Vintage Muntz HW-1A 4-track player / What speaker ohm?

Hi, I just bought vintage Muntz HW-1A home audio stereo tape player but I have (not find) no information about the speaker ohm. Is it 4, 8 or 16 ohm? Do not want to blow things.

Sometimes there is a small schematic sheet glued to the insides. Otherwise 8 or 16 ohm speakers should be ok. I wouldn't use 4 ohm speakers on it.

Fella is selling one on ebay. Says he has the original speakers that came with it. You might try corresponding with him to see if there's any data on the speakers themselves.

Also, have you tried removing the unit from it's wood case to see if there's any data regarding speaker impedance on the rear of the chassis itself?

If you do, look for a place where you could possibly tap for a line output, so you can use any amplifier and speakers.

If "worse comes to worse", just run 16 ohm...

Two comments, which are contrary ;-)

1) Fairly early, low-price and auto transistor "hifi" often used 3.2 ohm speakers; 4 ohm, in that case, would be 'close enough'.

2) Very early transistor amplifiers sometimes were designed for rather odd load impedances (typically in the range of 30 to 40 ohms).

If I had to guess, I'd guess 4 ohms.

As Bowtie said, typically a piece like that would have the 'correct' load impedance documented somewhere on it.

Thanks for the help and information... of course I have opened that machine before asking that kind of basic information There is no (more) information about speakers ohm. I have also send message (twice) to that ebay person who had sold same model and has still? speakers... no answer...

I think the machine I bought has last use in early 70's... all lacquer has dropped off, belt was melted, even the capstan was rusty and every wheels etc. was stuck and there were sand & dust inside... BUT I got it to play my Stereo-Pak tapes very well. Yes... I took risk and connect my 8 ohm speakers - I can hear both channels but left channel is weaker and has awful hum & noise - as soon as I started the machine (even without tape). Right channel is ok and its sound is even better than my Pioneer 8-track player.

About that hum... Unfortunatey I do not understand anything about electrical components - is that hum because of leaking capacitors?

And Of course it will be nice to have line and headphone outputs but cannot understand where to connect (solder)... I now even bought expensive crappy pdf-manual - it has no information about speaker ohm (as much I understand). But I uploaded quite large schematic if somebody of you can read it. Check it at http://rockdata.org/Muntz_HW1A_schematic.jpg

8 ohm speakers will be fine. That amp is about as simple as it can get, for sure. Old electrolytic caps will need to be replaced.

Clean the controls first to see if the wonky channel comes back to life. Then evaluate the situation again for symptoms. Also, make sure the tape head is clean - this was the most predictable place for poor audio.

Ed Muntz would be proud to see one of these running again. Got any Monkee's 4-track tapes?

Cheers,

David

I suspect you mean Earl "Madman" Muntz.

dshoaf said:

Got any Monkee's 4-track tapes?

Click to expand...

Unlikely, IMHO, because the Monkees albums - on Colgems - were duplicated by RCA, who wanted nothing to do with 4 track. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but in forty-seven years I've never seen one.

(There were, of course bootlegs on four track, but not legitimate releases)

Happy trails,
Larry B.

Thanks again. Have to check those potentiometers, connections and capacitors again. Tapehead is very clean and I have demagnetized it with Han-D-Mag. If somebody has similar machine I also like to know is it normal that the motor get so hot (bearings has oiled)

BTW. Like to find Monkees 4-tracks too. My 4-track collection is very limited now: Quincy Jones plays the hip hits, Glen Campbell: By the time I get to Phoenix, The Supremes: I hear a symphony and Big Brother & The Holding Company Cheap Thrills. Like to get more but hard to find and seems that postage from USA is as expensive than about three cassettes... (plus unbelieveable 24% VAT here & 20 EURO taxes & customer service fees when order outside EU... )

I think that my Muntz player is the only one here in Finland and now I have more Fidelipak, Dynapak and Stereo-Pak (many names, same thing) cartridges than all the Finns together Four is a huge collection, eh, even 8-track was/is super rare here.

Now I got some information from that eBay seller but not sure if these are the original speakers for that model

"Muntz Stereo Pak Speakers Model FCS-164
8 Ohms; cabinet dimensions: 10"X 8"X 7.5""

http://tinyurl.com/mtwndbw

All things being equal a 4 track should sound better than an 8 track Why? Because the track width on a 4 track is the same as a 1\4" 4 track reel to reel where as the 8 track track width is half of that or the same as a standard cassette tape. Also 4 track head alignment was better than 8 track leading to less crosstalk.

I'm sure you know that the machine you have was originally meant to be run off of 110 Volt 60 Hz household current and not 220 Volt 50 Hz household current right? If you tried running that thing without a proper converter then you could potentially fry the components inside the unit or worse potentially kill yourself.
Also the differences in current frequencies might be what's accounting for some of your issues (even if you are using an appropriate adaptor.)

Of course I have most quality converters (230/110V 350VA - cost over 200USD/piece). I have many 110V equipments: guitar amps, 8-track players, vintage stereo amps etc. - over ten years without any 110V electrical problems. There must be something wrong with left channel of Muntz - have to re-cap etc.