Retro Radio

[muley]

I read a thread on radios here that was about a year old. I've got a 1969 C 20 Longhorn and was curious as to anybodys input to some of these Retro Radios. Has anybody tried one lately? Do they work all right? Which ones to stay away from?
Thanks for any help I get.

[Jahloha]

Haven't installed one yet, but been looking at a few that have the aux output; seeing as that's all I need to have.

I am interested in others' experience, so I will be following.

[muley]

I've been looking at Retro Sound mod. one or two. Then a USA-1.
I've no idea if they will last or not.

[cdowns]

i bought a USA-1 the best day i had with it was when i took the BFH to it and ended that piece of craps reign of terror/// poor quality non exisitant customer service

[DT1]

Originally Posted by cdowns

i bought a USA-1 the best day i had with it was when i took the BFH to it and ended that piece of craps reign of terror/// poor quality non exisitant customer service

Did the same thing. I waited forever to get it and when I did, I was very disappointed. The customer service was so bad, I actually got much more satisfaction from smashing it into little pieces than I'm sure I would have by sending it back and spending the time to deal with them.

[Andy4639]

Just cut the dash and put a nice din radio in it and be done.If U take your time and cut it out right most want even notice it.Old picture but heck it's nice having good music to drive with as much as I drive it.
3200 miles in 7 days back in June and never listened to the same song twice. I love the SD/USB on it.
Just do it!

[flashed]

I had a USA 1 Radio in my wife's chevelle and it sucked .

[muley]

Well,
Those are glowing reports.

[Ken Davis]

I sent my am radio to tayman electrical in florida he converted it to am fm with a aux. Output it looks original and works great.

[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by Ken Davis

I sent my am radio to tayman electrical in florida he converted it to am fm with a aux. Output it looks original and works great.

Do you remember how much that costs from Tayman?

Nevermind, found they're website, says $385 for am/fm conversion.

[Ken Davis]

You have to tell Tayman to put the led light in orange is fm red is am. I installed mine two weeks ago and am very happy with it. Tayman was great to deal with.

[jocko]

Try these guys:
http://mikehaganantiqueautoradio.com/
http://www.antiqueautomobileradio.com/

Many of these old places will retrofit your factory am or am/fm with an aux port to run an mp3 or ipod or whatever. good reports on mike hagan, especially.

[Katrina/10]

I have a Custom Autosound USA radio in my truck. It is slightly better than nothing.

[Ken Davis]

I had a custom auto sound now it is in the junk pile. My new reworked am to am fm 180 watt stereo looks and works great.

[muley]

I get the picture. One would think the money they charge, you would get more than a paperweight in return. I'll start snooping around locally and see if I can find someone that can build a " frankenradio ".
I also see a in dash speaker for sale that appears to be a two in one speaker.
Any input on this? Or do I need to just cut holes in the cab.

[Ken Davis]

I useca custom auto sound two in one it barely fits with the original radio. My gastank has been removed so I bought the corner panels for 6 x 9 speakers for the back panels. The am fm board that Tayman uses is the same as the one used on the repro factory looking am fm.

[Steve Hafner]

. . . .

I bought one of these from Mike Hagan in October of 2010 for my 70 C-10.

I also purchased the in dash speaker he recommended.

The radio, at that time was around $600.

Together, they sound pretty good, better then the original AM that came with my truck !!!

It DOES have an auxiliary input in the back, which I haven't used yet.
( but I'm planning on getting a cord for it to use with an Ipod )

The electronic tuning is a little "touchy" . . . it locks onto stations good though.

One of the neat things about this radio is the fact that it's only about TWO inches deep !!!

. . . .

[68ls1]

Originally Posted by Steve Hafner

. . . .

I bought one of these from Mike Hagan in October of 2010 for my 70 C-10.

I also purchased the in dash speaker he recommended.

Hi Steve, what speaker did he recommend?, thanks Roger

[flashed]

As far as the speaker you are talking about I have one in the Chevelle and it is fine .There is one in my truck too but the radio among many other things is yet to be installed. In my 72 truck Im doing a radio delete in the dash and hiding the stereo in the BuddyBucket console and hiding the power antenna in the front driver side stake pocket .

[special-K]

Custom Autosound sucked when they came out with no attempt to change since. Found out on the one in the '65 Biscayne I had.

Hagan's units are 180w. I've used him for years,except that time above.

[MidLifer]

I had a Retrosound Model One - or should I say I had two of them- over the past two years. I had problems with both, but I must say that Retrosound stood behind them and promptly replaced both. I can't say enough good things about Chris Peterson at Retrosound.

Now, that said, when the second one crapped out, Chris called me and offered me a Zuma to replace it with, which is their new model. I've had it in the truck for about 2 months and so far it has worked great. He admitted that they had reliability issues with the Model 2's but said the Zuma has new guts in it and should work better. Only time will tell, but with a 2 year warranty and Chris and his team standing behind their product, you don't have much to lose.

[mac808]

Originally Posted by MidLifer

I had a Retrosound Model One - or should I say I had two of them- over the past two years. I had problems with both, but I must say that Retrosound stood behind them and promptly replaced both. I can't say enough good things about Chris Peterson at Retrosound.

Now, that said, when the second one crapped out, Chris called me and offered me a Zuma to replace it with, which is their new model. I've had it in the truck for about 2 months and so far it has worked great. He admitted that they had reliability issues with the Model 2's but said the Zuma has new guts in it and should work better. Only time will tell, but with a 2 year warranty and Chris and his team standing behind their product, you don't have much to lose.

Yikes! I just got a Retrosound Model 2...Hope it doesn't 'crap out'... At least the customer service sounds like its top notch in case it does. lol.

As far as my experience goes, so far I am very impressed with the sound, quality, and ease of use with the Model 2. What's especially attractive about the 2 is that it is about as current and modern tech compatible(A2DP BT audio streaming/phone connectivity w/mic included, USB inputs, RCA outs, etc) with tons of other cool features while looking absolutely, well, retro.

I didn't want to ruin the old school dash with a modern deck so I went through all the audio idea options(Secret Audio, hidden 1 din deck in glove box etc). So when it came time to change up and finally replace the Custom Autosound deck with CD changer(which, like someone mentioned sounds better than nothing), Retrosounds Model 2 was the perfect fit.

My set up is running Rockford Fosgate component speakers in the kick panel(tweeters and 6.5") off deck power and a Rockford Fosgate amp and single Rockford 10" sub behind the seat. To be honest, I was kinda skeptical about how good the sound out of a non-name brand stereo like RS would perform but low and behold, the sound with the component combo I used is very crisp, clean and quite comparable to brands like Pioneer, Sony, Alpine, IMO.

If keeping the 'retro' look is important without sacrificing actual sound quality and the amount of features and connectivity to your iphones/ipods etc is something you're looking for, I would definitely consider the Retrosound Model 2.

http://www.retrosoundusa.com/products/details/id/320

[Steve Hafner]

. . . .

The Retrosound One:

The Retrosound Two:

. . . .

[special-K]

I always figured,even if the radios worked fine,why buy a Custom Autosound that doesn't look original and doesn't have good sound when there was no problem finding a quality unit made by a brand name company that fits (Alpine,Pioneer,etc). That has changed since they started out,but even now,there are better quality units available that look original or have an original converted...with 180w

[Lattimer]

Problem is that the name brand companies no longer make dual shaft radios.

I put a USA 230 in my truck. Sound was just ok, functions are just ok. Reception sucked on FM and worse on AM. After maybe a month of using it 1-2 days a week it has an issue where it will go to mute instead of turning off when you push the button. Only way I have found to fix it is to remove power so it resets. not cool.

Now it just fills the hole in the dash.

I already had a Highliner headliner installed, so I went the rest of the way and put an inexpensive Pioneer radio in it. Now I have CD, AM, FM, Aux, USB, and Bluetooth. Cost was about $129. Reception is way better, obviously works way better, and i can stream music from my IPhone. Also have Bluetooth hands free calling now.