Hello

My 8track player suddenly sounds muddy and distorted when playing some tapes. With other tapes it sounds okay but with some, like this Rhinestone Cowboy album, it sounds horribly distorted. The screw on the playhead wasn't making sufficient contact with the head because the mount is cracked which caused a static noise so I soldered it onto the playhead. I suppose the heat could have messed up the head but I have soldered the same screw to the same playhead before and it didn't cause any issues. Did I just play it too loud and blow out the speakers?

Im hoping i can just buy new w1 8ohm speakers and solve the issue. Thoughts?

I was getting ready to put this in my car, and I thought I'd snap some pictures real quick. This is a New Old Stock sparkomatic under dash 8 track. I bought it about 25 years ago it was still in the box. Unfortunately, the big Ranger 4/8 track I was going to put in the car was too big to fit under the dashboard, so I'm throwing this guy in. The all black finish kind of matches better anyway. I love how the ends of the wires still have solder on them.I opened it up to just drop a little oil on the bearings. I am bummed the capstand has some staining. But it still sounds great, well 8 track great. I figured some of you have never seen a New Old Stock 8-track player, so I'd throw some pics up.

Absolutely loving my current set up. All serviced/ repaired by myself.

Thoughts?

UK

This is an old Ranger 8-track player looks to be from the late '60s early '70s. And it has probably the strangest 8-track mechanism I've ever seen. It is Japanese made. Unless that wheel in the front is for playing four track and 8 track? It's also built like a brick shithouse. Unfortunately it's got all those great capacitors that are just going to fail any minute.

It was given as a gift and I don’t think I’ll ever see another one

Can take a salt-water flood like a bad-ass. Toss em in the sun, put em next to the dehumidifiers over night, re-splice the aluminum sensing tape and good to go.

It’s about $12 used but worth more sealed and I’m possibly suspecting there may be a bad splice from sitting sealed.

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1 x JVC

10 x Sana

Opened this up to replace the melted wheel and found some extra pieces, namely the plastic top piece and the little half moon thing by the wheel. First off, am I putting it all back correctly? The clear plastic cover over the tape reel can barely be seen, but its under there. Also, any info on these? I'm a bit of a noob but I haven't seen one of these before

I've only ever seen one other one online. Seeking information on it, possibly looking to sell (medical bills.)

Cheers.

I bought this 8-track player for $100. I think I overpaid as it didn’t work. I cleaned it with deoxit and got it working beautifully. It probably should be recapped. I’m gonna just use it right now. However, I did refinish it. Let me know what you guys think. The first picture as bought the next 4 are as it is after I refinished it.

I opened up an 8-track cartridge because it wasn’t playing correctly, and I found that the tape has come off the reel. The problem is, I can’t find the other end of the tape anywhere inside the cartridge.
Has anyone run into this before? Is the tape likely tucked underneath the pack somewhere, or could it have broken off completely? What’s the best way to find it and get everything back together without damaging the tape?
Any advice would be appreciated.