Thanks chaps - I enjoy making these HiFi videos - they cost me a lot of money and get the lowest views of any of the videos I make, but I find these things interesting and I know that I'm not alone, so thanks for coming along for the ride.
It's never a waste of time making them due to the large variety of RUclips users. Some videos we watch for the info, others for the sheer fun of it. Doesn't have to be a cute kitten all the time, now does it :-) Retronics (retro-electronics) are a geek's equivalent of the puppy videos!
It looks like a modern day device. Like a modern "retro" style thing that a company nowadays would make, like those mini/portable record players and stuff. That's cool
Techmoan you might like to consider a "behind the scenes" video of you making a review. Mainly because lots of peeps have no idea what is involved. Maybe stick a mobius on the ceiling and time lapse the process.
Techmoan You do make it seem so easy but just going by my simple videos I know by how smooth yours are, you do put a lot of time in them. Again, if this is not coming out as clear as I mean, you do wonderful videos.
I don't understand why they should be so long and hard to make when it's such a piece of cake and takes only minutes for me to watch it. If you're putting more effort into making it than I am into watching it then perhaps you're doing something wrong?
You know, sir, I have to say, thank you very much for sharing things like these with us! I'm not an audiophile myself, but I do find all of your HiFi and obscure technology videos to be *extremely* bloody interesting!
I did the same thing for a "Kid's CD Player" that my dad bought for my nephew. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes to use something other than the absolute cheapest speaker one can get to maximize profits.
+excavatoree It makes me wonder how they sold so much of this crap in the 1970s. Some people must have tin ears. I used to tease one of my co-workers who would brag about his $2000 stereo while listening to a $10 clock radio all day; I'd rather have a $600 stereo at home and spend a little of the $1400 saved on something decent for work.
The 4ohm speaker should actually be louder as it'll draw more power from the amp. I imagine it was quieter in reality because it is likely quite a bit less efficient.
+bassl0va Its quieter because he didn't seal it off, its using most of its energy to move air around itself. He should have built a plate with the size of the old speaker and a hole with the size of the new one.
+bassl0va What he's supposed to do would be putting 2 speakers in series, adding up to 8 ohms. Dunno why it's quieter either, possibly some weird quirk of how they built the amplifier
I appreciate the HiFi videos. Just discovered this channel a couple days ago. You essentially go out and purchase every piece of old electronics I've always wondered about and go about as far as I would to fix them. Being able to experience these yard sale items vicariously has saved my attic space and thousands of dollars.
I suppose one of the joys of being into 8 track is being able to take the equipment apart easily to replace the worn parts,much like an old Morris 1000 I had. Great fun. Thanks for that.
Nice fix. But I have a tip for you regarding the installation of the small speaker. It makes a difference to seal the edge of the cone to the hole in the front cover so that there is no short path through the air around the speaker edge. Get a piece of dense cardboard, cut a hole for the small speaker, then cut it out in the diameter of the original speaker. Use glue of your choice (I recommend hot glue gun) to attach the paper "washer" to the small speaker, then glue it all into the original chassis hole. If you want to try and match the impedance of the speaker to that of the amplifier, you can use a regular sheet metal transformer from those cheap variable voltage wall warts. You want to achieve a 1:sqrt(2) ratio of an autotransformer, so ignore the primary mains winding and use three wires from the secondary side to get about a 1:1.4 ratio, for example GND, 6V, 9V or GND, 7.5V, 12V depending on your model. Use that to transform the impedance. Connect 12V and GND to the amp and 7.5V and GND to the 4ohm speaker. Since I doubt the amp was designed optimally (thus the sqrt2 to get from 8 to 4ohm), you can experiment with different ratios to get the best sound possible.
What a nice work making this beauty playing music again! I like very much your videos because not only we get to discover old music formats and their players but we also can see your care and love to bring these fantastic machines back to life again. Congratulations to all your effort and time to bring these videos to us.
I had the cassette player in the advert with Jimmy "JJ" Walker holding it and the TNT. I knew it was terrible, but it was great, particularly at 5:00am delivering newspapers. JJ's moniker and tag line in the sitcom that brought him to fame, "Good Times," was "Kid Dyn-O-Mite" and (loudly) "DYN - O - MITE!!!" Keep it coming Techmoan!
I got a dynomite 8 track tape player for christmas 1975 and i loved it! I about wore out my john denver tape, lol! I got to thinking about it recently and low and behold...i found it! It brings about, a whole lot of great memories! Thanks for the video! Now im not afraid to take it apart and clean it up! Crossing my fingers that it still works!
Most channels that i'm watch lately are starting to be only in it for money and I just don't like that, then I see your video in my feed and it just cheers me up watching a quality video not some payed junk and you being different is awesome, your not the guy that is reviewing the newest phone out there you are doing old stuff and making it new and I like that. So thank you for doing this!
These players bring back memories of the 70's. I had a couple freinds in high school that had them listening to REO Speedwagon, Boston and Foreigner. I had a General Electric "Loudmouth" 8-track player with AM/FM radio back then. It had a bigger speaker than the Panasonic and it could play loud enough to cover the whole yard. But it was a serious battery eater.
Had one of these as a kid. Not a great radio, but certainly a design classic. My first am/fm radio was also a classic Panasonic from that era. Whoever was doing their design was great.
Holy Crap 6 C's? What is this thing going to the moon? Anyway great video as always sir. To your comment on how these type of videos dont get a lot of view - that is a shame because the care and time you take really is one of the best I have seen on youtube. Cheers from across the pond Plymouth , MA
Let me remind You how inefficient and power-hungry analog electronics where in 70s and 80s - I bet that this player could also chew through those 6 C's in hour or two listening to decent volume.
@@zusurs I used to own one of these and you are 100% correct. You could listen to 2-3 full length tapes before you had to either find an outlet or buy more batteries.
Haha, even though I laughed at that last hipster comment, I can't say I agree much! I mean, if you've got stuff like 8-track tapes, MDs, reel-to-reels or whatever other somewhat outdated media, then you may as well use them! And I don't get the relative lack of interest people have in your HiFi videos - growing up in a modern era with a music collection consisting of very little that is physical, I find them intriguing. Cheers once again!
Wish more people viewed these vids! You truly document the obscure parts of entertainment electronics beautifully. I've got an old 8 track car system that I've wanted to get working and your repair/mods pieces make this reality a bit more likely
Due to technical reasons I haven't been able to comment on your recent videos. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate and enjoy them now I am able. Thanks.
Fabulous tech! And close to 40 years old.. and it still works..with a little help. You must have enough gadgets to start a museum by now xD Like the look inside the gadgets, and you fixing them. Cool! :)
I’ve never owned one, but I have a GE portable 8-track player which was a stereo separation where you can split them after you detached it and plug for another outlet for a speaker, and it plays 8-track tapes. The unit was bulky, but I like it, and that one was from the early 1970’s, but the Panasonic dynamite portable 8-track player is very expensive, but there were some modifications that includes an additional Bluetooth device. This was usually available in a variety of colors including yellow and red.
It's fun seeing the old technology. In my experience "Demagnetizing" the audio heads on 8 track player made a HUGE difference, when the sound quality suffered. The is a simple device available at Radio Shack for around $7.00 in the 1970's. Hope this helps.
I'm sure someone has said this long ago, but I have to. The 4 ohm speaker is technically 2x as loud, or at least will draw 2x the power, than the 8ohm ones. It may sound quieter, but that richness your talking about, better bass response, is drawing a good deal of the power output. Ohms are just a measure of resistance, so therefore 4ohms have less, therefore more power to the driver from the amp.
+bmxchat2001 Nope. A 4-ohm speaker will draw twice the current and sink twice the power if everything else is equal and if the amplifier can handle it, but everything else is never equal. The sensitivity (and similarly, the efficiency) of a speaker depends on many factors, but one of the most important ones is the surface area (Sd) of the cone of the speaker. The 1.8" Visaton (no "r" in there) speaker really loses in that department and that is the main reason why it is quieter. Also, it probably has more excursion (Xmax and Xmech) and building a speaker for more excursion also typically lowers the sensitivity. It's generally more efficient to have more surface area than it is to have more excursion. As for the amplifier comment, any amp has a specific amount of voltage, current, and power that it can deliver and it's optimized to do that at a specific load. If you lower the impedance of the speaker, the amplifier can run out of current sooner, drive the signal into distortion sooner, and end up with lower max volume. Techmoan was not very on-the-money in the video in what he said about this topic, but your comment is also incorrect. Additionally, he installed the speaker very poorly by not trying to isolate the front wave from the back wave by making a better bracket that actually sealed the speaker. I'm sure he just doesn't care that much about this item to spend much more effort, but doing a better job there would have gotten him quite a bit more volume AND quality.
+dansolodan As far I read the comments you're the only one who got it fully right! The sensitivity is the key. I agree, a ring out of thick (2mm+) cardboard or MDF to fill the gap around the small speaker would be a noticable improvement. According to the German magazine "Hobby HiFi" issue 2/2010 the BF45 is a very good speaker but has not much going on below 150Hz. (One could even destroy it easily with low frequencies because the voice coil has a very limited space to move. 150Hz at 85dB might even damage it if we assume that the cone can move 2mm in each direction [which is really a lot for a speaker this size] before the cone pops out.)
The Visaton speaker does come in an 8 ohm version. I ordered one but haven't found a "home" for it. Its small size seems to necessitate a pretty large, pretty empty container (like the TNT) so that the sound it makes can resonate.
Enjoyed your video. I have my original "yellow" Dynamite (and still have the power cord that came with it). Liked the mod you did with the speaker. I'll bet it does sound quite a bit better. These devices were definitely made to last, as my brother had one, dropped it in the lake, dried it out, and it kept on going. Thanks for documenting your work.
I had a yellow one. On my last of 6th grade, before going to middle school, I took it to school for our last day party and regaled the class with "Cheap Trick Live at Budokan."
I really enjoyed this video--and many of the videos on your channel. In this one I really am impressed how you do whatever it takes to improve the device. My instinct would be to fret over the costs of every step but it's refreshing how you just cheerfully go for it. Thanks for sharing!
This is a great fix you did with the speaker but I was just hoping that since the box wasn't closing very well or easily, you might want to make sure the back of the new speaker you replaced is not pushing force on any of the components inside the box. Keep up the good work!
i like playing around with old stuff. the radio in my bathroom is a panasonic from the 70's, i replaced the speaker in it about 20 years ago with a $2 one from radio shack, that radio has spent the last 24 years in my bathroom, still works fine, switches are a little dodgy now and then as is the slider volume control.
Hey I have one suggestion that will make a load of difference! If you create some sort of baffle even something out of cardboard and put the speaker in it the mid and bass response will increase loads. Just find a way to seal off the front of the speaker from the rear and it'll be well worth it!
"listening in the back yard to 8-tracks like some kinda hipster idiot" well at least you have a sense of humor about it haha. Been enjoying your stuff, interesting tech-history lesson for stuff before my time. I did the same with my ...er...'old' GBA SP sat out back and played some Metroid. :P old doesn't mean bad!
You might be able to improve the sound more by replacing the electrolytic capacitors on the amplifier board, particularly any ones used for coupling the audio signal. They can dry out over time and a side effect of that is tinny audio. The other thing to do is re-mount that little speaker on a board that's the size of the old one so that the it is sealed between the speaker grille and the back of the speaker. That should improve bass sound at least a bit.
Like for all the quality 80s tracks!! The nostalgia associated with these old machines is really interesting i think part of the draw is because you can pickup old tech for a fraction of the original price and it also brings back a lot of memories from the 70s 80s when this kinds of technology was amazing. Stuff that was too expensive to buy originally can be bought for next to nothing. Things like old synthesizers and computers conjure up the same interest for me.
Love your videos...with all due respect for your time, knowledge and tinkering abilities, I would think improving a boom box with 8 track AND FM radio would be a more satisfactory project than 8-track alone. Still, nice to see you doing something different than dash cams for a change.
That came to my mind, too. I don't understand speaker impedance in full, but I do know I managed to blow an 8 Ohm rated channel on my first hi-fi by connecting two 8 Ohm speakers in *parallel* - Followed by learning Ohms' Law about two years later! :-) Am I wrong in thinking that small speaker needs a 4 Ohm resistor in series? ^_^
Wonderful, informative, well done video, thank you for posting! I thought I read somewhere that it's best to run the q-tip over the playback head horiztonally, 03:15 , when cleaning, as to not cause possible deterioation the vertical lines after repeated cleaniings in that manner, perhaps that's just over-cautious?
Cool ! I had the exact same 8 track of Mickael Jacson in my 74 Dodge charger(was 6years old car then... meaning pretty mutch rusted off in canada at the time)... braught back memories :)
Why didn't you make a baffle for it to fill the open space around the new speaker? Much better bass response that way. You should never leave gaps between a speaker and its opening unless you want less bass.
"Like some kinda hipster idiots" xD Tip to get more low end/bass on the sound: You will lose a lot of bass on an accoustical bypass because of the way you mounted the speaker on the front. When you make some sort of mask to cover the other holes from the inside and ensure an airtight seal between the driver and the mask you'll have more low end ;)
yes this is very true, that smaller speaker won't produce any bass because its canceling itself out, who has pulled a driver from a cabinet when its running? the bass disappears, thats whats happening here shame, that little speaker could have performed well, now its just gonna fry the amp as the resistance is half. HE SHOULD KNOW ALL THIS!
@@blazerfrazer should he though, do they teach you audio repair in high school, or is he just doing what seems to work because it's fun and he never had to study a vocation that would teach him this stuff
If that epoxy fails and the clip breaks again, I would recomend using superglue and baking soda. It becomes hard as a rock in an instant and it never failed me! :) Btw greetings from Bulgaria, i'm a big fan of your videos !! :)
If the output was designed for 8 Ohms than lower or higher impedance will sound quieter. Power is the product of current and voltage. I would try 2 of those 4 Ohms speaker in series.
@@SlyPearTree That's going to make placement a lot more complicated, isn't it? I've checked and Visaton does offer this speaker in an 8-ohm version. That, plus (as others have suggested) filling the gap created by the small diameter of the speaker (I'd go with the thin hobby plywood and make a hole in it to exactly match the new speaker) might make everything sound even better and remove the possibility of overheating the amp.
Kek5koph is right. I dad a facepalm when i saw that bracket mounting tactic. if you cut a circle to fill in the gap you created by mounting a smaller speaker, you will notice MUCH more low frequency response as a result. right now the positive pressure created by the forward motion of the cone is being cancelled out by the low pressure created at the rear of the driver. this is why we have speaker cabinets in the first place -to isolate the front wave and the back wave of the driver's output. (also to keep the damn driver from just flapping around on the floor while the cat bats at it.) ALSO, that's a pretty beefy magnet on that little driver as compared to the stock one. depending how close the tape path runs past that thing inside, you may be slowly erasing each tape you play in that modded machine.
I used to own some 8 track tapes such as Rare Earth. I had no idea that they were still making 8 track tapes when Springstein and REO Speedwagon were recording. Well it's been quite a while so details get fuzzy. :D
I have the same player... My plunger doesn't switch the songs as fast as yours and it just started "dragging" while playing so I need to open it up and peak around in there.... I love it tho
Boy did i feel stupid, i thought "set numbers? but what if your tape has more tracks....wait, what was it called again, oh yeah, an eight track..EIGHT..."
Thanks chaps - I enjoy making these HiFi videos - they cost me a lot of money and get the lowest views of any of the videos I make, but I find these things interesting and I know that I'm not alone, so thanks for coming along for the ride.
Do not mention it!
ilan vineshtock Too late.... ;-)
I wouldn't call this HiFi though. ;)
Yup. Thanks for the story about this device ;-)
You do it for luurve .. not the viewer. They are cool projects, i like to watch them even though i have no interest in retro audio.
Dyn-O-Mite! I so remember the ads for these when I was a kid. There were quite a few around in my area, too. A real blast from the past. Thanks!
Came back here after the latest video. R.I.P little blue dude. You looked cool and made me want one.
It's never a waste of time making them due to the large variety of RUclips users.
Some videos we watch for the info, others for the sheer fun of it.
Doesn't have to be a cute kitten all the time, now does it :-)
Retronics (retro-electronics) are a geek's equivalent of the puppy videos!
Sit in the garden, listen to an 8 track like some sort of hipster idiot. Hahaha! That made my whole day!
Hey, I have an 8-track recorder, and plenty of blank tapes.
And you know what? It's still funny today, cracked me up anyway!
I feel like that one quote is going to encompass my entire life
I'd do it
Hipster idiot, haha, loved it.
It looks like a modern day device. Like a modern "retro" style thing that a company nowadays would make, like those mini/portable record players and stuff. That's cool
I thought the same thing. I don't know if you still watch Techmoan, but he just did a video update on this device.
You put a lot of time and effort in making these videos. Thanks for that! They are great fun to watch!
This one is a full day of shooting edited down to 7 mins....it's funny how long these things take.
+Techmoan imagine how long it takes for a full movie!
Techmoan
you might like to consider a "behind the scenes" video of you making a review.
Mainly because lots of peeps have no idea what is involved.
Maybe stick a mobius on the ceiling and time lapse the process.
Techmoan
You do make it seem so easy but just going by my simple videos I know by how smooth yours are, you do put a lot of time in them.
Again, if this is not coming out as clear as I mean, you do wonderful videos.
I don't understand why they should be so long and hard to make when it's such a piece of cake and takes only minutes for me to watch it. If you're putting more effort into making it than I am into watching it then perhaps you're doing something wrong?
You know, sir, I have to say, thank you very much for sharing things like these with us! I'm not an audiophile myself, but I do find all of your HiFi and obscure technology videos to be *extremely* bloody interesting!
I did the same thing for a "Kid's CD Player" that my dad bought for my nephew. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes to use something other than the absolute cheapest speaker one can get to maximize profits.
+excavatoree It makes me wonder how they sold so much of this crap in the 1970s. Some people must have tin ears. I used to tease one of my co-workers who would brag about his $2000 stereo while listening to a $10 clock radio all day; I'd rather have a $600 stereo at home and spend a little of the $1400 saved on something decent for work.
"like some kind of hipster idiot" hahah amazing
I love these videos on all of these unique pieces of HiFi history. so many neat things I never knew existed
+Arjun Gandhi
* Low-fi
+Arjun Gandhi agree!
The 4ohm speaker should actually be louder as it'll draw more power from the amp. I imagine it was quieter in reality because it is likely quite a bit less efficient.
+bassl0va Also it will eventually fry the amp inside...
+bassl0va Its quieter because he didn't seal it off, its using most of its energy to move air around itself. He should have built a plate with the size of the old speaker and a hole with the size of the new one.
flossemd I'd have to check the video but didn't the original speaker not take up the full grill either?
+bassl0va yes but the rest was blocked off.
+bassl0va What he's supposed to do would be putting 2 speakers in series, adding up to 8 ohms. Dunno why it's quieter either, possibly some weird quirk of how they built the amplifier
I appreciate the HiFi videos. Just discovered this channel a couple days ago. You essentially go out and purchase every piece of old electronics I've always wondered about and go about as far as I would to fix them. Being able to experience these yard sale items vicariously has saved my attic space and thousands of dollars.
I suppose one of the joys of being into 8 track is being able to take the equipment apart easily to replace the worn parts,much like an old Morris 1000 I had. Great fun. Thanks for that.
Nice fix. But I have a tip for you regarding the installation of the small speaker. It makes a difference to seal the edge of the cone to the hole in the front cover so that there is no short path through the air around the speaker edge. Get a piece of dense cardboard, cut a hole for the small speaker, then cut it out in the diameter of the original speaker. Use glue of your choice (I recommend hot glue gun) to attach the paper "washer" to the small speaker, then glue it all into the original chassis hole.
If you want to try and match the impedance of the speaker to that of the amplifier, you can use a regular sheet metal transformer from those cheap variable voltage wall warts. You want to achieve a 1:sqrt(2) ratio of an autotransformer, so ignore the primary mains winding and use three wires from the secondary side to get about a 1:1.4 ratio, for example GND, 6V, 9V or GND, 7.5V, 12V depending on your model. Use that to transform the impedance. Connect 12V and GND to the amp and 7.5V and GND to the 4ohm speaker. Since I doubt the amp was designed optimally (thus the sqrt2 to get from 8 to 4ohm), you can experiment with different ratios to get the best sound possible.
What a nice work making this beauty playing music again! I like very much your videos because not only we get to discover old music formats and their players but we also can see your care and love to bring these fantastic machines back to life again. Congratulations to all your effort and time to bring these videos to us.
I had the cassette player in the advert with Jimmy "JJ" Walker holding it and the TNT. I knew it was terrible, but it was great, particularly at 5:00am delivering newspapers.
JJ's moniker and tag line in the sitcom that brought him to fame, "Good Times," was "Kid Dyn-O-Mite" and (loudly) "DYN - O - MITE!!!"
Keep it coming Techmoan!
I got a dynomite 8 track tape player for christmas 1975 and i loved it! I about wore out my john denver tape, lol! I got to thinking about it recently and low and behold...i found it! It brings about, a whole lot of great memories! Thanks for the video! Now im not afraid to take it apart and clean it up! Crossing my fingers that it still works!
Most channels that i'm watch lately are starting to be only in it for money and I just don't like that, then I see your video in my feed and it just cheers me up watching a quality video not some payed junk and you being different is awesome, your not the guy that is reviewing the newest phone out there you are doing old stuff and making it new and I like that. So thank you for doing this!
Its so great to see these old devices brought back to life after all those years.
These players bring back memories of the 70's. I had a couple freinds in high school that had them listening to REO Speedwagon, Boston and Foreigner. I had a General Electric "Loudmouth" 8-track player with AM/FM radio back then. It had a bigger speaker than the Panasonic and it could play loud enough to cover the whole yard. But it was a serious battery eater.
I think I watched about 30 techmoan videos in one day this week. I'm hooked!
Slowly working my way through your back catalogue and I love these vintage equipment reviews and repairs.
Had one of these as a kid. Not a great radio, but certainly a design classic. My first am/fm radio was also a classic Panasonic from that era. Whoever was doing their design was great.
Holy Crap 6 C's? What is this thing going to the moon? Anyway great video as always sir. To your comment on how these type of videos dont get a lot of view - that is a shame because the care and time you take really is one of the best I have seen on youtube. Cheers from across the pond
Plymouth , MA
Let me remind You how inefficient and power-hungry analog electronics where in 70s and 80s - I bet that this player could also chew through those 6 C's in hour or two listening to decent volume.
lol indeed. I remember the old tech from my childhood. Take for instance an SNES super scope. That beast drained batteries faster than anything!
+Dark0Lord7 With a 600 mAh Nickel Cadmium battery the life was closer to one hour. (This was before Nickel Metal Hydride batteries...)
@@zusurs I used to own one of these and you are 100% correct. You could listen to 2-3 full length tapes before you had to either find an outlet or buy more batteries.
@@zusurs You're also driving that 8-track mechanism which can't be the most efficient setup either.
Loved this. I had a blue 8 track player, I think mine was Realistic brand, as a kid. Many good memories brought back, watching this!!
Haha, even though I laughed at that last hipster comment, I can't say I agree much! I mean, if you've got stuff like 8-track tapes, MDs, reel-to-reels or whatever other somewhat outdated media, then you may as well use them! And I don't get the relative lack of interest people have in your HiFi videos - growing up in a modern era with a music collection consisting of very little that is physical, I find them intriguing. Cheers once again!
I love all your work, but I particularly enjoy seeing you resurrect technology from my teens and twenties! ! Keep it up!
Wish more people viewed these vids! You truly document the obscure parts of entertainment electronics beautifully. I've got an old 8 track car system that I've wanted to get working and your repair/mods pieces make this reality a bit more likely
Due to technical reasons I haven't been able to comment on your recent videos. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate and enjoy them now I am able. Thanks.
***** Thanks Bill.
Fabulous tech! And close to 40 years old.. and it still works..with a little help. You must have enough gadgets to start a museum by now xD Like the look inside the gadgets, and you fixing them. Cool! :)
That is the coolest! I like how you refreshed an old format unit. Keeping it alive, brother!
I don't know what it is, but your videos crack me up from start to end... Thanks!
I’ve never owned one, but I have a GE portable 8-track player which was a stereo separation where you can split them after you detached it and plug for another outlet for a speaker, and it plays 8-track tapes. The unit was bulky, but I like it, and that one was from the early 1970’s, but the Panasonic dynamite portable 8-track player is very expensive, but there were some modifications that includes an additional Bluetooth device. This was usually available in a variety of colors including yellow and red.
I had the entire set from Panasonic. The 8 track, the cassette recorder, and the AM Radio S/O when I was a kid.
Quite a unique device! I like how you changed out the speaker so professionally! Quite amazing!
I like your vintage audio equipment videos. Audio players aren't really my thing, but it's cool to see some of the unique things they came out with.
Love the ending :) What a great way to sign off!
This actually makes me want an 8-track player like this. Bravo!
a wonderful preservation and upgrade of a neat piece of audio history and design! an inspiration!
It's fun seeing the old technology. In my experience "Demagnetizing" the audio heads on 8 track player made a HUGE difference, when the sound quality suffered. The is a simple device available at Radio Shack for around $7.00 in the 1970's. Hope this helps.
I'm sure someone has said this long ago, but I have to. The 4 ohm speaker is technically 2x as loud, or at least will draw 2x the power, than the 8ohm ones. It may sound quieter, but that richness your talking about, better bass response, is drawing a good deal of the power output. Ohms are just a measure of resistance, so therefore 4ohms have less, therefore more power to the driver from the amp.
+bmxchat2001 Nope. A 4-ohm speaker will draw twice the current and sink twice the power if everything else is equal and if the amplifier can handle it, but everything else is never equal. The sensitivity (and similarly, the efficiency) of a speaker depends on many factors, but one of the most important ones is the surface area (Sd) of the cone of the speaker. The 1.8" Visaton (no "r" in there) speaker really loses in that department and that is the main reason why it is quieter. Also, it probably has more excursion (Xmax and Xmech) and building a speaker for more excursion also typically lowers the sensitivity. It's generally more efficient to have more surface area than it is to have more excursion. As for the amplifier comment, any amp has a specific amount of voltage, current, and power that it can deliver and it's optimized to do that at a specific load. If you lower the impedance of the speaker, the amplifier can run out of current sooner, drive the signal into distortion sooner, and end up with lower max volume.
Techmoan was not very on-the-money in the video in what he said about this topic, but your comment is also incorrect.
Additionally, he installed the speaker very poorly by not trying to isolate the front wave from the back wave by making a better bracket that actually sealed the speaker. I'm sure he just doesn't care that much about this item to spend much more effort, but doing a better job there would have gotten him quite a bit more volume AND quality.
+dansolodan As far I read the comments you're the only one who got it fully right! The sensitivity is the key.
I agree, a ring out of thick (2mm+) cardboard or MDF to fill the gap around the small speaker would be a noticable improvement.
According to the German magazine "Hobby HiFi" issue 2/2010 the BF45 is a very good speaker but has not much going on below 150Hz. (One could even destroy it easily with low frequencies because the voice coil has a very limited space to move. 150Hz at 85dB might even damage it if we assume that the cone can move 2mm in each direction [which is really a lot for a speaker this size] before the cone pops out.)
I haven’t thought about these machines since I was a kid. Thank you for the entertaining video!
The Visaton speaker does come in an 8 ohm version. I ordered one but haven't found a "home" for it. Its
small size seems to necessitate a pretty large, pretty empty container (like the TNT) so that the sound it makes can
resonate.
I really enjoy your vintage hifi videos.
Enjoyed your video. I have my original "yellow" Dynamite (and still have the power cord that came with it). Liked the mod you did with the speaker. I'll bet it does sound quite a bit better. These devices were definitely made to last, as my brother had one, dropped it in the lake, dried it out, and it kept on going. Thanks for documenting your work.
June 1975? That's when I was born! I so feel a bond with this machine!!!!
Brilliant, loved this one! Thank you for sharing, you were born to do these and we appreciate the work that goes into them.
it's impressive how motivated you are when this little devices have the smallest problem lol
I had a yellow one. On my last of 6th grade, before going to middle school, I took it to school for our last day party and regaled the class with "Cheap Trick Live at Budokan."
Put a smile on my face, you should be proud of that!
I've never been that much into electronics to mess around with it myself, but that's awesome!
I really enjoyed this video--and many of the videos on your channel. In this one I really am impressed how you do whatever it takes to improve the device. My instinct would be to fret over the costs of every step but it's refreshing how you just cheerfully go for it. Thanks for sharing!
This is a great fix you did with the speaker but I was just hoping that since the box wasn't closing very well or easily, you might want to make sure the back of the new speaker you replaced is not pushing force on any of the components inside the box.
Keep up the good work!
i like playing around with old stuff. the radio in my bathroom is a panasonic from the 70's, i replaced the speaker in it about 20 years ago with a $2 one from radio shack, that radio has spent the last 24 years in my bathroom, still works fine, switches are a little dodgy now and then as is the slider volume control.
Hey I have one suggestion that will make a load of difference! If you create some sort of baffle even something out of cardboard and put the speaker in it the mid and bass response will increase loads. Just find a way to seal off the front of the speaker from the rear and it'll be well worth it!
I love watching you fix stuff
"listening in the back yard to 8-tracks like some kinda hipster idiot" well at least you have a sense of humor about it haha. Been enjoying your stuff, interesting tech-history lesson for stuff before my time.
I did the same with my ...er...'old' GBA SP sat out back and played some Metroid. :P old doesn't mean bad!
I remember when these came out. Thanks for making these videos! I really enjoy them!
I would find my time sitting in my garden more enjoyable if I were listening to 8-track!
Found your channel only recently .. and I love it.. you have a ton of super cool gadgets ... Thanks for sharing them with us..
Good video Techmoan.. nice to see the inner workings of the beast and a few tweaks to get her shipshape.
New to the channel and I am loving going through the videos some really interesting stuff! also love the humor.
Mine still works, and yes --- it sounds very tinny.
You might be able to improve the sound more by replacing the electrolytic capacitors on the amplifier board, particularly any ones used for coupling the audio signal. They can dry out over time and a side effect of that is tinny audio.
The other thing to do is re-mount that little speaker on a board that's the size of the old one so that the it is sealed between the speaker grille and the back of the speaker. That should improve bass sound at least a bit.
Good job I enjoy the most of your those retro tech hifi series video.
Like for all the quality 80s tracks!! The nostalgia associated with these old machines is really interesting i think part of the draw is because you can pickup old tech for a fraction of the original price and it also brings back a lot of memories from the 70s 80s when this kinds of technology was amazing. Stuff that was too expensive to buy originally can be bought for next to nothing. Things like old synthesizers and computers conjure up the same interest for me.
LOL, you broke almost every rule of speaker cabinet design. But your excellent results speak for themselves!
I can't believe you didn't make a seal around the speaker, it would improve the sound so much.
+victornpb You'd better believe it, because that's what really happened.
Love your videos...with all due respect for your time, knowledge and tinkering abilities, I would think improving a boom box with 8 track AND FM radio would be a more satisfactory project than 8-track alone. Still, nice to see you doing something different than dash cams for a change.
OMG nostalgiagasm! I had one of these in red, sometime around 1977. Thanks for the flashback :-)
Mine was yellow, same year, lasted about 3-4 years.
Nice upgrade. The only issue I could can see though is possible damage to the amp over time.
That came to my mind, too. I don't understand speaker impedance in full, but I do know I managed to blow an 8 Ohm rated channel on my first hi-fi by connecting two 8 Ohm speakers in *parallel* - Followed by learning Ohms' Law about two years later! :-)
Am I wrong in thinking that small speaker needs a 4 Ohm resistor in series? ^_^
Techmoan u are one of the best youtubers around, always a great watch. Keep doing these vids ;)
Wonderful, informative, well done video, thank you for posting! I thought I read somewhere that it's best to run the q-tip over the playback head horiztonally, 03:15 , when cleaning, as to not cause possible deterioation the vertical lines after repeated cleaniings in that manner, perhaps that's just over-cautious?
Man, I had the red one when I was a little kid! Flash back to1975!😋
Great job, you revived it to live another day!
Cool ! I had the exact same 8 track of Mickael Jacson in my 74 Dodge charger(was 6years old car then... meaning pretty mutch rusted off in canada at the time)... braught back memories :)
My friend had one of these back in 1977. First time I heard Kansas was on that player.
Why didn't you make a baffle for it to fill the open space around the new speaker? Much better bass response that way. You should never leave gaps between a speaker and its opening unless you want less bass.
Ah , the nostalgia . I totally remember those .
What a quaint piece of retro kit.
"Like some kinda hipster idiots" xD
Tip to get more low end/bass on the sound: You will lose a lot of bass on an accoustical bypass because of the way you mounted the speaker on the front. When you make some sort of mask to cover the other holes from the inside and ensure an airtight seal between the driver and the mask you'll have more low end ;)
yes this is very true, that smaller speaker won't produce any bass because its canceling itself out, who has pulled a driver from a cabinet when its running? the bass disappears, thats whats happening here shame, that little speaker could have performed well, now its just gonna fry the amp as the resistance is half. HE SHOULD KNOW ALL THIS!
@@blazerfrazer should he though, do they teach you audio repair in high school, or is he just doing what seems to work because it's fun and he never had to study a vocation that would teach him this stuff
For cracks in plastic.. Try baking soda and crazy glue to repair plastics...
I can't believe that design came from Panasonic in the '70s! I would've guessed late '80s, from an aesthetic standpoint
I had one of those in the day. Mine was red. I took it everywhere !
"hipster idiot" - LOL! Nice video as always!
If that epoxy fails and the clip breaks again, I would recomend using superglue and baking soda. It becomes hard as a rock in an instant and it never failed me! :) Btw greetings from Bulgaria, i'm a big fan of your videos !! :)
4 ohm speakers should be louder than 8 ohm ones in the same system (lower resistance -> higher current -> more movement/louder audio)
He predicted it would be quieter.
I need to learn about this, guess there's a youtube tutorial for that.
If the output was designed for 8 Ohms than lower or higher impedance will sound quieter. Power is the product of current and voltage. I would try 2 of those 4 Ohms speaker in series.
@@SlyPearTree That's going to make placement a lot more complicated, isn't it? I've checked and Visaton does offer this speaker in an 8-ohm version. That, plus (as others have suggested) filling the gap created by the small diameter of the speaker (I'd go with the thin hobby plywood and make a hole in it to exactly match the new speaker) might make everything sound even better and remove the possibility of overheating the amp.
I remember seeing an orange one of these around 1982. I would have been 10. It seemed to me like a relic from a far distant age.
It's like going back in time, ib the future!
As always, a pleasure to watch. Thanks.
Kek5koph is right.
I dad a facepalm when i saw that bracket mounting tactic. if you cut a circle to fill in the gap you created by mounting a smaller speaker, you will notice MUCH more low frequency response as a result. right now the positive pressure created by the forward motion of the cone is being cancelled out by the low pressure created at the rear of the driver. this is why we have speaker cabinets in the first place -to isolate the front wave and the back wave of the driver's output. (also to keep the damn driver from just flapping around on the floor while the cat bats at it.) ALSO, that's a pretty beefy magnet on that little driver as compared to the stock one. depending how close the tape path runs past that thing inside, you may be slowly erasing each tape you play in that modded machine.
Received one for my 10th Birthday in 1972!
I had one of these when I was a kid! Same color. I took it all apart, though, for some reason and I don't think it ever got put back together.
"Now I can sit my garden, listening to 8 tracks like some hipster idiot" lmao
Capacitors have a big effect on the sound quality as well.
I had one of those beasts. I recall other similar "freaky" audio products from Panasonic like the Toot-a-Loop radio
Love the product placement at the end.
How much Bud Light did they send you?
I used to own some 8 track tapes such as Rare Earth. I had no idea that they were still making 8 track tapes when Springstein and REO Speedwagon were recording. Well it's been quite a while so details get fuzzy. :D
I have the same player... My plunger doesn't switch the songs as fast as yours and it just started "dragging" while playing so I need to open it up and peak around in there.... I love it tho
Boy did i feel stupid, i thought "set numbers? but what if your tape has more tracks....wait, what was it called again, oh yeah, an eight track..EIGHT..."
all 4 tracks are in stereo, so 8 tracks
I think he meant song numbers.