> Ben,
> As for the AM/FM/MPX designation on your deck, if you are younger than
> 40 you probably don't realize that FM car stereo was a big deal in the
> 1970s. Most home receivers could decode FM stereo broadcasts by the mid
> 1960s, but car sound lagged behind. The "MPX" designation stood for
> Multiplex, which was the circuitry that allowed you to receive FM stereo
> stations. Most low end car radios of the period could only pull in
> monaural FM, so the "MPX" was a desirable buzzword of the time.
>
> As an aside, in the early 1960s before the widespread use of FM
> multiplex in home stereos, there were several attempts to provide stereo
> broadcasts by transmitting one channel on an AM station and one channel
> on an FM station! My folks bought a house that was built in 1958, and
> it had a built-in stereo system with that feature. The tuner/preamp
> weighed in at about 40 pounds, had 17 tubes, and could heat a small
> room. The separate power amp had two large output tubes that lit up
> with an eerie purple glow when operating.
>
> Cheers,
> Paul Kile
>
Paul,
That 1960's AM/FM dual broadcast wins a permanent place in my "ugly
kludge" collection!
As for the 8-tracks in cars, a friend's son just bought a "neat old
car". I'm not sure of the model, Anyway, he noticed a fast-forward
botton on the radio and figured it must have a tape deck, but he
couldn't find the tape slot. Finally, he pushes on the radio dial
tuner face, and it's hinged! (Old farts will know where this story
is leading...) Overjoyed to find that he does in fact have a tape
deck, he pops in a tape, and wonders why it falls into this cavernous
opening in the deck! That's right, it was an 8-track player. His
father finally clued him in when his son mentioned the "broken"
cassette deck to him.
Scott
Of course, I had to explain to my neice what vinyl albums were, so I
guess it just goes in cycles.
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