retro radio query

Does anyone know of any modern car radios that happen to have that elusive retro look. I'm thinking 60s/70s - twin silver knobs, analogue tuner but perhaps with FM and maybe a cassette player - perhaps there's even a model out there that has CD/MP3 functionality.

I vaguely recollect there being a place that retrofits FM to old radios but this isn't /quite/ what I'm after and I've heard it's expensive. No, I just want something that harks back to an older style.

Any ideas?

Reply to
DocDelete
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"DocDelete" realised it was Wed, 8 Oct

2003 14:34:00 +0100 and decided it was time to write:

Perhaps this?

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Reply to
Yippee

I once saw a very old radio in a Rolls Royce, which played beautiful FM and CD quality. It turned out that he had taken an old 60's radio, removed the front plate, and fixed the front plate so that it hinged down. Behind this face was a modern Radio, with the CD-changer hidden in the glove box. The new radio also had a little IR-remote, which worked through the face (ie the tuning window) so you could even operate the radio with the old front still up.

Alex

Reply to
Alex

I bought a Murphy Radio/cassette some years ago. It has FM PLL tuning with seek, plus AM (Medium Wave - also with seek). There are five preset buttons that each have an AM and FM setting. And a built in clock (The display shows tuned frequency when the radio is first turned on and when you change station, but after about a minute it reverts to a clock) And it spindle mounts. The left hand spindle is volume and tone. The right hand spindle is balance and tuning, and it also used to reset the clock. The display turns off with the ignition so there is nothing in an unoccupied car to attract attention.

It might be worth looking at what Murphy do now (I haven't got their web address). I don't suppose my model is still available, but a company usually develops a concept once they have sold a few of the early models.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

Hi, I recently bought a Volvo P1800 which has fitted a period radio that has been retro-fitted to FM as you mentioned.

Amoungst the paperwork was a reciept for the purchase at a bargain price of £375 !!!

If I was making the purchase I would seruosly consider the cheaper alternative of the gardenofspeedin website.

Good luck.

Si.

Reply to
Simon Robinson

Thanks, anyone got experience of these people?

They're in the US, and I note the FM frequency channel naming conventions seem different - do they broadcast within the same bands?

Reply to
DocDelete

Thanks for that Jim, though it seems Murphy no longer make (or badge engineer) car audio. I've got my peepers on an old set on Ebay so maybe...

Reply to
DocDelete

What a smart idea - though I think the space behind the front plate on my Triumph 2.5pi would be too shallow. One to think about.

Thanks to all so far - I've got three options, (1) keep peepers open on Ebay for radio models that straddle the 70s/80s, (2) modify something as above or (3) go to GardenofSpeedin...

Reply to
DocDelete

Yes US FM is in the same frequency-band, but as you have discovered, the channel-spacing interval is different to that used in the UK - this means that depending on the actual numeric frequency of a UK FM station you want to listen to, a US radio may or may not be able to be tuned precisely to that frequency.

You may be significantly "off" frequency, which you probably won't notice too much if the station in question is a stronmg one - but as the signal level falls, you will notice a significantly reduced audio quality [scratching/fizzing noises and the like].

Reply to
PJML

I might rule this option out then for those long hikes up the M6 / M74 to Scotland, where radio drift is king. OT: I thought DAB would've been more popular by now, but it seems that the pressures of commercial requirements and channel allocations are conspiring to reduce quality to something lower than we were all promised.

Reply to
DocDelete

I looked at DAB a while back: problem that I could see was that there are quite large areas of the country where there is either buggerall coverage, or the multiplexes that *do* provide coverage don't carry the channels I really want [things like the Bloomberg finance news]. On this basis I decided not to invest the several- hundred-pounds in a DAB-capable car radio...

Reply to
PJML

I saw one the other day on Ebay, cant find it now so maybe it's gone. It was an old radio fitted with FM, very good condition. So people do have them.

Reply to
Si

"DocDelete" realised it was Thu, 9 Oct

2003 14:05:18 +0100 and decided it was time to write:

I haven't, but you might want to Google a bit to see who else sells these things:

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The maker's website is
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- an Englishsupplier of their products is
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Reply to
Yippee

In which case you really need RDS, and the US type isn't the same as in the UK.

I doubt you'd notice the reduced quality in a car as it's not a million miles away from MP3. The reception benefits should be great, though, as mobile use was the reason for its development.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Try a look on German eBay. A lot of 60's & 70's car radio's for the German market came with FM.

Some sellers will sell to the uk & most seem to speak English! Try

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for a rough~ish translation of the Germanauction text.

Blaupunkt or Grundig, + FM & oldtimer are useful search entries!

Reply to
TF

The thing that made FM reception practical in cars was the interference absorption circuit which notches this out of the audio. Didn't really appear until the mid '70s. Trying to suppress a car for the older types is a real PITA.

German FM coverage was at a higher field strength than in the UK, as they didn't have any MW frequencies.

They'd probably be ok on local stations though.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

According to

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US set up is stalling due to bandwidth and interference issues. Here inthe UK, because of a higher recommended bitrate and carrier choice, thisshouldn't be a problem. However, I've heard of UK broadcasters that arealready downgrading their bandwith to stupidly low levels to exploit theirchannel allocation with more programmes. I'm not sure where I read thisinfo, but the gist was that music channels were being sent out at bit-ratesonly suitable for talk shows, and talk shows going out even lower. I thinkthe figures were something like music at 64-96kbits/s, and speech muddyingaround at 32kbits/s - clearly desperately lower than most MP3 files, and thespeech at 32kbits/s would be noticeably poor even in a car. Actually, I'm /not/ one of those people who attempts to attain hi-fi quality in the difficult environment of the car, but even I would be p*ssed of with speech literally squawking out with so much modulation noise that you'd be tempted to flip back to LongWave ;-)

Reply to
DocDelete

Yes, exactly that is happening. I think it's diappeared now, but for a time Bloomber Radio which continues to be broadcast on Worldspace digital radio was transmitted at 32kbit/s. The best available is Radio

3/Virgin at 196 kbit/s. Most music is transmitted at 128kbit/s which introduces audible compression artifacts, and some chnnels noticeably the local ones broadcast at 96kbit/s.

The last time a BBC person was called to account for this he claimed that "only a few extreme HiFi buffs would notice" and that "what most people want is sound quality like Medium wave radio" although he glossed over the fact that we dont even get that.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Interesting... Didn't realise that!

I bought a Blaupunkt Frankfurt radio via German eBay (radio is circa 1968) & fitted it to a Jag 420.

Works fine around London. though reception does seem to drop off a lot quicker that with a modern set. i.e. BBC Radio London has gone by the time I reach the M25 junction of the M23! Radio four lasts a few miles more.

Reply to
TF

Precisely, and more to the point I think that bit about people wanting only MW quality is crud. I've lost count * of the number of people who've said to me "I like Virgin Radio* but as it's not FM I just can't stand listening to it." And that's in a car or otherwise, listening to music and speech.

And, before I naff off to alt.hi-fi, to me the extreme hi-fi buff is the chap who buys gold-encrusted interconnect cable at £90 per metre and

*swears* there's an audible difference - not the chap who simply wants to hear music without modulation noise or rogue disharmonics in the background. *Alright, I haven't lost count but there've been a few ;-) **Those of outside London don't receive Virgin on the FM band
Reply to
DocDelete

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