retro radios, mostly blaupunkt, but some other brands too

[g40jon]

Since I don't have time to play with my cars at the mo I have taken to a new hobby of converting old stereos in my spare time at work, so they can take an aux input such as ipod or any mp3 player via a 3.5mm stereo jack. I don't have any use once I have cleaned them up and modified them, so rather than put them in a display cabinet I am selling them on and spending the money on more old stereos to mess with! I'm not out to get mega rich doing this, purely something to occupy my spare time and make a small amount of wonga to keep my old bangers going! If you don't want to buy from me and would rather have a go yourself, I am more than happy to give a few pointers, just don't ask to be spoon fed!




All of the units have been tested and play through the aux in well, with no distortion. I have modified various circuits so that the sound quality is good and the aux in is separate to the tuner I/p (a lot of other modded stereo simply play the aux in over the top of the tuner, which does work but isn't ideal for obvious reasons.)

I have some other retro audio bits in a separate thread which haven't been modified:

www.retrorides.proboards.com/thread/152487/collection-retro-blaupunkt-audio-stereos

And some nice retro pioneer speakers

www.retrorides.proboards.com/thread/153181/pioneer-1980s-retro-parcel-speakers?page=1&scrollTo=1805862

PLEASE SEE LAST PAGE OF THREAD FOR LATEST OFFERINGS!

[solidmetalgear]

If there was enough interest, would this be a service that you could offer? I for one could really do with my cassette deck having a an aux, and some RCA outs would be a mega bonus!

[g40jon]

It is more of a hobby, I don't really want it to become something where I am under pressure to get someones radio converted as that will no doubt take the fun out of it for me.
What stereo is it that you want to convert? You can get high level to low level convertors (posh name for a box of tricks which takes the signal from your speaker outputs and converts it to line level so you can connect an amp.) Be warned though, there are cheap versions which use a couple of caps and some resistors as voltage dividers, whilst they work on most stereos, they aren't perfect. The better ones use transformers, so there is no physical connection between the speaker outputs and the input stage of the amp. They also have a variable pot for each channel, so you can fine adjust the input.

[jdmini]

If you'd consider doing other peoples stereos I'd be interested. Mines an ancient tadiran push button radio. I'd love it to have aux and iso plugs. Do you know any people who may do it for other people?

[g40jon]

dunno, try ebay maybe. there are people on there who sell similar modified radios. that or have a go yourself. You need to be pretty good at desoldering, soldering and have a reasonable knowledge of electronics. every radio is slightly different but basically you need to find where the input is for the amplifier circuit is, tap into it and hey presto you have a line in. You will however need to make sure the i/p is at the correct level for the amp else you will end up with naff sound quality, this is done using a suitable resistor to lower the input signal. (happy to give advice to anyone that fancies trying for themselves)
I would offer it as a service if I could guarantee that I could convert every radio and not break it, have it done within a few days and give some kind of warranty of the work, but being a hobby, I can't.
I would be willing to have a go, but on the basis that i cant promise a quick turn around (if I am really busy at work, then that takes priority) and that you cover the cost of posting the radio back (£6 fully tracked and next day via ups), whether I can convert it or not. I have had one or two radios which i simply couldn't find a suitable place to tap into, whilst retaining full funcionality of the unit, i.e. the tape and the radio.
I must admit though I would rather stick to modding my own radios and if someone buys them, then great! I've priced them at a reasonable amount below other similar items on ebay and they have the added bonus of having a source switch which most of the others I have seen don't (they basically play over the top of the radio, so if you didn't have it up loud enough you could get break-through from the radio tuner.

[g40jon]

philips 391 mono radio with 3.5mm aux modification
very nice cosmetic condition
mono output via a 2 pin din connector
MW and LW tuner which to be honest I couldn't pick much up other than static noise, but that might be down to my make-shift aerial.
3.5mm ack socket allows connection of mp3/smart phones/ipod etc, all of which tend to have tuners anyway
close to 10 watts rms output at 2 ohms, so will run a pair of speakers no problems!



Price £40 posted, £30 collected



blaupunkt hildesheim with aux input
tuners don't function, so this purely works as a retro looking amp with a volume control for the aux input
glow in the dark display (probably radio-active! as most glow in the dark paints of that period were)
10 watt rms mono output via a 2 pin din plug, stable down to 2 ohms load



£30 posted £20 collected


thats all for now folks!

[Bluto]

Are you also able to add aux output for amps and subs??

[g40jon]

I haven't tried, but it is on my to do list. I was thinking of using a high level convertor to add to the speaker outputs on the head-unit. You can get convertors which use a transformer, so there is no direct connection between it and the speaker outputs, so i see no reason why you couldn't continue to use the speaker outputs and have a line level output for adding an amp to. The tricky bit will be fitting it all inside an old radio which is already tight on space! Once I have some spare funds from selling off the ones i have already added an aux in to I will give it a go

[richrichy]

These look amazing.

Can i ask what you still have?

And did you get anywhere with the sub out? Would be very interested if so.

[jamesd1263]

Good work mate. Impressed

[g40jon]

Aug 3, 2013 17:33:01 GMT richrichy said:

These look amazing.

Can I ask what you still have?

And did you get anywhere with the sub out? Would be very interested if so.

All of them bar the astor and the cambridge. The sub out is very much dependent on space available. Some units that I have looked at simply don't have room for the additional circuitry required, although having said that you could connect an external line out converter to the speaker outputs (if you use a good qaulity converter with isolation transformers you should still be able to use the speaker outputs to connect to speakers in addition to the converter as it won't be putting a huge load on the chip amp (most of which are stable down to 2 ohms, so there is some inbuilt headroom))
I have also worked out a way of retaining the cassette deck providing it is still in working order!

[hamps]

This is a good little service you have here mate, rather than having the stress as you say of doing other peoples stereo's, you could offer an exchange service, so if one you are selling is the same as what someone has you could say do a price to buy or a price to exchange, this then keeps your hobby going and people get some of your work

I would be interested in a ford stereo if you are doing any soon?

[g40jon]

good idea that! if anyone does want to do an exchange, i would certainly be open to the idea.
I don't have any ford ones as they are pretty hard to come by for a price which will allow for me to break even.

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

Nice little projects you have there, hope you sell a few to make it worthwhile.

[Adey]

jon are you going to the gathering? if so and you can bring the windsor ill have it?

[MrSpeedy]

Would you be interested in some old units?
I've got 2 or 3 '2 knob jobs' kicking about doing nothing. One of them is a Ford unit IIRC
Could bring them to the gathering in exchange for a few beer tokens if you're keen?

[emma20]

Would you take £50 for the hamburg? Will be able to collect at the gathering if you are still going.

Thanks

[g40jon]

I am 100% going, i've got my ticket already! I'm afraid the hamburg might well be sold already

[emma20]

Oh no! The cambridge was my favourite and that's sold, now this one! I'll have another look through and see if I like any of the others...I would much rather have one of these for my 205 than a plain looking new stereo

I'll get back to you! (Are there any others that are sold before I inevitably choose it?)

[g40jon]

the windsor, cambridge and hamburg are the ones hopefully sold. Once these have gone, I will have some spare cash to convert some more, providing I can source them. So if you are in no rush, you could always wait, rather than buy something you don't want. Having said that though I do have some other later blaupunkts that would better suit a 205 anyway, although I haven't converted them as yet (I have done similar ones before so either could be converted pretty quickly