I have a 1960s vintage Blaupunkt Frankfurt AM/FM/SW/LW radio with the correct mounting kit, faceplate and knobs to fit a 1960 220S. The FM doesn't work. Becker repairs their vintage radios. Does anyone here know if Blaupunkt has a similar service availible? Thanks in advance.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

The finest radio technician in the USA..... 'Mesa CB radio shop' at Albuquerque NM. (505) 884-1066

If you get stuck w/out finding blaupunkt technician, Mark.... This guy at Albuquerque is nationally known among truckers as the best radio technician from coast to coast.

Thanks 240DieselDog,
I contacted a California shop that posted on the Car Audio forum, but haven't heard back from them yet. The audio for my 220S is still a work in progress. I have a '70s Becker AM/FM, fitted with a '60s Becker faceplate, in it now but the amp is weak. I'm torn between putting the original, Becker signal-seeking AM tube radio back in or installing a more modern unit with FM. The '60 finnies didn't have the factory speaker cutout on the dash so I'm still undecided about speaker installation. I now have a Philips 6 x 9 in the underdash cardboard above the right footwell. It's tolerable but, with that weak radio, it's pretty feeble. I'd hate to cut speaker holes in the rear deck but I'm weakening. What do you think?

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I'd buy a pair of small bose or other speakers in cabinets that match ohm/impedence of blaupunkt then place them on top of the rear deck.

240DieselDog,
That's an option I'm considering. Theft is a concern - putting nice speakers out in the open can be like saying " break my window and steal me". I have a pair of black 2 way 'cube-speakers', with the brand labels painted over, that I can try. I'm considering these same speakers mounted up in the footwells, out of sight. The passenger side would be easy but the drivers side, with the handbrake and washer/clutch pedals could be tricky. Thanks again.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Hey Mark, here's another idea..... what size are those little cube speakers?

If they include bracket mounting screw holes that can accomodate ring clamps on small cabinets that arent too huge.... you can mount them to the rear seat grab handles on your 60's Benz up there by the headliner.... where they will be out of sight from theives and you can route the wiring behind the door post trim. Hell, your speakers should provide excellent sound from that location with adjustment of the blaupunkt ballance control.

I got this idea while looking at remote CB radio speaker that is designed to clip onto the sunvisor.

240DieselDog,
Since my last post, I've been performing more audio experiments to come up with an acceptable sound solution for my '60 220S.
I'd like to reinstall the original Becker AM tube radio, a really neat, still working, signal seeking model - for show, then -

Option 1. Get one of those amp/equalizer units to conceal in/under the dash, to which I could patch-cable a battery CD or FM-Walkman. The 'cube' spealkers would be hidden in the footwells or under the front seats. Only thing visible of the modern system would be a small amp power switch and socket plate under the dash for the 1/8 audio cable from the CD or Walkman. The CD or Walkman could go in the console tray or glovebox.

I used a fairly powerfull, mid 80s, JVC boombox/equalizer combo for testing my cube speakers in the footwells, under the seats and on the rear shelf. With the JVCs' power and various equalizer settings, the speakers produced decent sound in all locations.

I then ran into a snag - nobody around here sells those small amp/equalizer units anymore, just those Monster-Blaster amps the Rice-Boys use in their Civics.
I tried out an old, 80s Clarion 12V amp/equalizer that I had laying around but it was dead.

Option 2. I tested one of those mini computer/walkman speaker systems. It uses a single 5 inch cube woofer/amp and two 4"x 6" left and right flat panel tweeters. Unfortunately, while it sounds good indoors, it doesn't have enough power or bass in the car.

Back to option 1. I still have an untested '80s Blaupunkt amp/equalizer unit to try out next. If it's also dead, someone on the Car Audio forum gave me info on a NEW, fairly inexpensive, amp/equalizer, availible online.

My 2 way 'cube' speakers are 4"x 4"x 6". They fit in the footwells or under the seats and sound fine. Hanging them from the grab handles wouldn't work.

Thanks again, Mark

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DrDKW

Hi Mark,

I new to the Benz scene, but here are some ideas from my 2002 days.

Some people would mount 6" rounds in the fascia under the rear seat. You have to cut the metal, but they are almost invisible. I put a pair of 6x9s in the rear hat tray on my car, then covered the whole tray in black speaker cloth. Again, the cutting was not ideal, but with the cloth (which looked correct) you could not see the speakers unless you got right to the window and looked for them.

There was a post on an e28 board about a guy who put a computer subwoofer under the rear seat. They run on DC and have a volume control on a long cord so you could adjust the bass right from the driver's seat. He claimed it gave good bass and of course nobody knew it was there. Or you can try a small bass tube under there.

You can get some small (unequalized) amps that should fit under the rear seat, too. They should not get too hot so cooling should not be an issue.

Cambridge SoundWorks sells a 5 speaker unit for computers that might work. The cubes are really small, about 2x2x3. You could easily conceal them under the dash and somewhere in the back if you don't want to cut any metal. (They could be mounted with velcro and easily removed if need be.)

Another idea I've had is leaving the stock radio for show while mounting a modern one under the dash. I think you could fabricate a hinged bracket that would fold up under the dash when not in use and just drop down when you want hi-fi. there was plenty of room under there on a 2002 for this setup. I don't know (yet) if it will work on one of these cars.

Good luck,

Peter

Thanks Peter,
I actually had the original Becker radio installed and a mini AM/FM Blaupunkt mounted under the dash for awhile. I have a vintage Mercedes AC that will go under the dash, so that location will soon be taken. With the hand brake and hood release located there, the drivers side dash won't work either. Another radio could fit in the glovebox but I can't reach it with the seatbelts on. So I hit on the idea of having a compact amp hidden behind the dash, cabled to an FM/Walkman or CD player, sitting in the package tray between the front seats.

The original rear shelf covering is curled and shrunk, so I considered a pair of 6" coax speakers, hidden under a new cloth covered panel. I just can't bring myself to cut huge holes in the sheet-metal yet.

Those cube speakers tested out pretty well in different locations and don't require large holes. I just need to work out the best way to power them. I'll post updates as things develop.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Hello everyone,
Here's the latest in my 220S 'Hidden Sound System' experiments. Last week, I tried out that Blaupunkt amp/equalizer I mentioned and it was also dead.
This week, I picked up a Pioneer GM-X262, one of the SMALLER 'Monster-Blaster' amps I could find. It's rated at 40 W per channel, continuous, at 14.4v, 4 OHMs, 20-20,000 Hz at 0.08% THD and 80 w max per channel.
(50 W per channel at 0.8% THD) What's THD?
I connected a new 12v car battery to the Pioneer amp power terminals. I connected a pair of 2 way 'cube' speakes rated at 50 W max, 4 OHMs to the Pioneer speaker terminals. With a Sony Walkman headphone output connected to the RCA input jacks on the Pioneer it sounds pretty good, though at max Walkman volume some of the bass is muted. I played this rig in my living room for 2 hours at fairly loud volume. The amp got pretty warm but not quite hot. No smoke or flames from my speakers (as warned about in the Pioneer instruction sheet!) I also noticed diagonal static bars on TV channel 4 (It's on rabbit ears) but I'm not watching TV while I drive. I plan to put the speakers under the front seat and the Pioneer amp under the back seat. The Walkman or Cd player can sit in the tray between the seats while it's playing and go in the glovebox or in the house otherwise.
Any ideas, suggestions, possible long term problems that anyone can see with this arrangement in my car?
Thanks in advance.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Whats the deal with TV tuner? Am wondering if anybody makes radio/tv band receivers.... it would be great to listen to tv news, sports and pbs as option to regular radio programs.

I'm not really sure what it means, though. Perhaps something like a signal to noise ratio.

240DieselDog,
I guess this Pioneer amp has so much power, I'm picking up picture static on TV. It pulsates with the beat of the music! I get picture static on channels 4 and 5 when I use the Microwave too.

There have been portable AM/FM/TV radios around for years availible from GE, Radio Shack and others, but no units for car installation. Years ago I had this 4 band Blaupunkt (the same radio that started this thread) in my '71 Audi, that could get Richmond Va. CBS channel 6. On Sunday nights, coming back from my folks place in Va. Beach, I used to enjoy hearing '60 Minutes', 'All in the Family', Etc... That ended when the FM band died.
None of the car radios I've had since could do that!

peterl,
I figured it had something to do with distortion. I just wondered how it applied to speaker/power ratings. I think my speakers are on the edge, power-wise, but If I don't crank the volume up to max, I hope I'll be OK.

Thanks again all and Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW