Odd you folks should mention Blaupunkt again, but it triggered me.

I literally, just last month, finished rebuilding my Dad's 50 plus year old Blaupunkt table radio. Nothing fancy, just an old radio, but I got it all re-capped, cleaned up and working like a champ again. It actually sounds pretty good.

I consider it a family heirloom.
Now it can go another fifty years, I hope.
I made up a small plastic case to store inside with replacement tubes and a SAMs. There is a lot of room inside.
It was mainly due to encouragement, some tips and links I found on a couple of other sites that helped me to get this done.

It is stereo, but not a car stereo; too damn big.

Here's a pic of my dad's old Blaupunkt:

Nice job DD!

DD,

Yeah, don't think that's an option on satellite radio. Don't see as many shortwave radio antennas in peoples backyards these days.

Put the tape deck in the glove box. My 70 Pontiac had the stock radio in it's position. System in the glove box that locked.

I"m shopping for a new car.  to me one of the big keys is how quiet the car is.  I think I've settled on the Audi Q5 with B&O sound system.  They boast "3d sound" but if you turn the 3d off, it sounds pretty good.

Jerry

g
Thank you to everyone in this thread who conversed about the cassette deck... your thoughts and searches manifested one!  

Original goal, make us70 chrome cassettes of my reel to reel tapes so I can listen to them in the car.  Purchased a mint condition Nakamichi Cassette Deck 2 a few years ago to make the tapes.  It does such a good job it calls into question the 1/4 inch reel to reel format.  It's just a magical sounding deck.  So on the car end of things I found a Pioneer Super Tuner but the cassette transport had issues.  Replaced it with a Sony and that too failed besides both being NOS.  It's a belt problem.  Replacement belts for both didn't cut it.  So I have been doing without.

This weekend I rewired much of my car.  I created a dedicated feed directly from the battery into a 30A hemmetrically sealed fuse going to an illuminated aircraft switch in the car and from the switch to a new distributor and voltage gauge. This way I know if my switch lights I have power to the switch meaning the fuse is good.  And if the analogue voltage gauge on the hood comes on I know I have power to the distributor as well the voltage during cranking.

So while I was at it, a new cigarette lighter to charge the "come get me" phone in case something breaks in the middle of nowhere, a new genuine GM distributor and module feed by this high current direct battery feed where everything is soldered and heat shrinked.  

This actually raised the voltage at the distributor from 13.8 to 14.5V and it is rock solid no mater what is going on. That means there is nearly a 1 volt loss going through the cars wiring harness and fuse block and various connectors... no surprise there.  So while this led to that and that lead to crap I never dreamed I'd be replacing... no better time than now to replace the radio with something that actually works exactly the way it's suppose to.

This lead to removing 50 years of non-original wiring and crap and giving the dash a complete enema.

Here is the little jewel that dropped into my life thanks to all of you thinking about cassette decks.




It was worth modifying the dash from shaft to din, which took hours.  This is a NOS unit that had never been installed, but unlike the previous two, this has perfect playback with tape. The speed is rock solid.  So it was quite a thrill to listen to the radio in my car sound good and work perfectly like a new unit because it is a new unit.  

I spent quite a bit a time today breaking in the new distributor gear, and dialing in the mechanical timing curve, and I have to smile when the car has more balls than it ever has.  Instead of the high performance distributors, of which I have a collection of 6 each set up with different timing curves, high output coils, or CD ignition modules, all of which I have fully explored over many years, none of them performed as well as the stock Chevy HEI distributor (2 to 3 times the price of aftermarket high performance stuff in Jegs and Summit Racing).  This is because creating an audiophile high current signal path between the battery and distributor added weight and muscle that was never there before.  The almost extra volt on a 12V primary I'm sure translates to a whopping secondary voltage so the end result was a lot better than doing it the other way around, a wimpy primary and high ratio secondary...

BTW, just so you know, the reason for the new distributor and the new wiring was repetitive breakdown of HEI ignition modules after about 2 years...

The symptoms are always the same.  One day the car just starts hard for no reason.  Then it does it more and more frequently over the next month or two.  Then the car begins to develop a personality and an destructive attitude until it finally just dies at idle at a stop sign in the middle of a country intersection and the phone is dead because the lighter socket is so rusty it won't stay on long enough to start charging the phone.

There is nothing more mind melting than a slowly deteriorating intermittent HEI module.  So now I will never have to worry about that again... the distributor swap went off without a hitch, until trying to insert the plug from the module into the cap/coil.  It didn't align with precision like I expected from such an expensive distributor...  I fought it and eventually got it to lock into place.  When it came time to start the car it didn't start.

No spark.  How is it possible?  This is when you have to back out of the game into the spirit world and get a real grip on yourself... Sometimes it just blows my blooming mind how the law of chaos works.  I mean, dammit... I'm really getting to old for this crap.  I'd rather go trouble shoot an amplifier than has nothing wrong with it but fails to work.

I had to really start checking things.  Like an amplifier, remove all assumptions.  Is there really a ground?  Is there really voltage?  Is the wire really conducting?  Is this really a flippin amplifier?  Am I really even here?  Finally I took the cap back off and removed the connector and was able to see ground tab was bent so that it went somewhere it wasn't suppose to go.  This would have never happened to a female.  It's a problem with testosterone and hand strength.  

This car starts on less than a 1/2 a crank... so if it makes a full revolution and then another one, there  is something wrong.  It took me better part of the entire day to figure this out, because it was so unusual.  Fixing the connector and assembling it upside-down by eye and then installing the cap brought everything back to life and and a big smile because for at least 4 hours my world was melting while I battled my own mind and the laws of probability.

For the last several hours I have been jamming out to the new tape deck hearing the tapes I made for the first time cranked up loud with the windows open and flying down the country highway with a new energy.  With the combination of dialing in the carb last week, and then tricking out the ignition this week, the car runs like we added two cylinders.  The less aggressive timing curve compared to the previous distributor is making the car pull a lot harder through all the gears which is hard to believe because it didn't suck before.  It feels more like a big block, when it shifts it just presses your eyeballs into your skull just launching forward like something really big just hit you from behind.

I also have a class A/B 65 watt 12Volt amplifier form Linear Power 1992 vintage with the holy grail parts that now bring over $600 and I spent last night with it on the bench getting it ready for action, but honestly the 96dB Pioneer coaxial 6X9's on the head units stock power of I'm guessing 6 watts is more than loud enough.  I've been really enjoying the sound of it while parked at home.  In fact I cleaned the garage just so I could keep listening to it play in the driveway.

I won't install the amplifier until I have new door and window seals to that I can drive down the road in silence...  and when that finally happens the radio will sound twice as loud or more... and I'll likely decide not to bother with it.

I might get lucky and find a pair of NOS 1975 Becker 6X9's with post mounted soft dome tweeters that I purchased that same year and paired with a couple of 8 inch peerless drivers in the rear deck back in high school with 50 watts driving it.  If that happens I'll install the amplifier.  That was memorable.  So much so that my entire adult life I have been trying to get Supertramp to sound a good as it did in my car.  Still can't do it.

When I was researching what my old sound quality car amp from back in the day was worth on eBay, I was saddened to notice that for $149 you can purchase a 3000 watt amplifier.

I predict 20 years into the future the PC culture will have changed the meaning of words to a point where we will be able to purchase a 30,000 watt amplifier for $219.  Whoohoo, I can hardly wait. It's just so satisfying to make up results that don't exist.

I’ve had a host of sports cars over the past ten years. 2 M BMW’s, an Audi S3 and 3 Golf r’s. From Bose to Harmin Kardin and I wasn’t impressed with any of them. They sounded ok. Even the 9 speaker with sub woofer variation on one car was good but unexciting. After a whole host of expensive problems for years, I’ve gone back to the only car I never had a problem with during 11 years of ownership, Toyota Corolla hatchback(stick of course). I immediately put in an aftermarket amp, processor, 6 speakers and sub. Best car stereo yet. I go slow but sound awesome!

I stand corrected! I did have a 2019 Mazda MX5. Forgot that one. Super fun to drive and only 2 very small seats. That system sounded pretty good because all six speakers were about 5 inches from your head. 😂
Btw, an awesome car you have there. Read many great things about it during my fast driving modded car days. Keep on enjoying it for a long time.

Well I'm dredging up these old posts so I can tell you all a story about the strange times that we live in.

This whole thread started because I ordered a new car in January and wondered about how good of a stereo I should expect in a new car.
Well then the dealer called me up after 4 months and told me that they couldn't get me the car I wanted (Genesis GV70).
So after a few days of pondering I said "screw it" and went and ordered what I really wanted (Porsche Macan T).

So here I am another 4 months into this order and my dealer is telling me that I should be getting my new car in another 3 weeks or so, but probably not because of a shortage of the damn Bose radio!

It seems that the chip shortage is giving Bose problems in being able to deliver the car stereo.

I told my dealer that I didn't care if the car had a stereo in it when it was delivered. But no, they can't deliver it because without the stereo the car won't work because everything goes through the head unit. CRAP!

Ironically, the Genesis dealer texted me today saying that they have the car I wanted on their lot.  Grumble, grumble.

Aren't first world problems something?

I should have stuck with my old Jeep.

Last October I ordered a Honda Si. Every month or so I would call and ask for an update. Still waiting... I now live 650+ miles from the dealership. I went to the local Honda dealer near me and asked about the Si, $10,000 over sticker! On a $27,000 car that's crazy!

A buddy said for that money I should go look at the Acura Integra. It's basically the same car with more snazzy stuff. I stopped by the dealer and drove the 6 speed. Wow! What a car! They didn't have the color I wanted so I ordered one. I called the Honda dealer to get my deposit back they said "I was about to call you, we have a VIN for you." I just laughed. I told the salesman the situation and he understood. The Honda was a color I didn't want. Everything seems to be working out in my favor.