BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH AN 8 TRACK

[RR71RR]

1971RR. I recently purchased a uninstalled Sanyo 8 Track player. There are only 4 wires coming out of the back.
Red-Hot
Black-Ground
Green-Left speaker
Yellow-Right speaker
I’ve hooked up the 8 Track and it works but the left and right speakers do not work by themselves. When I turn up
the volume for the left speaker the right also turns up as well. Again there is only 2 single speaker wires coming from the 8 track. I always have seen 4 speaker wires which would hook up with no issue

 

[road robert]

Send pics of the front and back of the 8 track. Typically the Left/Right (L/R) speakers share the same common Black-Ground wire at the back of the unit (both L/R speakers (-) wires twisted together to the chassis ground).
P.S. I also have a '71 road runner!

 

[RR71RR]

Send pics of the front and back of the 8 track. Typically the Left/Right (L/R) speakers share the same common Black-Ground wire at the back of the unit (both L/R speakers (-) wires twisted together to the chassis ground).
P.S. I also have a '71 road runner!View attachment 1415175

 

[RR71RR]

The player works good just can’t seem to get stereo sound out of the speakers

 

[Lefty71]

Well, as according to the wiring legend, theres a "grey" wire that appears to be missing???

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I’m sorry I can’t offer advice, I just want to comment on your great decision, 8 tracks rule!


I have a RCA, I ran dual 4” in the dash, 6x9s in the package tray, put a equalizer/booster under the seat. Completely bypassed the radio, there’s nothing good on it anyway.

 

[YY1]

Those look like different units.

I'd look under that screw on cover (or the main case) to see if there is one of those gray wires.

I don't remember too many aftermarket units that shared chassis ground with common speaker "ground".

 

[Don selleck]

pull the wire cover off the back, the grey wire is missing maybe cut off or ripped out the grey is the common neg. ground for the speakers. according to the wiring dia. there is or was a grey wire in there somewhere. if its not visiable thru back wire cover remove the screws probably located on the sides and pull the top or bottom plate cover off and locate the wire. splice a new wire on, and test. good luck.

 

[bee71]

Back in the day I remember the green wire was the right speaker and the gray was the left.

 

[YY1]

I've seen a lot of green and purple as the + and gray as the common.

 

[pnora]

People need to read. His picture clearly shows the wiring code. Grey speaker ground. Now to the question is where is it? I would do some looking by pulling the covers. Obviously someone has been into it.

 

[dadsbee]

Now to the question is where is it?

Looks like a nub of it sticking out behind that clear tape / cover.

 

[pnora]

Looks like a nub of it sticking out behind that clear tape / cover.

Might be. Two screws on that cover might enlighten things.

 

[Sinitro]

For the Sanyo FT-818 the chassis ground and speaker ground wire leads are common... Also the FT-818 has NO balance control, just independent left and right volume level contriols. To test for Stereo output, insert a tape turn the Right volume level up with the Left volume level down, U should get sound output just from the right channel speaker. (Yellow wire to right speaker +, black wire to right speaker -). Next turn the Left volume level up with the right volume level down, U should get sound output just from the left channel. (Green wire to left speaker +, black wire to left speaker -).
The black wire should also be grounded to the car chassis..

Just my $0.02...

 

[RR71RR]

People need to read. His picture clearly shows the wiring code. Grey speaker ground. Now to the question is where is it? I would do some looking by pulling the covers. Obviously someone has been into it.

I carefully opened the unit and no gray wire found

 

[RR71RR]

For the Sanyo FT-818 the chassis ground and speaker ground wire leads are common... Also the FT-818 has NO balance control, just independent left and right volume level contriols. To test for Stereo output, insert a tape turn the Right volume level up with the Left volume level down, U should get sound output just from the right channel speaker. (Yellow wire to right speaker +, black wire to right speaker -). Next turn the Left volume level up with the right volume level down, U should get sound output just from the left channel. (Green wire to left speaker +, black wire to left speaker -).
The black wire should also be grounded to the car chassis..

Just my $0.02...

Thanks! Sounds like a plan. I will connect as you instructed. Wish me luck!

 

[Lefty71]

Just in case Sinitro's advice doesnt help.... I saw on on FleaBay, newer than yours, no wiring legend, clealry five wires coming out the back.....
Can you do any good with this:

https://www.kevinchant.com/uploads/7/1/0/8/7108231/ft-818.pdf

GL, Lefty71

 

[ffgreg32]

Back in the day I remember the green wire was the right speaker and the gray was the left.

Take it from an installer of hundreds of these back in the day. This is correct

 

[pnora]

Here is another FT818. Different than the posters. SANYO FT818 8TRACK Cassette Player Car Stereo Retro 70s with original speakers | eBay

 

[pnora]

Take it from an installer of hundreds of these back in the day. This is correct

You need to look at all the old 8 track wire colors. About all I see as common is red power and black ground. Maybe at some point they came to a standard color code but the older are all over the place.