old66tiger
04-22-2013, 05:13 PM
I bought a Retrosound Model 2 radio for my 66 GTO and I thought that I would give my review of it. My car originally came with an AM/FM radio and when I bought the car back in 1997, the owner threw in a supposedly "working" radio with the deal. The radio didn't work and I ended up getting a $500 refund on the deal. Wish I would have kept the non-working factory radio, shelved it for a later date, but I was pretty broke at the time and needed the money. Fast forward to 2013, and I was getting tired of looking at a junky AM radio that I put in the dash to fill the hole and wanted something that was more convenient to use than my MP3 player fed into an amp.
I opted for the Retrosound unit over the Custom Autosound because I heard lots of negative comments about the Custom Autosound stuff. Lousy performance, tinny sound, etc. Also, the Retrosound radio just looked better and advertised more advanced features.
Install was pretty easy. Just mount the brackets on the side of the radio, measure the centerline of the factory radio shafts, and center the Retro shafts on radio body. It takes a few trips in and out of the dash to get it setup properly. Second is to set the depth of the radio. Again, many trips in and out of the dash to get the depth right. They sent a bezel that is supposed to be for the 66-67 GTO, filling the voide between the radio nose and the factory hole in the dash. I think they anticipated that this adapter plate should go behind the dash to make it look like the factory unit. Wrong...When I tried installing the bezel from the back side, it looked horrible. Large gaps and the contour of the adapter plate was not the same dimension of the factory radio bezel. So, I re-adjusted the depth of the shafts so that the radio stuck out a bit further and installed the bezel from the front. It looks very nice this way and I encourage anyone to play around with the bezel before cutting it to fit.
I hooked up the radio and noticed a slight clicking noise coming from the speaker when running the volume up and down at low volumes. Being a bit perturbed on spending $330 on a radio and not having it sound as good as my factory unit in my 05 Silverado, I contacted the manufacturer to let them know about this problem. The guys there are very nice and helpful and after a 20 minute discussion, the tech advised me to send it back. 2 weeks later, and a new radio arrived at my doorstep. I re-installed the volume and selector brackets and noticed that the factory forgot to tap two of the holes in the radio for the bracket. Really??? So, I took an 8-32 tap and ran it through the pre-punched holes, making sure that I did not get any metal chips in the radio and fastened the bracket to the radio.
Powered the replacement unit back up and the same thing. Light clicking at low volumes when increasing and decreasing the volume. I contacted them again and they said that they tested this unit prior to sending out and they did not experience any problems. They also told me that the one I sent back did not make the slight clicking noise. As a consolation, the tech said that they would stand behind it and would refund my money if I chose to go that route. Undecided on what to do, i started looking at other options. Kicker, Rockford Fosgate all make some neat flush mount solutions but each of them would require making a plate to go over the factory holes and I was not totally on board with that idea.
Back to the shop and I played around with the radio some more. Instead of using the built-in amp in the radio, I hooked up an external amp to see if that was better. It made a noticeable difference with better bass and the clicking noise wasn't as obvious. My wife even commented that the exhaust is so loud on the car that the clicking noise probably would not be noticeable with the engine running anyway. She was right and with limited options to make the dash look good, I chose to keep the Retrosound radio. Overall, I am pretty happy with it. Two USB inputs, two line inputs, front and rear pre-amp outputs, bluetooth input, 32000 color choices for the display, on-display song and artist listing and an adequate built-in amplifier. Sound quality is good minus the slight clicking noise from the digital volume controls. My phone synced up to the radio immediately and I was able to place and take phone calls on the radio. The quality of the voice through the car speaker is average and I was told that i sounded like I was talking in a tin can. I am sure that GM spends orders of magnitude developing good bluetooth technology in their radios so I wasn't expecting much in this area.
So, would I buy it again? Given the limited choices for not cutting up a factory dash, it fills the need for some tech without making it look like it stands out like a sore thumb. With these niche radios, you need to realize that it is designed to produce good sound, not super-high fidelity. This is not a Mercedes, BWM or Cadillac, it is a 66 GTO with loud exhaust and a convertible to boot. Convertibles are not known for having super-high fidelity in the first place and that needs to figure into the decision. Pictures forthcoming.
I opted for the Retrosound unit over the Custom Autosound because I heard lots of negative comments about the Custom Autosound stuff. Lousy performance, tinny sound, etc. Also, the Retrosound radio just looked better and advertised more advanced features.
Install was pretty easy. Just mount the brackets on the side of the radio, measure the centerline of the factory radio shafts, and center the Retro shafts on radio body. It takes a few trips in and out of the dash to get it setup properly. Second is to set the depth of the radio. Again, many trips in and out of the dash to get the depth right. They sent a bezel that is supposed to be for the 66-67 GTO, filling the voide between the radio nose and the factory hole in the dash. I think they anticipated that this adapter plate should go behind the dash to make it look like the factory unit. Wrong...When I tried installing the bezel from the back side, it looked horrible. Large gaps and the contour of the adapter plate was not the same dimension of the factory radio bezel. So, I re-adjusted the depth of the shafts so that the radio stuck out a bit further and installed the bezel from the front. It looks very nice this way and I encourage anyone to play around with the bezel before cutting it to fit.
I hooked up the radio and noticed a slight clicking noise coming from the speaker when running the volume up and down at low volumes. Being a bit perturbed on spending $330 on a radio and not having it sound as good as my factory unit in my 05 Silverado, I contacted the manufacturer to let them know about this problem. The guys there are very nice and helpful and after a 20 minute discussion, the tech advised me to send it back. 2 weeks later, and a new radio arrived at my doorstep. I re-installed the volume and selector brackets and noticed that the factory forgot to tap two of the holes in the radio for the bracket. Really??? So, I took an 8-32 tap and ran it through the pre-punched holes, making sure that I did not get any metal chips in the radio and fastened the bracket to the radio.
Powered the replacement unit back up and the same thing. Light clicking at low volumes when increasing and decreasing the volume. I contacted them again and they said that they tested this unit prior to sending out and they did not experience any problems. They also told me that the one I sent back did not make the slight clicking noise. As a consolation, the tech said that they would stand behind it and would refund my money if I chose to go that route. Undecided on what to do, i started looking at other options. Kicker, Rockford Fosgate all make some neat flush mount solutions but each of them would require making a plate to go over the factory holes and I was not totally on board with that idea.
Back to the shop and I played around with the radio some more. Instead of using the built-in amp in the radio, I hooked up an external amp to see if that was better. It made a noticeable difference with better bass and the clicking noise wasn't as obvious. My wife even commented that the exhaust is so loud on the car that the clicking noise probably would not be noticeable with the engine running anyway. She was right and with limited options to make the dash look good, I chose to keep the Retrosound radio. Overall, I am pretty happy with it. Two USB inputs, two line inputs, front and rear pre-amp outputs, bluetooth input, 32000 color choices for the display, on-display song and artist listing and an adequate built-in amplifier. Sound quality is good minus the slight clicking noise from the digital volume controls. My phone synced up to the radio immediately and I was able to place and take phone calls on the radio. The quality of the voice through the car speaker is average and I was told that i sounded like I was talking in a tin can. I am sure that GM spends orders of magnitude developing good bluetooth technology in their radios so I wasn't expecting much in this area.
So, would I buy it again? Given the limited choices for not cutting up a factory dash, it fills the need for some tech without making it look like it stands out like a sore thumb. With these niche radios, you need to realize that it is designed to produce good sound, not super-high fidelity. This is not a Mercedes, BWM or Cadillac, it is a 66 GTO with loud exhaust and a convertible to boot. Convertibles are not known for having super-high fidelity in the first place and that needs to figure into the decision. Pictures forthcoming.