Sabamobil

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sabamobil with inserted cassette. The rotary knob on the right is for operating the tape and is also used to set the medium wave radio (coarse and fine tuning). Above it is a frequency range scale. At the bottom right is the volume control, on the left the switch between radio and cassette operation.

Sabamobil was a tape cassette system from SABA from 1964.

It used a commercially available four-track ¼ inch - tape on 3-inch coil (corresponding to 7.62 cm), with two channels mono each side with a belt speed of 3¾ IPS (~ 9.5 cm / s) and was Compatible with reel audio tapes except for the ends of the tape secured against pulling out . According to the unsecured tradition of one user, the Sabamobil could also be used as a dictation machine.

Sabamobil without cassette. The belt discs and heads / capstans are freely visible. The bridge between the right belt plate and the operating area can be moved so that the cassette is secured against falling out.

The cassette was either completely screwed on or opened as an empty cassette without tools by removing two retaining clips in order to insert existing 3-inch reels. The tape head and capstan were placed between the reels.

Underside of the Sabamobil. The battery compartment almost 5 mono cells. The 7-pin socket on the left was used for the connection to the car holder (car battery, additional loudspeaker, car antenna).

In the US, the player cost 136 US dollars , which would correspond today 1,118 USD, a cassette 14 USD (now 115 USD) and the adapter for installation in the car 45 USD. The model TK-R12 had an AM - Radio receiver for medium wave built with and could also with five tubular batteries of type D ( Mono cell operated). It appeared in the year following the introduction of the compact cassette and quickly lost its market share to the 8-track cassette and compact cassette.

Cassette of a Sabamobil. The two openings in the upper middle are the passages for heads and capstans. The tape runs centrally across the two openings.

A similar technique, which used 3-inch coils available on the market at the time, was used in the Philips Norelco EL3581 dictation machine . However, it differed in the tape speed and the division of the sound tracks.

Web links

Commons : Sabamobil  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Techmoan: Forgotten Format: The Sabamobil , YouTube, June 22, 2017
  2. ↑ Sabamobil TK-R12 , Radiomuseum.org, accessed on June 24, 2017
  3. ↑ The SABA Sabamobil, a noble part of the cassette device. , Tonbandmuseum.info, accessed June 24, 2017
  4. ↑ Philips EL 3581 (1958 - early 1960s) , Museum Of Obsolete Media, accessed June 26, 2017