8mm Forum: Scophony Baird Cine Soundmaster

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Posted by Al Leavy (Member # 2340) on April 24, 2011, 06:28 AM:

Recently, I managed to acquire a Baird Scophony Cine Soundmaster from about 1949.

Image link is below

It was used for syncing sound to silent movies. It was placed adjacent to the projector and the drive for the reels came from the projector itself. It is driven from a flexible square-section wire direct to the flywheel on the back of the unit.

There is a circular bakerlite recording and playback head and a permanent dual-pole magnet to erase the tape. The capstan and pinch roller are located below the head and come into play when a knob is rotated.

Everything is complete with all leads, and the speaker enclosure which acts as a case. It's a Brimar-Valve driven unit.

I won't power it up, but it does seem to be in good physical condition. Inside the speaker case there seems to be a location for a microphone which is missing.

I'm trying to track down which projectors this was paired with. Do any forum members have any ideas or experience of the Cine Soundmaster?

A search on the web reveals little about it apart from the fact that it might be one of the earliest British tape recorders. A year or so later, a revised version was produced for the domestic market that was more like the 'normal' tape recorder that we recognise today.

Any insight is sought. Many thanks.

Scophony Baird Cine Soundmaster

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on May 28, 2012, 04:05 AM:

Aa I recall the advertisements were usually illustrated with a Bolex G16 projector which clearly showed the linking cable drive.

Further head scratching seems to remember that the cable was attached to the inching knob of the projector. This was on the operator's side below the lens.

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