Panasonic RS-855us

[Quadchuck]

Just got one at Habitat for humans for $5. Jammed 2/4 switch and gummed up levers. Lightly cleaned old grease and fixed jamming. Does work good.
Cleaned up unit, was surprised front escutcheon is fully cast chrome...nice and in nice condition. Also, compared to Akai the motor is small and D.C. vs Akai's godzilla A.C.
behemoth. Pleasantly lighter but, and there's always, the Frequency response seems a bit lacking at both ends compared to Akai. I like the eject mechanism but is it really needed that effort could have been better suited to full 4 channel record not stereo only. Anyway it has rekindled interest in playing 8 tracks both 2/4 channel
I started collecting Quad in 1984....sold a lot on Ebay until they went full paypal.....I still can't resist buying a quad record at thrift stores but don't play as often as I once did

 

[Quadchuck]

It's the headphone circuit that has weak frequency response and volume; the line outputs have better response, level is still lower than I'd like.

 

[JonUrban]

Nice find. Don't see those around much anymore. No pictures?

 

[Quadchuck]

Here's a picture of rs855us on top of a Audiocontrol Rialto, also is my homemade test tape.
The best 8track shells I ever came across were these gray units. Teflon paper inside and very good capstan rollers.
well guided tape path and good contact head pad.
I took 3 shells discarded tape (tape was also good quality), bought Teac r2r test tapes that were 1/4" full track.
1- was 10k azimuth, 1-was 400hertz 0db and the third was 30 thru 14k @-10db. Teac no longer sells test tapes BTY,
I wound tapes loosely in shells and so far they play fine even though they were intended for reel to reel and aren't lubed .
2 Seventh Sojourn tapes for show.
Question for anyone or Mr Urban, is there any discussion about the wide disparity of audio quality and eq of various tape brands are
known for?
There is an old disparaging comment in the television world about the NTSC color system, Never Twice the Same Color, and that reminds me of
tapes R2R, cassette and 8 track .