The Masterwork 570 Stereo System- Fun, Brilliant Mediocrity!

This is just a fun tour of a neat little 8 Track stereo from the 70's. It's best trick is that it can actually record 8 track tapes so you can finally make a mixtape for your old Plymouth Barracuda.
I am still not a hifi expert and don't claim to be. This channel is meant to be a a safe space for people who are just learning about, or are interested in, vintage stereo equipment but have no experience with it.
WARNING: All comments are held for review. If you say something nasty or abusive, nobody will see it and it won't be approved so don't bother. You'll also be reported and banned. That goes for anything political as well.
#8track #8trackplayer

[@marcparsons1726]

Nice find, looks like some fun! Bought a G.E. 4 channel beast a while back. Has a joystick control for the 4 speakers. Had to find speaker jacks to play 2 sets of speakers. One of my favorite pieces! (Zenith Whirlway mini console is wild too) Nice eye kid!!

[@AudioThrift]

Thanks! Those joystick controls are really cool!

[@marktubeie07]

That was amazing to see one of these sets in person (ha, so to speak). As you probably know, Columbia (USA variant) was heavily involved & promoted the SQ system for quad back in the day. They often had inserts within their SQquad LP albums advertising their own range of equipment to decode & play SQ quad. So that's where I saw this set first. Yep, mostly cheap & cheerful for the time, but I give them credit for trying to promote Quad in the early days & get it out there! I agree with you, the decoder part was probably to enable FM Quad broadcasts. With no quad head in the 8-track, it seemed like a missed opportunity. Great vid as always pal 🤗

[@AudioThrift]

Thank you!

[@VinylsFinal]

What an amazing piece of vintage gear. We used to have something called a Music Centre. This I would say is an advanced Music Centre without a turntable and 8 track cartridge in place of compact cassette. Advanced being it has that adapter switch SQ for being able to connect 2 more channels. Very impressive. Thanks for sharing, mate.

[@AudioThrift]

Thank you

[@ringsystemmusic]

This channel is my best find so far this year- cheap old audio gear is my vibe. Love the production quality and subtle inspiration from Techmoan and Technology Connections

[@AudioThrift]

Thank you! Those guys are great!

[@binarydinosaurs]

Exactly the sort of setup I'd drool over in the Tandy catalogues in the 70s. Awesome that it still works.

[@AudioThrift]

Thanks 😊 I have a bunch of vintage magazines from the 80's and I still drool over old stereo adds. lol

[@verndebes892]

Being old very old I remember getting one of these when I ordered tapes thru the Columbia house! I received the same one you found my sister ordered one but it didn’t record tapes! This was around the times they were getting popular!

[@AudioThrift]

Interesting... so my suspicion is correct. Thank you. :)

[@dcfly]

I've stolen a lot of stereo equipment in my life, and I stole one of these once. I didn't know what I had so I never resold it. I still have it! Your video has opened my eyes to something special that I own. Thank you!

[@AudioThrift]

lol... was it new or used when you "acquired" it?

[@dcfly]

It was used.

[@westelaudio943]

I like those cheaper systems, too. Even things like boomboxes. They're how most people listened to music at the time. In a sense, the most authentic way of listening to the music of the era.

[@AudioThrift]

That check out. It reminds me of how many times I've heard people make comments like "Oh THAT'S what they're saying?" when they hear a song they loved growing up. lol

[@TorontoJon]

That Masterwork 570 stereo system was a great score! AudioThrift, you and I have similar tastes in vintage equipment and that unit has all of the visual aesthetics I love too, namely, bright green AM/FM tuner numbers, chrome face, wood paneling, VU meters, and cool black and chrome knobs. Add to that a working 8-track player/recorder and it ticks all the boxes. Haha! :)

[@AudioThrift]

You're clearly a man of refined taste!

[@TorontoJon]

@@AudioThrift, hehe. :)

[@robertdavis5714]

Reminds me of my 1st stereo I bought in early 1970's. And everything works including Stereo light. Never seen before in my Life. Columbia House, that would explain the 8 Track, that was their biggest seller, 8 Track tapes.

[@AudioThrift]

What was the stereo you got? :)

[@marksweeney7327]

I got me a Masterwork compact stereo system when i was in second grade.

[@AudioThrift]

Nice. That's a great thing to get in second grade!

[@UrbanoDagrippino]

They made good things in good old days

[@AudioThrift]

Agreed.

[@scrunchgumpgins4711]

Most 8 track recorders did actually have an erasing element on the recording/playback head, so it would be a single head doing erase, record, and play. I've heard the really cheap ones didn't have that erasing element. Of course, the erasing ratio isn't that great with a single head doing triple duty, even more so when the recorder you're using is in bad condition.

[@AudioThrift]

Indeed. I imagine a little TLC could make it sound a little better.