used in the Macro-Tech and Micro-Tech high-power amplifier products used in many high profile installations worldwide for PA systems and musical performance.
In the 1990s, Crown moved into computer-controlled audio systems, with an IQ system that they patented, the world’s first significant computer-controlled audio system. These systems were very versatile and can be used in small installations or for touring rock stars. At this point in time Crown equipment was a mainstay in public address and commercial sound systems known for its excellent sound and durability.
In 1997 they had yet another manufacturing expansion with many millions of dollars put into the effort and the next significant product was the K2 amplifier which had Balanced Current Amplifier circuitry offering benefits in thermal and energy efficiency.

The company was sold to Harman in the year 2000.

Crown reel to reel tape recorders are difficult to categorize on a website like this, as the company offered many options and their dealers were actively encouraged to make these available so many of the machines come in unique configurations that were not specific models. So many of the tape recorders below are representative of that…

The Daystrom Electric Corp. of Poughkeepsie NY made Crestwood branded tape Recorders in the 1950’s. In 1954 they purchased the Heath company which was already building electronics in kit form. Daystrom was bought by Schlumberger Limited in 1962. The company would continue to market Heathkit until 1992.

Federal Manufacturing & Engineering Corporation from Brooklyn New York

Eugene Freeman founded the company which was based in Los Angeles, Ca.  Probably in the San Fernando Valley where we lived.  He lived in a mid century modern hillside home in Studio City, California, overlooking the San Fernando Valley.  He worked for Roberts, and Citroen before going out on his own.  The company folded when hundreds of returns occured due to overly tight tolerances on the drive motor’s plain bearings.  The mysterious defect would only happen to some units, under certain use and environmental conditions.  The motor would sieze, or slow down.  He tried to make good on the units but there were too many.  From there, he founded Columbia Management Science Corp., helping corporations streamline operations by working smarter.  In later years, he returned to building subdivisions and had his own real estate sales agency.  Definitely a self-starter entrepreneur of the old school.

This photograph was originally from Sun roundup records dated July 28, 1963 and the photograph was taken by Bill peters from the Denver Post.

Pictured are Charles Satter the Freeman distributor, Jim Gray sales rep and Eugene J Freeman of Freeman Electronics Corp. admiring the all new all transistor Freeman 200 tape recorder.

Heathkit manufactured electronic kits from 1947 until 1992

Edward Bayard Heath bought the Bates Aeroplane Co in 1911 , which was renamed to E.B. Heath Aerial Vehicle Co.

By 1926 they manufactured the Heath Parasol, a light aircraft in kit form. Heath died in 1931 in a test flight.
In 1935, Howard Anthony purchased the Heath Company, selling small aircraft accessories. Post World War II they got into the electronics industry, after buying a large stock of surplus electronic parts.
In 1947, Heath introduced its first electronic kit, the O1 oscilloscope with a 5-inch CRT display selling for $39.50, a very fair price and it became a big seller.

The kit concept caught on in a big way as consumers could buy similar product to factory assembled models at a much lower price and have fun at the same time building it. See Pic below.
These kits continued to be quite successful even after the Japanese had entered the consumer electronics market, although the savings were not as significant.

We know very little about International Scientific Industries ISI tape recorders.

An ad from 1957 describing their model 100 tape recorder states – here’s a revolutionary engineering approach to tape recording that utilizes a magnetic differential clutch and brake system, completely out-performing conventional types. Through isimetric drive, the use of mechanical servo-feed-back system with magnetic differential automatically applies the correct torque to the supply and pick up reels thus maintaining constant tape tension and stability whether in play- record position or in fast-forward or rewind.

All very fancy talk for a tape recorder priced at $465 in 1957.

The Keystone camera company in Boston primarily produced projectors but may have had aspirations to develop a cartridge system for tape recorders, based on the only model that we have found.

1946– Magnecord, Inc. was founded in Chicago by 4 men who worked for the Research Division of  The Illinois Institute of Technology,  R.L.Landon, John S. Boyers, R.J. Tinkham and C.G. Barker.
1947– Magnecord’s first product was the professional wire recorder SD-1 (Super Duper). The company moved to produce reel tape recorders beginning with the PT series.
1948– The Magnecord PT6 was one of the very first broadcast-quality tape recorders ever made
1952– Magnecorder PT6J-AH and Magnecorder PT6-J released

1953– According to a January 1953 article in Magnecord Inc, the company has been working on binaural (stereo) technology for two years. Late in 1952 they promoted a number of binaural broadcasts, to spread the word. They stated… Magnecord does not lay claim to invention of binaural sound. It points only to the record which shows Magnecord engineers designed and developed the first commercially practical method of recording sound binaurally
1953– models M30, M33 were released
1956– Magnecord released the P 63 Pro Deck and the S-36B
1956– Midwestern Instruments (later known as TELEX) a company that made geophysical instrumentation, acquired Magnecord
1964– The Magnecord 1024 was introduced. The last reel tape recorders were made in the 1960’s
1988-Telex was in turn acquired by Memorex and went out of business in the mid-1990’s

Founded by Robert Newcombe 1937, Newcombe audio product company produced FM tuners and amplifiers in the 1950s and their first tape recorder in 1958, the SM-310.
They were originally located in Glendale CA and relocated to Hollywood. This company appears to have been inspired by the magnecord machines of the day, with quite a few similarities.

Nortronics, a significant tape head manufacturer, may have produced tape recorders for testing purposes. Only speculation at this point. The example below is just a transport with no Preamplifier electronics. Any further information about tape recorders associated with this company would be appreciated.

The Presto Products Company was founded in 1915 and would later be renamed Presto Recording Company in 1932.

The Wilcox Gay Corporation of Charlotte Michigan branded some of their early tape recorders Recordio.

1919– Scully Recording Instruments founded by John J. Scully & his son Larry Scully in Connecticut, manufacturing cutting lathes used to make records. Almost all major masters were cut on a Scully Lathe until the 1960’s
1960’s– When Neumann lathes arrived in North America, Scully decided to move into the tape recorder market. Scully releases the 270 and 280 models.
1966– As recording studios were starting to move towards to  8-tracks on 1″ Tape,  Scully positioned themselves to gain this market
1967– Scully was purchased by Dictaphone, but production was kept the same. Scully introduced the 1″ 12-track; 284 transport, as well as the 2″ 16-track machines; 288 transport
1970’s– Scully backed out of the market when 24 track recorders were introduced by competitors
1971– The Scully 100 was introduced. It was a 16 track recorder marketed as the less expensive alternative to other makers
1980’s– After several years of mismanagement, Dictaphone sold Scully to Ampro, who eventually closed the company. Larry Scully had a non-compete with Dictaphone which ran out and in the mid ’80’s he made a comeback with the Scully LJ-10 and LJ-12 but there was a lot of competition and that did not turn into a success story.

Stephens Electronics, Inc. after an auspicious start in eight track tape recorders, John Stephens began around 1970, producing excellent studio tape recorders. He pioneered a unique tape drive system that did not use controllers or a capstan motor. Just the supply and take-up motors were required as he had a unique
rotating idler that compared the output of an LED and pulses that were compared to a crystal-locked time base for servo transport motor control. The Stephens machines were all half track with tape widths between half-inch and 2 inch. It is estimated that about 200 or so were manufactured.

Source

Tape Op Interview

What may have been a Short business run and known as Travis Tapak, the reviews suggest that Company produced a very complex Tape recorder in 1954.

Broadcast Equipment Specialties Corp., 135 -01 Liberty Avenue, Richmond Hill N. Y.

The Tape-Athon Corporation of 502 S. Isis Avenue, Inglewood California was founded in 1954 and was a producer of background music and a manufacturer of professional-style reel-to reel tape transports designed to play the Tape-Athon tape programmes.

The Tape-Athon players were built for “the long haul”, incredibly rugged and designed to be used day in day out with little or no maintenance.

The music side of the business was so large it was operated as a separate entity with one of the largest and most costly tape duplicating facilities on the West Coast.

In a May 1964 Billboard article, Tape-Athon managing director George Anthony described his company as selling ‘atmosphere’, while criticising his competitors by adding “background music today isn’t what it should be… some of the sounds now being sold for background purposes would be better off attenuated a couple hundred dBs”.

Tape-Athon were one of the largest background music companies in the USDA in the 1960s, second probably only to Muzac. Their large library of tapes could be purchased, or leased (for 51 cents a day).

Tape-Athon were eventually taken over by the Telex company.

Tapesonic decks were manufactured at Premier Electronic Labs located in New York city at 382 Lafayette St.
The business started in the late 1940s making tube based tape recorders, which are still excellent today and transitioned into solid-state around 1964. The business was a collaboration between Adolph “Sam” Miller, the machinist, who built the chassis and was responsible for the transport functions. Harry Kolbe took care of the electronics and alignment.
Looking at the solid-state machines, it’s hard to know who borrowed from who, with these machines having similarities with Crown and Magnecord and to some degree, Ampex.
Tapesonic is one of a handful of US-made machines that are well worth the restoration investment, sounding better than the best Japanese consumer machines made into the 1980s.
Priced at approximately $600, Tapesonics were custom made to order and sold direct from the factory, bypassing retail markups. A comparable machine, made by Crown, was double the price.

The TR series was their first all-solid state version.
Four models were available:
70-TRSQ (quarter-track stereo),
70-TRSH (half-track stereo)
70-TRH (half-track mono)
70-TRF (full-track mono)

Outwardly, the basic transport system had remained virtually unchanged since the first Model 70 – three motors, three heads, push-button relay and solenoid-operated transport controls and 10½ inch reel capacity.
What had changed was than now, the capstan motor was direct-drive hysteresis synchronous, the reel motors were high-torque unshaded capacitor types, gold-plated contacts on relays, remote control capability, all solid-state componentry with five plug-in modular boards, regulated power supply and two tape tensioning arms. A four-inch heavy-duty dynamically balanced flywheel and non-magnetic stainless steel flutter-filter, tape lifters and tape guides all helped to ensure tape handling was smoother and wow and flutter much lower than earlier models. No pressure pads are used and wow is kept to a minimum (0.08% at 15 ips) by using a ball bearing pinch roller to reduce the load against the capstan. Speed change is entirely electrical with no pulleys or belts involved.

Voice Of Music History

1899– Wollensak was founded Andrew Wollensak in St. Paul, Minnesota. Andrew Wollensak was first employed as a machinist by Bausch and Lomb in 1882, and helped Edward Bausch with the design of the Iris Diaphragm shutter
1950’s– The company was bought by the Revere Camera Company
1960– Wollensak was acquired by 3M, eventually becoming the Mincom Division
1964– Releases the T-1980 Sound Room model. It was larger but nearly identical to the T-1580
1967– The 5000 Series was developed for the consumer market. It was designed to be more competitive, and could hung on a wall or used on a surface
1969– Production of the last R-R, the 6000 series,  which had 2 motors and a 70 watt amp