[pitts64]

I was wondering if any of you guys still use a 8 track tape player.
I'm removing my modern sound system with CD. It just doesn't sound as good as my old Automatic Radio 8 track.

[docvette]

Originally Posted by pitts64

I was wondering if any of you guys still use a 8 track tape player.
I'm removing my modern sound system with CD. It just doesn't sound as good as my old Automatic Radio 8 track.

Doc here,

Chances are your new system is installed wrong..(the +'s and -'s may be backward or crossovers wrong) making it sound like "crap in a can"..

Have it checked..CD is FAR superior to TAPE.. no noise, right (quick) recording speeds..etc..when done right sounds good ...

HOWEVER, like in Guitars..the Better sounding system, were finding out..(more pleasing to the ear..) IS a Tube Amp..so 6 of one 1/2 dozen of another..

I' d say, it's a personal choice..

I, however , would NEVER go back to my first system..MONO 2 Speaker (F/R), LEAR , 4 track player...good for spitting tape all over your dates lap ....loud clicks as it changed tracks, tons of hiss..AND really a treat if you had a REVERB and banged 4 hard gears...boiiiiiiiiiiiiingggggg.....boiiiiiiiiiiing ggggg.....boiiiiiiiiing.........(Audio Reaction time??)



Doc

[Chevrolet4x4s]

We had an art class discussion on sound quality of music cds vs records a couple months before I graduated we narrowed it down to where the sound recorded was not digitised or the humm of the turntable motor that makes the old stuff sound sooo good.......Ive got an old 45 of Smokey Mountain Rain that sounds better than I have ever heard it on the radio

It might not be your system but rather the material that your music is recorded on but would deffinately check the connections.

Shane

[knighthawk]

I use the 8 track in my shop once in a while yet, the tapes are getting wore out tho, I used to have a reverberator in my car also, was in 1967, car was '65 SS convert, 396, 4 speed,..........

[techron]

Originally Posted by docvette

Doc here,

Chances are your new system is installed wrong..(the +'s and -'s may be backward or crossovers wrong) making it sound like "crap in a can"..

Have it checked..CD is FAR superior to TAPE.. no noise, right (quick) recording speeds..etc..when done right sounds good ...

HOWEVER, like in Guitars..the Better sounding system, were finding out..(more pleasing to the ear..) IS a Tube Amp..so 6 of one 1/2 dozen of another..

I' d say, it's a personal choice..

I, however , would NEVER go back to my first system..MONO 2 Speaker (F/R), LEAR , 4 track player...good for spitting tape all over your dates lap ....loud clicks as it changed tracks, tons of hiss..AND really a treat if you had a REVERB and banged 4 hard gears...boiiiiiiiiiiiiingggggg.....boiiiiiiiiiiing ggggg.....boiiiiiiiiing.........(Audio Reaction time??)



Doc

wow doc, you are taking me back, i had a muntz 4 track in my first car. the tape sat on top of the player and you pulled a lever to engage the drive wheel!!!

[Chevrolet4x4s]

Originally Posted by knighthawk

I use the 8 track in my shop once in a while yet, the tapes are getting wore out tho, I used to have a reverberator in my car also, was in 1967, car was '65 SS convert, 396, 4 speed,..........

Are they wore out or does the player need a cleaning.....To bad they dont rerelease the old 8 tracks.....I never minded the clunk...always knew that it changed tracks
Shane

[docvette]

Originally Posted by techron

wow doc, you are taking me back, i had a muntz 4 track in my first car. the tape sat on top of the player and you pulled a lever to engage the drive wheel!!!

Doc here,

Yuppers..

The pinch-roller went up through the Bottom od the tape cart, then contacted the take~up / Let out wheel..and ran the tape through the head assembly..

Mine was a LEAR , one of the VERY first AFTER auto Phonograph's..and WAS MONO, even though it had two speakers...

The whole thing worked very well...

For about a week..Then as you got Cigarette Ash, Dirt, and Burger Grease on the Exposed Pinch roller..you got "Wow And Flutter" that made Buddy Holley sound like he was on ACID..or Ludes.. (That'll Be the Day... )

THEN out came the "FIRST aid for LEARS kit...

LONG wooden Q~Tips..and a bottle of Isopropal Alcohol...dip that puppy in and Scrub..Scrub..Scrub...If Lucky..you'd get another 5 to 7 days of Flutter Free music.....

And you had to be careful not to get the pinch-roller Stuck halfway in/out of the cartridge..that required more intensive surgery..

It wasn't too far later, someone at Lear Figured out...Humm..2 speakers...and we now have this new system called "Hi Fidelity Stereo" ... Voice on one side, music on the other.....GEE, lets try one in a car...

Most of the Youngun's today..well say, "Whadda You been smoking Buddy?" If you say "4" Track decks...much less automotive "Non Skip" Phonographs...that fit in the glove box..But then again...they still believe AM radio went "Off" after dark....


Doc

[jimfulco]

I'll take that Muntz over a Lear any day.

And 10-4 on the bangin gears (or hitting bumps) with a reverb unit. If we'd have had the amps & speakers available these days, woohoo, the sound of homemade thunder.

The good part of 8-tracks was that if you could work the pause button just right, you could record Mountain Jam or other such epics all at once with just a tiny one-note gap when it changed tracks.

[docvette]

Originally Posted by Chevrolet4x4s

Are they wore out or does the player need a cleaning.....To bad they dont rerelease the old 8 tracks.....I never minded the clunk...always knew that it changed tracks
Shane

Doc here,

Alot of those Old decks required (still do..) Head Degaussing (de~magnetizing) after mechanical cleaning..as well as a 4 Axis Adjustment on the head array..(the factory NEVER got them right.. )

Don't get your tape near the degaussing tool, Or let the Head magnetize too much..the result : ...Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........all the way through the tape!


Doc

[speedydude]

Jeez, I had a Muntz but haven't heard that word for years. I really didn't mind em too much except when they would fade out a long song, like Innagaddadavida, , then fade it back in. Hoookeey!

[docvette]

Originally Posted by Chevrolet4x4s

We had an art class discussion on sound quality of music cds vs records a couple months before I graduated we narrowed it down to where the sound recorded was not digitised or the humm of the turntable motor that makes the old stuff sound sooo good.......Ive got an old 45 of Smokey Mountain Rain that sounds better than I have ever heard it on the radio

It might not be your system but rather the material that your music is recorded on but would deffinately check the connections.

Shane

Doc here,


That was ONLY a part of it...


When you go wayyyyyy Back, to like the First Radio Station I ever had a Show on, WHEN radio WAS FUN..not a bank account for a bean counter.. ..You Had: (then state of the art..now like a wrecking bar in a computer shop....) RCA, Dumont, and GrassValley Audio Switchers..

Those switched Audio Sources from turntable to preview, or STL , (studio to transmitter link) OR as most were in the day..direct into the transmitter on the Roof..Or From Mic live to Table to Cart..into "Que" so all's you needed to do is "Whack the Paddle" and Fade the Volume (HUGE Volume Control knob for each channel/device) to switch AND start TT ~ 2 , Live Mic..Ect.. and Hence..Rock and Roll "tightness " segways...(what we have today but at a much slower degree..cuz..it was analog back then! )

Drop a Spec of Dust into the switch gear..let the brass connectors get dirty, smoke your smokes over the board (and WE all did it back then..Camel's in the Left sleeve said you was KEWL..) and you'd get some horrendous "Pops , Clicks, and Humm" especially whenever you touched an ungrounded audio source from your metal grounded switcher workstation....Feedback and "Dead Air " were the Production manager"s Pet Peeves.."better Humm..than NONE..."

Pizza and BBQ Chicken were rough on switcher's also..AND you left Forensics behind..(Sticky fingerprints..empty bucket of Chicken Delight in the garbage can..big "Red prints on the Wax...that played like this..skip....skip..skip..skip..)

God help you if you were a green newbie..

The News staff, or the Combo tech, would pour "Ice Water" down your back or in your lap in the middle of a "Live (yes..I said Live) announcement...Just to see how you could handle a crisis..

Tube type equipment also had a certain amount of inherent "Hiss" simply by their inductive nature between interlobes..Audio amps as well as Transmitter Exciters, and PA's ( Power amp outputs) , the BULL behind that " KBAR BARSTOW CALIFORNIA...THAT BIG 5000 WATTS OF SOUND SERVING ALMOST ALL OF DOWNTOWN BARSTOW !

AM Was/ Is a noise generator anyway..which is why everything now a days is FM or SAT...no noise..I mean..what is Morse Code? nothing but a high power SPARK (noise) generated between two insulated brass bars at your finger tips, but can be heard all the way around the world on a good day..where your voice probably wouldn't..

Plus..We weren't Exactly masters of building "Noise Free Cables" at that time either..


Now~adays..you just need a computer, a play list, a CD library, and a software program like I have on this Computer.."Music Vault" and you can toss a 4 hour show together in 45 minutes and NEVER have to open a live Mic should you choose not to..In fact..you really never have to leave your home studio..the drawback? Software..and Music library , support and the like..about $260,000 for the full Monte..(may have gone down in the past few years..but what else has?)


Doc

[docvette]

Originally Posted by jimfulco

I'll take that Muntz over a Lear any day.

And 10-4 on the bangin gears (or hitting bumps) with a reverb unit. If we'd have had the amps & speakers available these days, woohoo, the sound of homemade thunder.

The good part of 8-tracks was that if you could work the pause button just right, you could record Mountain Jam or other such epics all at once with just a tiny one-note gap when it changed tracks.

Doc here,

I had a couple of LEARS at first..after a few months I pulled them out and being the "Inventive sort" I am..found an excellent use for them...


Wheel Chocks...


Doc

[pitts64]

I've had this system set up every way possible, series and parallel. It doesn't sound as full as the Automatic Radio 8 Track (with a good tape). When the 8 track plays you can factually feel the music.

The new system sounds good when the cars not running, but you can't hear it while driving down the road unless its offensivly loud. No depth. I never had this problem with the factory mono AM/FM Delco radio.
Todays sounds systems are designed to play todays music which is nothing but highs and lows.

I also have a 1957 Magnavox tube Hi-Fi, when I play my Blue Note Jazz albums it sounds fantastic.

I totally disagree that Cds are better then tape. To my ears they're not even as good as records.

I'm going back to a 61 AM tube radio (no need for FM, its all generic anyhow), 8 track tape and 8 ohm speakers that were designed for my 64 Bonneville and the 50s, 60s and 70s music I love.

Todays sound systems are like todays cars and music.

[CrashFarmer2]

I still have a few of the old 8 track players and tapes around but it has been several years since I played any of them.
The last one I used in any sort of vehicle was my Craig FM - 8 track under dash unit that I had in a 915 International combine, it made harvesting a lot more enjoyable. I took it out in 1986 when we sold the 915 and it is sitting on a shelf.

[techron]

Originally Posted by speedydude

Jeez, I had a Muntz but haven't heard that word for years. I really didn't mind em too much except when they would fade out a long song, like Innagaddadavida, , then fade it back in. Hoookeey!

AAAHHH, my favorite song of all time, i love the drum solo. iron butterfly rules!!! . let the kids figure out what what im talkin about.