Oh...to be choosing a car stereo in the early '90's!!

[retrokeeper]

It was surely a grand time to be choosing to have a brand new am-fm cassette stereo installed in your vehicle,in either 1990/91.There were some great features/specs/power amplication from these car stereo's,and you had a choice between DIN or Universal mount,depending what type of car/truck you had back then,or were thinking about getting.You had some heavy hitters to choose from too,Alpine,Pioneer,Sony,and Kenwood,all proven home audio giants,now shrinking down their audio home offerings to fit into your car's dash.And some of the cassette players offered home cassette features and specs to boot!!

So enjoy these "tune players in time",this was surely the pinnacle of auto cassette/receiver for some of us,if not all,who appreciated great sound in our rides. Rob

[retrokeeper]

and some more mobile audio goodness....Rob

[retrokeeper]

...and the rest....Rob

[DolbySProject]

I had an old Volvo (total'd for me by a Nashville driver)/Pioneer combination. It was pretty kickin'

[Elite-ist]

Hi Rob,

Even with amount of brochures you have scanned and posted so far, you still have plenty in the binder left to display.

It would be nice to see Njord feature such informtion in his database, as well. It would complement Njord's ever-expanding service. I still love car audio gear, especially the older ones!

Thanks for putting in the time so we could savour the pages!

Nando.

[Njord Noatun]

It would be nice to see Njord feature such informtion in his database, as well. It would complement Njord's ever-expanding service. I would indeed be happy to host Rob's, or anybody else's for that matter, scans if the owner prefers to keep their lit. presented in a central place.

Converting multi-page JPGs such as above into single-file PDFs is a piece of cake, so don't think that your chosen file format would impact on the feasibility of hosting it with me.

[braxus]

I still have that one Alpine brochure. I even had one of the decks in it. Funny the 73?? deck I had isn't in there.

[Elite-ist]

I would indeed be happy to host Rob's, or anybody else's for that matter, scans if the owner prefers to keep their lit. presented in a central place.

Converting multi-page JPGs such as above into single-file PDFs is a piece of cake, so don't think that your chosen file format would impact on the feasibility of hosting it with me.

Hi Njord,

On your site, I do enjoy looking through the manufacturers' brochures, as much as viewing the technical manuals. I'm sure once Rob reads your offer, he would contemplate becoming a contributor. Would all the pages he has scanned and posted on THs have to be rescanned at a higher resolution? He's been busy posting alot in the "Mobile Audio" and "Other Tape" (8-track) sub-forums.

Nando.

[Njord Noatun]

Would all the pages he has scanned and posted on THs have to be rescanned at a higher resolution? Sometimes the donor has the original high-res scans on his hard drive. However, what is presented on a site, using attachments, or links to Picasa and Photobucket has been processed to a lower resolution in order to meet a site's file size and pixel dimension limitations. If this is the case, I prefer to receive the highest resolution files available, and can handle really large files if needed.

Having said that, I receive scans in all kinds of resolutions and I am happy to publish them as long as they are legible: Sometimes it is more important to get content out there than to insist that it meets certain "quality criteria".

Quickly glancing at Retrokeeper's contributions in this thread, as an example, they seem perfectly legible and therefore perfectly acceptable to host! But I also suspect he might have higher grade versions of these scans "at home".

[Elite-ist]

Sometimes the donor has the original high-res scans on his hard drive. However, what is presented on a site, using attachments, or links to Picasa and Photobucket has been processed to a lower resolution in order to meet a site's file size and pixel dimension limitations. If this is the case, I prefer to receive the highest resolution files available, and can handle really large files if needed.

Having said that, I receive scans in all kinds of resolutions and I am happy to publish them as long as they are legible: Sometimes it is more important to get content out there than to insist that it meets certain "quality criteria".

Quickly glancing at Retrokeeper's contributions in this thread, as an example, they seem perfectly legible and therefore perfectly acceptable to host! But I also suspect he might have higher grade versions of these scans "at home".

Hi Njord,

I can't speak for Rob, but I know him as a perfectionist and it will only be the very best he will allow to be shown. He's, probably, catching up on his beauty sleep, before he logs on again.

Nando.

[Njord Noatun]

I can't speak for Rob, but I know him as a perfectionist and it will only be the very best he will allow to be shown.I am very impressed by the quality of work and attention to detail to have gone into just about every scan that is sent to me: As they say - "if the work is worth doing, it is worth doing it right" (or something like that!).

[retrokeeper]

For those who are concerned...I am in the process of scanning in all of my brochures,but only the cover page,to get an idea of what I have and for others to know exactly just what I have.This would include everything related to audio,brochures,catalogs,sales flyers,ads,magazines,whatever I have,I plan to let Njord know what I have,he'll get a disc with all the cover scans,and he can pick and choose what he wants me to scan in all the way,the entire brochure or just a few pages.So,this is taking time,I plan to churn away at this and will let you all know when I have this stage done. Rob

[Njord Noatun]

This is great!

I suspect, Rob, that once the work is complete as per your vision, that I will suggest to you that we create a separate "Retrokeeper" web site area, in order to keep all your valuable work together in one place and to keep it cleaner.

One a side note, my server is starting to get full and I may be running out of server space before or during this expansion, but that's neither here nor there - I will simply procure some more space.

[Nakdoc]

As a servicer, we invested hundreds of dollars in wiring harnesses for the pull-out head units, and CD changer controllers for the stand alone changers. I have a big box filled with harnesses so if anyone wants to restore a vintage pull-out but needs the harness, let me know!

[4tified]

A little off-topic, but throughout these brochures, some of these in-dash systems offer a "Super-Tuner III" option. What is that?

[retrokeeper]

The Supertuner moniker stuck with the Pioneer FM Tuners in their car stereo's,they had pretty decent selectivity and sensitivity,and S/N ratios for their FM tuners,and the III was just the next level of such performance.With a well installed antenna,you couldn't get better reception,unless maybe thru a diversified twin antenna system,with an appropiate receiver needed,to choose which antenna to receive a signal from as you went down the road.As far as I know,Pioneer never had this type of receiver. Rob

[Elite-ist]

The Supertuner moniker stuck with the Pioneer FM Tuners in their car stereo's,they had pretty decent selectivity and sensitivity,and S/N ratios for their FM tuners,and the III was just the next level of such performance.With a well installed antenna,you couldn't get better reception,unless maybe thru a diversified twin antenna system,with an appropiate receiver needed,to choose which antenna to receive a signal from as you went down the road.As far as I know,Pioneer never had this type of receiver. Rob

Hi Rob,

Funny you mentioned twin antennas, as my first car was a 1970 Buick Skylark, I bought in 1978, which had dual adjustable antennas. That car saw a lot of different upgraded Pioneer stereo systems as new products came out. The best reception I received was through the dual small whips to a KEX-50. Later, I'll find the original photo of that Buick, and scan it for this thread. No, it didn't look dorky!

Check out this Pioneer car audio collector's clip; although most of what's shown is not 1990's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8AfI2cLEDo&feature=related

Nando.

[koseltri]

I really should get pics up of my head unit collection. When I get to straightening up my 'Boom Room' I'll see about getting pics up.

[Warped Bezel]

I have a few Delco-GM manuals (SERVICE) that cover "GM 2000" series and mostly AM stereo models. They are no slouches either and many of the components are swapable. I once had a Pioneer model with Supertuner II, Dolby and analog, with a search feature. When I started driving 80s GM cars the Delcos were quite adequite and could easily rattle the rear window.

Clarion's car stereos were another favorite of mine when I was an 80s teen *check*

[Q-Authority]

I just came across some fantastic uplinks of Alpine catalogs from around '89-93, posted by a person on talkaudio.co.uk, by the user name of Miamivice. They are virtually all UK or European catalogs, but essentially the same items that we had here, with only a couple of minor differnces, I believe. Anyway, this was awsome for me as I now have copies once again of catalogs on all of my stuff that I have been saving since about '91, and of which I have just decided to use in a period car restoration project. They supposedly have a huge amount of this tuff from even later, and full rez copies are supposedly available by contacting them, which I plan to do. I love looking through this stuff again. Talk about reliving things.*grin*

This is the link: http://www.caraudioarchive.net/alpine/list.asp

PS: some of these are slow to load, so it is almost easier to download and save and then open, as one or two are very large files; also, if I recall correctly, one of the '93 files is really a large '90 catalog;

[Elite-ist]

Hi Q,

Anything going on with your project car? Have you sold any components on the other car audio forums?

Nando.

[Q-Authority]

Hey Nando:

Actually, I have gotten inspired to go ahead and keep the Alpine 7390/5952s combo and use it as the centerpiece of my install. Considering how much I am trying to keep the majority of the restoration/rebuild period specific I thought I should go ahead and do the same with the stereo if I could. The only downside is that I had already bought a relatively expensive modern system that will now have to go into storage. Maybe I can pull it out in another 20 years and do a similar type install.*grin* Seeing those Alpine units in the catalogs I linked really got me motivated some more. However, as I haven't been into cassette recording in awhile I had to do some work to put together the ancillary pieces needed to do this right. I mean its one thing to have a cool period casstte head unit, but if you don't have any impressive recorded tapes to play in it, then what's the point? So I did some research and decided to go with some of the Phoenix Audio metal cassettes, to make the most of the head unit playback, and to have a decent selection of same type tapes, instead of a hodgepodge. If it works out half as well as I hope it will, it will really be fun to pop in a tape once in awhile and really surprise some people. I even managed to track down a couple of new old stock Case Logic leather cassette cases, which will really help bring things together if I ever take the car to any shows.

[Hergest]

This seems a good spot to park this.

Not the early 90s but the mid 80s.

The Becker Mexico in my 1986 BMW 635 CSi

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u281/Hergest/bavaria.jpg

[Q-Authority]

This seems a good spot to park this.

Not the early 90s but the mid 80s.

The Becker Mexico in my 1986 BMW 635 CSi

Ahh, good stuff. Blaup. always had far and away the best fm tuners of any manufacturer, and I had always wanted one. Plus, there was the allure of the German manufacturing back then.:)

[Scorpion8]

I just finally got around to looking at all those scans, and all I can say is "Damn you Rob, damn you!" *drool* *grin*

[retrokeeper]

More like "Damn Myself!!" Since the remodeling of our house for the last 2 months,vacation time,other family commitments,I haven't had a chance to scan in any new literature.Plus I bought one of those "all-in-one" wireless printer/fax/scanner do-hickeys...and haven't had a chance to hook that up yet.Plus I wanted to take the old scanner to work with me,and start scanning in some brochures,but hell,it's been too freakin' busy at work to do that!!! And with another 3 week vacation starting here in a week or so....well you get my drift.Hopefully I can find some time here soon to resume making TH members drool!! Rob

[Scorpion8]

...Hopefully I can find some time here soon to resume making TH members drool!!

I think you would find a direct sequential correlation between the time I peruse thru your scans and my activity on eBay. I should use your name in the blame-game with the significant other as for my "habits". *grin*

[Nick Sunn]

I respectfully disagree.
I say right now, Sept 2010, is a far better time for choosing a car stereo!
True, you having nothing in the way of tape.
Digital is a far better medium in an automobile enviroment.

In 1991-1993, although you had some fine in dash units available, the control knobs, lighting of the panel, were no where near as good as today's (2010) stuff. Though the indash unit makers went through a prolonged period of weirdness, "Extreme" designs to appeal to punk kids who were into X games and wearing their trousers' waists closer to their knees, in the past few years, their designs have returned to smart Round knobs, good coordinated design, and practically any $100 indash unit from Crutchfield today is light years better in power output and sound than any Becker, Alpine, Pioneer, Kenwood, Blaupunkt from '93 or earlier, no matter how expensive it was then.
Just the ability to instantly, cue up tracks, and better displays, better Radio Reception, ability to coordinate Ipod, Bluetooth, ability to receive XM or Surius should you wish.
Cassette, alone and by itself is a waste, in an automobile.
Perhaps having a second deck to play cassettes, ala, mid 90's Miata & other vehicles. There is no benefit in the automobile's listening enviroment for the best analog system in the world. It won't matter. You could theoretically have a perfectly functioning 8-track deck with a high power output amplifier and top quality speakers and it wouldn't matter. The small enviroment, and the enviroment of road sounds/traffic/tires/braking/A/C noise/heater/wind noise if sunroof is open& more if top is down or window is rolled down. There is no benefit to superb quality source material. Heck, mp3 is more than acceptable in nearly all moving automobiles. Compressed sound is an asset is such an enviroment where reduced dynamic range is probably better from a listening standpoint, to make the sound more likely to be heard over the fairly constant level of road/life/nature/enviroment sounds.
Why in the world would you want to limit yourself to having to FF/REW or use Automatic Music Search to get to a favorite track. I see no benefit in an automobile. I'm not saying don't have a tape deck in a car, if you have a collection of tapes. I'm just saying its far more practical and simpler from a functionality/user friendly point to have a modern indash unit. Much better controls, better lit up and better placed function buttons, far more capable and better/cleaner power output than any early 1990's tape unit. Probably may be more reliable, although by the early 1990's, those tape indash units were extremely reliable and usually lasted a long time. That wasn't the case, a decade earlier, circa '80-'82.
I say the automobile is where you should be modern with respect to playing music, as it is simpler, and there is no sonic penalty due to the nature of the listening enviroment. Just my opinion.

[jdurbin1]

Sorry, I don't buy it.

There is no tuner in the aftermarket today that can keep up with say a Becker Mexico (the analog one with motorized tuning) or the digital type 612 Grand Prix, in either AM or FM performance. Cheap tuner on a chip designs simply are not in the same class as those older largely discrete designs in their ability to maintain reasonable stereo separation and frequency response while keeping multipath noise and interference at bay. They also had real antennas connected to them, not the worthless in-glass stuff that passes for an antenna these days.

As to power, pfffttt. If you have to rely on what's in the radio chassis, you don't have an audio system, you have an in-dash boombox. I know what they can extract from high output IC's these days and I'm thoroughly unimpressed. Do the math with what you can get out of that, the typical output from a reasonably efficient speaker system, vs. what is required to create any dynamic range whatsoever above the noise floor of a moving vehicle. It's inadequate, and clipping and nasty harmonic distortion is the inevitable result.

Sound quality? I challenge you to find me anything sold today under $1,000 - forget about your disposable $100 in-dash media player - that sounds even remotely as good as my Sony XES system from 1991. Which btw is currently supporting three "digital" sources: CD, iPod, and sat radio - two of them connected via optical digital cabling.

Bluetooth? Works better connected to a standalone speaker isolated from the microphone. Having the phone audio blasting through the audio system speakers is not only not needed, but increases the difficulty of achieving decent duplex handsfree performance. Besides, I'm not at all convinced that someone calling me while I'm driving should interfere with my enjoyment of a stellar musical experience. The last thing I need is for some damn telemarketer inserting themselves into the cabin of my car when I have a great piece of music playing at concert levels, sounding so good the hair on the back of my neck is standing up.

I say to you, bah and humbug.

John

[Warped Bezel]

Ah, C'MON, guys...I'd just like to be able to afford a car again.

[Q-Authority]

Sorry, I don't buy it.

There is no tuner in the aftermarket today that can keep up with say a Becker Mexico (the analog one with motorized tuning) or the digital type 612 Grand Prix, in either AM or FM performance. Cheap tuner on a chip designs simply are not in the same class as those older largely discrete designs in their ability to maintain reasonable stereo separation and frequency response while keeping multipath noise and interference at bay. They also had real antennas connected to them, not the worthless in-glass stuff that passes for an antenna these days.

As to power, pfffttt. If you have to rely on what's in the radio chassis, you don't have an audio system, you have an in-dash boombox. I know what they can extract from high output IC's these days and I'm thoroughly unimpressed. Do the math with what you can get out of that, the typical output from a reasonably efficient speaker system, vs. what is required to create any dynamic range whatsoever above the noise floor of a moving vehicle. It's inadequate, and clipping and nasty harmonic distortion is the inevitable result.

Sound quality? I challenge you to find me anything sold today under $1,000 - forget about your disposable $100 in-dash media player - that sounds even remotely as good as my Sony XES system from 1991. Which btw is currently supporting three "digital" sources: CD, iPod, and sat radio - two of them connected via optical digital cabling.

Bluetooth? Works better connected to a standalone speaker isolated from the microphone. Having the phone audio blasting through the audio system speakers is not only not needed, but increases the difficulty of achieving decent duplex handsfree performance. Besides, I'm not at all convinced that someone calling me while I'm driving should interfere with my enjoyment of a stellar musical experience. The last thing I need is for some damn telemarketer inserting themselves into the cabin of my car when I have a great piece of music playing at concert levels, sounding so good the hair on the back of my neck is standing up.

I say to you, bah and humbug.

John

+1,000,000,000 (lol)

[Warped Bezel]

+1,000,000,000 (lol)

I was always quite happy with my 1980s Delcos, other than I could never fix the noisy ground which my listening to actual AM stereo a pain.

I'm happy you loved your '91 Sony, as the Sony I had bought from Crutchfield was a piece of whatever that a Panasonic with the rear outputs blown out by a lightning strike(!) still beat crippled. The analog Pioneer Supertuner II model I had with cassette search was a lot of fun but I sold it when it became clear I would likely never drive a car with a two shaft dash.

I can effect a few mods, swaps and fixed to the GM 2000 chassis as it's MODULAR.

GM was well aware, I think, that their cars were a few bolts shy of being each other and that the way to your wallet is through your ears more so than your eyes. That is why I saved a few of mine and hope to use them on more than a showpiece cruiser bicycle.

PS I liked Clarions based on features and price but never owned one.

[jdurbin1]

The Sony XES system retailed for a few thousand bucks ($1K each for the display/control, active crossover, and CD changer or something along those lines) and as is typically the case with 1st-gen statement pieces by Sony & other Japanese brands, is built like the proverbial brick outhouse. Far cry from the regular line products.

John

[Warped Bezel]

I suppose but that would have been a lot for a 1989 Chevy. Even my old midnight blue, non Eurosport Celebrity CL with a 2.8 SFI V-6 and tasteful aftermarket rims.

It was the most beautiful car I even owned. A drunk swiped it with his Mercedes while it was parked and totalled it. I'm still rebuilding my archives on this machine or I could find a really nice montage to post.