Back in the mid to late 70's we had a "Craig" brand name stereo. This was the typical stereo of the day having AM/FM/8-TRACK/TURNTABLE. Yes 8-track, and you could record onto a blank 8 track tape. Well this stereo went through many uses in our house, and the last one being a kind of practice guide for my brother's drumming. He would throw on an album and put on headphones and try to match the drumming on his drumset for hours on end. I even tried to duplicate some of the records but was nowhere near my brother's talents. Anyway, the last time I saw this stereo it was pretty much used up, with a wadded piece of paper jamed in the turntable to keep it from changing speeds.
Fast forward a little bit to around 7 years ago.
We were cleaning out my Aunt's house after she had passed away and I found the exact same "Craig" stereo in her front room, but in mint condition. She had bought it back in the day but hardly ever played it, ( I think it has a spike jones ablum on it still ) so I grabbed it and took it home. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I figured it never hurts to have a turntable around or even an 8 track player since I still have a few albums and 8 tracks around.
Fast forward to last week.
I am organizing my basement to work on some boat anchor computers and to get an idea of how to lay out my "Sea Shanty" basement remodel. I decide to put together my stereo to give me a little music while I tear into the old computers. I have a newer stereo receiver with all kinds of inputs in the back. I can input 8 different components, have speakers all over the place, and heck I think it will even make me a margarita if asked nicely. Well I put together all of the components and turn it on.... and .... static. No FM antenna, Damn. You think I receiver like this could find out a way to get a radio signal without a stupid antenna. So after a couple of attempts to hobble together a make shift fm antenna I can't get it to work. So I decide to see if I can input the old "craig" stereo into the new receiver and get it to work. After a few plugs here and there I turn everything on and the old "craig" stereo works (even without the fm antenna). It seems weird to imput 70's technology through 00's technology, but hey it works. You may ask why I imputted the old stereo through the new receiver, well you see it's the only way I could listen to it since I haven't quite figured out a way to get the speakers to connect directly to the "craig" stereo (different connections from then to now). Now where are my 8 tracks....
3 comments:
Next, I hooked up the hamster wheel to generate the addtional energy to spin the turntable and viola!
If you are at all worried about it, eBay the puppy! Congrats on adapting old to new and acquiring such a rare piece. BTW: if you have 8-tracks ... you ARE OLD! Why did you keep them?
Obviously, it worked out well for you to have them, but why?
I always thought that maybe someday 8 tracks would be worth alot of money. I have a couple that are still in the original packaging, but so far e-bay says they aren't worth alot.
And hey, I love that "Grease" soundtrack !!
I remember 8 tracks, I've used 8 tracks, I think I listened to some Monkees albums on 8 track, but I abandoned that technology with zero allegence when cassette tapes came along, then I abandoned my turntable for CDs, although I still have a turntable, if I ever want to appreciate the crackle and hiss and the old medium.
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