I just picked up an ELECTROPHONIC QUAD 8 TRACK STEREO

[Jason1976]

I just picked this up today and i don't even have an 8 track to test it. it came with 4 speakers. how much is something like this worth?

 

[JonUrban]

This is considered a "Department Store Brand" and as such is probably not worth much, however, it has great value in exploring the world of Q8's and would likely get someone interested in getting deeper into the hobby.

 

[The Quadfather]

Electrophonic? I doubt it's even true quad. Most of their quad stuff was merely a stereo with a Hafler speaker circuit. Oh, and there was that magic "quad" button. If it is true quad, then it will have four pickups on the head instead of two. But don't expect high fidelity from this one. These were the bottom feeders of the quad world.

 

[doncirelli]

My family had an Electrophonic Quad all-in-one unit. We got it for Christmas about '71 or '72. Probably the same model you have. Yeah, it was one of the cheapest Quad receivers on the market, but it was new technology to us, and sounded better than the old wooden console stereo that preceded it. I believe it was true quad, if not truly hi-fidelity. I remember playing a quad "Switched On Bach" 8-track on it and you could hear the sound "move around the room". I guess that was a gimmick that Walter Carlos put into that album in order to take advantage of the Quad format. He might have been encouraged to do so in order to sell the listening public on the capabilities of Quad. Do you have any pictures of the unit that you could post on here? I would love to see it, just for old time's sake.

 

[The Quadfather]

As I recall they did actually make some true quad stuff. But it was the exception rather than the common.

The Quadfather

 

[ndiamone]

...I remember playing a quad "Switched On Bach" 8-track on it and you could hear the sound "move around the room".
I guess that was a gimmick that Walter Carlos put into that album in order to take advantage of the Quad format.
He might have been encouraged to do so in order to sell the listening public on the capabilities of Quad.

In fact Wendy Carlos (nee Walter) H-A-T-E-D CBS' Labs quad mix of her material at the time as she was not allowed to take the time to do it herself. Granted the Q8 mix is better than the gold-label LP mix which is drowning in fake reverb, but it's still a CBS staff mixing engineer's idea of a showoff tape, similar to Tomita's material for JVC/RCA.

At least JVC let Tomita mix his own quad to his own liking. Carpenters' same thing. SQ CD-4 and Q8's of their albums Richard says he's always hated because of the same reason: slapped together any which way by A&M staff engineers because they were too busy on the road singing to do it themselves.