It's Time for Disco!

[5String43]

Major victory this weekend. I got the radio - no, make that Stereo System - in my car working.

Back story: Car purchased new in '82 in Connecticut. It appears that soon after taking delivery, the owner caused to be installed a stereo system that consists of an Alpine head unit, four MB Quart speakers (actually there are eight of them, for each consists of separate tweeters and woofers) and two 100-watt amps.

So 28 years later here I come, buy this poor neglected thing, start trying to get it squared away, and get a lot of work done pretty quickly. As a result, the car runs pretty well and leaks oil hardly at all. But the radio, which isn't working and which admittedly is pretty far down on my priority list, continues to baffle me. Why no sound out of three of the four speaker systems?

Finally, chasing another problem, I lift the carpet in the trunk. Voila, two amplifiers, one of which is not plugged in and the other of which is connected inaccurately. I suspect the previous owner had no idea. I fix the connex. What results is serious and powerful high fidelity. I like this! I immediately crank up Sam Bush's "Ice Caps - the Peaks of Telluride." My wife advises me to turn things down a bit, as these volume levels are inappropriate for the driveway.

Disclaimer: A short ride this morning reveals that with the car's Targa top stowed, there's so much wind noise that the radio, even with this high-power system, is all but useless unless I have the volume cranked so high that they can hear it in Seattle. But at least the damned thing works.

Now to figure out why the antenna won't elevate itself when the radio is turned on. Perhaps it needs the electrical equivalent of the blue pill....

[j_mancini]

When I purchased my '78, it still had the original cassette deck, not working. I purchase an "old school" Alpine CD deck (90's vintage) and installed that with new door speakers (my rear deck had never been butchered for 6x9 install). It's an acceptable setup, but I almost NEVER use it! That flat six is busy making too much music of it's own. With a car like this, do you need a sound system at all? I say no! That engine makes all the music I need. Crank it!