Super 8 Tracks?

[Angus]

This is the search that I used.

Ooooh...Sing-a-long-a Max Vol 2!!!!

A lot of carts there for sure.

[aj]

...but not a single 8 track ....

It started as are 8 track the super-8 of audio? Now we have single 8 track...


BTW furthermore off topic.

Somebody in Amsterdam does guerilla film projections (in summer) and has a projector in this mini-car...
.

Did people in the past have S8 images in the car. Like then in planes (as documented in Smallformat) or now like DVD with TFT screens?

[Blue Audio Visual]

In the 60's and 70's most cars sold in Europe do not seem to have even had a radio as standard.

As I remember it my parents late 60s Triumph Herald estate didn't have a Radio, but the Hillman Hunter that they bought in about 1973 (mustard paintwork - very fashionable at the time!) was fitted with one.

[Shanec8mm]

Ah reel to reel....I have an Akai 4000DB which is lovely. Bart may be correct that it is 'incorrect' bias settings that make the recording sound 'better' but I still think there's something to be said for recording a CD to open reel. I generally find CDs quite unlistenable, and that a magnetic recording tames them. That is probably 50/50 between the limits of the CD format and the awful production values one usually gets these days especially with pop or rock music.

As for 8 tracks, I honestly don't remember anyone I was aware of owning one...and its not like I grew up in an area where people couldn't afford them. I just don't think they ever penetrated the UK market like they did in the US...as several posters say, 8-track was considered the only way to go in America for quite some time. In the 60's and 70's most cars sold in Europe do not seem to have even had a radio as standard. I have a copy of the 1969 London Motor Show review where they go into in car audio in great detail with the latest from Philips, "Blue Point" (Blaupunkt) and so on....lots of funky features such as remote controls and 4 speakers but not a single 8 track mentioned...and only one cassette player.

I have to say if I put "8 track" into eBay UK I get a few carts and one player...but I also get "track rod end", "Hornby 8 lengths of track", "Man United track top 8 jacket"...various "8 track promo CDs" and that's just the first page.

Hey Angus that Akai R2R is a nice machine ! I like the styling. Does this model have the glass ferrite heads ??
Also I have to agree with Angus. R2R's do make the recordings from CD sound better, or seem to sound better. The great thing about R2R is having the ability to adjust the recording levels and on many decks like Sony, Akai and Teac just to name a few, Bias settings. Recording with a R2R is just plain fun, and of course watching those reels spin !!!

[S8 Booster]

bladdy superman - how do you manage to collect more interest to 8-trackers than super8 - beats me ....;)

as for the 8 trackers they did not always fit into neo-euro cars and this one could certainly not take it ......

hmmmmm never thought it could be derived directly towards film making though.......


shoot ... .. . . . .

[Shanec8mm]

Perhaps Reflex can chime in on this one...do you ever get the feeling super 8 is about as respected as 8 track tapes? A new webpage to ponder the theory of the endless loop...



http://home.pacbell.net/mnyberg/super8mm/super8_42.html

Very very scary...click if you dare...

Cheers,
Mike

Mike
Just wanted to let you know I fully enjoyed your new page about 8 tracks. I have found a new appreciation for this format. I used 8 tracks as a kid back in the 80's, and had a great collection. Your Panasonic 8 track player is too cool !! I still like Reel to Reel better, but 8 track certaintly has a place in history.

[David M. Leugers]

Cassette players in the car were unheard of before about 79 or so because they wouldn't work right-- too unstable.

My friend had his cassette player installed in his nearly new 1974 Chevy Vega. It certainly could not have been any later than 1975 since he had it installed when we shared an apartment and he moved out of state late 1975. There were no problems with the player he had. I think it was a Pioneer.


David M. Leugers

[super8man]

Thanks Shanec8mm, kind words for sure.

I find it most funny when I search ebay and look at seller's "other items" and sure enough, many of them turn out to be into the same things I am...scary.

[super8man]

Oh, and in my young and impressionable days, it was the glow of the in-home 8-track RECORDER that a friend had in his basement - in the early 80s we even made our own mixed tapes with new wave music. Perhaps it was a rarity but they ran a trucking company. There you go, proof positive recorders were in the homes in the 1970s. I haven't seen one quite like it since but some on ebay have been close!

Cheers,
Mike

[Angus]

Oh, and in my young and impressionable days, it was the glow of the in-home 8-track RECORDER that a friend had in his basement - in the early 80s we even made our own mixed tapes with new wave music. Perhaps it was a rarity but they ran a trucking company. There you go, proof positive recorders were in the homes in the 1970s. I haven't seen one quite like it since but some on ebay have been close!

Cheers,
Mike

I know recorders existed, my first contact with 8-tracks was in the 1982 Tandy (Radio Shack) catalogue. They sold home recorders and blank cartridges...even had one on display in my local shop but I didn't see one in a home until a friend bought one second hand in the early 90's.

But it proves they existed. Radio Shack being an American company I suspect they sold far more in the states than in the UK but they were offered.

It is interesting sometimes to click on "see sellers other items" and see the stuff they are offering.

[S8 Booster]

this one got it al... yezz - no?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXx_4zYrizQ

and this one too....:?
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/vinta ... /914833514


;)


shoot......

[CHAS]

the same guy has an "8-track iPod converter"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnIjGW-s ... re=related

[downix]

And of course now my mother wants to get some valuable 8-tracks digitized and cleaned up....

Any suggestions?

[Angus]

Hey Angus that Akai R2R is a nice machine ! I like the styling. Does this model have the glass ferrite heads ??

I don't think it has the GX (glass epitaxial) heads. But it sure sounds good. I used to own a Nakamichi cassette deck and believe me, that Akai is better.

Yes R2Rs are fun. As a kid I had several old 50's and 60's devices (mono of course) from the likes of Grundig, Philips, Uher and Ferguson. Became something of a hobby having fun with them, especially the 4-track machines from the 60's one could do primitive multi-tracking. But being a hi-fi model the Akai is a bit special.

I still have a few old valve R2R's and radios (as well as a "Recordon" magnetic disc dictation machine)....I keep a box of spare valves...you never know when you might need an EL84 or ECC83

[Blue Audio Visual]

I don't think it has the GX (glass epitaxial) heads.

I'm pretty sure that all the 4000 series had GX heads, but then again the model you have is one I have only occasionally come across, much less common than the D or the DS.

I keep a box of spare valves...you never know when you might need an EL84 or ECC83

New ECC83s and EL84s are pretty easy to get hold of. Its the rarer ones (ECC807s etc.) that you need to hoard!