Car Radio/CD player Q.

Finally gettin some stuff done to the 31 0n 32 rails roadster.
Mostly time consuming stuff that needs to be done before I can start the drivetrain rebuild.

Anyhoo, I'm planning on putting a radio - at the least - in this car and was wondering if I go for the radio/CD combo, will the CD play ok if the radio/CD is vertical?
Face plate up in other words.

I have an ideal place to mount it out of the way and still have it handy to the driver.
If it's not a workable deal I may go under the dash with it or install a radio only in the vertical position.

Plan is to install a retractable antenna as well.
I could get a Gennie antenna, but a junkyard antenna would do it.
Prices around here - on some stuff - is pretty righteous.

In fact, a power antenna and radio out of the same car may be a good idea.
that way, the antenna would be up or down according to the radio/CD player volume switch or other on-off device.

I'd also like some suggestions on what car to look for as far as a good antenna or radio/CD combo goes.


I know . . . we're supposed to listen to the music of the engine, but once in a while a radio on a long trip would be nice.
And especially nice when I gotta wait in the car for Sweetie.

Which can sometimes be a long wait....

 

most newer computer CD drives work ok sideways, but the loading mechanism is probably different than on the car players.

Get with the times, dude....mp3....

 

get yourself any radio with a auxillary rca jack input on back then grab an ipod and monster cable for it and your good to go

more songs and **** then you could fit in a book of cds on something smaller then a pack of cigarettes!

 

For my 29 2dr Sedan, I built a speaker box with two 10" woffers and two tweeters....along with two cooling fans and a 200 watt amp, it measures out at: 7" high x 40" wide x 12 deep and is mounted behind the front seat and bolted to the floor. To hide the unit....I lay a mexican blanket over the box so it can't be seen.

I then hooked 12 volt ingnition power to the unit through a on/off switch to power the 200 watt amp.

I load all my favorate music off my computer to my 1GB MP3 Player, then turn the player on....this is hooked to the amp by way of auxillary jack input cable.

Monster sound out of that box and blows poples mind when they hear that it comes out of an MP3 Player... THIS PLAYER ALSO acts as a reciver for the radio, but never listen to the radio.

The Mp3 player will play up to 12 to 14 hrs. on one double A battery and will shut itself off to let you know the battery needs a change.

The biggest advantage I like is that you can't see anything, and KEEPS everyone looking inside trying to figure where the sound is coming from.

 

Most CD players don't like to be mounted vertical. You can get away with a 45 degree angle, but not 90. I'd recommend get a good aftermarket brand
(Alpine, Pioneer, etc.) They have good CD mechanisms.
On the antenna, you could just get a cheap Checker, Pep Boys, etc.
antenna, and just strap it under the dash. Reception usually isn't too bad.
Otherwise, I recommend go with an aftermarket pwr ant. They have a lot
more adjustment than a vehicle specific would.
I'll send you PM & give you my phone # down here if you have any
questions I might be able to answer. I work at a Car Audio shop....
goin' on 30 years now.

 

Thanks for the info guys.

I'll probably go horizontal mount under the dash and back a ways.
I do that with instruments sometimes and they're out of sight from outside viewers for the most part, but easily seen by the driver.
The same thing with the radio oughta work ok.

Not gonna go MP3 or IPOD - what's that stand for, I Piss On Discs?

Every time I get a good collection going, the format changes.
Got lots of CDs for the garage stereo and that'll do it for me.

Yeah, I know, I'm a technical Luddite . . . works for me though....

 

Sounds like a plan...but you might want to get an mp3 capable radio/CD player, in case you decide to screw around on your computer and rip your CD collection, and put the whole collection on a few CD-Rs as mp3 files. I drove across the country and back and listened to half a dozen CD-Rs of mp3 songs (about 15-20 albums per CD-R)

 

I'll keep the MP3 capability in mind if I end up buying through Crutchfield.

First up, gonna look at radio/CD players in fairly new cars at the junkyard and if nothing found do the Crutchfield bit.

He says while being dragged bodily into the brave new world of MP3's, IPOD's and the like....

 

CD players "age" really fast, so if you put in a unit from a late model car, it probably won't work, at least not for long.

modern electronics is a commodity thing....unlike old cars.

 

try and look back when you forced yourself to switch from tapes to cd's . . . and even further back to when you had to swap out all your 8 tracks for tapes . . . it hurts for a second , but in the end it's worth it .

iPods are the way to go

 

ipods are ok, aside from the evil itunes software (imho).

Just going from the normal CD audio format to a compressed digital format such as mp3 or wma or whatever, is a big step in reducing the physical size of your music collection from a bookcase to a hard drive, or a small CD case.