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Scored a Realistic TR-169 8-Track today!

beatcomber

beatcomber

AK Member
At lunchtime today I picked up a Realistic TR-169 8-Track Playback Deck at my local thrift! It is in near-mint condition, and has the original box, owner’s manual, etc. It worked just fine when I tried it in the store. Price: $14.99.

I also picked up a couple of 8-track tapes (@ $.99/ea) to go with it: Cheap Trick “In Color” and Chuck Berry’s “Golden Hits” (the remake album on Mercury). I’m gonna have some fun tonight!

It looks like this one:

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I picked up the same recently at Savers, 9.99, in great physical and working condition. And, over 20 cartridges at 49 cents a piece at Salvation Army. The fact that it even works is a miracle, let alone works well. No, this is not in any way a high fidelity format. It's more a novelty to tinker with, and play with. Collecting the tapes is fun. And yes, I know all about the rebuild thing, with the pads, etc. I may order a kit, but at these prices, is it really worth investing any effort, resources, and money?

I did clean the heads, the insides, sprayed the output with DeOxit, and treated the belt with rubber conditioner. A new belt would cost more than what I paid for the machine itself. Additionally, a little wow and flutter is part of what the format is all about, no?
 
Saw your great video. It's amazing how many naysayers insist there was no way mine was built in '87, even after showing them the date code. Amazing how many seem to know all about this format, and have never owned one of the machines themselves.
 
Thanks for sharing these ads. Still continuing to play all my old favorites! But my guess is the Tandy Service Plan is no longer available?! All I have done to mine was replace the belt, clean the head, capstan, and sensor, and demagnetize the same.
 
I have that particular model as well and love it. People can poo-poo 8-tracks if they like, but they don't sound completely terrible if you run them through restoration software with noise reduction.
 
The beauty of this and similar decks is the simplicity of it. Cleaning the capstan and heads every 20-25 hours, and a belt change, will make a huge difference. Additionally, I did notice better highs after demagnetizing.
 
It actually makes sense RS marketed an 8 track player that late. I know they were the last to sell blank cartridges. Probably discontinued both at the same time.

I gave the format a complete miss when it was popular but got into it about 5 years ago. I think I can speak from experience at this point in time but you should always, always open the cartridge and recondition it before first play.

Besides the usual pad & splice, there can be other things wrong inside. Plenty of online videos on the subject to watch. I know, I've seen them. The only things you can't fix are degraded recordings and discovering that someone recorded over what would have been a nice tape to have.

If anyone puts you down for owning 8 tracks, ignore them. They wouldn't know what fun is if it bit them on the ass.
 
62vauxhall said:
It actually makes sense RS marketed an 8 track player that late. I know they were the last to sell blank cartridges. Probably discontinued both at the same time.

I gave the format a complete miss when it was popular but got into it about 5 years ago. I think I can speak from experience at this point in time but you should always, always open the cartridge and recondition it before first play.

Besides the usual pad & splice, there can be other things wrong inside. Plenty of online videos on the subject to watch. I know, I've seen them. The only things you can't fix are degraded recordings and discovering that someone recorded over what would have been a nice tape to have.

If anyone puts you down for owning 8 tracks, ignore them. They wouldn't know what fun is if it bit them on the ass.
Click to expand...
Finding great tapes like I have been able to find is like Christmas!
 
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