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eyg2181

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
234
Location
Levittown, PA/Pottsville, PA
This is a place to post pictures of the Quadraphonic 8 Track Tape Players. From the top of the line Technics RS-858US & Akai CR-80D-SS to the Standard Players and Car Players.

Lets get started!

My favorite is the Technics RS-858US, so hopefully someone has the insides and outsides or all 3 or the big ones. The Green VU's, the Blue VU's, and the 858DUS
 
I think they are 4 technic quad decks

the rs-858
rs-858 US
rs-858 DUS
rs-858 U

heres some obscure ones I like

100_4570.jpg
thats one nice looking general electric





8TRKRADIO2.jpg





8TRKRADIO1.jpg
 
These are very good photos of some obscure tape decks. i dont see the ones of the technics decks though. im hoping for some because this is the one i want, but idont know which model US or DUS i want to get. the one with the blue VU meters is suppose to be better, but i want ot look at ALL the buttons and features on each first.
 
at the moment I am unable to get a picture of a Technics DUS. thats the version I have actually with the owners "DUS" manual as well

my digital camera will take pictures, but the screen is broken, so I cant get the flash off or change the settings, or look at what im taking a picture off (the digital screen looks grey with ink splotches randomly across it)- best way I can describe it

anyways I will take a pic as soon as I can borrow a camera (you will love the vu-meters greenish/orange)

do you have any pics of the akai? I consider them ugly but maybe you can change my mind
 
OK, this might be a little dorky but here is the faceplate from my Ford Quadrasonic radio/tape deck I brought back with me from Toronto back in about 1979.

I worked for Telex at the time and we made the raw quad 8-track tape decks that went in these. I used to travel to their plant in Don Mills (a suburb of Toronto) when there were issues.

Anyway, the last time I tried to power it up, I could smell something getting hot and the display wouldn't light up so I completely disassembled it and it is in pieces/parts right now.

This would have been assembled in late 1978 or early 1979 as the date code on our deck is 7845 (45th week of 1978). It was probably 1978 because, at that time, the demand was so great that our production wasn't that far ahead of Ford's.

FordDeckFaceplate.jpg
 
yes, i own a cr-80d-ss. i could take some pictures. FWIW i hate the cr80dss... its a nice looking unit, but the recording on both suck ass, and the levels for the channels are all different so i gotta adjust the balance on my receiver. fuck that, im gettin the technics.
 
I wouldn't pass off the Akai just yet. All the symptons you describe sounds to me like a need for head alignment and possible a demag. I think if you spent a bit of time on the Akai you would be much more pleased. I am not saying that the Technics isn't a good unit, because it is, but I think you may be overlooking another classic in the Akai.

MTGC (Michael)
 
Here is the sony, same as the hk and another as i remember. Somewhere in a past thread we discussed this. These are the most reliable units, and sound good when recapped.

100_7366.JPG
 
the ford deck is awesome (the rarest ones are the quads of the early 80s in silver, the black was used only for the 1979 model year), the ford analog quadrasonic deck was my first 8 track player in my 1978 town car, its a great 8 track player, considering its been stuck in a car in all sorts of temperature ranges (the only problem I have encountered is that there is no AM radio, when you switch no AM no sound or static comes from the speakers...im guessing its just a switch or something that is broken)....not to mention ford was sort of essential in keeping 8 track alive till the 80s

I find it funny in early 80s fords when cassettes came around, the radios with no 8 track or cassette option had a fake 8 track player design on the faceplate

here are pics of all for all RS-858 decks

the base rs-858

Bw8kzwBWkKGrHqJhEv10DUPZBMIoHReN_12.jpg


the rs-858US

Technics8588TrackRecorder1.jpg


the rs-858DUS

Technics_RS-858DUS_Stereo_8-Track_w.jpg


the rs-858U

rs-858u2.jpg
[/IMG]

hope this helps you
 
Here is the raw 8-track deck from the Ford radio above. It has the motor and preamp boards attached:

RawQuadDeck.jpg

Ford loved our decks and, at one time, Panasonic tried to win the bid to supply Ford with decks. Their decks were certainly impressive but they had about a jillion screws holding things together and Ford didn't like that. They liked the simplicity and ruggedness of our design and we won the contract again.

Doug
 
the one aspect I do like about the AKAI is the simple controls, The DUS gets rather confusing especially for recording (or I am an idiot)

I am surprised that it is supported by legs, I thought it would be rather heavy for a design like that, also surprised that the vu meters don't light up

I am wondering as well if rs-858 U is considered top of the line, it doesn't have any inputs for quad headphones, I think it combined the features of both the DUS and the US

US- noise supressor
DUS- the auto eject (1-2 or 1-4...to help with recording according to manual) + auto-eject and repeat

I cant seem to make out what the 2 switches on the far left are

*it seems to be the 8 track they sent to foreign markets because its rare as hens teeth over here...........just like the Technics sh3434.....why cant I find one here :(

thats pretty awsome about your 8 track job, did you manage to get any pics of the panasonic unit? I loved the intro on the ford quad 8 tracks, people love it "in the beginning......."

how did they add the CB radio option to the 8 track units? did they have a seperate assembly line for CB/8 Track radio options?

what were the post 1980 quad 8 track ford units like?

Colin
 
My biggest question is why was Ford the only company to jump on the Quad bandwagon? Chrysler jumped on the cassette gig in 1970. GM was barely offering 4-speaker stereo by 1972. AMC was offering 4-speaker stereo by '71 in Matadors, Javelins and Ambassadors and were at one time contractually linked with Ford to buy Philco/Phillips radios. But that contract ended in 1971. I still can't identify what kind of chassis AMC radios have after 1971..... I'd almost say it's an import or a Motorola type. AMC had contracts with Motorola for Alternators, which was only due to AMC factories using Miller welders which used.... Motorola-sourced components.

But back on topic, I can only think that somebody at Ford was a Quad Guy.
 
I know we took pictures of the Panasonic deck but I didn't get any and I don't know what became of them.

Our deck had several subassemblies combined into one with press-fit or rivited parts and then secured to the main chassis plate from underneath with a few screws. Panasonic's deck had every little assembly (stepping switch, power switch, quad/stereo switch, head bracket, etc.) secured with several screws from the top.

I never saw any units with CB capability. If they had those, they must have been in a separate facility. I also travelled to Philadelphia (Lansdale) where the stereo units were manufactured and never saw any there either.

8-track production lasted through about 1981 and maybe a bit into 1982 but by then, it was all over with the switch to cassette. Ford wanted Telex to develop a cassette deck with the equivalent reliability of our 8-tracks and, in fact, an incomplete prototype was built but Telex abandoned the effort in probably one of the biggest manufacturing blunders in the industry. A lot of money was made with the 8-tracks and the potential was there for the same situation with cassette decks but there you have it.

Beginning in 1980, we did make what was referred to as a "mini 8-track" deck which had a much smaller footprint. I never saw any of the radios into which these were installed as, by that time, I had been reassigned to hearing aid test equipment work.

Doug
 
I think Cadillac had Q8 players in the late 1970s.

If they did, I can find NO documentation on it. They did have digital displays, some had CB's, they were 4-speaker stereo by that time but I can find no mention of Quad. There was "ConcertoSound" but that was just a passive crossover system that removed some bass and added a bit of reverb to the rear speakers.

I DO have in my collection, an AudioVox brand AM/FM/Q8 that is a clone of the GM 1970-1978 "standard" radios. It looks like a regular old GM AM/FM/8-Track but says "Quad" right on the front and is true 4-channel.
 
If they did, I can find NO documentation on it. They did have digital displays, some had CB's, they were 4-speaker stereo by that time but I can find no mention of Quad. There was "ConcertoSound" but that was just a passive crossover system that removed some bass and added a bit of reverb to the rear speakers.

I DO have in my collection, an AudioVox brand AM/FM/Q8 that is a clone of the GM 1970-1978 "standard" radios. It looks like a regular old GM AM/FM/8-Track but says "Quad" right on the front and is true 4-channel.

I wonder if I had the same AudioVox indash unit. Does it say "QUAD" on a sliding side to side switch? Mine was in a '73 Plymouth Duster the previous owner had installed. I recall it had decent sound, although it was a little lame in the amplifier stage.
 
Sounds about right. There's a sliding switch on the front for AM/FM operation with a "handle" dead center of the sliding switch. It says Quadra on one side an Phonic on the other. AudioVox 77-QDXH AM/FM/Q8 with radio pushbutton presets and eject button! Mines' in decent, working shape however the plastic cradle that holds the head has broken so it's not 100% and yet still plays without much crosstalk.
 
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