Original radio modification

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Dartfreak75

Dartfreak75

Restore it, Dont part it!
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I may be getting a little ahead of myself as I have a crap load of work to do to get my project running much less listening to the radio but my mind and my ideas never stop lol. So I have an idea but im having trouble figuring out all the details I have my original solid state am radio I want to keep it stock appearing I dont want to cut a hole in my dash to install a pioneer so what i came up with is a simple and affordable Bluetooth converter it links to my phone and plugs into some speakers which im gonna hide away and plays without a radio. Here is my problem how do I power the speakers without hooking them into a stereo? Im open to ideas if anyone has a better idea.
 
You can get your original radio modified to accept Bluetooth or mp3.
 
I'm running my iPhone through an amplifier and speakers on the package-tray, and also a flat subwoofer behind the rear seat.
I use a simple relay and switch, low on the dashboard to turn on the amp before I plug-in the iPhone. But you could also power-up the amp with the ignition switch so it's always ON when you use the car.
 
I converted my stock radio to FM/AM and has all the accessories. They added connectors out the rear of the radio to accept the devices. I used Instrument Specialties and there are others that will do the same thing.
 
I made a few of theses for people I know. Works pretty good. I still have enough parts to put a few together. But it let's you leave your original radio in the dash and allows it to play through the rear speakers via a 25w per channel amp. The only down side is that your volume for the phone is controlled be the phone volume itself. Here is my thread.

The Golden Age Of Wireless
 
Thanks for the ideas as much as I'd love to do the joes radio route and have my original modified to Bluetooth it's way to expensive for me and I'm more the diyer anyways lol I like the amp idea superchargeddrt! How so does the radio just supply the power to the amp and your phone does rest?
 
I found a couple different amp converters but they all have a wall plug for home use can they be wired into the auto wiring? This one has a 2.5 amp 12.5v dc connection could the wiring be modified to work?
 
Oops forgot the pic

Screenshot_20180728-151922.png
 
I also found these. This would be cool i could rig it up inside the orginal radio and fab the orginal buttons to function it. and it had a remote so if that fails i could just use the remote. Still has the standard wall plug input tho

Screenshot_20180728-172100.png


Screenshot_20180728-172232.png
 
dartfreak75 said:
Thanks for the ideas as much as I'd love to do the joes radio route and have my original modified to Bluetooth it's way to expensive for me and I'm more the diyer anyways lol I like the amp idea superchargeddrt! How so does the radio just supply the power to the amp and your phone does rest?
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The radio audio goes into the box and the box is supplied via a pig tail that connects to the radio power. You don't even have to connect your radio to it if you don't want. This box is small and light and could be easily mounted under the package tray with only the speaker wires, 12 volts Switched by the ignition and a ground leaving your factory radio to play through its original dash mounted speaker.
 
dartfreak75 said:
Where did you get yours from?
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I put it together myself. I bought the amp board and high to low level converter and mounted it into the box with access holes for the audio controls. I left the audio turned all of the way up and used my phone to control the volume.
 
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Personally I just opted to use a large portable speaker with Bluetooth behind the front bench attached to where the seatbelt straps would be. Some are good enough to get some quality sound filling in the whole car, and it won't drain the battery (which is something I actively fear). Plus I can take it anywhere afterwords and charge it from the cigarette lighter maybe once every month.
...but that's just me.
 
That was actually the same idea my wife suggested lol I did look into them a little it would be alot easier and I could put it in my shop or whatever when im not driving. So I may go that route what are the better brands to look for?
 
dartfreak75 said:
That was actually the same idea my wife suggested lol I did look into them a little it would be alot easier and I could put it in my shop or whatever when im not driving. So I may go that route what are the better brands to look for?
Click to expand...

JBL charge 3 is great, but if you're real cheap like some people....(me) the Anker soundcore 2 is good one way but has really good battery life so I'd put that on the package tray. The other option would be Oonz angel 3: great sound, but you need to charge it often if you use it all the time. That's my 2¢
 
Back in the day we used to mount our car stereos under the seat or in the glove box to keep the from getting stolen. With all the Bluetooth and wireless remote controls, seems like it would be pretty easy to do that & control it with a remote or a phone. You can buy a $69 stereo that works great. The one I have has an ir remote that is line of sight, so that wouldn’t work under the seat, but I think you can get a wireless or Bluetooth for the same price. I haven’t been willing to pay the premium for the modified stock radios.
 
superchargeddrt said:
I made a few of theses for people I know. Works pretty good. I still have enough parts to put a few together. But it let's you leave your original radio in the dash and allows it to play through the rear speakers via a 25w per channel amp. The only down side is that your volume for the phone is controlled be the phone volume itself. Here is my thread.

The Golden Age Of Wireless
Click to expand...
just watched the video on your thread. how much would one of these beautiful things cost?
 
I think I’m going to give that Joes Classic Radio a call when I get home. I have a factory AM/FM radio that I bought at a swap meet for $50 but is missing some stuff inside. It’s a good “Core”. It’s for my 1972 340 Duster. Good thread.
 
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