RetroSound aftermarket radios - anyone using them? Cool concept on paper

tvmaster

tvmaster

True Classic
Found this company today at Crutchfield: Retrosound. Completely tricked out, retro FIAT (and more) looking radios.
Hands-free Bluetooth, Apple, Android, USB and disc inputs, and a variety of faceplates, dials, colors and tuner faces to choose from.
Anyone using one? Quality stand up? Love the idea...

Great idea for the space-challenged X:

www.retromanufacturing.com

1970-83 Fiat Spider San Diego Radio with DIN Kit

RetroSound's Long Beach is the most technologically-advanced radio ever made for your classic . The Long Beach is SiriusXM-Ready and connects to the SiriusXM SX
www.retromanufacturing.com www.retromanufacturing.com
 
bjwhite said:
I prefer the new Blaupunkt Bremen SQR46 DAB. Check that out. Crutchfield has stock again. Fits the 80s X1/9s perfectly.

www.crutchfield.com

Blaupunkt Bremen SQR 46 DAB

Digital media receiver (does not play CDs)
www.crutchfield.com www.crutchfield.com
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This is in no way your old Blaupunkt.

I have one of the last Blaupunkt stereos from before the sale (Toronto 420) which offers nearly all the same capability as this ’new’ Bremen. It is a good unit (it is in our Miata now originally in my old Golf). If you can find one it is a good single DIN unit.

Blaupunkt sadly is not the same company that produced the Bremen originally, this does look the part however.
 
kmead said:
This is in no way your old Blaupunkt.

I have one of the last Blaupunkt stereos from before the sale (Toronto 420) which offers nearly all the same capability as this ’new’ Bremen. It is a good unit (it is in our Miata now originally in my old Golf). If you can find one it is a good single DIN unit.

Blaupunkt sadly is not the same company that produced the Bremen originally, this does look the part however.
Click to expand...

It's well known that Blaupunkt isn't the same company it was before. However, this unit is well reviewed and a brilliant concept. A modern unit that looks 80s vintage with illumination that can be set to any color. Looks much better than the Toronto 420 (although doesn't the Toronto have a CD player? The new Bremen does not.)

I also have a Kienzle MCR-1016 BT I ordered from Germany a few years ago. Still new in the box, I had ordered it for my Milano. It also looks the vintage part. Still in the box, but I think it would look good in a later X too.

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You know, they now make amplifiers which BlueTooth build in, so you can stream directly from your phone. This would allow you to put a blanking plate, or not cut your dash up. Just another option.
 
fastx19 said:
You know, they now make amplifiers which BlueTooth build in, so you can stream directly from your phone. This would allow you to put a blanking plate, or not cut your dash up. Just another option.
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The dash is already cut up with a single DIN Alpine, so I’ll just make it better :)
 
I have a Retrosound unit in my TR6. It's an older one that doesn't have Bluetooth, but it works OK and looks the part. I think these days I'd just bring along a portable Bluetooth speaker. I have one that's about the size of a water bottle and fits nicely between the seats. The issue of cutting up dashes, door panels, kick panels etc for speaker placement goes away. This is a good solution for my 74 X which has never had a stereo installed and remains uncut.
 
abarth4 said:
I have a Retrosound unit in my TR6. It's an older one that doesn't have Bluetooth, but it works OK and looks the part. I think these days I'd just bring along a portable Bluetooth speaker. I have one that's about the size of a water bottle and fits nicely between the seats. The issue of cutting up dashes, door panels, kick panels etc for speaker placement goes away. This is a good solution for my 74 X which has never had a stereo installed and remains uncut.
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So the FM reception in the Retrosound is high quality, or just average?
 
Finished the install of the new Blaupunkt Bremen.
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It definitely looks more period correct with the Fiat dash. The red display matches the clock color nicely. The tuner seems pretty good and it powers my four speakers well. It has an output for my sub-woofer amp with adjustments for gain and frequency to play with. Separate sound settings that it remembers for different sources. I mainly listen to local FM or Sirius in my daily driver cars. There is no satellite radio option for this so I just stream Sirius to the Blaupunkt with either Bluetooth or a direct USB connection from my iPhone.

So far, I am pleased. The controls are pretty straightforward. The manual is reasonably understandable but the print is tiny! The only drawback other than the cost, is that it doesn’t have a removable faceplate. When I first had my ‘79, someone coat hangered the lock knob easily and stole my first radio. When I drive around in the nice weather, I usually will leave the top off of the car if I am not going too far. Now I am a little nervous that someone will lean in and snatch this one out pretty quickly. I guess I will just put the top on and lock the doors. I swapped out the door lock knobs years ago for smooth ones that you can’t grab with a coat hanger any more. Of course these days, the bad guys don’t seem to have any hesitation to smash a window in broad daylight.
 
That is a perfect match for the dashboard although I suppose to be "period correct" it would need a cassette player instead of all the digital media stuff.
 
dllubin said:
That is a perfect match for the dashboard although I suppose to be "period correct" it would need a cassette player instead of all the digital media stuff.
Click to expand...

That's what makes this new one brilliant imho. Nothing wrong with going true vintage Bremen, but this one looks the part yet has modern interfaces.

I have a car with a 1984 Blaupunkt Toronto SQR 32 in it. Love how vintage it is, but good luck getting the cassette to work.

Same in another car I have a 1992 Sony CDX-5180. Looks fantastic and totally a period unit, but getting the CD player to work is nearly impossible these days. :(


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There’s no place to store CDs in the X cockpit anyway. Even in my cars that have had CD players, I can’t remember the last time I actually played a CD in one.
 
I know what you mean. The cassette in my X still works but the 12 disc CD changer died a couple of months ago. I have a Bluetooth receiver connected to the AUX input so for now, all my digital music will be coming from my phone or tablet.
 
Rodger said:
There’s no place to store CDs in the X cockpit anyway. Even in my cars that have had CD players, I can’t remember the last time I actually played a CD in one.
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I had a 12 disc changer in the frunk which solved the storage problem. Unfortunately, it died recently after operating flawlessly for decades.
 
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