Mechanical Laboratory

It was a state-owned company in socialist Hungary, producing partly military and partly studio equipment.

Military radio receivers (ML-213, ML-400, ML-1250)

Magnetofonok (ML EHR-11)

Television studio equipment (8-channel black and white/1957)

Studio tape recorders:

The thousands of studio tape recorders produced in the Mechanical Laboratory over the decades /1958-1993/ covered not only the needs of the Hungarian Radio and the Hungarian Television. The majority of the devices produced found their owners within the Common Market for Foreign Affairs. In addition to Europe, some of them also reached Asia, Africa and, via Cuba, America.

Starting with the 200 model, the electrically and mechanically modular device families were produced in mono (x00), stereo (x10), pilot, later TC (x50), and cutting table (x31) versions. Their tape speeds, common in European studios, were 19.05 and 38.1 cm/s.

M6

STM–6J

STM–10

STM–100 / STM–110 – 1972.

STM–200 / STM–210 / STM–224 / STM–226 / STM–250 / STM–231 – 1966.

STM–300 / STM–301 / STM–310 – 1974

STM–4016 – 0,6-19cm/400

STM–500 / STM–510

STM–600 / STM–610 / STM–650 / STM–631

STM–700 – 1985. 8/16/24 tracks, varyspeed

STM–800 / STM–810 / STM–812 / STM–850 – 1988. 4,7-76 cm/s, varyspeed /-50,+33%/

STM–900 – 1992.

The STM-10 type is vacuum tube, the 200s are transistorized, and the newer ones, starting with the 300 series, are partly made with integrated circuit electronics.
The most successful and most common types were the 200 and 600 series. Several thousand units of these were produced. Due to its late appearance and special application, significantly fewer of the multi-band 700 left the factory. Apart from the experimental units, the company only produced a series of a few dozen units of the extremely sophisticated, processor-controlled 800 family. The last design of ML, the STM–90, never reached the production line. Only a few prototypes were built. Within a type family, the mechanical and electronic components are largely interchangeable. These units were under continuous development, but the designers paid great attention to maintaining interchangeability. There are examples where certain units of one type family also fit into devices belonging to another family. For example, The mechanical units of the 600 family (motor units, head unit) also hold their own in the older 200 series. The audio frequency circuits of the 300 and 600 series are identical. Just like the amplifiers of the 700 and 800.

Studio record players (SL-100/1976, SL-101/1979, SL-102/1984)

Reporter tape recorders (Reporter 5, Reporter 6, Reporter 7)

After the change of regime, the market for military equipment manufactured by ML (former socialist and third world countries) proved to be unviable, so the company was liquidated by the regime-changing government. The fate of the studio technology branch was sealed by the spread of digital audio and video equipment.