Sony TC-630

Reel to reel recorder available as such (TC-630D) or as "stereo center" with a power amplifier strip added and dedicated loudspeakers which serve as enclosure as well (TC-630).

The mechanical part is strictly equivalent but the bare 630D does retain the input selector of the 630 : phono, tuner, aux and mic...
The headphones' terminal is doubled on the 630 : the one on the 630 allows record monitoring (...after the heads), the one on the added output strip allows listening (...after the amp).

The best feature of the 630 was its sound-on-sound feature to start recording like the pros in two takes only : this isn't a 4-channel recorder.
Three heads, three speeds (up to 19cm/s), hysteresis sync motor (belt-driven), and, as proudly touted on the front, "solid state electronics !

The echo mode allows to drown everybody in a church the size of Florida, while the "noise suppress" wasn't yet a Dolby nor a Philips DNL...
I believe the TC-630 (D or not) to have been export-only and unavailable in Japan.

A big stack of 1960s silver. And very reliable, too, even if sans F&F heads yet.


The two images come from two 1969 and 1970 swedish catalogs kindly donated by Göran Karlsson.