Repair reel recorder Aristona EW5504

Reel to reel recorders have their own innate charm. Therefore, when I saw an Aristona EW5504 reel tape recorder on a classifieds site, I immediately contacted the seller.

Aristona (as well as Radiola was), was a brand of Philips, active from 1950 to 1990, which marketed some products of the parent company, but with a cheaper price. The Aristona EW5504 reel recorder is in fact equivalent to the Philips N4504.

I was already repairing a Sanyo reel tape recorder, which I mentioned in this article. But I needed a working device, so I decided to buy this too.

The seller proposed it as working, but, when I took it home, this statement was far from true!

The Aristona EW5504 reel recorder had in fact several problems, perhaps due to prolonged inactivity. I contacted the seller who, very honestly, gave me back part of the amount I had paid him.

So I started repairing this recorder too!

Aristona EW5504 reel recorder problems

Unfortunately, the recorder presented not only one problem, but a whole series of independent defects.

In the first place, the audio reproduction was heard only on one channel, while the other was almost silent.

Then the counter didn't turn.

The power button lasted for a few cycles, then broke.

Finally, as if the other defects were not enough, the recorder did not record one of the two audio channels.

So I decided to open the recorder and start working on it.

Replacing the playback head

I first checked that the audio reproduction problem (one channel was much more attenuated than the other) was attributable to the head. On the playback head, I reversed the left and right signal cables, and the problem moved to the other channel. I then deduced that the head was faulty. Luckily, I found a batch of “new old stock” heads on eBay, so I was able to replace the faulty one.

The playback head (part number: 4822 249 20038 A1) can also be used for other reel recorders, in addition to the Philips N4504 and Aristona EW 5504. It can also be installed on the Philips N4512 and N4515, as well as the equivalent Aristona EW 5512 and EW5515 .

In the service manual, which I attach at the bottom of the page, the head is indicated as K2 / 102.

Counter belt replacement

Some belts have a bad habit: over time, they melt!

The problem with the counter not turning was, fortunately, solely attributable to the loose belt, but cleaning the entire recorder from the residues of the old belt was not at all easy.

The old belt had melted on several parts of the Aristona EW5504 reel recorder and also on the electronic board, which, moreover, was also very dusty.

Replacement of the ignition switch

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original ignition switch. I bought a different switch, and had to adapt the brackets so that I could install it.

Replacing some capacitors to repair the recording section

To repair the recording section (one of the two audio channels was recording too low), I had to refer to the service manual (attached at the bottom of the page).

From the wiring diagram, I noticed that the voltage at the + input of the operational IC1 was almost 0V, while it should have been 8.2V. I therefore found that the capacitor C4 was shorted. I have replaced C4 and, for symmetry, also C104, the homologous capacitor of the other channel.

The final test of the Aristona EW5504 reel recorder

After all these repairs, the recorder was back in great working order.

I tried a few electrolytic capacitors as a sample and, unfortunately, I noticed that they are a bit out of tolerance.

This is, unfortunately, a clear signal: sooner or later a full recap will need to be done. In fact, electrolytic capacitors tend to degrade over time: losses increase, capacitance tends to go out of tolerance and some capacitors also short-circuit.

The amount of electrolytic capacitors on this device is quite large. Therefore, I will do this in the future, when and if it is really needed.

Documentation for Aristona EW5504 and Philips N4504 reel recorders

In support of this article, I am attaching the Philips reel recorder manual N4504 and the Philips N4504 reel-to-reel tape recorder Service Manual.

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