An 8-Track Recorder‽ Be Realistic! | Vintage Hifi Revival 

If anyone needs that replacement gear, I've printed a few extra off and listed them on Etsy: www.etsy.com/listing/1422278899

Nice repair job. 8 track recorders were really popular back then. We had everything on vinyl and wanted to listen in the car...or bootleg for our friends. I had a JC Penney AM/FM, turntable, 8 track recorder. Charged $1 each to record stuff for my older brother & his friends. They had to supply the blank tape. We always used Zippo lighter fluid, which is basically naptha, to clean and lube solenoids in valves and doorbell chimes and such. It doesn't gum up. A ballpoint pen eraser is good for shining up contacts, small commutators and model railroad & slot car tracks. Hypodermic needles make great oilers. Thanks for sharing.

I sure miss Radio Shack especially from the 70s decade.

Thank you for listing those gears on etsy. Just got mine and it works great. My grandmother has had this thing sitting on a self in the basement for 30+ years. Can't even tell you how meny times i saw the "walnut grained vinyl veneer" sticker on the side and never bothered to see what it was. Just brought it home and had all the same issues you had. Thank you again.

My very first stereo was a realistic. Loved it. Suggestion…. If you dive that deep into a restore… replace the 45 year old capacitors! They will eventually leak and cause damage not to mention that it would improve the sound qualities

This was initially a playback only format for the car. Recorders only started to show up later in its lifecycle when cassettes started to overtake 8-tracks in popularity. Only a handful of models were made by a few manufacturers and were generally higher end & more expensive. So no, they weren't very common at all and cassettes still absolutely smashed them in sound quality and noise reduction. In the world of tape, the cassette truly was king.

8 track recorders were extremely common in the mid/late 70’s, especially in the all in one stereo/turntables and component style like you have here. There is no “record protect” on an 8 track, those two copper plates are the sensors for auto track change, also, since 8 tracks “usually” don’t have an erase head you are just recording on top of what is already there and you can often hear the previous music in the quiet spots. A bulk tape eraser is great for wiping a used tape clean before recording.

Really enjoy your videos and your happy go lucky approach to fixing up classic old school tech. I love all those old reel to reel , 8 tracks etc. You know your stuff and have a real gift for fixing things. It’s very therapeutic watching you bring new life to the old equipment. Wish I could do it. I write and record my own music it’s often torturous and unfulfilling , incomplete and a thankless task! It’s good to just sit ,watch and listen to you happily restoring these fascinating machines. Keep up the good work 👏🏻👍

A great deal of older Radio Shack equipment was made by major manufacturers with the Realistic Label put on.

I have the exact same recorder. Use it often and the recordings are MUCH better than people realize or give them credit for. The "gap" in recording when it changes channels is only a split second as the tape is still moving and the sensor foil is only about an inch long, the tape is moving at 3 3/4 inches per second so the dropout from the foil is less than 1/3 of a second. There is no "write protect" on any 8 track tape, you can accidentally record over any tape, anytime blank or otherwise. I have tapes that my dad (RIP) recorded 50 years ago that have all kinds of music (mix tapes) he recorded off LP, 45, or even from another 8 track tape, so it wasn't just a medium for recording the radio.

I only seen the time counter in other machine.That was a high end 8 track for the day.Dad bought me the Montgomery Ward combo cassette and 8 track recorder in 1982 it still recorded very good in 2013 after I pulled it from storage because everyone wanted to copy their tapes to cd. One of the best spliced recordings of Dan Fogelburgs Ghost song.i had the first part on cassette and the rest on 8 track and magically timed it perfectly on the fly I had the complete song. This was a big deal at the time recorded on 1st part on cassette then caught the second part on 8 track.The access to music is everywhere now. I still have the recording 40 years later. 8 track was a hit in the automotive market then was a mess when the 8 track tapes were left in the cold or heat and became notorious for wrap ups and the inability to easily fix. Then cassette won out for obvious reasons .Being able to print a part is unbelievable and awesome 🙂 Eventually we will be able to make more complex parts. Good Video 😎

I had a Fisher all-in-one from... I guess the late 70s. AM, FM stereo, 3 speed BSR record changer, stereo cassette recorder, and an 8-track player/recorder, and aux input that I used for CD's. My car at the time (a 1971 Pontiac LeMans) had an 8-track player so I made my own mixtapes. At the time, I could regularly find 8 tracks at the thrift stores... sometimes even sealed blank cartridges... but usually would just tape over something undesirable and make my own mixtapes to play in the car.

The spider and her offspring survived. Those were moltings and empty husks.

WOW....I actually have one of these things buried deep in my attic. I bought it in the late 70's to dub my per-recorded cassettes and lp's onto 8-tracks so I can play them in my car. This thing was cheaper than buying a cassette player for the car. I put the thing away when I joined the military and when I got out, 8 track tape had faded away. It has moved with me from home to home as an attemped to keep my "system" together over the years....I will have to dig this thing out and see if it still works now....I wonder where I can find some "still operational" 8 track tapes.... thanks for the memories.

I just discovered your channel yesterday and I'm already hooked! Love your content as I've enjoyed doing the same thing for years. Can't wait to see more! 👍

I own the same model eight track deck. I was very pleased to find your video to refresh my memory on servicing mine. With a good amplifier and proper equalization, it my best sounding unit. It records very well too. Thank you for sharing!

That's got a great tape head mechanism. Most of them were made out of plastic and the plastic would crack leaving the head loose. There are people that have been making 3D printed replacements thankfully

I recorded 8 track carts back in the 70s. I had a Ross unit, which had all these features, but no pause button. So I installed a switch on the back, that would stop the motor. One feature I really liked is that the deck would continue to record right through the track change. Upon playback, there would be about a half second pause as the metal sensing foil went past the head, but that was not really noticeable. MUCH better than the fade out, track change, fade in of the prerecorded tapes. With Ampex blank cartridges, this deck could rival cassettes in sound quality, virtually no wow or flutter.

Sophisticated Laaaaady!

Great video again! Love it when you upload...I get all happy!

I had the same one in the late seventies! Use it with my pioneer sa 8500II, technic turntable and my Altec Lansing speakers.

I’ve never had recorders as far as 8-Track, just players in combination units.

Regarding the motor bearings: Those are made of oilite and they need to be infused with oil under vacuum for approx. 24 hours.

Very useful video.👍👍 I'm 74 and never owned any 8 track tapes or a player, so for a laugh I bought two and will see what it takes to make them work. My dear old dad had one of those all-in-one stereos that was AM-FM, record player and 8 track player but I never paid any attention to it. What I remember from the 8 track days was seeing lots of them along the edges of the highways. People seemed to like throwing them from their moving cars to beautify America's highways.

I have a tr-881 which is a slightly cheaper version of your tr-883 and it does sound fantastic! I had to change the belts and re-grease it when i got it as well but didn't have to disassemble it like you did. The trickiest thing for me was to get the head alignment right!

Awesome repair! I'm going to use these videos as a reference for my repair attempts.

Love this channel ♥️

HI ALL CAPS JOE HERE. AGAIN. THE REASON THE SOUND IS SO GOOD IS THEY USED CLASS A CIRCUTS UNTIL 1074. OR AROUND THERE. I TOOK OLD 8 TRACK CAR STEREO AND TOOK OUT THE HEAD AMP AND SPEAKER AMP OUT AND THE HEAD AMP IS CLASS A AND THE SPEAKER AMP IS CLASS A AND I RUN MY PHONE INTO THAT HEAD AMP WITH A POTENTIOMETER ON IT AND RUN THE AMPLIFIER OUT INTO ANOTHER SPEAKER TO RCA ADAPTER. THE PYRAMID ONE. AND THEN RUN THAT THROUGH MY EQS THEN INTO MY AMP AND EVERY SINGLE. BASS GUITAR IN EVERY SONG IS WAY BOOSTED. FROM THE CLASS A CIRCUT. ITS SOUNDS SOOO GOOD I ALWAYS START CRYING BECAUSE DIGITAL HAS ALWAYS BEEN ICE COLD. AND THATS BECAUSE DIGITAL TURNS THE SIGNAL ON AND OFF TOO FAST AND IT NEEDS TIME DELAY AND TWO CLASS A CIRCUTS IN A ROW DEFINITELY DOES IT. YOU KNOW ITS CLASS A AMPLIFIER BECAUSE ALL 4 TO2S ON THE OUTPUT WILL BE THE SAME PART NUMBER

Yes they were common.

i hope this gets as much views as the last one, or maybe even more, seems like u channel is getting more traction

Radio Shack stuff from that era can be surprisingly high quality. Recently picked up a SA-2001 integrated and TM-1001 tuner, both from '79 as well. They would have made a great combo with this deck.

Dang!!!! I would never remember how all that goes back together!!! I always manage to reassemble things like this and have parts left over!!! Does that mean I was more efficient than the original designers? Ha!

I have a TR-882 and it's interesting to see how similar it is to this one, same control layout and similar internals, but the addition of that gold pulley on top to run the tape counter.. (Cool channel/videos by the way!)

reel to reel was the best way to record of the radio back in the day with the SP TP tapes 2400 3600 you can have over 10000 feet on a otari mtr 12 got to be carefull the deck rew ff is very powerfull

In the mid 70s, i used the best Realistic 8 track recorder available to make tapes for friends. I used cassettes and reel to reel for my use but it was fun to make tapes for friends who used 8-tracks... trying to get the track change to happen between songs, etc. It was a challenge to record with 8-tracks since they don't rewind, among other quirks. The machine I used was different... perhaps a bit higher end than the one used in this video.

I had an old panasonic recorder as a child. It was terrible but all I had. So many mix tapes.

I had this same model in the 90s, I got it from a garage sale and would record CDs and Vinyl on it because it sounded great way better then tape, the one I had worked great no cross talk but I had some over the years with various issues they were not exactly reliable but this model was for me thanks for sharing

27:55 the copper leaves is what senses there is a tape in the player and starts the motor

This is a learning experience-I especially like the belts on the 8-track tape recorder(that way the recorder won't eat your tapes when you change the belts and should play or record better)

The 8 tracks were a lot easier to work on than all my reel to reel recorders..I have this 883 and it sounds great..good video you do good work..

I bought one of these units in the mid 80s from my local Radio Shack. The contacts you referred to at the end of your video are the trigger for the auto track changing mechanism. The metallic splice tape shorts the contacts to drive the required solenoid. There is not a write protect feature with 8-tracks. I serviced my unit a few months back when 3x 330uf/25v caps failed on the mainboard and killed the audio and shorted my track lights. I also replaced the 10uf/16v cap in the capstan motor to improve the wow and flutter problem it developed. The frequency response is only 50hz - 8khz where older realistic units went as high as 12khz.

19:50 in I have to write and say "this guy should be in space working on space stations and then up laser print that wheel"! Chops on the 007 vibes. For analog stereo FM, God & Country.

8 track recorders were not too common for all the reasons you stated. Sound quality is better than cassette because the tape is moving at twice the speed of a cassette. When the track changes, it should only leave a 1-2 second gap in the sound. Love your channel!

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thanx for this masterclass ... way above my skillset but enjoy watching every bit .... the parts in there are such quality bring back the 70s :] PS when i was 15 in 73 i saw a guy had a parked car a sports car with an 8-track player and the first 4 zeppelin just there i was gobsmacked this was open top he had just parked it there in this posh resort did not care he did anyway never had one at the time but got a player summer 21 and i am hooked the sound on those on bass and drums is better than any other medium i can think of as you say better than cassette often altho XDR and HX-Pro on later cassettes was very good too; so nowadays i digitize in 24-bit those old 50-year old cartridges and God do they sound good ...... will watch your other ones too on tapedecks

Recorders were very common. Virtually every stereo receiver with a built-in 8-track could record. Some were built better than others however. Some didn't come with a pause button - which makes recording very difficult. If you're going to play with 8-tracks, invest in a big bag of flat belts. Speed problems almost always come down to belt issues. Also, repair every tape you get : replace the pad and splice. Remember - it's NEVER the player.... it's ALWAYS the tape. 8-tracks have no "write protect" scheme. Those leaf switches inside are probably to turn on the motor and turn on the lights. About the only protection scheme 8-track decks have is that most will not allow you to press the record button after a tape has been inserted. Generally the process is to hold the Record button while inserting a tape. The only tapes that have a notch cast into the top are the Quadraphonic tapes, and that notch is there so that a 4-channel machine can automatically identify a stereo or Quad cartridge.

So cool.

Believe it or not I think I have the exact same gear issue you have in your timer. I don't have access to a 3D printer quite yet, but once I replicate the part and attempt to replace it, I will be amazed if it works. It seems that from the multitude of 8 track players I have seen, that little gear is usually the culprit for the majority of timer related issues.

My Rare Masterwork machine just got fixed and I don't wanna know whats living in there💀💀💀

Leave it to Radio Shack to dream up that awesome piece. ❤

I remember this and knew someone who had an identical or similar Realistic Radio Trash model.

1. 8 track recorders had timers instead of counter so you knew when the tape would run out. 2. 8 tracks sounded good because the tape moves twice as fast as cassettes, faster tape speed better sound. 3. When recording only a second or two would be lost when changing tracks.

I think the "machining marks" on the knobs are created by just not polishing the molds after machining them. Plastic will eat those machining marks from mold right up.

I got the same machine from goodwill for 5 bucks... only needed a belt , plays and records great

I went through a couple Hitachi 8track recorders and made mixtapes for my van player. Common? Not sure but I had fun with one.

I have the same model, plus some earlier versions.

Only thing in this video I cringe at,is when you were bending on that motor terminal-I KNEW it was going to break off! Those terminals are VERY fragile-I learned the hard way! Shoulda use a fine needle-nose pliers to bend it s-l-o-w-l-y. Probably would have been better to retrofit an electronically-governed motor,which are now available--those contact types are prone to causing flutter as the contacts open and close in operation.

Wunderschönes Gerät! 8-Track war in Deutschland nicht üblich, wurde auch nicht angeboten.

Отлично! Очень интересно 👍👍👍👍

Was 8-Track more of a American thing as being in the UK i've never ever seen one ps i miss Tandy and Realistic as still have a old Realistic tape deck

I'm just amazed how you remember how it went back together. I tried to fix a cassette player with no luck

I have the TR-803 in mint cosmetic condition. I'm in the process of replacing the capacitors.

Actually the gap when recording was very short, noticable but short.

I find it frustrating they put headphone jacks and audio meters on cassette recorders even cheap 8-track recorders. Manufacturers don’t put them on hi fi VCR’s. Hi fi VCR’s produce extremely high quality audio. But no head phone Jack or audio meters.

We had RadioShack here in the uk 🇬🇧 but we called it Tandy l love their products l have Record deck and cassette deck they are still going strong 😊but l would like one of these 8 tracks recorders

Imagine recording on a 8-track deck without a pause button..! I got one....!

You should see if you can make a replacement for the head mount. There are some models that have plastic head mounts that tend to brake... I have that problem and can't find any replacement

I have one of these just like yours, but I don't know what shape is in. It has been sitting for years in my basement. I made many tapes from LP records.

16:18 something went flying

Love your videos! You mentioned you did an STL for that gear you made, I have a similar deck that uses the same gear and mine is cracked as well. Would you mind sharing your STL file? I'd like to try the same repair.

I've owned a couple of recorders over the years. I had a standalone Realistic kinda like this one, had one that was a combo 8-track-cassette recorder-record player from I think Sears, and a floor model big-ass stereo (Zenith). You'd be surprised how good of a recording I was able to get out of the Realistic. The Zenith and the Sears ones were ok, but not as good as the standalone.

Nice! I have a Realistic TR-803 recorder. Really great players. What did you use for the new grease? o:

uncommon

I have 5 realistic units 3. Tr 801’s a Tr 802 and a Tr 803. Also I have a realistic Tr 882.

7:46 No!!! Those tabs hold the motor bearing (which is under spring tension....and alot of it). Do this and it will be difficult to get it back together, and that's if you can get it back together at all.

hi i love the 4 track carts don't get the bad tape the roller go inside alot of the 8 tracks it's the heavy wear in side them i pull the reels out of them and move it to the 4 track cart and puy in the 8 track tape stop my mate got 1000's of them and they sound bad as hell alot of wear alotof hard to find one he's got quad audio one's with heavy wear

i had a pioneer but sold it fast ,was when i started to have a cassette player in the car ,so this was late bought and the cartridges were sold with all the music you might wanted to listen but pirated and were cheap so the deck wasn´t that used ,i just sold it before i got stucked with it. but everybody was using this before 77

I have an RCA receiver with an 8track recorder built in. I've used it long enough to find it has an issue...it doesn't eat tapes as 8track decks apparently were made to lol. I tested it with an original release of the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen :) Now what do I do with the thing...? Btw, it's around 19" wide which is odd to me.

Great sound capabilities well beyond tape with high end recorder and latest tape! that's logical it's twice the speed! (However not to harm tape lovers and to be realistic, the device lacks of latest technology like HX room, dolby C, optimized head, and circuitry; i set in between chrome tape dolby b-c with optimal bias generally) Regarding convenience, i think you misunderstood to purpose of it. Playback: i put a bunch of tape near me and , just put these one while doing something else, when it eject the tape, i switch by another one, if bored switch program, all of this without being disturbed or loosing concentration of the other activity. Well known by older truck driver for it's convenience, you can practically change the cartridge without looking more than 1 second to the device, as well as other function! Recording, well yes if you want complex recording (multiple record time) it's not made for. But with today digital, you prepare the playlist according tape duration, add 4 second between program record change, and that recorded more easily that any another analog support! (don't hesitate recording hi-res) Definitively great support, i miss mine, which was too used by continuous playback instead of digital! Because yes it sound better! (However that's not hard even a tape sound better than digital hi res) This said that's not done for people who want to change tracks precisely, however none of analog support are done for digital music behavior and i think it's better you enjoy more the music than just browsing playing a few second each tracks!

Had one of these back in the 70s. Good sound. Blank tapes cost $$$.

That is a Panasonic RC- 801, made in Japan !!!!

I own many 8-track tape decks.... literally 15-25.

by the way of you know where to buy replacement head?

Hi, I was curious to know if this tape does not have an eraser head for records.

I have a higher model from Radio Shack. Looks like it was dropped. Record button bent and loud popping in playback, maybe damaged circuit board.

Hi would you sell one of the gears? I have the same unit with the same issue. Thanks I don’t have a 3D printer

Great video. I picked up 3 of these at an estate auction recently and went through all of them and got them working. Same issues your had. The tape counter only works on one of them. Would you be willing to send me a couple of those parts you printed. I will pay. I just don’t know anything about 3D printing.

"Common"? Yes and no. It depends on the market segment. At the lower end of the audio market, brands like Lloyd's, Soundesign, and department store 'house brand' all-in-one stereos often featured an 8-Track recorder. They were not typically very good units, though, and almost all used a crummy Automatic Level Control. They tapes they made usually pretty sounded pretty bad. Stand-alone recorder DECKS like yours were not so common. Ssince they didn't rely on automatic level control, they actually COULD make decent sounding cartridges. A few 8-track recorder decks even offered Dolby, even though 8-track was not as susceptible to tape hiss as cassette was.

What a flaming amateur ? 😂

hey...why dont i send my grandfathers 8 track and i pay you to put it back in working order. you seem good at it

Be more realistic..Look for an Akai Cr-R-81D....

Как обычно пассики 👎😀

YOU NEED BETTER AND RIGHT TYPE OF TOOLS FOR THESE JOBS. No 'made in china', no car tools, no loose bits.. I hurts lookin how screws get screwed 😕 Those dosen't cost so much, buy thin long ones with handle size what you like. No those chrome china all metal things. They were good 30y ago, now they are 'good looking (in pictures)' but just bad 👎

Boy ...You should not be doing this .Get another hobby

Trying to post a link of my old setup...all Pioneer except the speakers: Link is safe.....I'm not some spammer. i.imgur.com/7YPeFl3.jpg