"Mark D. Zacharias" wrote in message ...
"Jonathan Berry" wrote in message
om...
I just bought an old Technics ST-8600 Tuner, over 20 years old.
I hooked the Output [Variable] on the back of the Tuner to the
Tuner input on my amp. The sound is lovely, even without
any antenna (yet).

But I'm confused by the other jacks at the back of the Tuner:

Output T A P E D E C K A M P - T U N E R 4 CH MPX OUT
Variable Rec Out Playback LineIn LineOut Horiz FM Mulipath Out
Vert
: : : : : :

so there are six x 2 (L-R) = 12 jacks at the back of
the unit. Tape Deck Playback seems to have extra shielding.

I have a tape deck, but it is connected to the Amp.
Actually, I've run out of Amp inputs, so if I can somehow
connect the Tape Deck via the Tuner and make the Amp think
the Tuner & Tape Deck are just a Tape Deck, well, I'd be happy.
Is that the idea?

Variable output is a regular audio output controlled by a volume control,
probably on the front panel. Connects to the "Tuner" input, or any other
high-level aux, cd, etc input of a preamp or integrated amp.

OK, works great. A knob at the front (calibrated in dB) allows
five positions (-20 -10 0 +3 +6). I have it set at zero.

Rec (record) out and Playback are obviously for a tape deck, and strongly
implies the tuner is equipped with a Dolby decoder, which could also be used
with Dolby FM broadcasts, which never really took off.

No sign of the now ubiquitous Dolby logo on this unit.

The "Line In" I've
never seen on a tuner, but sounds pretty obvious. It's another aux level
input. Line out is probably a fixed level output to go to your preamp.

A knob on the front labelled "mpx hi-blend" has three positions:
off auto manual
Would that be a clue? I don't know why a tuner would need inputs.
In fact, I tried LineOut to my amp, but heard no signal. Maybe it
is fried, or maybe internally protected only to work when there is also
a lineIn ???

Vertical and Horizontal out ARE used for checking for multipath, using an
oscilloscope, so I'm not sure why you'd have a separate "FM Multipath Out".

Maybe that last set of jacks has more than one purpose.

A tape deck connected this way could only record from the tuner,

The rec/playback three-position (amp source tape) switch? Might that
not send the signal (if in the appropriate position) from the amp
lineIn to tape out?

and in this
case, from another auxiliary source connected straight to the tuner.

Hmm, so maybe I'd connect the CD player to the amp via the tuner now?
I wish I had a manual!

It
wouldn't record other sources such as phono, not directly, anyway.

The 4-ch multiplex output should be the detector output, to be used if a
4-channel broadcast system were ever implemented. (It wasn't.)


Mark Z.


I'm still confused, but thanks, Mark!