Simon Mackay wrote:
Hi everyone!
Who remembers those cassette or 8-track tape players that were sold during
the 60s and 70s, which were designed to be mounted under the dashboard of a
car? A lot of these units didn't have a tuner and often played through a set
of speakers that were often sold with the unit.
A friend of mine had her 8-track in her glove box. In 1976 I bought a brand new
Buick Skylark and told them that I did not want it with a radio. I was in to
Quadraphonic sound.
I ordered a Panasonic Quadraphonic 8-track receiver for my car and added
speakers. I still remember riding around on this isolated section of the Air
Force Base that I was living on. There'd be fog and I'd either be listening to
"Dark Side of the Moon or "Wish You Were Here" (Dark Side of the Moon was on the
charts for years and years. But I often thought that "Wish You Were Here" is as
good if not better).
Then my kids started to grow and that was the last time I ever saw any of P F's
stuff. They say that Quad died because of a lack of the "WOW" factor. When you
switch from mono to stereo, if it is done right, the resulting improvement gets
people to say "wow!".
But Quad didn't really do that. The problem is that Quad was a fake sound.
Kind of like the old Beatles albums where the voices were coming from one
channel and the guitar the other.
Then someone started encoding movies in Dolby Surround and someone realized that
when the sound track was recorded on to a video cassette, the matrixed surround
was automatically carried over. So they started to come out with surround sound
receivers and home theater was born.
I saw the movie Tommy (The Who) in a theater in NYC that was set up for
Quintophonic sound. The dBs must have been over 120!!! My wife and I could not
hear correctly for days after we left the movie.
Now Dolby Digital is 5 discrete channels plus provisions for the subwoofer (the
"1" in "5.1").
One other reason that quad didn't make it was that cassettes were starting to
really catch on. But Phillips refused to allow any format that was not
backwards comparable with their original mono recorders. Quad would have had to
be played in one direction using all four tracks.
Then, during the 80s, some manufacturers supplied add-on car CD players that
were designed around the same concept as these tape players -- no tuner and
able to work with an existing OEM or aftermarket car stereo installation.
I added one to (once again a brand new-I used to work just to be able to make
car payments- (what an A hole I was) Surbaru Turbo XT Coupe. It had a section
that I managed to fit into the dash and a "memory module" that was as big if not
bigger than the Din sized dash unit that I shoved under the front passenger
seat.
The two sections were joined with three separate cables!! Big Fat Cables. It
was a Pioneer unit and cost me about $300. I was able to buy an automatic
switch from Pioneer that would either have use the outputs from the Clarion
receiver that came with the Subarus or the Amp that the CD player was connected
to.
I had to get the dealer to get me a copy of the wiring diagram. It took me two
full days to get it all installed.
Why can't manufacturers work on car MD players that are designed like these
earlier add-on CD and tape players. If they removed the tuner, they can sell
these units for a lower price than the standard radio-MD units thar are sold
nowadays. With regards,
You can sort of do this by having a portable and a receiver that has an AUX
input. That's what I use. Because the the cost, lack of models and poor
reliability of the few MD car units that exist, I will not buy a car unit.
Have a great Monday,
Larry
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