Quad 8 Frustration

[JonUrban]

After not doing anything on the PC with regard to quad tapes or recordings for almost 2 years, I finally sat down to make another attempt at a compilation I've had in mind for years. So, I'm digging through my hard drives and I found a couple of the tunes were so old that I had them recorded at 16/44.1. I still had the Q8's, so I figured I'd just rerecord the tunes and move along. Well, my "Quad Bob" restored HK 8+ was now with a crappy front left channel. I tried everything but could not get the damn thing right. I think I wore out the head alignment screw. Something is amiss in that thing. So, I got out my trusty back-up HK 8+ and fired it up. It hadn't been touched in YEARS.

Sure enough, I had to "kick start" the motor with a screw driver, but it worked and was much better than the other machine. However, one thing I'd forgotten about Q8's that REALLY REALLY REALLY sucks is that you have to wait for the damn tape to get back to the beginning when you need it. I must have listened to that damn Project 3 Test Q8 15 times doing troubleshooting. They give you tones, but they only last a few seconds. By the time you get your screwdriver on the head alignment screw, the tone is gone. And now you have to wait for the entire side to play to get back to it.

And the head alignment screw/nut is a nightmare to get to and adjust. You need 3 hands and a ton of patience.

UGH!! What a pain. And when you want to record a tune, if something goes wrong at the start, BOOM, you have to go through the entire tape to get back. Ah, these Q8's. They have a lot of baggage!! What is remarkable is that they still sound good some 40 years later once you get them to play.

Anyway, just thought I'd vent. ARGH. Reels are SO MUCH EASIER. I suppose the Fostex route eliminates most of the cartridge drawbacks, but that's a lot of work as well.

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[Quadwreck]

I feel for you, Jon. Been there, done that. I have a stereo 8-track player with fast-forward exactly for such situations.

[Quad Linda]

Jon, you have a menage a Q8. Hey, nice flywheels! Are there any tips out there on repairing the equivalent Sony?

I'm envious of that Feliciano Q8! I have a rare Gold CD of it.

Not PC: I HATE 8 tracks. Stereo 8 - forget it. My CR80-DSS was my first Quad piece. I bought over 200 Q8's. Yes, they sound better than 2ch 8's. The lowest fidelity format ever. Other than tape jams, wow/flutter, limited access, no rewind, silence at the end of programs, foil, disintegrating rollers and pads, and ultra-low-fidelity, they're great! Play a well-done Q8 on great equipment and no one will believe it's an 8 track. My homebrew Converta-Quad Q8's were AWESOME in their day. I'll take a matrix LP over Q8 hands down, which is a 180 from where I was in the 70's. Fidelity trumps discrete anyday. Still, I keep my Q8's and consider them precious. I REALLY AM NUTS!

[ChristopherLees]

my jvc deck has one screw to turn...but again no fast forward or rewind on the deck..I know how you feel...
I just transferred some stereo jerry Jeff Walker material...took about three times longer than any other format would

alot to be said about using fostex open reel decks.

[JonUrban]

........ Hey, nice flywheels! ......

Yeah, I keep expecting to accidently stick my hand into one of those whirling buzz saws.

[jefe1]

Hey Jon, why don't you send your HK+ back to quadbob for a touch up? I'm sure he'll fix the problem.
Jim at qrxrestore has been working on my 9001 as you know and fixed a lot of the problems I got. Hes now adopting it to use the QBL remote control.
Next hes going to add a jet engine to it

Good luck!

[JonUrban]

Hey Jon, why don't you send your HK+ back to quadbob for a touch up? I'm sure he'll fix the problem........
Good luck!

I think the warranty has expired!!!

(For those interested, look inside the two HKs and see if you can tell which deck QB "fixed")

[arnold_layne]

Could be worse. I hate having to adjust head height on the CR80DSS. No access from the top. Gotta remove the bottom cover then find a way to prop up the deck so you still have access to the bottom while playing a tape.

A_L

[Quad Linda]

I guess the one on the left is the Quad Bob Job. It has less stuff. Reminds me of the Three Stooges repairing a car, which desposited parts on the pavement as it drove away. Curly: "What does a squeak look like?" I'll guess that the blue capitators (sic) are original parts.

I think the warranty has expired!!!

(For those interested, look inside the two HKs and see if you can tell which deck QB "fixed")

[quadsearcher]

The one on the right has been repaired. New caps are physically smaller for the same value. See the big grey cap on left and the smaller blue on the right.

[JonUrban]

The one on the right has been repaired. New caps are physically smaller for the same value. See the big grey cap on left and the smaller blue on the right.

CORRECT!

[timbre4]

IS that MY old girl there you say is better?

Miss her and actually searched on 'Harman Kardon 8+' a couple days ago. Must've been a disturbance in the force....

[JonUrban]

IS that MY old girl there you say is better?

Miss her and actually searched on 'Harman Kardon 8+' a couple days ago. Must've been a disturbance in the force....

No. I sent the one I bought from you on eBay to QB because I knew mine was as close to perfect as I would get. When I got it back, I defaulted to the QB unit (Yours) because I ASSumed that it would be the king of all Q8 players.

Oh well...........

[Quad Linda]

Timbre4 used the correct pronoun. Any tape cartridge, CD or DVD deck must be female. It's a Queen, NOT a king, Jon. Reel to reels are male. THINK ABOUT IT!

No. I sent the one I bought from you on eBay to QB because I knew mine was as close to perfect as I would get. When I got it back, I defaulted to the QB unit (Yours) because I ASSumed that it would be the king of all Q8 players.

Oh well...........

[Q-Eight]

Timbre4 used the correct pronoun. Any tape cartridge, CD or DVD deck must be female. It's a Queen, NOT a king, Jon. Reel to reels are male. THINK ABOUT IT!

Illogical. You're both trying to personify an inanimate object. Silly Humans....

[Quad Linda]

Ships are female. Tape decks can be, as well.

The reason your voices only come from the right rear is that you impaled the other three speakers with that Viking headgear.

Illogical. You're both trying to personify an inanimate object. Silly Humans....

[timbre4]

Truth be told the best of the best was the HK 8+ that was purchased in La Mesa CA in 1974 off a San Diego Unioin classified ad. When she played, especially a Dolby B cartridge like Full Sail it was totally blissed out time. The girl Jon got (aka I'm Not Lisa) was pretty good and almost brought back that Ol' Black Magic.

Once you go HK, it's hard to stay away.