Akai GX-8 (1980s)

Little is documented about the Akai GX-8. It's a three-head, single-transport compact cassette deck. It is not a dual-well dubbing deck and not an open-reel machine. A user report places it in the 1980s: one owner says they bought their unit new in Australia during that decade and that it still works. No production years, original price, or factory spec sheet have surfaced.

The GX-8 is described as “pretty much the same as the GX-9, minus the autocalibration, plus the DBX.” So it sat alongside the GX-9 at the top of Akai’s cassette line, with a different trade. Instead of automatic level calibration, it carried DBX noise reduction. The known specs are 4-track, 2-channel stereo, 4.76 cm/s tape speed, and a three-head configuration (the source’s head list reads “1 x record, 1 x…” before getting cut off). It also offered an unusually wide range of level-match-dependent noise reductions, yet had no level calibration. One owner called that combination “weird” for a top-of-the-line model. The same person added: “The specification is impressive and it sounds good too.”

A past eBay price of £45 was mentioned, with the caveat that “prices were far less then,” and at least one example remains boxed. Period reviews of the GX-8 itself haven’t turned up in the archive’s magazine record. A cassette-deck section in Audio (1986, p.234) does list period models from Revox and Tandberg.

Known specifications

• Type: 3-head, single compact cassette deck
• Track system: 4-track, 2-channel stereo
• Tape speed: 4.76 cm/s
• Heads: 3-head configuration (“1 x record, 1 x…” — source truncated)
• Noise reduction: DBX; unusually wide range of level-match-dependent types
• No level calibration

Not documented: production years, original retail price, dimensions, weight, frequency response, THD, S/N ratio, wow and flutter, input/output specifications, and the complete head configuration.

eBay Listings

AKAI GX-8 Kit Belts, Idler, Rollers And Lubricant Does Not D

$24.82

Akai GX-8 Cassette Deck Kit Belt Idler Rollers

$22.35

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