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Any sense looking for a "higher end" 8 track player?

T

tourmax

Super Member
Banned
I don't have any 8 track tapes, but I have seen them show up i yard sales from time to time. They go dirt cheap, if they show up at all. I've considered picking up some if they are music that I have any interest in.

Obviously, 8 track players are all old gear by now, but they do show up from time to time

I do have a "Juliette" receiver/BSR phono/8 track player in the storage room. Nice enough looking thing, even if it is the equivalent of a modern day "big box store" product. I've removed the phono from the box and basically turned it into a receiver with 8 track so I won't be tempted to try that possible needle on vinyl.

I also have a quadraphonic receiver with an 8 track player, but that one has output issues (bigger problems than a dirty pot) and no diagrams or manuals are available for it. It's also low output and another 60's/70's box box store brand type of thing.

Playing 8 tracks would be more of a curiosity for me than anything else. It's a format I remember my dad having, both in the house and in the older cars, so it would be a nice memory trip to play some now and then. It will never be anything approaching "serious" or "audiophile" in my house.

Should I bother looking for anything better quality in 8 track or just settle for what I have? Was there anything ever considered "high end" in 8 track to start with?
 
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I remember them, but never had one,,, cassette decks seemed to come along soon after and still sound pretty good,,,, Not sure there really is a much better quality 8track, than the ones you already have,,,,
Juliette is an old name also,,, I have a pair of their head phones I got in the service... late 60s...
 
tourmax said:
I don't have any 8 track tapes, but I have seen them show up i yard sales from time to time. They go dirt cheap, if they show up at all. I've considered picking up some if they are music that I have any interest in.

Obviously, 8 track players are all old gear by now, but they do show up from time to time

I do have a "Juliette" receiver/BSR phono/8 track player in the storage room. Nice enough looking thing, even if it is the equivalent of a modern day "big box store" product. I've removed the phono from the box and basically turned it into a receiver with 8 track so I won't be tempted to try that possible needle on vinyl.

I also have a quadraphonic receiver with an 8 track player, but that one has output issues (bigger problems than a dirty pot) and no diagrams or manuals are available for it. It's also low output and another 60's/70's box box store brand type of thing.

Playing 8 tracks would be more of a curiosity for me than anything else. It's a format I remember my dad having, both in the house and in the older cars, so it would be a nice memory trip to play some now and then. It will never be anything approaching "serious" or "audiophile" in my house.

Should I bother looking for anything better quality in 8 track or just settle for what I have? Was there anything ever considered "high end" in 8 track to start with?
Click to expand...

Wow, is that a blast from the past!
I haven't owned or even seen an 8-track tape or player in a LOOOONNNNGGG time.
I never had anything that could be considered "high end", just a stand-alone played that I played thru a multi-band radio I had as a kid. I think I had something in one of my many cars, too.

As I recall, 8-track tapes had the potential to produce better audio but the intricate mechanics involved rarely resulted in better performance.
 
Like other aspects of audio gear, there were the cheapies and the better designed 8T players.


I still have a mid level "Strauss" KP400 with a Tone/Balance/Mic Vol/HP/Mic L&R/Pause with mic L&R/Hp inputs on the front.

The other is considered an upper player being a "SONY" TC-228 with 5 different buttons for ff/fb, Pause, track select, etc.

Both players have wooden surrounds.

The sound from the "SONY" is a lot better, but so is the build and innards than the "Strauss".


I also had a factory GM stereo 8T player in a '68 Camaro that put out decent sound, along with two amps for power, upgraded speakers and an 8" Bazooka in the trunk.


During this period of heavy 8Track use, I managed to collect 700+ tapes, that I suppose I'll have to part with at some time.

These devices had their time and place in the enjoyment of music, with the cassette eventually replacing this older tape format.


Q
 
it will be more for nostalgia purposes more than anything else. Perhaps a conversation piece as well. Those "wollensack" players look like a bit like they are patterned like a mid/high end cassette deck. Probably not something easy to find these days though...
 
the "Juliette":

fr_4664 copy.jpg

Nothing special, but it works. Neat little track number digital display on it though. You can tell it's a cheapo as soon as you turn the tuner dial and it makes that "ting ting ting" sound as it pulls the tuner string attached to the slider needle. It also just feels...cheap.

The other is another "box store" brand looks like:

wargrwagwr.jpg

I just grabbed that pic off the internet, but similar model.

Very low powered though, 7.5 wpc according to the back panel. But I'd be feeding it into my 8080DB so it's amplifier section is pretty much irrelevant. The thing is obscenely huge though. It's a good 4=5 inches longer than the 8080BD, or any other of my components for that matter. I guess they thought bigger is better" when trying to sell them. Heavy for a cheapo too, somewhere around 30-35 lbs I'd guess. But that one's got dead channels and I'm not sure i want to be bothered chasing them down. Deoxit made no difference....

The "Juliette" is considerably lighter weight, maybe 5 lbs without the BSR table installed....I think the BSR table in it was most of the weight! LOL!
 
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Name brand component 8 track decks do exist.

I found this one (in my dumpster with all those tapes) a few years ago.

1711388699438.png

Last year I saw an Akai brand at a thrift store.
 
Time to repost my detailed rundown from waaaaay beck, I s'pose:

As a self-proclaimed 8 track expert (collecting since the late '60s) and a buyer and seller of tapes and players for ages, here's my purely subjective opinion on the top players:

1. Akai CR80, '81. NOT the GXR-82D - the glass head has its own set of problems with increased crosstalk. And the '83 is a completely different beast, not in the same class. If you're interested in recording, the '81 is a better choice than the '80, as it has conventional pots rather than the noisy sliders. The '80, '81and '82 all have very heavy "stump-puller" AC motors, while the '83 has the more usual DC variety. The Roberts 808 is identical to the Akai CR-80D.

2. Wollensak. Almost any of these are decent units, although they did make a change midway through the run of 8055s in the internals - I'd gladly buy any of them, however,except the very first 8050. I wrote an article years ago on 8 TrackHeaven (that's my article referenced in the above post #3) that runs down the various models.

3. Pioneer H-R99 or H-R100. Very solid, well designed units. The Centrex units aren't bad, but not up to the level of the regular line. The problem is that there are fewer and fewer decent units showing up, so the lesser ones are bringing higher prices - plus everyone on ebay thinks he's got the Holy Grail.

4. The Radio Shack 800 series - 800, 801, 802,etc. - are also well-designed, sought after units. The 880 series were leftovers from Radio Shack's ill-fated merger with Allied Radio and are OK but not exceptional.

5. There's a Montgomery Ward unit (really!) that doesn't look like much, but sounds way above average. It was built by Fujitsu/General.

6. There's a Sony recorder that's decent - TC-228 - but NOT the "briefcase"style TC8.

7. Best of the rest, in alphabetical order: ConcordF-128, JVC ED-1261, some of the Lafayettes, and...um...that's about it.

You'll notice there aren't any Panasonics on the list.I've never felt much love for any of their component players or recorders, although strangely the decks built into their "integrated receivers" are fairly decent.

First Troll post in five...four...three...
 
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I almost mentioned the Panasonic 8 Tra-ceiver I briefly owned.

It was pretty nice.

I only owned that for a few weeks after deciding not to invest in 8 track technology.
 
Meh, I think I'll just hook up what I have and grab an 8 track tape sometime to see how it goes.

As I mentioned, this is mostly a nostalgia trip for me anyways.....no need to spend much money on it, if any.
 
whoops, hold on a tick here. Just had a look inside the "Juliette" and the drive belt is there alright: in two pieces and stuck to their respective motor and capstan pulleys. Guess I should have a look inside the "Wynford Hall" thing as well.

This little trip cown memory lane may be cut a lot shorter than I thought. Not sure I want to go through the trouble of sourcing belts for virtually unknown pieces......
 
In reality, 8 track was something geared more towards car audio. Keep in mind that at that time your options were reel to reel, records and newly adopted FM Radio and the only one of those offered for a car was the radio. The 8 track provided a reckless environment like a car, a safe way to listen to your own choices while protecting the media from getting destroyed in a car. The biggest issue was the size of the cartridges. Storing a collection in a car was cumbersome and impractical. There were home units made that offered to record (I remember a radio shack separate) from your home stereo so you could play back in the car.

The only reason they made home players was because they were very basic and most were made to be mounted in the cheapest home all in ones made by York, sound design, store brands also had them.

Since the size was impractical and recording was difficult to do the cassette quickly took its place, not only for a smaller format and extended play times but the ability to make recordings became a much easier process and the quality of the recordings was on par with the quality of 8 tracks. The problem with 8 tracks lies directly with their design. The tape is constantly being worn in both sides of the tape as it plays it's on a closed loop which means the tape was being pulled from the roller and slips passed itself as it plays. The high tones would fade quickly. You could really tell when a new tape was played after an old one was played, the full recording spectrum diminished but overall it was not that important at that time since cars systems were not able to reproduce those highs and lows anyway.

The 8 track was short lived and only offered for a few years in cars. Cassette was an immediate hit due to its format fitting both car and home needs, bridged the gap and quickly replaced the 8 track. Much like how CD replaced cassette and DVD replaced VHS, once recording was offered the tape recorders became obsolete due to huge improvements in quality, longevity and recording was easier (when using a computer).

You don't see many formats being directly replaced now, they seem to linger on since the only thing that's changing is the amount of info you can fit in each format. The need to pick and choose is not based on how much physical space it takes up (thank God) and offering numerous media forms doesn't mean you need to add a second 1 din sized player to the car (or home) but relied on using a computer to make your own recordings. Stand alone recorders for digital media were available at costs the were on par with a computer (that did much more than record music) that high price tag kept them from making sales.

So the early home digital recorders were in a way very much like the home 8 track stuff, even if there were some higher end models, they were not popular and are going to be hard to find now since they never really had a chance, very much like 8 track recorders which were thought to be a big hit and were simply not easy to use and offered poor results.

I agree that the simple answer is "NO" but if you are seriously wanting one you can find it at a price. That price won't make sense to 99.99% of people I know I can't see any use for an 8 track no matter how good the player, the tapes are so awful sounding it makes no sense to try and find a high end player which will bring out even more imperfections.

Good luck!
 
The only reason I bought a deck, was that someone gave me a slew of tapes. I paid peanuts for the decks 10 or so years ago. My decks are going for 10x what I paid now.

I have fun playing the tapes-I still have 100+ that need repair-and they will all need repair at some point. About 70% have needed repair-foam pressure pads disintegrate, and splices fail. If you do get a better deck, I always suggest one that has the option to stop and eject at each track change-so it queues up the splice. Many times, the tape will play, but once it hits the splice, the splice fails.

Don't expect high quality-but a few will surprise you. Most leave me thinking 'no wonder no one cares about 8 tracks'

CherClunk
 
Well, at least the Wynford has an intact belt:

fr_4665.jpg

Gotta admit, there's more in there than I expected for a cheapo dept store brand.

Someone has been in here before though. There's a board by the outputs that is just "floating" (ie: no screws holding it in place at it's standoffs) and this is probably a problem:

fr_466s6.jpg

Still, it has tape outs so as long as the tape loop works i can at least use it to play a tape.

Oddly, it seems to have 4 "readers" in the head:

fr_4667.jpg

But of course, the only thing I have to compare it to for 8 track is the Juliette, which only has two "readers" in it's head. Or it might just be that way because this is a "quadraphonic" player.

I think I might knock this out into a separate thread on a possible rebuild of this cheapo receiver/8track machine. Should be a fun project if nothing else.
 
I've kept a few high-end audio/video oddballs just cuz. For 8-track I have the Wollansack/3M/Roberts Unit, I can't remember the model number but it's a nicer one, and a Panasonic 8-Track Boombox. It's a blast finding a cool 70's tape like the Stones and firing it up. Sure it's not audiophile but that's not the point, those early portables used to be required at any beach or backyard and 8-track players always get a comment.

My biggest issue is most of the component players look dated, AKAI, Pioneer and Technics had some cool ones but I have to believe they're kind of rare, I've been on the fence to add a Superscope for my Marantz Stuff but just never pulled the trigger.
 
"...Or it might just be that way because this is a "quadraphonic" player."

Yep. Quad 8Ts have only have two programs,, unlike the regular four on a regular one. So, four gaps instead of two.

I didn't even notice in your pic that that was a quad machine!
 
I have a Toyo that I use fairly regular on my workbench. It sounds pretty good I think. The bigger issue is rebuilding the tapes so that you can actually play them . I have 2 more of these for spares and maybe a couple hundred tapes that I’ve repaired. I use it mainly for nostalgia and background music while I work.IMG_0196.jpeg
 
1tumbleweed said:
"...Or it might just be that way because this is a "quadraphonic" player."

Yep. Quad 8Ts have only have two programs,, unlike the regular four on a regular one. So, four gaps instead of two.

I didn't even notice in your pic that that was a quad machine!
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Yessir. From what limited info I'm finding, it seems quad 8 track players will play standard 4 track tapes just fine. There's just no "Quad" encoding.

The unit has 4 "rec out" rca's so I'm assuming you would just use the "fronts" to connect to a stereo amp...
 
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