Radio Fit

Bear in mind that a CD changer needs control info to and from the head unit. It's not just a case of feeding the audio signals into the head......

Why not fit a single DIN head unit and get an accessory box for the other space? That's what I did with my 850...

The changer has a separate mars-bar sized controller on a cable.

Considering that as well. Just trying to get some kind of workable solution that's not too spendy. (Paid for this car yesterday, just came from giving the lawyer the cheque for the downpayment on the house we are getting tomorrow. Son #1 needs braces in February or March. Sucks to be me.) Where would I find a DIN-sized accessory box? A little more storage is always a good idea.

RF

Good luck finding a radio that doesn't look completely stupid mounted in your nice Volvo interior. I've been looking for one for weeks for my parents

Good news is that any late model double-DIN radio from 850, 960, S/V90, as well as the old S/V/C70 and S/V40 (excluding the new V70 and the Phase II S/V40) will fit your '89 760 with little or no modification. They are certainly listed to fit your car in my genuine Volvo accessories brochure.

Why not get a SC-816 or SC-900? SC-816 has a in-dash single CD player, while SC-900 has in-dash triple-CD player. Both can still be connected to a

6-Disc changer. The only other significant difference is that SC-816 has a built-in amp (but you can connect it to external amp if you wish), while with SC-900 isn't equipped with a built-in amp so you have no choice but to coonect it to an external amp.

With the 6-Disc CD changer, if you don't want to buy a genuine Volvo one due to cost, then it's easiest to buy an Alpine one. You can easily purchase Volvo radio to Alpine changer adaptor cable. _________________ Will '90 Volvo 744 GLT B230F converted to B230FB (531 Head & VX3 Cam)

Well I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that thinks the new fancy radios are too gaudy. They seem like they've spent too much engineering money on impressing the purchaser and his buddies with visual effects. They take up half the face of the radio with the display, then only have room for tiny buttons that you can barely see, let alone press when you're wearing a glove.

[Mike F] (Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:34:21 -0500):

I actually have to cover up my stereo when driving in the dark ;)

All good news, Will, thanks for the info. As for the changer, the car came equipped with a Sony 10 Disk changer in the rear. Since the Sony has RCA outputs, do you know anything about getting the right proprietary DIN connector to put them together? The changer has a cabled remote control.

RF

I know what you mean, all the radios look like they are from science fiction. Frickin' ugly, in my opinion. That's why I am most intersted in finding a later model factory radio to install.

RF

It's bad... and the radio's that look the best and are the most functional to use give the worst sound quality. They put all the good audio technology on something that looks right at home in 1970's science fiction shows.

Give me an AM/FM radio, with CD, hopefully a cassette deck (my cars all have double DIN, why don't they make some double DIN radios!.... ohh that's right a lot of those domestic cars, and Japanese cars that people tune out and throw the ugly stereos in only have single DIN.... darn) then put in something like a 30W RMS per channel amp, with 4 channels, and then throw in a Dolby Pro Logic II DSP in there for good measure (ProLogic 2 because audio just sounds so much better when sounds are distributed over 4 speakers, and not just doubled stereo front and back), let me adjust my bass, treble, and midrange the proper way; with knobs, sliders, or a GOOD electronic adjustment. Give it a black finish, not some shiny silver paint, then give it the backlight so many cars use.... LIGHT GREEN...... not pulsating saturn orange on a hypersonic blue background, while pink buttons pulse to the music.... What am I driving here, a car or a cheaply made space capsule from a 70's sci-fi?

We people with sane tastes need aftermarket radio's as well, you know ;-).

Check eBay regularly, SC-816 comes up quite often. A Volvo factory reconditioned unit with 1 year warranty through Stranberg Auto's is US$275, here's a link -

$56121730,the starting bid for a 2nd hand unit starts from as low as US$49, here's alink - $56221285and there's about 3 or 4 more currently around US$150. There are 2 versionsof SC-816, black face and grey face. Black face match the dash colour of760 / 850 / 960, while the grey face match the dash colour of S/V40 andS/V70, apart from that they are identical. Seems to me the grey face one iseasier to find. There is also an older version called SC-815, I'm not sureof the exact difference. But try to go for the 816, they're newer. SC-900 and SC-901 are harder to find, but they do occasionally pop up on eBay. I think 901 is a newer version of 900. These are the triple in-dash CD player, but they only come in grey face and as I said earlier, you'll need to fit an external amp with this one. The three CD's are inserted into the head unit using a CD caddy, and I've heard a few cases of the CD caddy jamming and unable to eject, including on my friend's father's S70 T5. There's one on eBay in the Netherlands right now, not sure if the seller's willing to ship overseas, here's the link - $55049637&category8736_________________ Will '90 Volvo 744 GLT B230F converted to B230FB (531 Head & VX3 Cam)

"Rob Guenther" wrote in message news:8GnQb.20885$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com...

Dang, that's car audio poetry.

engineering

Definitely got to agree with all of the comments on this thread. I went with the nice funky radios for a while in my 440 (Alpine - great quality, but looking back at it pretty ugly!!). Then when taking over the 740, I really needed RDS, and managed to pick up the Sony MP30, which plays MP3's from CD too. Pretty decent quality radio too I found, but it sooo didn't fit the car (Red and blue lights). My latest radio is the SC-805... plain, simple, decent buttons (so much safer on the roads - VERY easy to use). Yet it's also by far the best quality radio of them all. I also like the fact that when I dim the dashboard lights, the radio lights dim too! Volvo's radio definitely wins my vote (though looking at the retail prices, when new just the upgrade price from the basic radio to the SC-805 was around £400!! Ouch!)

Mark

[Mark Seeley] (Sun, 25 Jan 2004 02:25:25 -0000):

If it's got line in, use it with an Ipod or another mp3-player..

Hmm.. I'll start looking for the 805 here in norway..

Speaking of 'line-in', anyone know if any Volvo audios have this to suit a Pocket-PC based navigation system? It would need to be able to allow a 'voice-over' addition to whatever was playing at the time (not like a AUX setting that would suit an mp3 player, etc). Actually the facility used by the mobile phone where the (eg) CD mutes as the incoming sound is heard, then returns to the (CD).

Cheers,

Jim Kelly

| >Definitely got to agree with all of the comments on this thread. I went | >with the nice funky radios for a while in my 440 (Alpine - great quality, | >but looking back at it pretty ugly!!). Then when taking over the

740, I | >really needed RDS, and managed to pick up the Sony MP30, which plays MP3's | >from CD too. Pretty decent quality radio too I found, but it sooo didn't | >fit the car (Red and blue lights). My latest radio is the SC-805... plain, | >simple, decent buttons (so much safer on the roads - VERY easy to use). Yet | >it's also by far the best quality radio of them all. I also like the fact | >that when I dim the dashboard lights, the radio lights dim too! Volvo's | >radio definitely wins my vote (though looking at the retail prices, when new | >just the upgrade price from the basic radio to the SC-805 was around £400!! | >Ouch!) | | If it's got line in, use it with an Ipod or another mp3-player.. | | Hmm.. | I'll start looking for the 805 here in norway.. | -- | Svein Tore Sølvik | 1996 Volvo 850 2,5 20v

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:55:05 -0500, "Rob Guenther" wibbled about:

Becker looks quite good.

Sean

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 19:45:54 -0500, "Rob Guenther" wibbled about:

Not cheap though