Why No 8-Track Love??!!

[retrokeeper]

Ok,I know that this tape format IS NOT everyone's cup-of-tea,but dang-nabbit',I'm stickin' up for it!!This forum need's an 8-track section,I do believe.Yes I have many tapes,as many players/recorders to play said tapes on,there is some interesting music out there in thrifts/garage sales/flea markets,etc. to be found on the continous loop(yes,I know most were re-released on cassette and whatever,but hear me out here folks...I'm pleading/begging my heart out here!!),and I would think there are others out there,who,probably won't admit it...but do have or have in the past,had 8-tracks and remember them fondly....or not so fondly.
I have always stood up for the format,through it's weakness and faults,but IT HAS a place in history right along with cassettes and reel-to-reels...sure it was for the free-spirited and lively times of the 70's,but it did have a place as a portable and car music provider,was unique in it's playback for a no hassle (somewhat) continous music provider,and was one of the first popular tape formats for the automobile.I will admit,for collectors and players of the format nowadays,the love affair with the 8-track can be stressful at times,but given some care,some gentle prodding (matchbook inserted under tape in player to make tape play at right azimuth/crosstalk...no not that type of prodding!!),they can produce a respectable sound quality,can be still enjoyed,as many of the tapes have been for me.Sure some sound like crap sometimes,but believe me,I have many,many tapes that easily fool me,in sound quality, between a cassette copy (normal bias/2-head playback/no Dolby),and a well recorded 8-Track and quite a few commercial releases,especially if they were recorded with Dolby noise reduction.
Today's found-in-the-wild 8-track machines and tapes do need some work and prepping to get them back to the former glory,but I have taken them in,nursed them back to health,and they.....LIVE!!The track change in the middle of the song,the sometimes annoying tape wow/flutter,the 40 to 12,000hz. frequency response,the S/N ratio of....say 50,the tape hiss (helped greatly by Mr. Dolby of course),and a few other small quirks,set aside these minor annoyances,and it's still a tape format that made it's mark in the magnetic medium world.
So....that's my turn on the soapbox,hopefully I can persuade the mod to open up another format entry...one for the lowly and misunderstood 8-Track!! Rob

[clhboa]

I have been hoping to see more buzz about 8-tracks too. While I never cared too much for them in their hey day I did wind up buying quite a few when they were phased out in the early 80's. I got a $149.00 JC Penney's 4 in 1 (8-track, turntable, cassette, tuner) stereo for my birthday in either 9th or 10th grade. Later my first car had a really basic Sears brand am/fm/8-track player in it (it was a 78 Chevy Monza hatchback with a sunroof and a rear spoiler and front airdam, kind of a very poor man's Camaro). The tape player bit the dust when a brand new copy of The New Riders Of The Purple Sage's tape, "Brujo", got impossibly wound around the capstan. The 4 in 1 system was sold in a garage sale for 20 bucks in the early 90's. Around that time I picked up a Allied 8-track deck along with a tiny Harmon Kardon amp and some dried up, rock hard, no name 6 by 9s mounted in speaker boxes for 5 bucks. I sold the amp and worthless speakers in my garage sale for 5 bucks and the Allied has been sitting in my closet until about 4 months ago. I sent it out to be serviced and I should be getting it back in a few days!!! In the meantime I have gone nuts and picked up between 150 and 200 mostly still sealed 8-tracks. I can't wait to pop one in and hear the ker-chunk between tracks! Long live 8-track.

[braxus]

I had a couple 8 track posts in the reel to reel section, but I agree we should have its own section here in the forum.

My stint in 8 track has been recent. Can't say I love the format since I've had nothing but issues with the tapes I have. I have both an Akai CR-81D deck and a Pioneer H-R99 deck. The Akai sees the duty. I even got new wood side panels for it. Its frequency response is better because of the 1 micron head. 50Hz to 16 Khz. I remember fondly the days my grandfather had 8 tracks and we'd play them all the time.

[stuwee]

I have absolutely nothing to comment, other than, I agree there should be a separate forum for them.*reelspin* I think more folks have fond memories of them, than as a critical listening medium (not knocking them, just my thoughts). My cousin in the St. Louis area has an old Wollensack recorder, that worked and played fine last time I was out that way. It was about as nice a 8-track sound as I've ever heard and I had a Quadraphonic 8-track in this beastie, I'd just say the sound was cavernous*eyepop* would been fun tillering her over in the UK...eh?? Whatcha mean "Wrong side of the road" she goes right down the middle*Hi5*

[NAD613]

Part of the reason I heard that 8 tracks were so crappy is that around 1971-72, the companies making tapes & machines decided to put more resources into R&D for cassettes than 8-tracks, which was already seen as a dying format by some in the industry.

Years ago I read an article in a hi-fi magazine from 1969 & they did an 8-track vs. cassette comparison. All the editors agreed that the cassette was the superior format & would just improve with time & technology, while the 8-track, with it's many problems & crappy build, was inferior & doomed to failure.

I had also heard is that there was a way to build the 8-track cassette shell much better so it would be much more reliable & not as prone to jamming, tape breakin & getting tangled up, etc... By that time, however, none of the manufacturers were interested in pursuing ways to improve the 8-track.

[Rat44]

The only reason I have 8 tracks is because of my wife.
I found a Panasonic player/recorder for her use.
She has a few that are sentimental to her.
Most of my memories of 8-track revolve around me ducking as friends were flinging them out the car window.

[clhboa]

Man, you used to see balled up tape laying by stop signs, parking lots etc. It was everywhere in the 70's.

[stuwee]

Man, you used to see balled up tape laying by stop signs, parking lots etc. It was everywhere in the 70's.

Ratt44, yer killin' me dude, *ducking* that's some funny s**t *tomb* poor little babies!

clhboa, you forgot plenty of pre-recorded cassettes as well. I once saw a TDK MA-R back in NYC, some idiot had flung from about 40 stories up on the sidewalk *butt* the alloy frame survived, the rest was junk. A moment of silence..............*fit*

Craig

[clhboa]

Yeah, I remember doing a burn out over my freshly eaten copy of HEART's "Little Queen" cassette with my '86 Ford Ranger.

[stuwee]

Rob sorry I hijaked your thread, I was just thinking about how long it's been since I saw a cassette or 8-track busted on the side of the road.
And what do you know I spy this, I took it home, it's going up in the parts avaliable forum, if anyone needs something from it.

[Superfly]

I love the 8track.

Has anyone seen the documentary on 8tracks?
The movie is called 'So Wrong, They're Right.
There is a sequel too; ''So Wrong, They're Right' in which I am in the second movie. I talk about the quadraphonic 8tracks.

I do know better and I do have a high-end turntable, amp, reel to reel decks but I really enjoy 8track tapes.
I like cars from the 1970s, especially Ford / Mercury / Lincoln of the 1970s. Just about every car I've owned had an 8track player in it and it's great knowing that no one will every break in your car and steel your 8track player or your tapes.

Well actually I did have my Mark IV broken in to in Oakland, CA and 12 8track s were stolen. This was in 1995.

Lincoln was the last car manufacture to offer the 8track deck as an option in the 1984 model year. Ford/Mercury as well as GM, Chrysler and AMC offered 8track as an option in 1983.
The Ford decks were the best. Ford offered quadraphonic 8track decks from 1976-1982.
Ford and Rolls Royce were the only two car manufactures in the world to offer quadraphonic 8track decks from the factory. The 1983 - 1984 Ford 8track deck featured bass, mid & treble controls as well as a LED display.

[braxus]

My first real car was a 79 Mustang and it had installed a factory 8 track deck with 4 speaker sound. It wasn't a quad deck, but a regular 8 track deck from Ford. It would be fun to have one again, but I haven't had a Ford since 2002. And that 81 Mustang had my Pioneer in it which Im still using in my Mazda today.

[Superfly]

braxus :
I like those Mustangs.
I've kicked around the idea of getting a 1983 Mustang convertible GT with factory 8track and plaid seats.
1983 was the last year you could get an 8track deck and the last year you could get plaid seats.
Yet 1982 was the year Ford brought back the convertible. 1973 was the last year Ford offered any of their cars with a convertible as an option.