My RetroSound Radio Install

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JoesEdge

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Hey all!

So the kid was bugging me that he wanted a radio of some sort in the Duster. I didn't understand it myself. I mean.... isn't listening to the engine purr enough?

Anyway... we started looking at solutions. We definitely didn't want to cut up the dash, and converting the stock AM radio is pretty expensive and once it's done it's a bit clunky to use. Have you seen all the crazy gyrations needed to just to switch between bands and stuff? Have to turn it on, then off, then on again, etc. When you're driving, you don't want to focus on that. That's dangerous.

Since converting the stock radio wasn't something we wanted to do, we narrowed down the options to running a Bluetooth enabled amplificar to power speakers and use the phone as a head unit. This would work, but then you don't get live local radio this well. Well, I guess there's apps now where you can get live streams. The last option was the Retrosound Redondo RS Radio. That's what we decided to do, and here's the assembly and installation thread.

The radio comes in pieces that need to be assembled. The kit includes the following:
  1. the body, the dial shafts
  2. the station selection buttons
  3. the screen with lens
  4. knobs
Assembly isn't difficult, but you need to align everything right. It helped that I had a spare bezel that I used to get the alignment of the shafts, buttons, and display right.

The radio comes with tons of input options. You have 3.5mm inputs, 2 USB inputs (which actually charge your phone), Bluetooth, and over the air radio of course. It has front and rear RCA outputs as well as sub-woofer outputs as well.

I also purchased the dash speaker bracket from @'74 Sport which is a fine piece for installing 3.5" speakers into the dash. I know some have used that bracket to get install 4" speakers into the dash too.

When using that bracket with a set of 2 way 3.5" speakers you need to make sure that the tweeters do not hit the grill on the top of the dashboard. I had use use spacers to lower the speakers 1/4" in order to keep the tweeters from hitting the top of the dash.

Here's a link to the bracket: [FOR SALE] - I'm back with my dual 3.5" speaker brackets

I also purchased a relay kit in order to ensure that the Radio was receiving optimum clean voltage from the battery. It was probably unnecessary, but I think it made for a clean install. I wired the relay kit into the factory radio harness that way it turns on in the Accessory position with the key. Basically, the wire that would have powered the factory radio is turning on the relay. The power side of the relay is coming back in to power the radio. It's also fused.

The speakers I chose were the Kicker brand. They sounded pretty good at Fry's Electronics, so I ordered a set of Kicker 3.5" speakers for the dash and Kicker 6x9's for the rear package tray.

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed with the Retrosound's wiring. They use 20 gauge wire for pretty much everything (i.e. power, ground, speakers, etc). The body of the Retrosound radio is the Motor 4. I don't know if that makes a difference.

I can say that the radio is definitely loud, but not powerful. I mean, you don't get any bass out of the radio and that's probably because it doesn't supply enough juice to power my Kicker 6x9's. I do plan to add a sub-woofer to give more depth to the music. I don't need to shake all the windows, so maybe a single 10" will do the job.

For now...here's all the assembly pictures.

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Here's dash speaker bracket assembly with the Kicker 3.5" speakers and how it looks inside the dash from underneath the dash before installing the speakers and bracket.

The dash speacker bracket is from @'74 Sport.

Note: you won't be able to use the bracing the runs from the heater controls to the speaker bracket nut. You can see the bracing in the last picture. I just moved it out of the way and didn't attach it.

Also, there's a picture of the actual radio in the dash listening to the World Famous KROQ 106.7 FM. You can choose what color the text is on the radio. You can use one of the prebuilt colors, or you can enter in your own hex codes for a custom color.

It also comes with a microphone for the Bluetooth phone calls. It works really well. It's surprising how well it works. My son called me and I didn't hear any of the road or wind noise. I couldn't even hear the engine, even though it does get kinda loud at 2,500 to 3,000 RPM.

Lastly, the grills covering the 6x9's. Those aren't the grills the speakers came with, but these came with the car when I bought it and they seemed to look more vintage so I used them.

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This is what I used to wire everything up for a clean install. These kits aren't cheap, but I figured it would be perfect for powering the radio and also powering another device. I got it at 12vconnection on Ebay.

Not only does this Littlefuse relay box have two 35 amp relays that are fused bit also has a third fuse that is constant power which is perfect because you need a constant power source for the radio.

This relay kit was perfect!

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I’ve got the same radio, bracket, AND kicker speakers in my dart! I don’t have any bass either and probably don’t want it due to rattles and no sound deadener. An extra bezel would have been so nice! I fought with mine for an hour or so assembling it.
 
I’ve got the same radio, bracket, AND kicker speakers in my dart! I don’t have any bass either and probably don’t want it due to rattles and no sound deadener. An extra bezel would have been so nice! I fought with mine for an hour or so assembling it.

Yeah, adjusting the depth and width of the shafts is a time consuming process. Having the spare bezel did save tons of time. My kid always complains that I have too many spare parts, and I always point out these occasions that having spare parts is a good thing.

I'm just not sure if I would go the RetroSound route if I would do it all over again.
 
I'm doing a radio too. Where did you connect your constant power wire(yellow)
 
Could you add an amp to the 6x9's instead of them being powered by the head unit?

Yes, definitely. The radio does come with RCA outputs for both front and rear. So you can use the rear RCA outputs to connect to an Amp. There's also an output to turn on Amp as well.

It's not bad for what it is. It has great features.

The only negative that I see so far is how thin the wires are for the power, ground, and speakers. Also, I don't like you have to plug a set of wires into the unit, then another set into the previous set. Look at the 3rd and 4th pictures from the top to see what I'm talking about (in the middle of all the parts are the wires). That adds unnecessary length of wires that needs to then be tied up or held up under the dash.

I think they can improve that with thicker gauge wire coming straight out of the body of the radio without needing so many things to plug in. Also, why a glass fuse? I guess when working with older cars you may have glass fuses on hand, but seems antiquated.
 
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I'm doing a radio too. Where did you connect your constant power wire(yellow)

So for my constant power, I used the relay box in post #3. That relay box has 2 relays with 3 fuses. 2 fuses are for each of the relays (1 for each relay), and then there's another fuse that is constant power.

That relay/fuse box is plugged straight to the battery (actually to the starter relay post). Coincidentally, the constant power wire for the relay/fuse box is yellow so I connected the yellow wire from the radio to the yellow wire to the relay/fuse box. Worked out perfectly!

If you don't get a relay box like I did, then you'll have to go straight to the battery. Although, there are points in the factory harness that has constant power. For instance, the cigarette lighter has constant power. Well, it does in my '74 Duster.
 
-- UPDATE --

Long story, short... I sent it back to Jegs and got my money back. It developed this annoying high pitched beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep that would not go away. Also, the knobs were all funky. I would turn the knobs to set the volume and it would jump back and forth (i.e. turning it up from 8 to 12 would go 4, 6, 15, 6, 7 and if I'm lucky.... 12). It was annoying and I couldn't deal with it anymore.

Another thing I hated was the extra long wire harness it comes with. They have a harness that plugs into a harness. It's crazy. It makes tucking that under the dash very difficult. Not only that but the wires are very thin. I'd be surprised if they were thicker than 20 gauge.

The only good thing was the microphone for the phone was awesome!! Other than that, I got tired of it's beeeeeeeeeeeeep and bouncing knobs. I cannot recommend this product. Maybe it was just luck of the draw and getting a defective unit, which happens, I guess.

We are now looking at building a custom under dash console for a double din stereo. We want something with Android Auto but that gets more expensive. The Sony AX5000 looks good.
 
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You can get single, and double din black plastic boxes that can be mounted under your dash. I have a double din I'm going to put in my 66 B-Cuda, with a Sony unit with satelite radio. My add-on gages will bolt to the bottom of it. Sat antenna will be mounted magnetcally on trunk, for easy removal, when parked some where. They are not expensive, and are not plastic per say, just some strong plastic looking stuff. They also have different kinds of add on pieces for them also. Boxes are available from "Sonic Electronix", or Crutchfeild. Two companys make them.
Hope this helps
Dave
 
You can get single, and double din black plastic boxes that can be mounted under your dash. I have a double din I'm going to put in my 66 B-Cuda, with a Sony unit with satelite radio. My add-on gages will bolt to the bottom of it. Sat antenna will be mounted magnetcally on trunk, for easy removal, when parked some where. They are not expensive, and are not plastic per say, just some strong plastic looking stuff. They also have different kinds of add on pieces for them also. Boxes are available from "Sonic Electronix", or Crutchfeild. Two companys make them.
Hope this helps
Dave

Do you know where I can get that double din box? My son and I were thinking of building a center under dash console not only for the stereo but also some gauges and thinking of extending the heater vent come out more forward. It was just ideas we were running through.
 
Do you know where I can get that double din box? My son and I were thinking of building a center under dash console not only for the stereo but also some gauges and thinking of extending the heater vent come out more forward. It was just ideas we were running through.

I did just what your thinking. I have a double din Pioneer NEX1400 with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. I also added 2 cup holders and a center console box with lid.

Check out my build thread to see the pics of me building it.

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Riddler
 
I did just what your thinking. I have a double din Pioneer NEX1400 with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. I also added 2 cup holders and a center console box with lid.

Check out my build thread to see the pics of me building it.

View attachment 1715345298

Riddler

That's awesome! How do you like the Pioneer? I had a Pioneer amp and it sound great until one of the channels went out. I couldn't get support because I bought it on Amazon through a non-authorized retailer. Pissed me off. It turned me off from the brand, but when it worked it did sound great. I read good things about the Pioneer head units too.
 
I love the Pioneer NEX headunit. It does everything and has a cord to plug in the phone. Does car play and can run spotify.

I'm running the headunit, 4" speakers, 6x9 4 way, 12" sub and a 2 channel amp bridged for the sub and a 4 channel amp for the speakers.

Riddler
 
Great! I just bought the next generation Retro Sound radio you had from Jegs. The one you bought was discontinued and replaced with a newer model. I'll let you know how it works.

I had a media player in the car that I bought from Woody's Custom Shop and it had horrible sound.
 
-- UPDATE --

Long story, short... I sent it back to Jegs and got my money back. It developed this annoying high pitched beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep that would not go away. Also, the knobs were all funky. I would turn the knobs to set the volume and it would jump back and forth (i.e. turning it up from 8 to 12 would go 4, 6, 15, 6, 7 and if I'm lucky.... 12). It was annoying and I couldn't deal with it anymore.

Another thing I hated was the extra long wire harness it comes with. They have a harness that plugs into a harness. It's crazy. It makes tucking that under the dash very difficult. Not only that but the wires are very thin. I'd be surprised if they were thicker than 20 gauge.

The only good thing was the microphone for the phone was awesome!! Other than that, I got tired of it's beeeeeeeeeeeeep and bouncing knobs. I cannot recommend this product. Maybe it was just luck of the draw and getting a defective unit, which happens, I guess.

We are now looking at building a custom under dash console for a double din stereo. We want something with Android Auto but that gets more expensive. The Sony AX5000 looks good.
I bought and returned a retrosound also. I was going to do an antiqueauto but they where back ordered for months. Here's where I ended up.
Gutted original radio, bent some new side pieces, I had to tack weld the wonder bars and installed an outofsight Bluetooth receiver.

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I haven’t bought this yet. But I have the stock AM radio and plan to do this in my build shortly. Don’t know how it works, but nothing cooler than the OEM radio married to modern technology!
 


Home

I haven’t bought this yet. But I have the stock AM radio and plan to do this in my build shortly. Don’t know how it works, but nothing cooler than the OEM radio married to modern technology!


I've thought about that conversion too, but they are pretty pricey. I like Riddler's solution because then you get navigation.
 
Great! I just bought the next generation Retro Sound radio you had from Jegs. The one you bought was discontinued and replaced with a newer model. I'll let you know how it works.

I had a media player in the car that I bought from Woody's Custom Shop and it had horrible sound.

Well maybe the newer model works better. If it wasn't for the mile long wires coming off the back and high pitched constant beeeeeep and goofy volume knob, I probably would have kept it, but it pissed me off so I sent it back. Bluetooth was good, but it didn't automatically pair. Maybe your newer unit will not have any of those issues!
 
I've thought about that conversion too, but they are pretty pricey. I like Riddler's solution because then you get navigation.
Maybe in a different car, but for me I already have an OEM center console/floor shift so no where to build a place for it really. And Cut’n the dash is a DEAL BREAKER for me. I’ll add though, the guy in south TX quoted me around $500 and that was Bluetooth/USB/ and really all other modern conveniences without the NAV. But, I have found more times than not my IPad is more accurate than my NAV in the Ram....
 
Well maybe the newer model works better. If it wasn't for the mile long wires coming off the back and high pitched constant beeeeeep and goofy volume knob, I probably would have kept it, but it pissed me off so I sent it back. Bluetooth was good, but it didn't automatically pair. Maybe your newer unit will not have any of those issues!

Hopefully they improved it! Started the install yesterday what a PITA, but I cheated looking at your pictures. I should finish the wiring Monday or Tuesday and will follow up.
 
I did just what your thinking. I have a double din Pioneer NEX1400 with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. I also added 2 cup holders and a center console box with lid. Super clean ride!! Can you share the steering wheel? Looks killer! Does it require a specific adapter? Really like how it looks!!:thumbsup:

Check out my build thread to see the pics of me building it.

View attachment 1715345298

Riddler
 

The steering wheel is a Budnik Steering wheel. The adapter I believe is a LeCarra adapter. I purchased it all in a a package from Budnik Wheels.

Riddler
 
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