Stereo Replacement

[Travel'n Man]

Well I just ripped all the wires out of my vintage JVC that came with my car, and I am looking for a replacement. I will have to look at the MSA vintage sound one.

I did leave my original AM/FM in place and fully operational. The Retro Sound One system sounds great. The remote works well. I've got my system in place (I have not finalized the glove box face plate yet). My AM/FM has 10 times better reception and my Ipod had a never ending random song selection. I can get a thumbdrive and download but I kinda like the Ipod and picking the songs or artists that I'm in the mood for. I've got over 200 CD's loaded so I'm good to go!

I am very pleased with the Retro Sound One product and the simplicity of the install. The glove box mounting was a little tricky but sitting in the car you would never know it was there.

[biddljj]

My plan is to hook up Sirius/XM and leave it at that. Maybe in the future I'll add an iphone interface but I doubt it.... Satellite radio works everywhere except in tunnels.

zdisease

Primer this weekend ?

[suzook86]

Wouldn't this be a great subject to qualify as a sticky or tech pub & how to. Maybe someone with proffessional audio experience could head it up. Since almost everyone up-grades their stereo, and lets face it not all of us are "12 volt electrical systems guru's". I know I would benefit greatly from such an article concerning correct head unit, speaker cabling, speaker types/ location, etc. If only there was such a person/member with the credibility, respect, and dare I say admiration of the Club . . . hmmm!!! Hope everyone is having a great 4 of July, I am.

[TomoHawk]

The difficult part is the faceplate - fitting their universal plate so it allows use of the antenna switch is what keeps me from jumping in. Hacking my original face plate is not a viable/reversible option.

Dennis

You could easily put an antenna switch in the empty switch area next to the defroster switch. Just get an extra cover to put in when needed and mount the antenna switch into the cover.

[psdenno]

You could easily put an antenna switch in the empty switch area next to the defroster switch. Just get an extra cover to put in when needed and mount the antenna switch into the cover.

That's a very good idea and it could be easily reversed - sounds like a perfect solution. I was considering mounting a switch on the plexiglass panel I put in place of the ashtray below the radio.

Since I never used the ashtray or lighter, I put them in a box in about 1972. Then, I cut a piece of 1/4 inch plexi to fill the spot. I mounted a vacuum gauge and aircraft volt meter on that panel. A spring loaded toggle switch would work nicely.

Now, to work out the faceplate issue.

Dennis

[fixitman]

You could easily put an antenna switch in the empty switch area next to the defroster switch. Just get an extra cover to put in when needed and mount the antenna switch into the cover.

Datsun made an antenna switch that was a direct replacement for the console cover. It's a rocker type switch. I purchased this NOS switch from Rod's Discount Datsun Parts (www.rodsdatsun.com) last year. I can hardly read his writing on the receipt but the number is something like 99993 or 7-xxxx. I haven't been able to find this part on the fiche but it's definitely a Datsun part.

Fixitman

[TomoHawk]

That's a very good idea and it could be easily reversed

Right. You could pop the switch plate out, then push it all down through the hole and pop in the spare cover (like for a show) and then put it back for driving around.

I happen to have my antenna switch on that little plastic insert in the centre, above the hazard switch.

Edited July 5, 2009 by TomoHawk

[ConchZ]

I've got a Plain-Jane Alpine that fits perfectly in place of my factory radio, which is now in the Alpine's box. As for the antenna switch, a little switch from radio shack is wired up. I keep it under the fuse box door. I rarely lower the antenna, but that might change now, so I'm thinking about getting an automatic antenna and hooking it up to the Alpine's antenna lead. I recently read about how popular older car antennas are for use as crack pipes. Leaving it up makes it a target. The crack heads live shoulder to shoulder with the rich and middle class on this little 2x4 mile island, so you are never parked very far from a crack-head. Its usually not a problem, as they are voted off the island if they mis-behave, but why make it easy for them.

[Travel'n Man]

To resolve the issue with two sound systems and one automatic antenna from the original radio I went to my local audio installer and purchased an antenna "Y" and connect both systems to the same antenna (Radio Shack did not stock them anymore). Yea, I've got to put the antenna up and down from the electric control on the original AM/FM reciever but I don't like leaving mine up. Reception is excellent! Back in the day people didn't smoke crack through them they snapped them and broke.

The "Y" was the perfect solution for me (kudo's goes out to William-HLS30 for helping me a couple months ago with this issue!!)

[ZIII]

When it came time to replace my radio I was also very much concerned about butchering my center console and after much deliberation decided on this McIntosh unit which I think compliments the dash. As you can see, the pre-amp fits perfectly, the antenna switch was moved to the bottom left center console and the power amp is under the passenger's seat. All six speakers are well integrated and the sound is just simply magnificent. I kept the original radio, of course, and going back to stock would be an easy matter.

[Travel'n Man]

Follow up on final RetroOne Installation in Glove Box