How Good Can 8 Track Sound?

[prime minister]

Now, I never owned an 8 track player of any great quality. i Think I only owned one built into an all in one stereo by Candle or someone. My 8 track tape collection, was mostly hand me downs bought from my dad from the bargain bin. Though come to think of it, I own a handful of still sealed ELO 8 tracks.

Anyhow, I’ve wondered how good 8 Track can sound. I know there were a handful of pretty heavy duty 8 track tape recorders in the 70’s, but I never played with one, and have never heard anything produced from one.

So, how good could an 8 track sound? Is it a viable Hi-Fi sound source? anyone still listen to one?

 

[jblnut]

I started with it and I gotta admit, it wasn't the worst thing ever as far as sound goes. You had a tape twice the width of cassette moving twice as fast so it stood a decent chance. The problem was that the moving head meant you never really had tight enough alignment for decent highs. And the constantly tightening tape loop meant serious wow and pitch issues were going to get you eventually.

It was great for cars and I spent a lot of hours playing tapes in my 1973 Trans Am (455 4-speed...hubba hubba :-) . The player still worked great when I sold the car in 1991.

If only the 8-track had used a take-up reel in the player like any of the modern computer backup technologies do (DLT), then it would have been a contender.

So not quite hi-fi, but a fun and very usable source for many many years...

 

[JohnVF]

This was supposed to be a very good player. You should buy it and tell us . No affiliation outside a general curiosity....

Akai CR-81D 8-Track Player/Recorder Stereo - Working* PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION | eBay

I tested the unit with a set of (powered) computer speakers attached directly to the unit. A larger speaker my sound louder. I'm sure an amplifier would make the unit sound louder (and probably better) but it is not needed.

www.ebay.com

 

[prime minister]

This was supposed to be a very good player. You should buy it and tell us . No affiliation outside a general curiosity....

Akai CR-81D 8-Track Player/Recorder Stereo - Working* PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION | eBay

I tested the unit with a set of (powered) computer speakers attached directly to the unit. A larger speaker my sound louder. I'm sure an amplifier would make the unit sound louder (and probably better) but it is not needed.

www.ebay.com

That’s one of the ones I remember reading about. However, I’d want someone to go through it and give it a servicing first.

Any 8 Track technicians on the Haven?

 

[Thermionics]

I've got a friend from work who lives fairly close to me who is pretty hardcore into both R2R and 8-track, I'll ping him and see what his impressions are of sound quality. I believe he owns a CR-81D.

 

[mhardy6647]

Besides some of the AKAIs, the Sanyo/Wollensak decks were felt in some (perhaps many) circles to be... umm... the sine qua non of 8-track decks.

sine qua non of 8-track decks

There's a juxtaposition of words you don't see on just any day...



No, I've never owned one, but my grad-school era friend Ron Bond did (to make tapes for the 8-track in his ca. 1970 Challenger, which was a beautiful car). It was... a pretty good 8-track deck.

 

[Mike Gibson]

I had a Lear 8-track AM/FM in my van and it was the Cadillac of it's day. I then bought a Sony TC-228 recorder/player to make my own tapes. 8-track was far superior to Cassette at first because of the difference in tape speed. The superiority didn't last long though. I got tired of buying tapes that changed tracks in the middle of a song. OCD kicks in when that happens. Making tapes was a long process as I had to time track changes in every new tape before I could record on it. Then arrange the recording of the cuts on an LP so they would fit on the tape. Needless to say when Cassette SQ got better I switched and never looked back.

 

[mhardy6647]

FWIW, I have one of these, which was kindly foisted off on given to me some years (perhaps decades) back by the great @Deli -- who really, truly is one of the most generous people I know.

8trackin2 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

 

[mhardy6647]

Oh, and...
@prime minister -- don't forget to acquire a few paper matchbooks to use for those real-time alignment adjustments.

 

[prime minister]

Oh, and...
@prime minister -- don't forget to acquire a few paper matchbooks to use for those real-time alignment adjustments.

View attachment 41120

Is there any particular brand of matchbook you recommend?

 

[mhardy6647]

I think ABX testing is called for.

 

[prime minister]

I think ABX testing is called for.

Wood vs paper?

 

[MikeyFresh]

I think ABX testing is called for.

Please include a non-combustible alternative in this testing.

 

[fiddlefye]

I saw one like this in a secondhand shop a couple of years ago, but couldn't quite get myself to make the leap.

 

[Deli]

I’ve been told 8-track can sound really good. Folk have sweared it.

I have never heard it sound good, personally, but that’s the word on the street.

I still have my original 8-tracks for nostalgic reasons but my later-acquired wall of collected 8-tracks has been moved along many years ago. They were more a conversation piece and source of occasional entertainment but I had them fail frequently- from the rubber wheels to the felt pads to the tape itself. It became a labor of like.

 

[JoeThePop]

I had a Lear 8-track AM/FM in my van and it was the Cadillac of it's day. I then bought a Sony TC-228 recorder/player to make my own tapes. 8-track was far superior to Cassette at first because of the difference in tape speed. The superiority didn't last long though. I got tired of buying tapes that changed tracks in the middle of a song. OCD kicks in when that happens. Making tapes was a long process as I had to time track changes in every new tape before I could record on it. Then arrange the recording of the cuts on an LP so they would fit on the tape. Needless to say when Cassette SQ got better I switched and never looked back.

Yes! I thought maybe some 40-odd-years may have clouded my memory, but I remember my sister's Kansas "Point Of Know Return" 8-track tape doing just that. In the middle of a song the music slowly faded, the track changed, and the song continued. I was glad I was a cassette man.

 

[JohnVF]

I think 8-track was undone by just how good we all got at knowing exactly how long to fast forward through a song on cassette to get to the next track.

 

[mhardy6647]

Please include a non-combustible alternative in this testing.

Good point; CE certification and all that, eh?

 

[mhardy6647]

It became a labor of like.

most excellent. 🤭

 

[mhardy6647]

oh -- sort of on topic (I mean, everything's relative, right?)...

There was a small Panasonic 8-track R/P deck, the one with one meter, that was held in fairly high regard in some circles, and (still) doesn't command the brain-melting price of the canonical "good" 8-track decks already mentioned earlier in this thread.
I re-habbed one once for someone (an early AKer from Maine) -- long, long ago. It was OK sounding -- with that steely hiss that just makes the whole 8-track experience, IMO.

EDIT: I think it's this one: RS-805. I mean... an 8-track deck just ain't the real deal sans slide controls, now, is it?



FWIW: I do think that the decent-quality R/P decks might (???) sound better even playing prerecorded tapes. I think (???) that the heads may have been a wee bit better. Just a feeling, though... no measurement data handy or nothin'.