Crown CTR-550 Reel to Reel Tape Recorder

The Crown CTR-550. This rim drive machine has better transport than many in that it drives from the side of the tables instead on the bottom. The motor does not &as is more common, instead two interconnected rollers engage for play and rewind. Obviously you can still hear the variations in tape speed. The addition of a CP (cartridge phono?) socket is nice and actually performs well. This particular example has some physical damage, missing parts and sounds very, very toppy. In fact it makes my ears itch! Im sure when its germanium transistor we new it sounded much better.