Magnetophon M23 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

CURRY POWDER · 16th Nov 2020, 2:00 pm

Hello all,
I recently purchased a Telefunken Magnetophon M23. I bought as “for parts not working” I knew it was minus its valves but little else, a bit of a risk? However, it arrived all 30kg of it! very well packed and in one piece. While waiting for a set of valves- 7 x ECC81 (I’m not aware of any other machine that has such an unvarying array of valves?) I attended to the mechanics, switch contacts and checking capacitors, all capacitors were good. The main problem was that every trimmer pot and capacitor had been moved and also every adjustment screw in the head block had been “tweaked” Unless damage has occurred or the heads replaced, why do people feel they have to “adjust” the factory head alignment? I’ve got the head alignment back okay but could really do with a service manual to set the bias correctly and the three pots associated with the level meter. There doesn’t seem to be a manual available from searching the usual locations, the M23 was only made 1959-60 and probably in very small numbers. Any ideas where I might acquire a copy?

DMcMahon · 16th Nov 2020, 2:21 pm

Yes seven ECC81's does sound strange ?

The radiomuseum.org site indicates it has 8 plus 3 other valves.

David

CURRY POWDER · 16th Nov 2020, 3:44 pm

The M23 was line level output, the later M24 had a built in power stage, with additional 1 x EC92 and 2 x EL95. But I think a few transitional M23 machines with built in amp were also sold?

DMcMahon · 16th Nov 2020, 6:38 pm

That now makes sense, the radiomuseum.org M23 link did say "mit Endstufe" (with power amplifier).

16th Nov 2020, 2:00 pm	#1
CURRY POWDER Triode Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Suffolk, UK. Posts: 19	Magnetophon M23 Hello all, I recently purchased a Telefunken Magnetophon M23. I bought as “for parts not working” I knew it was minus its valves but little else, a bit of a risk? However, it arrived all 30kg of it! very well packed and in one piece. While waiting for a set of valves- 7 x ECC81 (I’m not aware of any other machine that has such an unvarying array of valves?) I attended to the mechanics, switch contacts and checking capacitors, all capacitors were good. The main problem was that every trimmer pot and capacitor had been moved and also every adjustment screw in the head block had been “tweaked” Unless damage has occurred or the heads replaced, why do people feel they have to “adjust” the factory head alignment? I’ve got the head alignment back okay but could really do with a service manual to set the bias correctly and the three pots associated with the level meter. There doesn’t seem to be a manual available from searching the usual locations, the M23 was only made 1959-60 and probably in very small numbers. Any ideas where I might acquire a copy?

16th Nov 2020, 2:21 pm	#2
DMcMahon Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: Worthing, West Sussex, UK. Posts: 6,604	Re: Magnetophon M23 Yes seven ECC81's does sound strange ? The radiomuseum.org site indicates it has 8 plus 3 other valves. David

16th Nov 2020, 3:44 pm	#3
CURRY POWDER Triode Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Suffolk, UK. Posts: 19	Re: Magnetophon M23 The M23 was line level output, the later M24 had a built in power stage, with additional 1 x EC92 and 2 x EL95. But I think a few transitional M23 machines with built in amp were also sold?

16th Nov 2020, 6:38 pm	#4
DMcMahon Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: Worthing, West Sussex, UK. Posts: 6,604	Re: Magnetophon M23 That now makes sense, the radiomuseum.org M23 link did say "mit Endstufe" (with power amplifier).