The Tardy Wollensak! - Exploring the Wollensak 5730 "LATE VERSION" Stereo Tape Recorder

The Video:

This is a video record of the restoration of a Wollensak 5730 "LV" vintage stereo reel to reel tape recorder. All my other Wollensak videos show the "EV" - Early Version design of this series of tape recorder. The "LV" Late Version has some mechanical improvements in the motor drive idler system and the power cam assembly, as you will see in this video. The LV units (which came out around 1968) tend to be more stable than the early versions. The machine is somewhat rare, and even more rare are operating manuals for any of the Wollensak 5000 series of reel to reel tape recorders. The video not only explores the machine and the restoration process, it explains the less-than-intuitive aspects of this tape recorder's unique design. The operation, though specific to the stereo Wollensak 5730, is basically the same for all the Wollensak 5000 series tape recorders. I made this video for the client "TAD" who doesn't have an operator's manual.

Behind the Scenes:

"TAD" contacted me about this Wollensak 5730 explaining that it had hardly been used, but it was not working properly and could I restore it. I said yes, and we worked out a deal, and he shipped the machine to me. I was rather amazed, because the machine was in almost pristine condition. Nevertheless, 40 years of age did take its toll, the drive idler had the usual "flat" common to the Wollensak 5000 series, the electrolytic capacitors were dried out, and the grease was turning to the expected gummy bear consistency.

I took care of all these problems, re-aligned the head and got the tape recorder playing as close to original performance as possible, considering this is what amounts to an "ancient" technology. Enjoy the video!