New to the forum, be gentle with me.
My 17yo son is building an old Smokey & The Bandit Trans Am. He just purchased an original 1977 8-track player that works. The unit sits in the console and (originally) plugged into the back of the am/fm dash-mounted radio/stereo. The 8-track has it's own internal amplifier and has it's own volume, fade and balance controls (for a traditional 2-front, 2-rear speaker OEM factory layout). Obviously the original set-up had all the "magic" worked out.
2 questions/problems -- my son would like to have a modern head unit mounted in the dash (something standard from a big box store). I'm sure I can dissect the original wiring harness (schematics are online). Can I treat this as a separate wiring run and pull speaker wire to each of the 4-speakers. Will this cause a problem with having two amp systems ("stand alone" 8-track and a standard am/fm/iPod receiver/amplifier) both wired to the same speaker posts? Obviously he wouldn't be running the 2 amp units at the same time...but I fear the 8-track amp sending it's signal to the speakers would (obviously) have an open path connection at the speaker posts to send juice (also) to the outputs on the head unit. Any advice as to whether it will work or am I asking to fry one of the electronics with the "back feed" of signal INTO an amps outputs? Perhaps a simple toggle switch could be installed where the 2 amp sources are treated as A or B (but never A&B) to send signal to the speakers. So, each amp would send a set of wires to the switch, but output from the switch would be a single set of wires to the front and rear speakers.
2. The 8-track says that the speakers MUST be 8-ohm. We have mid-tier set of pioneer speakers in his car that are 4-ohm. I don't want to fry this 35 year old 8-track player. Is there some kind of converter/resistor that I can wire in-line to make the 8-track amp "think" it is sending signal an 8-ohn speaker system. Also, will I completely ruin the super hi-fidelity and power of the 8-track system (tongue firmly planted in cheek)...but I do suspect that some type of convertor/resistor would essentially kill half the 8-track's amps essentially turning the (possibly) 20 amp amplifier into a "virtual" 10 amp system. I understand the basics of series and parallel wiring...but wiring the 4-ohm pair into an 8-ohm set-up (to work with the 8-track) would cause the reverse problem for the modern dash mounted unity.
So...has anybody ever wired an 8-ohm "component" car audio 8-track system into a modern car am/fm/iPod head unit?
We're not currently running any external amps or pre amps.
If I found a '77 original stereo this would be a non-issue as I'd simply plug and go stock (except upgraded speakers)...but everybody junked these radios back in the '70s & '80s and upgraded to a better system. This has made finding a working 1977 am/fm radio a costly problem...but we're not building a show car, he wants to be able to listen to his iPod "tunes" on a relatively decent car audio system...but still be quirky with his buddies (and co-eds) by having an original working 8-track player in the car. I get it.
Thanks for helping a well intentioned dad let his son experience the 1970s.
My 17yo son is building an old Smokey & The Bandit Trans Am. He just purchased an original 1977 8-track player that works. The unit sits in the console and (originally) plugged into the back of the am/fm dash-mounted radio/stereo. The 8-track has it's own internal amplifier and has it's own volume, fade and balance controls (for a traditional 2-front, 2-rear speaker OEM factory layout). Obviously the original set-up had all the "magic" worked out.
2 questions/problems -- my son would like to have a modern head unit mounted in the dash (something standard from a big box store). I'm sure I can dissect the original wiring harness (schematics are online). Can I treat this as a separate wiring run and pull speaker wire to each of the 4-speakers. Will this cause a problem with having two amp systems ("stand alone" 8-track and a standard am/fm/iPod receiver/amplifier) both wired to the same speaker posts? Obviously he wouldn't be running the 2 amp units at the same time...but I fear the 8-track amp sending it's signal to the speakers would (obviously) have an open path connection at the speaker posts to send juice (also) to the outputs on the head unit. Any advice as to whether it will work or am I asking to fry one of the electronics with the "back feed" of signal INTO an amps outputs? Perhaps a simple toggle switch could be installed where the 2 amp sources are treated as A or B (but never A&B) to send signal to the speakers. So, each amp would send a set of wires to the switch, but output from the switch would be a single set of wires to the front and rear speakers.
2. The 8-track says that the speakers MUST be 8-ohm. We have mid-tier set of pioneer speakers in his car that are 4-ohm. I don't want to fry this 35 year old 8-track player. Is there some kind of converter/resistor that I can wire in-line to make the 8-track amp "think" it is sending signal an 8-ohn speaker system. Also, will I completely ruin the super hi-fidelity and power of the 8-track system (tongue firmly planted in cheek)...but I do suspect that some type of convertor/resistor would essentially kill half the 8-track's amps essentially turning the (possibly) 20 amp amplifier into a "virtual" 10 amp system. I understand the basics of series and parallel wiring...but wiring the 4-ohm pair into an 8-ohm set-up (to work with the 8-track) would cause the reverse problem for the modern dash mounted unity.
So...has anybody ever wired an 8-ohm "component" car audio 8-track system into a modern car am/fm/iPod head unit?
We're not currently running any external amps or pre amps.
If I found a '77 original stereo this would be a non-issue as I'd simply plug and go stock (except upgraded speakers)...but everybody junked these radios back in the '70s & '80s and upgraded to a better system. This has made finding a working 1977 am/fm radio a costly problem...but we're not building a show car, he wants to be able to listen to his iPod "tunes" on a relatively decent car audio system...but still be quirky with his buddies (and co-eds) by having an original working 8-track player in the car. I get it.
Thanks for helping a well intentioned dad let his son experience the 1970s.
