The ZK-140 T portable reel-to-reel tape recorder is a four-track mono tape recorder with a single tape speed, designed for the playback and recording of sounds. It is one of many models of tape recorders in the ZK-100 series. It was launched at a public presentation of the two-track ZK-120 tape recorder at the Poznań International Fair in 1968, where the device met with huge public interest. Soon afterwards, work on the ZK-140 began, followed swiftly by the ZK-140 T. Until the end of the 1970s the tape recorder was produced by the Zakłady Radiowe im. Marcina Kasprzaka in Warsaw, and production was then moved to Zakłady Mechaniki Precyzyjnej Unitra-Magmor in Gdańsk, where, from the beginning of the 1980s until December 1989, the ZK-140 TM version was produced with modified technical parameters. The ZK-140 T was manufactured in two versions – basic and a “deluxe” – the difference being mostly the design of the housing (including the front panel) and little difference in the parameters.
The devices in the ZK series use a licence from the Grundig company of Germany. The early models used vacuum tubes (ZK-120, ZK-140, ZK-145) but that solution became obsolete, due to changes in audio equipment production standards, and was replaced in the 1960s with a transistor-based electrical circuit (hence the letter “T”).
The ZK-140 T tape recorder is AC mains powered. The tape recorder allows the recording of sound from microphone, radio or television receivers, a gramophone, or another tape recorder (after connecting it using sockets on the rear wall); the playback of its own recordings or recordings made on another tape recorder; locating a point on the recording using a four-digit counter; fast-forwarding and fast-reversing of the tape at speeds of up to 9.5 cm/s; recording monitoring using an earphone; mono playback of stereo tracks; synchronous recording using an additional amplifier. Playback of recordings is possible thanks to the built-in Tonsil GD 14-9/3 speaker. The playback time of a full reel of tape is between four and six hours, depending on its thickness. The tape recorder is operated using the controls on the top panel: tone and volume controls, a recording button, a counter, an arrow signal indicator, and a rotary mode switch.

Author: Filip Wróblewski