Muntz 4 track cartridge player, rare 1960's tape format, Kingstereo 4 track cartridge

[wt0649]

I had a Superior, track in my car in 1965

[wt0649]

I had a Superior, track in my car 1965



[19Chuck80]

cool I own a mafair 4 track cart player from the 1960's and the tape loads down its very interesting, youir tapes and player are very cool...the predecessor to the 8-track!

[mrbetamax95]

i have a couple of 4-track tapes but no player. trying to find one so i can play them. lol

[SovietTelevision]

Great stuff! I have not seen one of thse in action, and only seen a couple for sale on ebay. The oldest ones were very fancy chrome-covered deals and sell for quite a bit now.

The player itself was branded the "Autostereo" here in the US, Stereo-Pak was the name for the cartridges. Madman Muntz manufactured his own tapes in his own factory, the players were manufactured in Japan. Bill Lear's 8-track was a direct ripoff of the Muntz 4-track and produced worse sound quality.

[Purplexi]

I just purchsed an interesting little 4 track, albeit heavy, at a swap meet/flea market for a fifty cents!. It's roughly 6x8x2 inches in dimension, chromed top loading area on an aluminum chassis. Front panel offers a Vol-Bal-Tone knobs. MIJ stamped on bottom, impressive components inside marked Sanyo. I had one like your Muntz in 1968 and only one tape to go with it; "Electric Ladyland" by Jimi Hendrix and yes, the audio quality was excellent.

[Glock24Guy]

DUDE:

Move your tapes away from the speakers!

[punkrockpub]

Very Impressive!!!!!!!!!!!! I may just have to start a new collection hobby!!!!!!

[BrentAudi]

I remember these well. They did not catch on as well as the 8-track here in the US.

Sad because I think the 4-track machines had such a better quality due to the 7.5 IPS tape speed. Very similar sound to the Pre-Recorded Reel to Reel tapes.

Great Video!

[OlegKostoglatov]

@BrentAudi No they run at the same speed as an eight track tape 3 3/4 inches per second as opposed to 1 7/8 inches per second on a compact cassette. The main difference between the two formats is one has four tracks and the other eight, and the external pinch roller on the four tracks. Many of the earlier eight track cartridges could be modified to play on a four track machine, they had a hole in the bottom for the external pinch roller.

[BadEditPro]

These are very similar to broadcast cart machines. Cart machines used tones to stop the tape and send signal to start the next machine. The tapes themselves are exactly the same. The only difference is head ;layout and broadcast carts run at 7 1/2 ips. Nice to see these again. :) JC

[stratocat9999]

Frijid Pink.....1968

[stratocat9999]

I remember 4 Tracks very well. I remember seeing a display for the first generation Muntz players around 1962 or 63 9 I was only 8 years old or so). I've owned a large number of tapes and many players over the years. Many were Muntz, and Craig player. Your is a later than some of the ones I had. I had one of those massive Muntz player that could accommodate all three sizes of cartridge ( there were two larger sizes you could get, the largest usually used for background music systems).

[vj498]

Here in California, I just found a Muntz player with three huge boxes of tapes at a junk store for $50. I just tested it out a couple minutes ago, and this thing works great!! I'm gonna have some fun with this... listening to Herb Alpert's SRO album right now.

[2455chris]

I worked for King Stereo after they moved to 7 West Halkin Street. The company had been sold to Lionel Murray who owned a number of background music companies. I sold a number of 4 track machines to a company in Northampton for converrsion into jingle machines for mobile discos. The company was sold to Mitre Motors a Croydon car dealer and I was sacked in early 1973 after reversing a car through the showroom window.

[atlantic1952]

Many thanks for the info Chris, most interesting to hear from someone that worked for the company. Can you confirm the manufacture date of my machine? Best regards, George

[2455chris]

I started in winter 1971/72. There were two 4 track machines. Yours is the economy model with no tone control and probably dates from around 1969. The company name was derived from the man who started it whose surname name was King. Under the label it says Muntz.. I used to stick them on as required. If I think of anything else I will post it.