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Retrosound Radio

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Answerman

Answerman

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I'm just full of questions today.

At some point between now and next spring, once the body work is complete, I need to come up with a radio for Ms. Jenavieve. I'm not going to mess with trying to find the original model (which I believe was an 8 track) and the one that's in there is a cheapy Radio Shack one which doesn't work anyway.

All I really care about is radio reception... I listen to a lot of AM (which would be appropriate for the time when you think about it) and it doesn't need to be studio sound quality, just loud enough to hear over the engine and wind.

I keep coming across this one. Has anyone had any experience with it?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_068RC900C/RetroSound-Classic-Model-RC-900C.html?tp=5684

It kind of has the classic look, and looks like it should just drop right into the factory radio spot in the console. No CD player or anything but like I said I just listen to the radio anyway.

Also... you think the Lucas 43 amp alternator will hold up to the extra draw? Not planning on amps or subwoofers or anything... just the radio.
 
It should work just fine. I had a fairly serious Dual branded IPOD deck in my JH with the stock alternator and it ran no problem.

What you'll really need/want are decent speakers. Depending on how your JH came from the factory and how much it's been bodged over the years there should be either 2 or 4 spots for speakers. 2 in the doors and possibly one on either side of the center console where the radio would sit.

The challenge with the speakers in the JH is that they are *extremely* low profile. Most speakers will not fit until you have a thick plastic ring under them to push them out further. Off the top of my noggin I can't remember the depth, but it's really shallow.

A common-ish modification for sound is to get split units for the doors that have a separate tweeter and locate it up inside the windscreen. In addition to this a number of folks have built low profile sound boxes that fit across the rear parcel shelf under the convertible top. But, if you're just doing AM I would surmise these things are not high on your list.

One of th enice things about the deck you're looking at is the front auxiliary plug. If you do want to listend to an IPod it'll just plug right in there, no fuss, no muss.
 
It just has the speakers in the doors at this point. No idea if they are original or not. I'll keep the depth in mind if I decide to replace them... I had the same issue about 30 years ago when I wedged 6x9s into the doors of my Datsun 521 pickup. I ended up using a piece of plywood with an oval cutout to push them out far enough so that the window would open.

I thought about speakers in the back, but my experience with convertibles is that you want as much sound as possible coming from the front so it doesn't "blow behind you" (yeah I know that doesn't really happen but it's the best way to describe it).

And it's not exclusively AM I listen to, probably about 60/40 FM to AM. The reason I brought it up is that most after market radios have incredibly bad AM reception. It's like they assume no one uses it anyway, which may be true...
 
The wind noise in a Jensen Healey isn't bad. The first time I rode in a JH with the speakers in the back I was surprised at how good the sound was. Another option to go for on the speaker route is swapping the stock seats for some Miata seats with the speakers in the headrest. I've not done it myself, but there's a number of folks with various LBCs that have.

On one of my JHs a DPO went and cut 7" holes into the outside walls of the footwells and jammed rather large speakers in there. They originally sounded terrible, but I decided to improve on it by adding some structure to the metal and by creating an angled speaker ring to pitch the speakers at ~20 degree angle. Then it actually sounded pretty good. It also helped that I put good speakers in. :smile:

As to the reception, just put in a good antenna. There's a number of aftermarket electric antennas that fit nicely in the JH. I find them a lot more attractive than those derpy looking curved antennas that a lot of people use.
 
If it came with an 8-track and that didn't draw the charging system down, I doubt a more recent AM/FM solid-state radio would tax it in the least. The LBC's here all have generators, no radio has ever introduced an issue with the charging system, even running H-4 and H-1 lamps.
I'm sure the regulator gets a workout, tho. :wink:
 
I recently put a Retro Sound unit in an XJ12. Aside from being fiddley to get set up initially, seems like a good unit. The controls are remote parts, and you will spend a few moments setting up the fit into the car, but once that is done, they look OK, and actually have a knob to turn to select a station....I drive a lot of various kinds of cars with both OEM and aftermarket radios, and have come to despise units w/ a zillion wee buttons to manipulate to perform any function...
 
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