[grivera]

Great POVs in this post and obvious technology gaps for some - including me. As I previously indicated T-Mobile doesn’t charge data for streaming services which was a selling feature for me and most music streaming services have a “free” version.

To each their own on the use of blue tooth and MP3 players. However, I strongly encourage everyone to carry a cell phone for emergency use...you can summon emergency care or police and potentially save someone’s life- that life May be your own.

[MarkS57]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

That's what I gathered but can say from experience that I haven't had any issues with sound quality.

I guess everyone's idea of sound is different. For me a couple of good 6x9's on the rear deck, some 4x6's under the dash, and that's all I need. As long as they are good quality speakers they sound fantastic, with enough bass and treble control from the radio it works perfectly fine for me, and speakers like Pioneer have always provided me with enough bass, and it's loud enough to listen clearly with the windows down at highway speeds.

I was never one of those that felt I needed a car full of tweeters and big base speakers to boom the neighborhood as I drove down the street. So maybe if you're one of those you'll have a different perception of sound, but the radio itself wouldn't be to blame even in that case because you'll have a big 30 lbs. amp and 10 miles of cable in the car to push all those speakers anyway.

Myself, I think the sound of the Retro is pretty good. I do not believe the power output specs they advertise however. If I didn't get the bass tube & subwoofer amp for nothing, I wouldn't have bothered to pay for one. The subwoofer does take some of the strain off the Retro's internal amps. Really, its the sound quality of the source material- be it MP3 or whatever- where the weakness lies. A good digital file of a song can be pretty freakin' big and its not likely being used by many if at all.

[Formulajones]

I found that the sound quality on the MP3 relies heavily on where and how it's recorded. If I grab stuff directly from CD's, the quality is excellent. If I grab from the internet, there are different choices there for sound quality, and different sites have different quality as well. If I record a song that isn't very good quality, it will play that way. It's sort of like, garbage in, garage out.
So as long as I put good quality recordings on the MP3, the sound quality coming out of the stereo is excellent. I went through all that years ago and pretty much have every song I care to listen to, since there isn't anything that's come out since the 80's I care to listen to. So I store it all on my desk top. When I need another MP3, I plug it in, hit a button, and a couple thousand songs are loaded in 5 minutes. I'm ready to go.

[jerry455]

I have an iPod that I use when I run. I am going to use it with my Retro Sound radio. I am going to run a cable inside my console into the cubby under the arm rest. I will plug it in when I am going to use it. My wife has an Apple music account and we can buy music and put it on our iPod in my case and her phone in her case. I have found some awesome 60's car songs from there. It is cool to listen to all of that stuff like when I was a kid. I can't wait to drive my Firebird with the new radio and listening to my music.

[Vid]

I decided to skip a modern radio unit and went with a 1000w Bluetooth amplifier I found on eBay. This enables me to connect my smartphone to the amp and bypass the need for a head unit altogether. It hides out of sight under the dash and I can play all my music apps through it like Pandora and SiriusXM. I can run it with 2 or 4 speakers. Easy to use as a common Bluetooth speaker.

In the past I ran a Ken Harrison retro look unit and it was nice except it needed more power. If you’re going to blast songs like Highway Star and Little GTO you want to be able to hear them over the pipes, right?!


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[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Yes I did actually. I'd buy a tape and dub it, carried it in multiple cars.

Advantage to the phone and blue tooth I disagree. It's not wireless if you need to have your phone plugged in all the time at the cig lighter for a charge, then what....lay the phone in the car somewhere? Not convenient for me at all, especially not convenient for me to worry about making sure I have the phone in what ever car I jump in just so I can listen to music. I'm not going through the trouble to buy multiple phones, and then worry about how they are all going to stay charged, plugging them into cig lighters or what ever the case may be. It's all just more garbage that I don't need. Like I said earlier, eventually you have to say when is enough enough? When is it good enough?


When I'm driving I don't have to turn the radio down to answer the phone either, because I don't answer it, lol. Most counties these days frown on that anyway.

I get it that you guys like your bluetooth gizmos, but you aren't going to sell me on it. It's not convenient for me at all, the MP3 does it's job without the need for me to worry about phones, charging, or any of that stuff. I just press a button on the radio and the MP3 plays, and I'm good with that.
Quite simply, if a radio doesn't offer a USB port, I don't buy it.

Speaking of which, for those listening, This place I contacted https://www.radiosforoldcars.com/
has not gotten back to me at all. Doesn't say much for customer service, and I guess that answers my question as well, they won't offer a USB port. So I'll continue to support what I've been buying. Works fine for me.
So you guys continue to enjoy your cell phones if you want. As for mine, it could be at the bottom of Lake Pleasant for all I care. I'll keep my cars with a radio that plays music without the assistance of a cell phone.

Originally Posted by Vid

I decided to skip a modern radio unit and went with a 1000w Bluetooth amplifier I found on eBay. This enables me to connect my smartphone to the amp and bypass the need for a head unit altogether. It hides out of sight under the dash and I can play all my music apps through it like Pandora and SiriusXM. I can run it with 2 or 4 speakers. Easy to use as a common Bluetooth speaker.

In the past I ran a Ken Harrison retro look unit and it was nice except it needed more power. If you’re going to blast songs like Highway Star and Little GTO you want to be able to hear them over the pipes, right?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you skip the head unit all together then what do you use to control volume with that thing?
How would you switch tracks or even just switch songs?.

[grivera]

Originally Posted by Vid

I decided to skip a modern radio unit and went with a 1000w Bluetooth amplifier I found on eBay. This enables me to connect my smartphone to the amp and bypass the need for a head unit altogether. It hides out of sight under the dash and I can play all my music apps through it like Pandora and SiriusXM. I can run it with 2 or 4 speakers. Easy to use as a common Bluetooth speaker.

In the past I ran a Ken Harrison retro look unit and it was nice except it needed more power. If you’re going to blast songs like Highway Star and Little GTO you want to be able to hear them over the pipes, right?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's sick! is there a 12V power source and ground?

[Vid]

Originally Posted by grivera

That's sick! is there a 12V power source and ground?

I haven’t installed it yet but that’s how it’s wired, yes. These are designed for cars, boats, and most other 12v vehicles. It’s inexpensive too, I think I paid $125 for it. Granted it’s probably not 1000 watts (250 per channel) but if it gets “loud enough” then I’ll be happy.


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[Vid]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

If you skip the head unit all together then what do you use to control volume with that thing?
How would you switch tracks or even just switch songs?.

Completely controlled by my phone. The phone in essence becomes the radio unit.


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[Formulajones]

Oh okay gotchya