Wife's flea market find

[Zygmo]

My wife keeps an eye out for stereo equipment for me, when she goes to GW, flea markets, and yard sales.

Today, she found this Panasonic RE-8840 4Ch receiver with removable 4Ch 8Track tape player, separate 8Track recorder, and the four speakers for $12.50. Everything works, except the removable 8Track needs a belt. (It is the easiest belt to get to of any tape player I have ever worked on!) The separate 8Track recorder needed a major de-oxing, but now it works fine.
Did she do good? :yes:

I did not even know the 8Track player was removable till I went online to search for a manual. Someone has one of these for sale for something over $300.00, and he mentioned that the player is removable. Supposedly, it was to be removed and plugged into a receiving unit in your car. Does anyone know where to get a manual for this? I checked the usual places (hifiengine, etc.)

As a matter of fact, my wife also found the all-in-one unit sitting to the left, on the console, at a flea market a few months ago. Seems like we paid $2.50 for it.

 

[Rome]

Nice retro find...

Rome

 

[mrarroyo]

I had that panasonic in high school back in the day! Nice pic, it brought back good memories.

 

[just dave]

Nice wife!

 

[markshan]

If I had that the first thing I would do is buy the copy of America's album "Hearts" that is on eBay right now (I won;t give the link so the thread can remain stationary). It is one of my favorite "under the radar" albums and I've never heard the quad mix.

 

[Zygmo]

If I had that the first thing I would do is buy the copy of America's album "Hearts" that is on eBay right now (I won;t give the link so the thread can remain stationary). It is one of my favorite "under the radar" albums and I've never heard the quad mix.

That's funny, Mark. I was going to write today, asking if anyone knew of any available (and reasonably priced!) 4ch 8Tr tapes! I am certainly not planning on swapping out any of my regular systems for this Panasonic, but I would like to hear some 4ch source on it. It has 4ch inputs on the back, but I sold the only 4ch RtR I ever owned just a year ago! I don't intend to keep either of the Panasonic systems in the picture....will eventually sell, trade, or even give them away.

The speakers sound surprisingly good, so I opened one up to check the drivers. A label on each speaker cabinet says 15 W Peak!, and I could not imagine a speaker that sounds as good as these could only be rated for that wattage. Turns out, someone has upgraded the drivers....they have nice big magnets (looks like 8 in woofers), and look new. You can tell the soldering is done by an amateur.

Also, can anyone here tell me how to record on a pre-recorded 8tr tape? (a pre-recorded tape is all I have right now) Do you have to cover a protection hole, or something, like cassettes? I need to test the recording ability of that separate unit sitting on top of the stereo in my picture.

Thanks.

 

[tom3]

Heck of a deal there. Nice speakers too. I'm thinking there is no lockout on the 8 tracks for recording.

 

[Zygmo]

Heck of a deal there. Nice speakers too. I'm thinking there is no lockout on the 8 tracks for recording.

Ok, Tom. Thanks....I will try it and see.

 

[markshan]

There are quite a few on eBay, but not many that are what I call "reasonably priced".

 

[Zygmo]

There are quite a few on eBay, but not many that are what I call "reasonably priced".

I see what you mean, Mark! I'm not paying $20.00 (or more) for ANY 8 track tape. I remember not being all that impressed with the 4channel RtR tapes that came out, so the four channel part of this 8track system will just have to remain untested!

I had a big 4ch Marantz receiver, and a 4ch RtR back when, and after a couple of trial listenings of the tape that came with the deck, I never used either one for the 4 channels anymore.

They looked good, though!