Anyone ever put a BT receiver an old radio?

[IT Cowboy]

I am considering taking a non working OEM AM radio for my truck and adding a bluetooth module in it to connect using my phone. I know they make retro looking radios with all new features but I think I can do this cheaper

https://youtu.be/To6VpOCNnKI?si=k2c3PzTDowAMk8Ay

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Search is your friend. This whole thread has ideas, but this guy specifically stuffed a cheapie BT receiver from the River into a dead radio and it's pretty slick

https://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vbo...7&postcount=52

[Rust_never_sleeps]

I lied, that guy^^ just stuck the knob through a hole in the dash, but a different guy a few posts earlier hollowed out a dead radio and stuck his BT receiver through the front

[PbFut]

Depending on how much fidelity you want will drive alot of what you use and how to do it.
The oval speaker in the dash is not so good relative to today's equipment. Why mess with the radio and speaker when it's not going to provide much in the way of reasonable audio. Remember, bluetooth is challenging to get lossless compressed music. Generally, if you use your phone as source, there are few that can broadcast bluetooth without a fair amount of compression fidelity loss. A well placed bluetooth receiver or a drive player for the best sound under the seat worked or me. 1 decent sub under the seat along with a set of mids and tweeters placed correctly really wakes up the sound. I even tried placing 2 pairs mid rear window ear height attempting to get the spacial affect you do with head phones. It was good but not worth the ugly look. If the fuel tank is out of the cab you have some pretty good space to work with. The cab likes to drone so phasing may need to be incorporated when using multi speakers. Audio has as many hot rod options as do our engines. Good luck.

[mr48chev]

If the stock radio works and is in good condition and I wanted that look I would just leave it as with it's own speaker and tuned to a local station. THEN I would have a hidden head unit that I can control off blue tooth or remote with it's own speaker set that are hidden. I'm pretty well doing that in my 48 as the dash (not Chevy truck) will have the radio that came in it but I'll Have the Alpine head unit I had in an ot car tucked in and hidden in plain sight for road sounds. with the AM radio in the dash for show and tell time. The actual dash came out of the first car I ever owned when I was 16.

[dmjlambert]

Here is the whole thread. https://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vbo...d.php?t=850311
You can tap into the grey wire that comes out of the AM radio and goes to the back to power the dial light. Use that to power a relay that turns on your under seat bluetooth amplifier. That way you can have the both of best worlds. Working AM radio, and clean and clear tunes from your iPhone/streaming that you can turn off simply by turning off the radio.

[IT Cowboy]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

Here is the whole thread. https://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vbo...d.php?t=850311
You can tap into the grey wire that comes out of the AM radio and goes to the back to power the dial light. Use that to power a relay that turns on your under seat bluetooth amplifier. That way you can have the both of best worlds. Working AM radio, and clean and clear tunes from your iPhone/streaming that you can turn off simply by turning off the radio.

Isn't that back dial power light switched and only come on with the dash lights?

[dmjlambert]

Originally Posted by IT Cowboy

Isn't that back dial power light switched and only come on with the dash lights?

The wire is switched directly by the radio on-off switch. You can cut that wire and send it to a relay instead, and send power to the dial light from the PNL LTS terminal of the fuse block and the light would then be dimmed like the rest of the dash lights.

[IT Cowboy]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

The wire is switched directly by the radio on-off switch. You can cut that wire and send it to a relay instead, and send power to the dial light from the PNL LTS terminal of the fuse block and the light would then be dimmed like the rest of the dash lights.

I think I am going to try sending it to the REM connection on a bluetooth amp to turn the amp on using the radio dial. I have the Highliner headliner with 4 speakers in it and I plan to wire those in parallel to a 4 chan. BT amp and just mount the amp on top of the old radio behind the dash (if room) and the radio will just be for looks and on / off

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

If the stock radio works and is in good condition and I wanted that look I would just leave it as with it's own speaker and tuned to a local station. THEN I would have a hidden head unit that I can control off blue tooth or remote with it's own speaker set that are hidden. I'm pretty well doing that in my 48 as the dash (not Chevy truck) will have the radio that came in it but I'll Have the Alpine head unit I had in an ot car tucked in and hidden in plain sight for road sounds. with the AM radio in the dash for show and tell time. The actual dash came out of the first car I ever owned when I was 16.

IF your radio doesn't work, this might be the reason, worth a watch ICYGAS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw865mX5j6U&t=243s