Simon Sound Equipment -2

A short history

By the early 1950s the company appears to have followed the trend and moved away from wire and disk recorder manufacture and into designing and producing magnetic tape recorders. The earliest models appear to have been marketed from around 1950 and simply designated, 1A and 2B. Later the 1A was also advertised as the "Simphonic 1A" and then, with some changes to the front panel, designated the SP1 which appeared on the market in 1955. The next model to appear was the SP2 first marketed around 1957. Simon incorporated features not normally found on domestic / semi pro machines in the form of fairly large output stages (typically EL84s in push pull) and public address facilities, ideas probably carried over from their early amplifier days. These unusual features appeared on almost all the designs that were manufactured for the domestic / semi pro market. whether these extras were used or not remains to be seen! Simon also marketed an FM tuner unit to accompany the SP2 recorder which was produced by Jason, a well known supplier of constructional kits during the 1950s. Nothing further is known about this particular accessory.

Simon transportable disk recorder/reproducer model CDR 48/A. Similar machines were still being advertised up to the early 1950s. These were probably produced in fairly small quantities and aimed at the mobile recording market. Unlikely to have been found in a domestic environment due to cost.	An early entry into the recorder market by Simon. This unit appears to feature a prototype deck based on the Clifton MQ1. The Symphonic 1A however features the "Mono Master". This tape transport was of Simon's own design and manufacture. It found use on a limited range of models during the early/mid 1950s before being superceded.

Simons' display stand at the 1959 Radio Show, Olympia featuring their professional rack mounted range of recorders and the crystal version of the "Cadenza" microphone.