TAC Tech > Audio

My Radio upgrade

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5th T/A:
I think there was a discussion on TAC not long ago about upgrading sound systems and I said it wasn't that important to me. So here I am being a hypocrite doing an audio system upgrade. My 1980 TA came with a factory AM/FM four speaker stereo. While it would pick up AM and FM, it never went into stereo mode. In my opinion the audio quality was poor. Although it was a long time ago, I purchased new a 1973 TA, 1975 TA and 1978 TA all with the factory AM/FM two speaker stereo, in my memory they sounded much better. I pulled out the factory radio, sent it to a shop that specializes in old car radio repair. They found a bad multiplexor chip and replaced it, total repair including shipping was only $100.00. With my  repaired radio installed I was able to get stereo reception, but in my opinion the audio quality was disappointing. I connected up a set of 8-ohm home stereo speakers and the audio quality was still unacceptable.

I remembered I had a 15-year-old Kenwood radio sitting in my basement and wondered if I could use it. I wanted to keep my car stock looking as possible, no cutting on the dash or doors. I was able to remove the plastic tray located under the ashtray in the console and mount the radio there. If I ever decide to remove the radio I can reinstall the tray. The radio is a Kenwood KDC-HD545U, Am, FM HD, CD player and USB port for external audio devices. I had to fabricate a mounting bracket using aluminum angle stock.

Radio mounted in console, had to drill three holes in console mounting bracket.

IMG_1037 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Console from the front. I used foam gasket to fill the gaps on the side.

IMG_1038 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

I ordered new 6X9 speakers from Crutchfield, Kenwwod Excelon KFC-X694 $119.99 for the pair.

New rear speakers compared to the old. I wanted to use my factory flush mount grills. The new speakers had a three-prong plastic trim at the top of the tweeter (far left speaker) that had to be trimmed so it would not hit the grill. If I would have used spacers to drop the speaker down the right-side speaker would have hit the tire jack mount and come really close to hitting the spare.

IMG_0970 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

New front speakers compared to the old. The new front speakers had much larger magnets making them a tight fit. I had to rotate the left front speaker 180 degrees so the spade lugs pointed to the front of the car, otherwise they would have hit the back of the instrument cluster. The new speakers came with a filter to cut of anything below 800 HZ. When I tried to run without the filter low frequencies would over power them.

IMG_1005 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_1006 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr


Trying to stay compatible with my radio I purchased a Kenwood Excelon X302-4 power amp, also from Crutchfield. I hoped it would fit under the console, but it was too big. I ended up mounting ti in the trunk, right behind the seat. Since the amp draws a lot of current, I used an 8-gage power conductor directly from the battery. I had custom made conductors from CE auto Electric https://ceautoelectricsupply.com/. They have an online cable configurator that is easy to allow you to choose the wire and heavy-duty connectors. I ran the wire under the drivers side kick plate where the factory ran the wiring for lights and rear window defroster. This means I had to remove the back seat. I ran the signal cables from the power amp to the radio above the drive shaft hump, between the carpet and the insulation. The driver's seat had to come out for that.

Amp with power cables, the cables are super flexible, making it easier for routing.

IMG_1127 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Power amp mounted in trunk. Almost have to look for it to know its there.

IMG_1133 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_1136 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

For some reason the radio display looks blurry in pictures but is much sharper in real life. I have roughly 960 songs on my iPod and phone, can use either one. I like the quality of HD FM, but content is lacking.

IMG_1160 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

The face plate can be removed if I want the car to look more original. The sound quality is way beyond my expectations. I hear things in recordings I never knew existed. The bass is extremely powerful and punchy. Good bang for the buck, about $450.00 total invested. More time to install it than you would think, but my labor is cheap. I told my wife if i want to listen to loud high-quality music I can go to my rear garage, sit in the TA and not annoy her.

IMG_1161 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

My wife thought this was funny, a lot of trunk time.

IMG_3684 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

76455sd:
Nice.  That’s a huge improvement over the stock system.  Nice install too.  Does that Kenwood have the option of adding an iPod cable to the rear?  I had a pioneer of that vintage and using the cable I could keep my iPod in the glove compartment completely out of sight.  I recall paying about $60 just for the cable but it was nice to just leave it in and not see it at all.  Enjoy.

5th T/A:
76455, I see where you are coming from. It would be nice not to have the cable sticking out the front of the faceplate. Reading the documentation I see no option for a rear USB cable. I could just load all my music onto a USB memory stick and not have a cable at all, but haven’t tried that yet.

I should also mention the antenna cable was an inch short of reaching the new radio. I ordered a 12” extension cable. I am still waiting for delivery.

roadking77:
Great job. I too may go down that rabbet hole. I have a stock settup that I never hooked up. I dont listen to music like I did when younger, part of it being I have more hearing loss now :???: Since my son has started driving he keeps telling me 'we need to get some music'. It may be in order this spring.

FormTA:
Great instalation! Those new speakers had to be a huge improvement.  I love my tunes too!

I put an amplifier in my trunk with a blue tooth unit that has rca cables that feeds my amplifier. They also make BT amps but I already had my amp. I then just use my phone for music. The only draw back is controlling the volume is with my phone, not as easy as a knob on the dash...

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