[daveman]

Quote:

Originally posted by wallijonn An 8 track from the car and an automotive 12V battery on a shopping cart.

Radio (the movie)! ROFLOL

 

[Xanadu777]

The stereo 8 tracks were crap, unless you taped your own, then they were alright I guess. I got into quadraphonic (Q-8's) while they were out. They had two tracks instead of four, four signals on each side. I had a deck that had an adjustable head, azimuth? Jensen 6x9's and Speakerlab .1's in the front. I thought it kicked butt at the time. I held onto them until a few years ago, bout 30, and sold them on ebay for between $25 and 75 a piece, woohoo... Besides the clunk, the dead air after some tracks drove me nuts waiting for the track to change on the stereo ones.

 

[sbulack]

8-tracks are the greatest!!! I've put all of my worthwhile thoughts and experiences onto 8-tracks so that anyone in posterity can get in touch with me by just popping in one of my 8-tracks and listening. I'm practically immortal.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

So what are the hottest portable 8-track players? The vintage players ought to be the best.

they are all vintage

no one would be lame enough to brink back the single worst hi fi medium ever invented

Quote:

I got into quadraphonic (Q-8's)

i still remember a'quad" version Of zappa's XXXXXX (forget the title)

very eerie and haunting sound

i loved it

 

[rickcr42]

Apostrophy !

Yeah ,that's it ,yeah

 

[KR...]

My parents used to have 8-Track tapes, I don't really remember how they sound like, maybe that's a good thing

After going to e-bay...

2471 items found for 8-Track

 

[Lisa]

I don't think Europe ever bothered with 8-track.

Never knew why, but I'm getting the picture now.

 

[Onix]

I recall seeing them and even finding some recording decks at some friends house when I was a kid. Has anybody seen those tape to 8-track adapters? A friend's father had one of those and he said he would use it both in his car 8-track and his home stereo. It was the weirdest looking thing and used batteries.

 

[slipkid]

I have two(2) questions as far as 8 tracks are concerned:

1) would you still listen to music today if all you had was the (your choice)worst set of headphones you (own) can posibly imagine?

2) would this be better than talk radio or AM, all the time your while your in your car?

When I was young or wise; I can't remember; there were not a lot of choices.

slipkid
slippin on out'a hear

just my thunks

 

[gpalmer]

Uhhh, nothing could make up for the horror of the 8 track. I can't think of anything good about the format except that you could endlessly loop if you wanted to and the players usually ate the tapes which kept you from having to hear them...

 

[Demolition]

Well, this is quite a coincidence...

Yesterday, after typing my earlier post in this thread, I dug my eight track component deck and tapes out of storage. I hooked it up to my old Technics receiver (almost as old as the eight track deck) and listened to a few tapes. The program switching and eject mechanisms are motorized (instead of just spring-loaded as with most other players) and they result in the clicking noise that I mentioned earlier, not a loud thunk or clunk, when the play head moves or a tape ejects. The sound quality isn't quite as bad as I remember.

Today, I was visiting someone at the Japanese Canadian National Museum. In the midst of our conversation, she asked if I could identify some audio gear for her, whereupon she produced an eight track tape. I described the technology and what she'd need to play it. She didn't have a player so, when she learned that I owned one, she offered me the tape plus a box of others. Here's a photo of my player and the box of tapes (not shown are the 40 or so other tapes that I own, ranging from Elvis and Jimi Hendrix to various country/western and traditional Japanese Enka. I also own a stunning array of disco tapes (e.g. KC & The Sunshine Band, Bee Gees, etc.

)):

As mentioned yesterday, it's a Soundesign Model 493 auto-eject eight-track player/recorder, circa 1975. The built-in amp is rated at 25 watts/channel. The jacks (from left to right) are headphone output and left/right mic inputs. The switch on the right side selects play mode, i.e. "Each" = play a single program then eject, "Continuous" = endless loop, "4>1" = play each program once, then eject. On the back, there are captive RCA leads for line-in and line-out.

The cardboard box contains thirty tapes. They are all labelled "Karaoke Party" (in Japanese) and were made by JVC in 1981. As you might imagine with a title like that, they're just instrumental. My friend didn't have the accompanying lyricbook, unfortunately.

Anyway, there ya go. I'm not a fanatical eight track lover (like these people), but I can appreciate them. Back in the day, eight track and vinyl were all we had, so you just built up a tolerance for the sound quality (or lack thereof).

Quote:

Originally posted by Onix Has anybody seen those tape to 8-track adapters? A friend's father had one of those and he said he would use it both in his car 8-track and his home stereo. It was the weirdest looking thing and used batteries.

Yes, I actually still own two of them. One is made by Realistic and uses batteries. The other is made by Pioneer and somehow powers itself from the car deck.

D.

 

[Onix]

Quote:

Originally posted by Demolition Well, this is quite a coincidence... Yesterday, after typing my earlier post in this thread, I dug my eight track component deck and tapes out of storage. I hooked it up to my old Technics receiver (almost as old as the eight track deck) and listened to a few tapes. The program switching and eject mechanisms are motorized (instead of just spring-loaded as with most other players) and they result in the clicking noise that I mentioned earlier, not a loud thunk or clunk, when the play head moves or a tape ejects. The sound quality isn't quite as bad as I remember. Today, I was visiting someone at the Japanese Canadian National Museum. In the midst of our conversation, she asked if I could identify some audio gear for her, whereupon she produced an eight track tape. I described the technology and what she'd need to play it. She didn't have a player so, when she learned that I owned one, she offered me the tape plus a box of others. Here's a photo of my player and the box of tapes (not shown are the 40 or so other tapes that I own, ranging from Elvis and Jimi Hendrix to various country/western and traditional Japanese Enka. I also own a stunning array of disco tapes (e.g. KC & The Sunshine Band, Bee Gees, etc. )): As mentioned yesterday, it's a Soundesign Model 493 auto-eject eight-track player/recorder, circa 1975. The built-in amp is rated at 25 watts/channel. The jacks (from left to right) are headphone output and left/right mic inputs. The switch on the right side selects play mode, i.e. "Each" = play a single program then eject, "Continuous" = endless loop, "4>1" = play each program once, then eject. On the back, there are captive RCA leads for line-in and line-out. The cardboard box contains thirty tapes. They are all labelled "Karaoke Party" (in Japanese) and were made by JVC in 1981. As you might imagine with a title like that, they're just instrumental. My friend didn't have the accompanying lyricbook, unfortunately. Anyway, there ya go. I'm not a fanatical eight track lover (like these people), but I can appreciate them. Back in the day, eight track and vinyl were all we had, so you just built up a tolerance for the sound quality (or lack thereof). Yes, I actually still own two of them. One is made by Realistic and uses batteries. The other is made by Pioneer and somehow powers itself from the car deck. D.

Wow. Sorry to ask, but how old are you Demo? I used to think I was your senior, but all this stuff about 8-tracks makes me think you are older. Anyway, I don't know how the other guys feel about it, but I think your player looks nice. I kinda miss the wood and moving dials on electronic equiptment.

 

[Demolition]

Quote:

Originally posted by Onix Wow. Sorry to ask, but how old are you Demo? I used to think I was your senior, but all this stuff about 8-tracks makes me think you are older. Anyway, I don't know how the other guys feel about it, but I think your player looks nice. I kinda miss the wood and moving dials on electronic equiptment.

According to our profiles, I'm only six months and eight days older than you.

Maybe the difference is that my Dad got me involved with stereo equipment at a young age. He also encouraged me to get into DIYing early, too. Anyway, that's probably why I have so much experience with old, dead technology.

By the way, thanks for the compliment about my eight track deck. I think it looks nice, as well. The wood-and-metal look of many old components is classic, in my opinion. I don't know why everybody shuns it now.

D.

 

[Onix]

Quote:

Originally posted by Demolition I don't know why everybody shuns it now. D.

Well, younger people was raised on plastics and leds. My dad was also into gadgets, but more into the novelty side of things than serious collecting. I think we were among the few families in this country to have planar speakers inside acoustic tunnels in our home. But those days are long gone, just like wood and dials in electronics

 

[Tuberoller]

Guys,this is goofy. yeah,8-tracks are as bad as you remember. I still have some and a so-called high-end deck(is there such a thing) and they sound bad,really bad. Now pre-recorded reel-to-reel is the absolute best if you ask me.