Sad Stereo - neglected, damaged, destroyed, discarded, scrapped, gone to heaven...

[Doodski]

Mine was better because it also included an 8 track player.

Ewwww! I repaired high end car audio for years as specialist. There was some really far out gear that was amazing and then there was 8 track players from old cars. I refused them all but one for repair because frankly... It was beneath me... Anyway... I accepted a unique 8 track player that was in decent condition in and out from some classic car because the owner detailed and explained his situation and how it was some sort of historical piece and made his car complete as a concours quality build or something along those lines. I opened it up and was fiddling with the mechanism, inspecting it and checking out the operation or the mechanism. What a piece of junk. I have no idea how peole back in the day tolerated them. So I cleaned it inside and out perfectly, calibrated the tape path as best as was possible, adjusted the track changing operation and changed out the belts for new ones from my large belt box that I stocked for car and home audio mechanisms and set the azimuth as best as could be for that horrible track changing operation that made the head alignment never perfect on all tracks. I charged the customer a fair amount because I was into the unit for ~3.5 hours and he was happy as a clam. He said he was happy to just find somebody reliable that would service it and I was recommended and he wanted me to do the work. I refused all 8 track players after that... That was the very last of them that crossed my workbench.

 

[Multicore]

Ewwww! I repaired high end car audio for years as specialist. There was some really far out gear that was amazing and then there was 8 track players from old cars. I refused them all but one for repair because frankly... It was beneath me... Anyway... I accepted a unique 8 track player that was in decent condition in and out from some classic car because the owner detailed and explained his situation and how it was some sort of historical piece and made his car complete as a concours quality build or something along those lines. I opened it up and was fiddling with the mechanism, inspecting it and checking out the operation or the mechanism. What a piece of junk. I have no idea how peole back in the day tolerated them. So I cleaned it inside and out perfectly, calibrated the tape path as best as was possible, adjusted the track changing operation and changed out the belts for new ones from my large belt box that I stocked for car and home audio mechanisms and set the azimuth as best as could be for that horrible track changing operation that made the head alignment never perfect on all tracks. I charged the customer a fair amount because I was into the unit for ~3.5 hours and he was happy as a clam. He said he was happy to just find somebody reliable that would service it and I was recommended and he wanted me to do the work. I refused all 8 track players after that... That was the very last of them that crossed my workbench.

Did he have any carts to play in it?
Do you think that, after the work you put in, it was ever used?

 

[Multicore]

Should we consider the Yorx Equalizer as sort of DSP that was able to correct room acoustic such that it will outplay current systems without Equalizer or DSP.

It is actually possible, depending how well the EQ bands match the room modes. The chances are a bit higher with the Realistic System 300 as it has more and narrower bands.

 

[mhardy6647]

Should we consider the Yorx Equalizer as sort of DSP that was able to correct room acoustic such that it will outplay current systems without Equalizer or DSP.

like a Lokius
more of an ASP really, though.

 

[Multicore]

like a Lokius
more of an ASP really, though.
View attachment 356816

omg. a visual pun. that took me nearly two minutes ffs.

well played.

 

[Svet Angelov]

This has already been shared on here in another thread, buuut....

 

[Sal1950]

Ewwww! I repaired high end car audio for years as specialist. There was some really far out gear that was amazing and then there was 8 track players from old cars. I refused them all but one for repair because frankly... It was beneath me... Anyway... I accepted a unique 8 track player that was in decent condition in and out from some classic car because the owner detailed and explained his situation and how it was some sort of historical piece and made his car complete as a concours quality build or something along those lines. I opened it up and was fiddling with the mechanism, inspecting it and checking out the operation or the mechanism. What a piece of junk. I have no idea how peole back in the day tolerated them.

Doooood, what a cold view of a beautiful piece of audio history. Without them in our cars, those of us in the 60s - 70s generation were left mainly with Top 40 AM radio or the just beginning FM band. Just shove in a tape of Smoky Robinson, Marvin Gaye or Barry White, crawl in the back seat with your favorite squeeze, and let the music continue ad infinitum. I about wore out the springs of my back seats to the music of an 8 track.
God Bless the Lear 8 track player.

 

[Doodski]

Doooood, what a cold view of a beautiful piece of audio history. Without them in our cars, those of us in the 60s - 70s generation were left mainly with Top 40 AM radio or the just beginning FM band. Just shove in a tape of Smoky Robinson, Marvin Gaye or Barry White, crawl in the back seat with your favorite squeeze, and let the music continue ad infinitum. I about wore out the springs of my back seats to the music of an 8 track.
God Bless the Lear 8 track player.

Hahaha... Cold view... rflmao .. Yes, I remember we where circa ~very early 1970s. We where eating in Osoyoos, British Columbia. It was a smoking hot dry afternoon at the burger joint where we where eating our burgers and fries while the family was sitting in a work of art bright red and white station wagon. It was quiet and we where relaxing and munching when a gorgeous big red Buick 2 door convertible pulled up with, The Guess Who, These Eyes playing on a 8 track and it was loud...LoL. What a day! That was my intro to all of the above coolness and I thought I died and went to heaven!

 

[Doodski]

Did he have any carts to play in it?

He supplied a cart in decent condition for me to work on it which I appreciated very much.

Do you think that, after the work you put in, it was ever used?

I hope it was used because that sort of stuff needs to be used or the belt(s) stiffen up and like tires getting flat spots the belts get flat spots on the pulleys and the wow and flutter goes through the roof.

 

[Multicore]

This has already been shared on here in another thread, buuut....

View attachment 356837

Ach weh des Leiden, muss es dann sein gescheiden?
Ach weh mir Armen, wen sollt's doch nicht erbarmen?

 

[Brian Hall]

Doooood, what a cold view of a beautiful piece of audio history. Without them in our cars, those of us in the 60s - 70s generation were left mainly with Top 40 AM radio or the just beginning FM band. Just shove in a tape of Smoky Robinson, Marvin Gaye or Barry White, crawl in the back seat with your favorite squeeze, and let the music continue ad infinitum. I about wore out the springs of my back seats to the music of an 8 track.
God Bless the Lear 8 track player.

True. These young people don't know the horror of AM/FM radio during the disco years. Anything was better.

 

[egellings]

Share pictures, stories, videos, poems of sad stereo. They don't need to be yours, just good enough to share.

REALISTIC SYSTEM 300 How long was this in someone's home before it got kicked to the curb last week? It sold (when?) with speakers almost as big as the system cabinet. Was this part of a clear-out when someone died?

The EQ config, open cassette door, and scattering of media add to the sadness.

View attachment 356592

It's got everything on it! With a good cleaning, it might be possible to resurrect it for use in a garage system.

 

[DSJR]

oh. the photo I just posted triggered me!
one of the two EICO amps in the photo was a dump find. Not a New England "Yankee swap" pile find, but a scrap metal pile find. I had to extricate its power cord from frozen slush ice to extricate it.

As found, all tubes were present and intact, including a British-made 5AR4 HV rectifier. It even worked as found.

View attachment 356750
View attachment 356751
EICO ST-40

My hifi friend and fellow traveler Gary Kaufman kindly rehabbed it (and the aesthetically very similar, but very different inside EICO ST-70 shown next to it in the Koss photo above and the photo below) for me.



ST-70 on the left, ST-40 on the right

Good Lord, in the first more distant pic I thought they were Leak Delta amps from the early 70s as the styling was so similar...

 

[Doodski]

True. These young people don't know the horror of AM/FM radio during the disco years. Anything was better.

Oh... I know the horror. sigh* I lived in the countryside for the first ~20 years of my life until I moved to Vancouver Canada and got to living some exciting times. When I lived in the country I was ~2.25 miles from the Canada USA border, I still have a Washington State voice accent to this day and I'm Canadian and I used AM radio extensively but my first love was KEZE FM from Spokane Washington. KEZE was @ that time the best hard/classical rock FM radio station to ever exist! My 2nd oldest brother was into disco and wore the clothing to prove it and had puka beads and the whole 9 yards but either way I thought most disco sucked because I was a rock lover.
Ewwww!>

 

[Sal1950]

Hahaha... Cold view... rflmao .. Yes, I remember we where circa ~very early 1970s.

Well there was always the option of these,

I do remember one of my older buds "Bob from the hood", around 1964 it was, had one of these in his 57 Chevy 2dr ht,
black with red interior. He was by far the coolest cat around at the time.

 

[DMill]

I have three 8 track tapes my dad used to play all the time in his Saab. Breakfast in America supertramp, Abbey Road Beatles and Fragile Yes. God I miss my old man sometimes. Really owe him my taste in music.

 

[Doodski]

Well there was always the option of these,

I do remember one of my older buds "Bob from the hood", around 1964 it was, had one of these in his 57 Chevy 2dr ht,
black with red interior. He was by far the coolest cat around at the time.

That would be amazing! When the car is parked of course. Imagine the eyeballs of peeps when you load a LP and it actually sounds awesome compared to 8 track or cassette. Park overlooking the submarine race course and crack a cooly and voila, peace and tranquility!

 

[mhardy6647]

They were all 7" 45 players, to the best of my knowledge.
On the other hand, all the cool kids did have them.

 

[Multicore]

They were all 7" 45 players, to the best of my knowledge.
On the other hand, all the cool kids did have them.

View attachment 356945
View attachment 356947
View attachment 356946

We're getting OT but now I feel the need for a photo or video of the guy that put a Gyrodec in his Roller. I assume someone must have.

 

[Sal1950]

We're getting OT but now I feel the need for a photo or video of the guy that put a Gyrodec in his Roller. I assume someone must have.

You know, I always meant to take a picture of mine BITD but plumb forgot.