Grabbed another 8 track player

[tourmax]

I'm on a bit of an 8 track kick lately. I know all the issues with 8 track (self tightening tapes, rolled off highs, dead format, etc) but I've got a small spot of nostalgia for them in the back of my brain. Goes back to my Dad having one in the 76 Cutlass S (with the 442 stripe package):

I still remember when Dad launched a pushrod out through a valve cover of the "350 Rocket" engine. Boy was he mad! We were on a road trip at the time and had to spend a lot of money just to get it fixed...money we really didn't have to spend at the time....

They had another 8 track in a home stereo console in the house when I was still just a pup and that was pretty much my intro to home audio in radio, vinyl and tape (8 track) that sounded anything other than a transistor radio squawking away.

I just grabbed one of the big auction site for 20 bucks USD. It's a "Catalina", which was a "White Stores" in house brand:





It's actually a somewhat attractive looking little thing. If it didn't have that "house brand" name on the front panel, I think it might possible have even be mistaken for a higher end unit (for the uninitiated that is). Maybe even a little hint of blackface "Sansui-ness" in there there with the black, chrome and green displays....or perhaps some mid/late 1970's "Sony-ness" appearance. Whatever you think it might remind you of, it's not a bad looking little unit.

I'm typically more of a brushed aluminum (IE: silverface) kind of guy, but the black and "fake" chrome motif on this one isn't too bad. And wood panels make all vintage audio look cool. Wood veneer instead of the typical cheap vinyl wood grain on this one too.

The seller's description:

"Catalina 8-Track Player Model# OC123-4333 Sold As Is For Parts Or Repair.
It powers on and it switches from track to track. I can hear the motor running and the tape is moving but there is no sound output and the level needles are not moving. Check out pictures for cosmetic condition. It is being sold as is with no returns."

so I'm guessing that they tried to hook speakers up to the line outs and got nothing. That missing screw on the back of the case makes me a little suspicious that someone might have been poking around inside it, but for 20 bucks.....meh.

Even if the audio path isn't working properly, these early/mid 70's pieces don't have a lot inside them to go wrong that isn't a through mount component. So it should be relatively easy to trace out the audio signal to a failed component...assuming that it's actually not working. It's a source components, so there shouldn't even be an amplifier circuit in there to deal with.

Not much out there on these "Catalina" brandings. It's somewhere early/mid 70's as I found an advert from "White Stores" 1973 Christmas sale where it's pictured:



I'm also guessing it might be Panasonic built, as I've seen those level meters on a couple Panasonic models:



Should be a fun little project. Let's hope it gets here "intact".....shipping seems to be brutal these days for breaking things. I'm pretty sure they must have this guy working for them:

 

[tourmax]

Player showed up today, despite Pitney bowes best efforts to not deliver it.

Seller packaged very, very well. I was impressed.

First thing I do is whip the covers off for a quick visual:



I was hoping to find a wiring diagram on the underside of a cover, but no dice. At least the boards are all nicely silk screened, as well as some values here and there. All the components on the boards are either marked or banded, so thats a plus. At least there doesn’t appear to be any “mystery components” in there. It all seems pretty standard fare from what I’ve seen so far.

It looks generally ok, so I plop in an old 8-track tape I won’t loos any sleep over if it gets destroyed.

Motor spins up.

Tracks change with the button, although the track indicator is in and out. Track 2 light gives nothing. Track 2 light will eventually start working after many cycles, I suspect its contacts were affected by the thing I describe further down this post.

All the other buttons work, except the record button which seems not to be latching on. That could just be a “gummed up” switch so I don’t worry about it…again, keep reading to find out probably why…

Capstan is polished shiny from use, but I’ve already got a proven fix to bring that back to oem fresh.

Hook it up to the 8080db and….nothing.

True to the sellers description, theres no output. Dang, I was hoping they had just tried speakers to the preouts. But all I get is a “hummmmm”.

A little closer look and…hey, whats that white stuff?



Is that….salt?

It’s definitely crystalline like salt. You can see it sparkle as you look at it from different angles. I wipe a little off with my finger and it feels granular. I chose NOT to taste it, who know what the heck it really is.

This unit came out of Texas. I’m not sure if they have flooding areas down there, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they did being in the way of full force gulf hurricanes. I’m guessing I’ve got a “flood” item on my hands.

Well, I guess its time for a complete tear down. I pull the faceplate off as I’ll need access to the rec switch anyways and:



Yeah, that's actual sand that drops out from various nooks and crannies behind the face plate.

So it looks like this thing has either been in a flood or has been immersed, perhaps in salt (or maybe brackish) water, but at least theres no signs of any serious corrosion (yet).

So its probably going to be a full tear down, clean and test of components to find out exactly where the audio signal is going awry.

Well, I wanted an 8 track project. Looks like I’ve got one….

 

[tourmax]

Well, well, well. What do we have here?



One of the legs of the diode has broken off midway and the other side in the board is spinning freely. The angle on the “break” almost makes it look like its been clipped with side cutters.

Not sure how that would have happened as this unit looks untouched inside, but maybe its going to be just that easy.

I’ll still have to give the insides a good flushing with cleaner, but maybe its going to be a simple fix….fingers crossed….

 

[eiraved]

Looks like it's time to throw it in the dishwasher!

 

[tourmax]

Ah, it wasn't Texas. I was thinking about "White Stores Inc", which is in Wichita, Texas. That was the original retailer of the unit.

The seller is listed as "Ormond Beach, Florida, United States".

I guess that explains the salt and the sand.....lol!

 

[tourmax]

Well, after a little fooling around with this deck, I think I'm just going to park it for a while. Connected the broken diode and still nothing. No cold solder joints or other obvious things. So it's going to be an electrical component on a board somewhere.

Honestly, Ive just got too much going on with yard/house work right now to waste time on a deck I'm doing just for fun.

It will likely sit until winter hits again and I have lots of "in house" time to waste.

 

[Bone Yard]

Cassettes and 8-tracks were lugged around the beach, somebody probably thought it was a good idea to take this for a walk, I remember taking my VHS player over to friends to watch movies. Anything that moves probably needs a good cleaning on it.

Sometimes those record bars need a good cleaning, my Superscope/Marantz CRS-4000 Boombox was squealing bigly but I can get it to play nicely if I gently and quickly touch the REC button. I don't feel like cracking it open yet since the belt is working and it's a two hour job to swap it out.

 

[tourmax]

on second look, the "sand" appears to be foam that has crumbled over time. It seems the VU meters were held in place by two sided foam tape. Which is now just two separate pieces of "tape", stuck to the back of the VU meter and chassis.

 

[cornemuse]

I still have my oold! Akai tape deck with an 8 track 'receptacle' on the side for recording your own 8 tracks.
Record from record(!) to tape, then from tape to cassete.