Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 09:52:42 -0400
Reply-To: "Jack R." <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Jack R." <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: stereo
In-Reply-To: <DD82B7B9-6B6E-4011-9EC8-E84A6009E11C@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Jim,
I put this Sony radio into my 84 Westy, and also into our friends 90 Westy.
As you can see from the photo, it is a perfect fit, and a good match.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77623993@N00/2843132694/
The model I put in our friends Vanagon is newer, but still looks the same.
It fit just as well. http://www.xplodsony.com/xplod/headunits/CDX-GT420U
You should be able to find it for $100 or so
http://www.millionbuy.com/snycdxgt420u.html
By the way, it comes with a wireless remote, which fits nicely by the
speedometer, and can change the song from the upper bunk at night!
You will need an antenna adaptor, Best Buy will charge you $15 or you can
get it on Ebay for $4 http://tinyurl.com/58ztmf
I hooked up the power leads, and used a circuit tester to find a proper
switch lead by the fuse panel, so the radio would shut off with the van.
You can also wire it hot, so it runs any time you turn it on. The last
option, which I did for my van, was to wire a three way switch by the on-off
key, so I can turn either tell it to turn off with the van or run when the
switch is on. Not too hard to do, you wire a always hot lead to the bottom
of the switch, and a "on with the key" to the top of the switch... the lead
to the radio comes from the center. You can get this switch at any Radio
Shack.
Once the power leads are hooked up, you can match up the speaker wire pairs
to the speakers one-by-one. The solid leads are the positive on the Vanagon
speakers... you'll find the pairs pretty easily. I used a crimp tool to
secure the leads after cutting the wires two at a time. Or if you don't want
to cut the wires use these... they do take up space however and not as clean
as a crimp and join.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=97990
The radio sounds find with the factory original blaupunkt speakers, and I
don't blast it, so for me I'm happy. If you want to take up precious camper
space for a sub, it can handle that as well.
Lastly, and a feature I use a lot, the radio can read from an CD loaded with
180 MP3's, and I have various CD mixes depending on mood and situation.
All this for $100 or so, you can't go wrong.
Hope this helps!
Jack R.
84 Westy Wolfie
N. of Detroit
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jim Cochran
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 9:54 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: stereo
Hi List,
Time to update the radio/cassette player from the original '86 player
to something newer. I'd like to have a cd player with input capacity
for my Sirius XM receiver and my iPod, and a remote would be nice,
too. But I'd like a unit that won't clash with the style. Simple brown
interior. Any leads out there? Ideas?
Jim C
86 Westy
71 Van
