Does anyone still own and actually use an 8-Track Player?

Technics RS-858/U (by Panasonic) Quad 8 deck. I am also trying to build up my collection of quad 8 tapes.

And yes BradOlson www.8trackheaven.com is a great place to visit. Lots of good info for us eight-track-o-philes (or is that 8-tracker-nutz)

James

BTW 4 vu meters are cool to watch

 

Perhaps this is just something my mind has fabricated, but was there EVER a stationary-headed 8-track deck? Something that would change channels in the audio circutry instead of moving the head?

I'd patent the idea if the format hasn't been dead for over 20 years!

 

My brother still has his Pioneer 8 track recorder deck in his garage with tons of old 8 tracks.

 

Got this freaky system in the spare bedroom

 

That's the Panasonic where you can pull out the 8-track player and put it in a similar mount in the car. There was also a quad version.

 

I do still have a few old 8-track players around, but they aren't hooked up anymore! A few months ago I stuck in my old "Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy" 8-track by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and when it went to change channels, the tape came apart, right at the splice! I lost interest with them after that and recently took 85% of the old 8-tracks I had and dumped them right into the trash can. I kept a few interesting ones like "Sgt. Pepper", Brave Belt (Randy Bachmans' band between The Guess Who and BTO) and a few Sinatra titles (No, I don't have the ultra rare "Sinatra/Jobim" 8-track, which is one of the rarest of all 8-tracks EVER and worth some real coin!)

Honestly, the ONLY reason that I even had 8-tracks in the first place, was because my mother and father gave me a player and a years subscription in the Columbia House Tape Club, as a birthday gift one year. The gift that kept giving...every month, when my mother bitched about having to send back those bi-weekly cards they sent!

Chris C

 

HECK YEAH! I have over 100 Q8's sitting for "someday" conversions to DVD-A for the Acura. I actually have 5 Q8 players. Gotta have backups! Two HK 8+'s (one needs work), One Technics RS-858 Green Meter Recorder, One AKAI CR-80D-SS, and an old Panasonic.

 

Hope they weren't quad tapes. One thing you have to do is when you get a tape, you really should immediatly open it to insure there are no "knots", then replace the foam pad which is probably disintegrated, then close it up, play it to the splice, then open it back up and replace the splice. If you don't do this, and just stick it in and play, you may have a mess on your hands!

 

Which sounds best to you, Jon? How is the Harmon/Kardon?

 

The HK 8+ is my favorite, and the one I use mainly for conversions.

The Technics I spent $300 on having it "restored", all caps, belts, etc., but it has a design flaw in that it struggles with longer tapes (which is basically all quad tapes), so it's now relegated to sitting on my floor.

I think the HK 8+ is a great machine, and bought an extra to have but that one turned out to have a smoked belt that melted around the capstan and a few other places in the unit.

The perils of "as-is" on eBay!

 

Jon, my experience is is the same, although I bought all my units long before Ebay and the internet. The Harman Kardon 8+ is the best quad 8-track player I've found. Sounds good, great motor and drive. I bought it for $15.00 in 1983 at a Goodwill.

 

Even worse, the Who's Tommy was edited to fit on an 8 Track. And there were other titles as well. In 1972/73 I worked at Sam the Tape Man on Yonge Street in Toronto.

 

Hi
Just read Stumpy's post.

The pads tend to disintegrate but it's fixable.

Kates Track in Texas does repair eight-track tapes, redoing the splice, changeover foil, pressure pads etc for a few US $ per tape plus mailing charges.

They also sell the pads and rollers for DIY.

If you do a web search you'll find contact details.

Candy

 

Search for "Win-Gib" pads. They are excellent for repairing pad based 8 tracks

 

I have an akai 1800ss, which is a quad reel to reel with a quad 8 track built in. The reel part does not work, but the 8 track part has seen little use. I purchased it mainly to transfer quad 8 tracks to my other quad reel to reel, and was suprised how great those old quad 8 tracks sounded. My favorite was a quad 8 track of bridge over troubled water.

 

Just going to clean the cases of a couple of Beatles UK Eight Tracks I bought yesterday including a copy of Let It Be. The pads look okay to the eye and there's just a bit of 'bubbling' on the label.

Having fun, Candy

 

Thanks Jon. I wondered about the Harman/Kardon decks since someone had sent me a link to one on eBay quite a few months ago...

 

The Wollensak 8-track decks are better than the Harman/Kardon decks. The one to find is the quad 8080 (although the 8060 is pretty close).

For stereo, the Wollensak CTR-3 is the one to find, but EXTREMELY hard to find.

The Wollensak 8-track decks are the best 8-track decks made. Designed by 3M, manufactured by Sanyo for 3M. Relatively very expensive at the time.

Kwad

 

I've had several Wollensak 8-track players. They were built well, easy to keep aligned, had good "pull", but they all played at the wrong speed (some fast, some slow). Being that they had AC motors, there was no easy fix to that problem.

 

So I guess it's down to the Wollensaks and the Harmon/Kardons?

 

Bad news for me...

My CRAIG 8-Track showed up yesterday, and although it looked great, there is a MAJOR ground issue. Damn thing nearly blew my speakers with the loudest hum I've ever heard. Tried it on both receivers and same problem each time.

In addition, it doesn't want to start at the beginning of a program and fast forward isn't right.

Luckily the seller is understanding and is issuing a full refund (all $50.00 that I spent).

Looks like I'm back on the market to find another player!

 

I have a really nice deck mechanism which I'm thinking of adding a pre-amp to.
Has anybody taken the pre-amp of a cassette player and connected it to a 8 track head on the mech? Any advice welcomed.

Candy

 

Last year I went to a flea market and bought a Panasonic 8-track player for 5 bucks. I think these models were called "Dyn-O-Mite" because of the detonator design. This one is bright yellow. The guy that sold me this was going to give me about 50 8-tracks to go with it for free. I didn't want THAT many! So I cherry picked a few. I got Jerry Lee Lewis (A Sun Records 8-track!), The Kinks Celluloid Heroes, and an Elvis Presley Greatest Hits. Not great sound at all, but it works and it's a cool looking little piece of history.

Deke

 

Hi all,

I love the Pioneer, Harmon-Kardon, Akai, and Wollensak machines. I feel like the Akai has the finest tape handling and best frequency response of the above. Their Quad deck is king!

 

Caroline's first 8 track recorder

Okay guys confession time here.

Last night I won myself a Akai CR 81D 8 track recorder on Ebay described as being in 'good working order' with decent photos's.

What I'd like to know is:-
Where can I get a spare belt from. I have no issues with buying one stateside.
Is there anyway of checking it's recording ability short of putting a tape in it.
Finally, just where do you get blank tapes from? I bought one on ebay but it's 'sealed' so it may need the pad replacing and possibly 'unfreezing' to get the tape to move.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,