[mgarblik]

If you really want to maintain the stock radio appearance, you could probably buy a non-working factory radio that looks good and then have it converted. I am very happy with my conversion, started with a dead AM radio. It has all the features you mentioned in your first post. I generally use it for satellite radio with my portable unit in the glove box. The Aurora conversion circuit board is the most popular and has 180W output.

[1968GTO421]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Those look great, but no mention of a USB connection.


The only reason I change from the stock radio is for a USB connection. That's really the only thing I'm looking for other than appearing to be stock. I have several MP3 players that are in each car loaded with hundreds of songs. So that's really what I listen to the most. If they could offer this with a simple USB plug in, I'd be on board with one of these.

Edit: sent them a message asking if they can do one with a USB port.

FJ, on this subject I tend to follow your advice since I also have several MP3's that have most of my music on them. A radio without the USB port would leave me unhappy.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by 1968GTO421

FJ, on this subject I tend to follow your advice since I also have several MP3's that have most of my music on them. A radio without the USB port would leave me unhappy.

Yeah I'm the same way. Many years back I went through the trouble to buy 3 MP3's for the cars we daily drive. Converted those radios to what I mentioned earlier.

Now with all this fancy bluetooth, people using their cell phones etc.... it seems some radio companies have forgotten about USB ports.

Problem is, I hate even carrying a phone on me (My wife makes me) and I certainly don't use it for music. It would never hold a charge long enough to play in a car for hours anyway. I don't wan't any kind of WiFi wiz bang gizmo in the cars. After all, we are in the cars every day, I like the convenience of having a normal radio in the stock location, with a USB port, a cable I can run into the glove box, and just leave the MP3 plugged in, all I have to do is press a button and songs play, no fiddling around, simple, easy, and still looks stockish.

It's like having a cassette player, but the cassette player now has endless songs and never wears out, plus it's much easier to operate.

The nice thing about converting any other car here I wish, with a USB of course, is I just grab another MP3 and transfer all the music from one of the other MP3's, and I now have music in that car. It's very easy and I just don't care to change it for anything that honestly doesn't work any better anyway.

I've went through all the transitions with radios in cars, from 8 tracks, to cassttes to CD's. Then the MP3. Eventually you just have to say enough is enough, and it's good enough. Leave me right here, I'm happy

[Half-Inch Stud]

95 Lincoln stereo Cassette "Analog" for best bass, no subwoof.

If your dash is cut, then this is the full transplant for you.

My dash is uncut, so a Delco Am/Fm faceplate with knobs and night lamp fill the dash. Lincoln head sit between driver legs. Yea if my dash was cut then the head end would have been miunted there.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Problem is, I hate even carrying a phone on me (My wife makes me) and I certainly don't use it for music. It would never hold a charge long enough to play in a car for hours anyway.

You might want to double check on that....

I've listened to music on my phone via bluetooth for 8 hours without charging. I could never do that with my mp3 player without charging.

Just saying....

As long as your wife makes you carry your phone, put music on it and you'll always have music available when you want it.

I doubt you always have an mp3 player with you.

[Will]

The beauty of a proper bluetooth setup is that it automatically pairs with your phone whenever it's turned on. You don't have to do anything, just get in the car and turn on the radio, it connects to your phone and the music starts playing. I have bluetooth enabled stereos in all my cars and my entire music collection is on my phone, so it just goes wherever I go. It really doesn't get any more convenient than that. My cheap phone will hold a charge all day long, but of course you can always put a charger in the cigar lighter, or if you don't mind doing a little wiring you could put a charging port in the center console or glove box where it can't be seen and just plug your phone in and leave it in there. I have a couple old MP3 players. Really don't know why I hang onto them. Will be moving in about 4 or 5 months so will probably purge them at that time as I haven't used them in years.

[grivera]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Yeah I'm the same way. Many years back I went through the trouble to buy 3 MP3's for the cars we daily drive. Converted those radios to what I mentioned earlier.

Now with all this fancy bluetooth, people using their cell phones etc.... it seems some radio companies have forgotten about USB ports.

Problem is, I hate even carrying a phone on me (My wife makes me) and I certainly don't use it for music. It would never hold a charge long enough to play in a car for hours anyway. I don't wan't any kind of WiFi wiz bang gizmo in the cars. After all, we are in the cars every day, I like the convenience of having a normal radio in the stock location, with a USB port, a cable I can run into the glove box, and just leave the MP3 plugged in, all I have to do is press a button and songs play, no fiddling around, simple, easy, and still looks stockish.

It's like having a cassette player, but the cassette player now has endless songs and never wears out, plus it's much easier to operate.

The nice thing about converting any other car here I wish, with a USB of course, is I just grab another MP3 and transfer all the music from one of the other MP3's, and I now have music in that car. It's very easy and I just don't care to change it for anything that honestly doesn't work any better anyway.

I've went through all the transitions with radios in cars, from 8 tracks, to cassttes to CD's. Then the MP3. Eventually you just have to say enough is enough, and it's good enough. Leave me right here, I'm happy

I get it - in my case I never even owned an MP3 player and didn't know they were still manufactured. As far as keeping the phone charged a simple lighter port/usb adapter will keep the phone charged. I use mine to stream from iHeart radio - T-Mobile doesn't charge data for streaming services so it works out great.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by grivera

I get it - in my case I never even owned an MP3 player and didn't know they were still manufactured. As far as keeping the phone charged a simple lighter port/usb adapter will keep the phone charged. I use mine to stream from iHeart radio - T-Mobile doesn't charge data for streaming services so it works out great.

I'd like it better if it were a hidden cable from the radio so you could stick your phone in the glove box. I don't want cables and wires going every which way just laying out in the open. That is providing you don't need access to your phone to press buttons, that would be a turn off for me. The MP3 just sits in the glove box plugged in ready to go all the time, and I can turn it on and off and select songs directly from the radio itself.

I'm just not a smart phone person. Never was.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Will

The beauty of a proper bluetooth setup is that it automatically pairs with your phone whenever it's turned on. You don't have to do anything, just get in the car and turn on the radio, it connects to your phone and the music starts playing. I have bluetooth enabled stereos in all my cars and my entire music collection is on my phone, so it just goes wherever I go. It really doesn't get any more convenient than that. My cheap phone will hold a charge all day long, but of course you can always put a charger in the cigar lighter, or if you don't mind doing a little wiring you could put a charging port in the center console or glove box where it can't be seen and just plug your phone in and leave it in there. I have a couple old MP3 players. Really don't know why I hang onto them. Will be moving in about 4 or 5 months so will probably purge them at that time as I haven't used them in years.

I just don't have a reason to do it as long as I have MP3's. Besides, I don't always carry my phone with me either. Sometimes I just forget it. Then I'd have no tunes. It would also have to go from car to car. No thanks. The MP3's stay in each car, they are cheap to buy and easy to transfer the music over, just takes seconds. So it's always there, never needs charged, no extra wires, no cell phone needed. Easy Peasy.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by The Champ

You might want to double check on that....

I've listened to music on my phone via bluetooth for 8 hours without charging. I could never do that with my mp3 player without charging.

Just saying....

As long as your wife makes you carry your phone, put music on it and you'll always have music available when you want it.

I doubt you always have an mp3 player with you.

That's just it, the MP3 stays in the car and plugged in to the radio at all times. So it's always charged and never have to worry about it. I also don't have to worry about forgetting it, I have MP3's in the glove box of every car that's converted to one of these radios. So what ever car I jump in to go, it's there. I never have to fool with anything. I press a button on the radio, listen to regular stations if I want. When I get tired of hearing people talk, or we are on a long trip, I press another button and endless songs come on the MP3.

[TCSGTO]

I went Bluetooth in all my vehicles and never looked back. You have access to SiriusXM, IHeart, podcasts, any radio station in the world, and nearly every song ever recorded. For a fraction of the cost of one of those retro radios you can have superior sound and content. What’s not to like?

[Formulajones]

Yeah but you're paying monthly fees for those services, that never go away. No thank you. I'm not paying to listen to a radio. Especially in multiple cars. How long do you think it would be before that radio pays for itself.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

That's just it, the MP3 stays in the car and plugged in to the radio at all times. So it's always charged and never have to worry about it. I also don't have to worry about forgetting it, I have MP3's in the glove box of every car that's converted to one of these radios. So what ever car I jump in to go, it's there. I never have to fool with anything. I press a button on the radio, listen to regular stations if I want. When I get tired of hearing people talk, or we are on a long trip, I press another button and endless songs come on the MP3.

FJ

I understand that you have already gone out and purchased multiple MP3 players.

I bet you used to have AM/FM Cassette players in your cars back in the day. Did you buy multiples of the same cassettes so that you didn't have to transfer the cassettes from vehicle to vehicle? I doubt it.

You commented on another post that it's easy to transfer music to an MP3. It's basically the same procedure to transfer music to your phone, so no advantage to the MP3 at all. Actually, the multiple MP3 players mean that you had to do 2, 3, 4 times the work to get your music transferred originally and every time you want to add music it's the same deal.

You also made the comment that you don't like wires all over the place. Bluetooth iswireless technology. Advantage to the phone and radio with bluetooth.

Ultimately, you will have an MP3 player die. When you go to replace it, most likely it will be a bluetooth MP3 player because the vast majority of people don't want to have wires (not even to their ear/buds/headphones).

I have bluetooth headphones for when I fly and I use them while on cutting my lawn. Music or podcasts courtesy of my phone.

My hearing aids (provided by the VA - service connected disability) are bluetooth, so when I'm out for a walk I have music or podcasts available too.

When driving and listening to music, I don't have to turn the radio down to answer the phone, I just touch my hearing aid and the music is muted and I'm free to talk on the phone.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by The Champ

FJ

I understand that you have already gone out and purchased multiple MP3 players.

I bet you used to have AM/FM Cassette players in your cars back in the day. Did you buy multiples of the same cassettes so that you didn't have to transfer the cassettes from vehicle to vehicle? I doubt it.

You commented on another post that it's easy to transfer music to an MP3. It's basically the same procedure to transfer music to your phone, so no advantage to the MP3 at all. Actually, the multiple MP3 players mean that you had to do 2, 3, 4 times the work to get your music transferred originally and every time you want to add music it's the same deal.
You also made the comment that you don't like wires all over the place. Bluetooth iswireless technology. Advantage to the phone and radio with bluetooth.

Ultimately, you will have an MP3 player die. When you go to replace it, most likely it will be a bluetooth MP3 player because the vast majority of people don't want to have wires (not even to their ear/buds/headphones).

I have bluetooth headphones for when I fly and I use them while on cutting my lawn. Music or podcasts courtesy of my phone.

My hearing aids (provided by the VA - service connected disability) are bluetooth, so when I'm out for a walk I have music or podcasts available too.

When driving and listening to music, I don't have to turn the radio down to answer the phone, I just touch my hearing aid and the music is muted and I'm free to talk on the phone.

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.

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by Entropy11

Probably not the direction you’re going but the new multimedia receivers these days are so shallow right now they are easier to conceal than ever. In my last car I made a little slide out deal under the dash that could bring it forward flush and then push back if you didn’t want it. You’d have to nearly lay on the floor to see it. These new receivers are only like 4” deep (no cd though). Half the time I’d never even slide it forward because my phone could control it all via Bluetooth or usb if I had the cord plugged in to charge.

Not trying to sell anybody on the idea but it worked for me because I wanted my factory radio to stay factory. Did the same on the kid’s Plymouth, and the same going into the GTO now. The menu/feature set in these little $100ish receivers is unreal and really let’s you tune in your speakers no matter where or how bad the placement is. I’ve used the JVC X270 and X470.

This is a great option. First, I don't care who makes the 'retro' ones, none can compare to current mainstream OE stuff in performance.

The new MultiMedia type head units are palm-sized, and feature packed. The Kenwood and others have an app you can put on your phone and control it, no need to even see it or touch it. Many also have remotes. Build a box or buy a repop glovebox liner and install, done.

I recently bought a Kenwood excelon KMM-x704, on sale was $89, can't beat that with any of the look-a-like retro units.

.

[TCSGTO]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Yeah but you're paying monthly fees for those services, that never go away. No thank you. I'm not paying to listen to a radio. Especially in multiple cars. How long do you think it would be before that radio pays for itself.

IHeart and Tunein have free services that offer more than 1 person could listen to in a lifetime.
For less than $10 a month you can download and store nearly any song ever recorded and have access to video media on Spotify. Try it for free and cancel anytime if you don’t like.

I get where you’re coming from, but if you give the new tech a shot and spend the extra money on high quality sound equipment instead of that Retro Autosound stuff you might wonder why you waited so long.

[Formulajones]

I'm okay with the sound quality, that was never in question. With my speakers, the autosound radio, and one of those small compact mini amps from Alpine, the sound quality is fantastic, and more than loud enough at 70 mph with the windows down.

What I just can't wrap my head around are monthly fees for radio services in a car..... that has a radio. Even if it were 50 cents a month, I just won't pay for something that has been free to listen to since radios were invented.

All that spotify stuff, bluetooth wireless, you pay monthly fees for all that stuff if you want to download or even stream favorite music, pay money if you don't want commercials or interruptions etc... Why would I want to do that when I can turn on the MP3 that has a couple thousand songs downloaded, and plays without interruption.....in any car I jump into, without the need to monkey with anything.....and it's free.

Bottom line, for me anyway, I don't care what wiz bang gadgets they attach, don't care if it will get up and make me eggs and bacon in the morning, (well I might have to think about that last one ) if it doesn't have a USB port, I don't want it.

[Will]

Originally Posted by TCSGTO

...spend the extra money on high quality sound equipment instead of that Retro Autosound stuff you might wonder why you waited so long.

This reads as if you are assuming the Retro sound and similar units have poor sounds quality.

Why?

My understanding is that they are modern componentry in a vintage appearing package. Why would that sound bad?

I believe there are a couple companies that can take my original AM radio, remove the stock internals and fill it up with modern stuff. Again, not sure why that would compromise sound quality.

Did I misunderstand?

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

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 can drive all day long listening to music without having to plug my phone in to charge.

It truly is wireless technology. I charge my phone (wirelessly) in the morning before I leave the house and I'm good to cruise and listend all day (typically only takes 30 minutes or so). Today, many new cars have a wireless charging system included (my 2019 has this feature) where the phone can be set safely and won't slide around if charging is needed.

As to answering the phone, it's hands free, which is perfectly legal in all states. That's one of the reasons that bluetooth technology was originally developed back in 1994.

In MN (and many states) it's illegal to have your phone in your hands while driving - whether you're talking on it or not.

You probably bought your first MP3 after bluetooth was developed....

Think of your phone as your wallet. Don't leave home without it....

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Will

This reads as if you are assuming the Retro sound and similar units have poor sounds quality.

Why?

My understanding is that they are modern componentry in a vintage appearing package. Why would that sound bad?

I believe there are a couple companies that can take my original AM radio, remove the stock internals and fill it up with modern stuff. Again, not sure why that would compromise sound quality.

Did I misunderstand?

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.