AEI Foreground Music System
You’ve heard of Background Music but what about Foreground Music? Let’s take a look at this AEI player and its carts and see what we can discover about this pretty much undocumented (until now) music system.
I’ve been spending my birthday today editing this video. It’s not a negative, there’s nothing I’d really rather have been doing.
I’m putting this video out on here now and then I’m going out for a meal so apologies for not being around to respond to any comments or messages today.
I’m not big on birthday celebrations though, I just play along to keep the Mrs happy. The date all seems a bit too arbitrary for me (as well as a very long time ago now). I seem to remember my mother telling me I was born in the middle of the night, so my birthday could have just as easily fallen yesterday but then again perhaps it was closer to tomorrow. I was also a month premature so it should really take place some time in February. But I suspect I've already told you all this, I'm starting to lose track.
I do know though that it was caesarean birth, the only way you can tell, is that whenever I leave a house I always go out through the window. That’s an old Steven Wright joke. But anyway, apparently I shouldn’t really exist at all, as the previous child was going to be my parents' last one, but something untoward occurred during pregnancy that no one ever spoke about, so they tried for another.
On a more positive note I’m now old enough to draw my pension early. Might not be a bad idea given how things have been going in recent years health wise, but I’ll hold off on early retirement for a while. Hopefully I can continue to make videos for a while longer yet, until everyone decides they’ve seen more than enough.
I also think I've fallen into the final category of age on surveys - I think beyond 55+ there might not be any more age bands. If I wrote a memoir (which wouldn't be possible with my memory), but if I did, it might be called 'No more boxes left to tick'.
Have a good one.
UPDATED: Made a couple of tiny edits and re-uploaded the video
UPDATE 2 - Correction made. (Added an on screen annotation about the existence of a wider Type D cart) Thanks as always to Andy for his expertise. Also swapped the AI upscaled cart image at the end for the original blurry low res one that no one can read.
Comments (87)
Stephen Wright. Now theres a name i havent heard in a long time. I wonder how many people got the reference. He was/is a great commedian
Is it possible the wooden sides aren't original, or could be removed to add sliders? The slightly oversized front screams something that was installed into some sort of cubby or bay. Or maybe it's just me!
It’s probable there were different configurations but this all looks like an original option to me, but I also know nothing about it.
I kind of love that Casio is building new G-Shocks with this brilliant, modern MIP display technology…and they use all of that extra resolution to just emulate the classic 1990s G-Shock LCD. I know there's a modern mode and I know that even the "classic" display has extra data, but I still love that they made this choice. (I've had one of these MIP G-Shocks in my Amazon Wishlist for a while. But the G-Shock lives up to its marketing: I just replaced the batteries in mine after ten years, and it's still working 100% perfectly. That MIP G-Shock in my wishlist is like the understudy for a venerable stage actress who has made it eminently clear that she has no intentions of ever missing a performance, and even if her taxi gets smashed by a truck on the way to the theater, they're going to just forklift the vehicle onto the stage and she'll sing the role of Eliza Doolittle while the fire department continues to saw through the roof to get her out…)
Do you have a link to the JBL white paper?
Here you go https://jblpro.com/en/site_elements/guide-to-business-music
Ahhh this was great, almost seems a labour of love to you. Also, liking the idea of it being part of your hifi setup 🤩 Couldn’t help think of that episode of Father Ted (A Christmassy Ted) where they get lost in that department store around the bra isle 😂😂 …”not that way for fekk sake” 😂 Nice device! Thanks Lee
I like the foreground and background music definitions from JBL. I think they missed one tho. Lift music. I feel it needs it's own category.
Looking forward to your review of a midground music system. Would it be possible to combine a foreground music system with a background music system and enjoy a nice parallax effect? The wooden side panels look too improvised because they are not even aligned with the front. This looks like a device to be mounted in a rack, cabinet or take the place of a drawer. If it was for decorative purposes, I would expect the would to be part of the front. The side panels make me think it's either just there for transport or to sit more snuck in some cupboard slot and the wood wouldn't scratch the wood of your wooden cupboard, would it? Maybe I'm just overthinking American design from the 80s. A mystery likely to be never solved.
I've got plenty of middle of the road music too.
Happy Birthday from Paso Robles, California!
Always cool, a "new" format :-D
Happy Birthday from Berlin :)
Happy Birthday! What do you think is that jumper wire (bar?) going from in to out on the back? That seems an odd way to handle internal signal routing.
44:00 oh, another format unheard of... you definitely have to find out what "Reconts" are :-)
Did anyone else notice the DJ carts in the latest season of Stranger Things? They were being used to play sound effects at the radio station during the first episode, I think.
There's a video reviewing how realistic the radio station depicted in Stranger Things is. (Haven't watched it yet, though.)
For those ever playing about with old systems like this, beware you 'll see 100v or 70v speaker outputs, do not connect your conventional speakers to these, these are designed for places with a large amount of speakers, e.g in a supermarket. If you were to connect loads of speakers to a domestic amplifier, you'll risk damaging it, electronics of a speaker is basically a coil with a low resistance or impedance as it's refered to when magnetic fields are involved, if you add loads of those together you'll decrease the resistance and effectively create practically a dead short across your amplifiers speaker output, so in places where many speakers are needed to be connected to the amp, the audio output on the amplifier is increased to a higher voltage, creating a much higher resistance and impedance, it's then stepped down with another transformer on each speaker, this also means the same volume comes out of each speaker, even over long distances. But if you connect a domestic speaker with no line transfor to these 100v and 70volt outputs, you'll damage it. 100v ones usually for places with 240v mains supply, 70v is usually places with 110v mains supply.
Belated happy birthday. I'm only a little older than you and took my pension early on the grounds that if I died at the same age as my father and his father, I wouldn't have been around to benefit from it at all. Obviously it's greatly reduced but I was surprised at the number of years I'd have to wait before breaking even. As for AEI, I associate that name with a British light bulb manufacturer that was owned by GE and became Thorn Lighting before eventually being split up and largely bought by GE. I worked for Thorn for a short time in the early 90s. There's no connection whatsoever so I don't know why I mentioned it.
Happy birthday Mat! Wishing you another great year and good health ☺️
You know, I love just about all your content, you can make things I’m not interested in interesting. But I think your BGM FGM music system vids are behind only the HDVMD videos as my favorite things you do. I saw what this was today and actually said “Allright!” aloud to myself. Thanks for being so consistently interesting all these years!
FYI: In 1968, the PlayTape folks announced they had designed a triple-format 4-track/8-track/PlayTape player, and MGM announced they were working on an adapter to play PlayTapes in an 8-track machine. Neither of these saw the light of day.
Happy birthday, Mat. It's mine on 29th - I demand that you remember that and wish me it back. Also - I can sympathise with you regarding age surveys. I'm gonna be 57 and those drop-down boxes to indicate your age for a website are now causing a strange form of vertigo when I see how far down I have to scroll. PS: I really like the purple/violet lighting overhead. It makes you look like you come from The Future. PPS: Can you tell me what precise model of G-Shock watch that is? It's lovely.
The watch is one of the new generation with the MIP display. If you’re unaware it’s a bit like e-ink in that it uses very little power but is very legible and hires. This model is the GMW-BZ5000D-1JF . When my dad left me a bit of money in his will I thought I’d treat myself to something nice that’ll be around for a while.
HBD! Can’t wait to watch this later
Steven Wright: "I bought some powdered water, but I didn't know what to add." First video I've watched with a pair of wireless earbuds in. Sony ones, and no, not the LinkBuds! They're taking some getting used to. Instructions are appalling. The number of lights and button presses seem to indicate 150 different functions! There's a shop called Sostrene Grene that are always playing classical music at a reasonable volume. It's quite nice. And happy birthday! Hope Gus Honeybun showed your card between Out Of Town and Crossroads! That's the most niche thing I've ever typed here I think!
I like Sostene Grene, they remind me of the days when high streets would be worth visiting.
"Playing around with a music format I've never encountered before." That's gotta be a rarity these days! I doubt even most audio engineers have encountered as many formats as you!
Happy Birthday! What an awesome video!
So... How does YT know which of possibly thousands of performers are owed the royalties on classical? Or is it a case of the big boys grab the lot? Oh by the way Happy Birthday 🎈 I hope you didn't think I'd forgotten 😅
Thanks for the video and of course congrats!
Congratulations on completing another circuit around the sun!
There's many things that are "Sea" something or other in Seattle, it's a Seattle thing. The airport is SeaTac (for Seattle Tacoma).
900 E Pine St, Seattle. I played Shaun Murphy at snooker near there a year ago. OK. I got 1 point and he cleared up.
Happy Birthday, Matt, and many more years in good health. Celebrate every day a little, that's the best you can do. And - if you want to hear an advice from a retiree: Don't rush it with drawing your pension. If you can and if it satisfies you, just work along as long as you can.
Happy birthday, Matt. When I finally was able to watch your video I was amused to see the article you referenced about George Eash, the inventor of the continuous play audio cartridge. The article claimed Mr. Eash invented the cartridge in 1953 in Toledo. That got my attention because I happen to live about 30 miles from Toledo. The article went on to tell of the friendship between George Eash and Earl Muntz, who went on to develop the 4 track cart. That reminded me of the 8 track system that was invented by Bill Lear. Just a moment —George Eash… Earl Muntz… Bill Lear… Why do the inventors of the audio cartridge have mono-syllabic names? No wait, the compact cassette was invented by Lou Ottens. Close, so close.
This smells of delecious cake and candles here, happy birthday Matt! This is celebration day, I can't write any comment about the upside down foil. No I won't.
That is a banger name for a memoir. I am not big on birthdays either, however I have been stretching a flu since the end of December, shortly before my birthday. The flu is worse than a birthday. Will watch the video later.
Always happy to see another Back- [or Fore-] Ground Music system. This one seems like a gem. Looking for(e)ward to part 2.😃
Happy Birthday!!!!
Happy Birthday, Mat! I must admit, when I first saw the inside of the machine thru the door, first thing I noticed was what looked like a piece of wire hanging off of the track change contacts. I actually cringed when you shoved the tape in, possibly against that wire on those contacts..... oy. Fascinating format...giant 8 track tapes, after a fashion.
There was a hair in there, everything looks bigger on video…I’m three foot two.
Happy Birthday Mat, may your next trip around the sun bring you joy and happiness!!!!
Happy birthday Mat. Hope for many more years/videos yet to come 🤗
I agree with your opening statement, Mat, that's exactly the kind of thing that fascinates me! Great video, interesting all through. Enjoy our meal out. Your Mrs is right, you should celebrate.
Happy birthday Mat! 🎂
Happy Birthday. You know you are really getting old when (to me) it only seems to be a couple of years since your 50th. p.s. I joined Patreon after your Schaub Lorenz video. That was six years ago.
DNR chip looks to have the latest date code of 06th week of '83.
Happy birthday Mat.
Well I learned several things today, firstly about this wonderful system and also that there is an actual definition of foreground and background music that I will now never not notice when I'm out and about listening to music in stores. Still not as impressive or beautiful as the record based system you featured a few years ago, but impressive in its own way nonetheless. Many happy returns, here's to many more.
I wonder if AEI/Seacart were thinking of making a larger cart and designed that player accordingly? (Google thinks Seacart had the same street address AEI.) Happy Birthday!! They keep adding boxes, so don’t throw away your pen just yet.
I audibly laughed at your Stephen Wright caesarian joke! That's a goodie 😆 Enjoy the nice dinner this evening and thank you for the fantastic work you've done over the years! Take care 🎉
Happy birthday Mat, this video was really nice to watch and learn about yet another format
YouTube's own Analytics has separate age groups for 55-64 and 65+. If you were still using a Sony Handycam, you'd have to call it quits after 2030, because that's the highest year their internal clock goes up to.
The 80s cart has a lot of spelling mistakes. Poco is misspelled Foco, Enough is spelled Enoogh, and there's a bunch of "a for s" mistakes
That’ll be the AI upscale to blame, the original pic was illegible.
If your life expectancy is less than a year, you can take your pension out tax free (with some caveats). So that would be something to look forward to.
44:42 Looks like another way you could date this thing is that it seems to have been printed before the common use of spellcheck :) Happy Birthday!!
Happy Birthday 🎂
Happy Birthday! I'm happy to hear your missus makes sure you celebrate a bit. I hope you're having a good day either way.
Happy birthday Mat! Today is also my birthday, cheers!
HBD to you as well! 🎉
Happy Birthday!🍰🎂
• I always love seeing these back (and fore) ground music systems. I was guessing 1988 for the age because those wooden sides remind me of TV cabinets of the same vintage. • Four = Fore? • One more month and you could have been an Aquarius (like me). • Incidently I was an 'unwanted' baby - my dad was 50, my Mom was 40, and they already had a 15 year old daughter and 5 year old son. Very enjoyable and interesting video. Have a great day and take care. 🤍
The word Aquarius always just reminds me of the Mattel computer and the 5th Dimension song. I suppose I’ve got Capricorn One which isn’t a bad movie. Incidentally I couldn’t imagine having a five year old child in the house now, I can barely pick up the cat.
Best update story! Happy birthday Mat!
I know you don’t want to hear this but happy birthday Mat. You are one of the things that keep me from giving up on this hellworld.
You're not the only one.
Happy Birthday to both of us.
Happy Birthday!
No time to watch the video at the moment, so I'll just wish you well on your anniversary of the time--within a day or two--of the first time you left a building from a window rather than a door! Also, you still have at least one MAJOR box to tick--wink wink, nudge nudge!😉😖
Happy birthday Mat ! 🎉
Happy birthday Mat.
happy birthday!!
Even if you don't celebrate your birthday in a big way, use it as an excuse to have a nice day. Happy birthday, Mat!
Happy Birthday, Mat! 🙂
Happy birthday 🎂
Happy birthday anyway 🎉
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthdayyyyy, even if birthdays get more and more meaningless over the years it's still something that can be celebrated with the smallest of things
They keep adding more boxes, at 63 there’s still one more for me to get to. Maybe USA is different to UK?
If you are American please could you explain what a "Senior" is. A term that seems to get used for everything from "Senior High" to "Mobility Scooters for Seniors".
Happy Birthday. And FYI FGM usually means Female Genital Mutilation so it's probably best to not use that initialism in the public video. I look forward to watching it as soon as i finish this LGR video.
I agree.
I was 50 last month. A couple of days ago I got the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening letter, complete with pamphlet with old people on the cover. I know I'm not young anymore, but I had no idea I was considered old by the State.
Happy birthday mate! 🎉😎