RetroSound Radio

[rgsSpider]

I'll do some searching around for those radios by name. I'd settle for a non working one that just looked good! Also, does anyone know what the dimensions of the original radio(s) itself was?

1980 TR7 <font color="red">Spider!</font id="red">
http://web.me.com/rg_spb/TR7_Spider/Home.html

[RJS]

Woody sells a radio that they say fits correctly in wedges.

http://www.thewedgeshopstore.com/products/JVC-Radio-for-Triumph-TR8-%26-TR7.html

It looks a little modern for our time period, but having it fit is worth something.


I also saw that you can pick up Retro Sound "Refurb" radios much cheaper than the new price.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ret ... m270.l1313

Rob

[HDRider]

I have the radio that Woody sells in my Stag. It is a great HD radio/CD player with a USB port for an MP3 player. I bought it from Crutchfield.

I have similar JVC radio's in the 7's and the 8 and am very pleased with them. You can make them fit flush to the console with just a bit of filing to the plastic and trimming the edge of the metal DIN sleeve.

Edward Hamer
Petaluma CA

[rgsSpider]

I've actually got the JVC in my Spider now, but it does not fit flush and sticks out a good bit and is also angled up pretty steeply. It does sound good and has lots of goodies, but I'd still rather have something original or original looking and be able to use mainly an iPod. If I'm not able to find something like that I'll probably end up going with one of the Retro Sound.

I would gladly trade my JVC for an original radio or Retro Sound style radio if anyone is interested!!

1980 TR7 <font color="red">Spider!</font id="red">
http://web.me.com/rg_spb/TR7_Spider/Home.html

[Chunkychops]

The Retrosound looks great, I'd buy one but I've only just fitted a new JVC and, yeah it sticks out a bit but it don't bother me.

The only trouble is TRs are bloody noisy and you have to crank it up to drown out the engine. But it's all part of the fun.

I went to Halfords to get my unit because they offer a fitting service (anyone seen the adverts) and it was half price that weekend(£25). I've always fitted my own but I thought, seeing as it's half price get them to do it. Save messin about.

I asked the guy if it would be a problem fitting it into a 30 year old car so he came out and had a look in the hole and started sighing and scratching his head.

"Sorry, we can't do it mate."
"Why not?" I said.
"Because there's just a load of wires hanging out."
"Those are the wires you need for fitting the new stereo," I said.
They were even labelled.
"Yeah," He said, "But you're supposed to have one of those black plug connectors so we can plug the new one straight in. We don't have anyone qualified to do any wiring."
"So you normally charge customers £50 just to plug it in and shove it in the hole."
"Well yeah, if they're willing to pay it."
I thought it was a wind up at first, but it wasn't so I went home and fitted it myself.

[prlee]

A colleague went to Halfords to have a new headlamp bulb fitted to his Renault Megane, they said they couldn't do it because it was difficult.

They always offer to fit lamps when I buy them for my classics, I say fine its 100miles away, they back out then for some reason [:D]

The JVC doesn't look different to any other modern radio, the problem is that if it can take a cd it is too long.


Pete
1981 Carmelian Red 2 litre DHC - out for the summer.
Polybush, KYB shocks, electric fan, electric windows and electronic ignition roller bearing struts and anti-dive kit - otherwise standard
1979 Pageant Blue Spitfire 1500 - In hibernation - Engine overhaul needed.

[HDRider]

I have installed 3 JVC units now and they all fit fine, just barely, but all the way in the dash.

Edward Hamer
Petaluma CA

[rgsSpider]

Well I'm in the process of putting in my new radio. Yay me! I'm not going to tell what it is yet, but it's am/fm/USB/SD/audio port. I did a test fit today and as far as I can tell its a perfect fit...with no parts sticking out or anything.

This has also given me an opportunity to fix a few things. Cigarette lighter wasn't working. Took it apart, cleaned it out good, put it back together, works fine. (just like the fix for the light switches, etc. we need to come up with a fancy, complicated sounding name for this fix) The rheostat was working, but there was a rather large white wire hooked up to. The original wire was taped up and not being used. I swapped them out and it still works! Perhaps that was one of the rat-chewed wires I fixed when I got the car. A/C switch worked fine. Thanks to the forums I was able to get the knobs removed and got the switches out of the old console. There was a mess of wires down there. I traced them one by one. Turns out the radio that was in there before the current one (not the new one) was removed by just cutting the wires and leaving them all in there. What a nightmare! Then I found piggybacked wires that went to nowhere. So I got everything cleaned out, straightened up, and ready to go. I bought a set of rear speakers on eBay from Woody's. For now I've got the speaker wire quick-disconnect ready to go. Tomorrow I start off with the power quick-disconnect. I found a wire that's part of the front speaker harness that hot when the key is on, and another which I'm guessing is a ground. Does anyone have a suggestion as to an easy-to-get-to always hot wire that I could piggyback onto? I don't like running wires into the fuse box.

So I'm excited, tomorrow should be the day I do a test hook-up before I start buttoning everything up. This isn't an expensive system, but I'm hoping with that and four speakers I'll get some decent sound.

And yes I'll have pics of the completed project!

Randy

1980 TR7 <font color="red">Spider!</font id="red">
http://web.me.com/rg_spb/TR7_Spider/Home.html

[rgsSpider]

Here are some pics of the new radio. It's a much better fit and dispenses with the now useless cd player. It's just a simple Pyle radio found on eBay. I also added some small box speakers from Woody's that I also found on eBay. It really sounds good, and the green lighting should compliment the other dash lights.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55xf ... 3_1280.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55xf ... 4_1280.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55xf ... 5_1280.jpg


Randy

1980 TR7 <font color="red">Spider!</font id="red">
http://web.me.com/rg_spb/TR7_Spider/Home.html

[mb4tim]

Pyle units are generally inexpensive, are you please with it's performance? Can you hear it with the top down?

-Tim
http://www.morSpeedPerformance.com

[whitenviro]

What model number is your Pyle? I like the look; it isn't overly modern, so looks like it could belong in a TR7. Is it shallow enough to fit without modifying anything?


[/img]
1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

[rgsSpider]

You can definitely hear it with the top down! Here are the speakers I got http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-912 ... 1470wt_887

They are plenty good for this application. For now, they are just sitting on the floor against the firewall until I can come up with a decent mounting solution. I love the fact that the radio was cheap ($64 US) and it really does everything I need it to do.

[quote]<i>Originally posted by mb4tim</i>

Pyle units are generally inexpensive, are you please with it's performance? Can you hear it with the top down?

-Tim

[rgsSpider]

Here is the radio on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2012-Pyle-P ... 296wt_1120

It's listed as a "marine" radio, but it works fine in a car, especially a convertible right?! It is a very good fit, but not absolutely perfect. It comes with a "sleeve" that I fit into the console after just a little shaving on the plastic. The sleeve has tabs that you pull out that then hold it into the console. The radio slips into the sleeve and is able to come out with the use of retracting tools that come with it. It all fit perfect, but when I went to install the console with the radio intact the back of the radio hit the heater box...even though it's only about 4" deep. However, I forced it and it only pushed it out about 1/8". I'm able to secure all the console screws without any fudging or modification. Like you said, it's not too modern of a look and could be mistaken for original, kind of. The good thing is it looks good, but also cheap so hopefully no one will bother trying to procure it!

Randy

1980 TR7 <font color="red">Spider!</font id="red">
http://web.me.com/rg_spb/TR7_Spider/Home.html

[rgsSpider]

Well my persistence has paid off. I was able to track down an original radio and faceplate. I traded it for the JVC that I took out of mine. I do have a question regarding the wiring. Obviously this is designed for a different time, but I think I got it figured out. You can see from the pic that it shows a colored wire to each speaker and then grounds. I'm thinking that for a modern install I would use the colored wire for the speaker positive and the corresponding black (ground) wire to the speaker negative? Also, for the "Dial Lamp" blue wire, I'm assuming it would go to 12V that is active when the car is on.




Randy

1980 TR7 <font color="red">Spider!</font id="red">
http://web.me.com/rg_spb/TR7_Spider/Home.html

[stevie_a]

<font color="teal"><b>dial lamp i would have thought would have went to a wire that went live

when you switched on the lights.

You would only have one main live as you do not have any station memory.</b></font id="teal">

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