24 July 2019

eumig Metropolitian CCD (1977) - Rare 3 Head Model

cassette deck
Eumig from Austria was best known for its filmprojectors, cameras and radios when suddenly in 1977 it introduced it's first compact cassette recorder. It has to be mentioned that they had introduced their proprietary cassette format recorder in 1962, but that model was exclusively made to accompany their film cameras for synchronized sound recording. Now back to this eumig Metropolitan CCD High Concert Fidelity Cassette Deck. The deck features a series of unique solutions and it was awarded with the "Österreichische Staatliche Auszeichnung" and the "Award for Design and Engineering" in Chicago. As a fundamentally new solution to the problems of synchronization, Eumig has introduced the optoelectronic synchronization control for its new cassette drives. Instead of the inertial flywheel, the control is carried out by a so-called "electronic flywheel" with a control sampling frequency of 15000 hertz. The low mass of motor and shaft (less than 2 grams) also explains the extremely short run-up time of less than 1/25 s. The two low-mass bell armature motors are also used for optimal tape winding and as opposite to freewheel control. This also makes possible to switch from one function to another without a stop button. The virtually inertia-free design of the winding motor also makes it possible to use the memory key to control a programmed tape position with great precision, both in fast forward and reverse. 

The head arrangement was also unique. Instead of the usual 3 head sandwiched-head configuration eumig used an independent playback head while the recording head was installed side by side with the erase head which also featured azimuth control with the aid of a built-in test tone. The distance between the recording and playback head (sourced from Woelke - Germany) results in an audible time delay of 0.5 seconds when switching from source to tape, which can used for " echo effects " Another interesting feature was the fact that even the tape counter used a gear driven transmission instead of the more common belt drive counters of the era. A relatively small number of 10000 units were made while a slightly different version was used in the eumig Metropolitan CC (Concert Center) that featured added radio and amplifier.