Radio Adapter

[Mudeblue]

As part of my restoration project, I want/hope to use my stock AM Radio with blue tooth. Based upon what research I could do, it appeared the best option was to use an RediRad AM Adapter which would allow me to plug into my my i-phone. At this point it gets a little fuzzy but I assume that my music should come through at AM quality of which I could live with. My next thought was to plug a Bluetooth Audio Receiver, NVX VUBT2, into the RediRad AM Adapter whereby I would now have Bloothtooth capability. Is my logic correct.

What in part is driving my question is I order both of the units and the RediRad arrived but like everything else with this “Car From Hell,” the wrong unit was received! I received a RediRad FM Adapter. Before I go through the trouble of returning the FM adapter for the AM Adapter, I thought I would throw the question out there;Am I on the right track? Thanks.

 

[1966newport]

sound quality will be terrible

 

[Mudeblue]

sound quality will be terrible

Don’t care about sound quality. It is about keeping original look. Also, it is a convertible and I wear hearing aids. Think of it as a rock concert in a hockey arena. Will the set up work?

 

[bnz84]

I never used one but looks like the redirad is designed to play the radio by default...until you plug in a wired phone/mp3 player and then it automatically plays whatever is plugged in. If you plug in your Bluetooth adapter to the redirad and leave it there, like its designed to be, its likely the redirad will always be playing bluetooth. No radio, until the Bluetooth is unplugged.

It may work (both radio and Bluetooth) but if not put a simple switch on the Bluetooth adapter red power wire. When "on" you will get power to the adapter and redirad will play BT, when OFF should be radio. 2 things about bluetooth adapters...1 is that it uses an tiny antenna to connect with your phone. Before you permanently mount it make sure you are getting good connection. The second thing is you may get ground loop noise when in bluetooth mode. If you do experiment with different ground locations including the same place as the Redirad. If that doesnt work there are noise eliminators that are designed for this.

Amazon product

 

[Mudeblue]

I never used one but looks like the redirad is designed to play the radio by default...until you plug in a wired phone/mp3 player and then it automatically plays whatever is plugged in. If you plug in your Bluetooth adapter to the redirad and leave it there, like its designed to be, its likely the redirad will always be playing bluetooth. No radio, until the Bluetooth is unplugged.

It may work (both radio and Bluetooth) but if not put a simple switch on the Bluetooth adapter red power wire. When "on" you will get power to the adapter and redirad will play BT, when OFF should be radio. 2 things about bluetooth adapters...1 is that it uses an tiny antenna to connect with your phone. Before you permanently mount it make sure you are getting good connection. The second thing is you may get ground loop noise when in bluetooth mode. If you do experiment with different ground locations including the same place as the Redirad. If that doesnt work there are noise eliminators that are designed for this.

Amazon product

Thanks.

 

[darth_linux]

sound quality is largely a function of the speakers - replace the old speakers with new ones of better quality and that will help a lot.

 

[Mudeblue]

Ne

sound quality is largely a function of the speakers - replace the old speakers with new ones of better quality and that will help a lot.

New 100 watt Pioneers with amp.

 

[1966newport]

wont work with am radio

 

[Mudeblue]

wont work with am radio

What won't work?

 

[Mudeblue]

wont work with am radio

Yes it will!

 

[Mudeblue]

Update: I finished installing the AM adapter and followed my original thoughts to enable Bluetooth function along with converting the signal so I could use my 1965 AM radio. Prior to starting the installation, I diagrammed, color coded, it all using Excel. The diagram worked well and helped during the install. It wasn't as bad as it looked, or sounds, but the secret was having all the required wiring and cables prior to starting, BUT, it did take some time, 4-6 hours, but well worth it. However, since we are putting the car back together from a complete restoration, we did not have to dismantle and reassemble. Amazon was a great source.

I completed the install as I originally outlined and, After Disconnecting the Battery, which was as: 1) Installed a RCA Cable to Radio Speaker Output using wires on one end and Female RCA Cable on the other. 2) Installed a RCA Female Cable to Front Speaker with Wires at the other end. I did the same for the Rear Speaker 3) To these cables and using a Female RCA Connector, I installed a Two Wire 15 Foot RCA Cable to the trunk. One Cable to carry the signal from the radio to the trunk where a RCA Cable Splitter with Female on one end and two Male on the other was to be plugged into the Left and Right inputs on the Amplifier. 4) The Second 15 Foot RCA Cable to be plugged into the Left or Right Output of the Amplifier and carry the signal back to the Front Speaker. 5) I reinstalled a 100 Watt Amplifier - 45 RMS per channel (my original radio was 1 channel so I used RCA Splitter Cables for input to the Amplifier. 6) Plugged the RCA Cable from the Rear Speaker which was done in 2) above to into the Left or Right Output on the Amplifier. 7) Plugged the Second 15 Foot RCA Cable into the Left or Right Amplifier Output. 8) Pluged the 15 Foot RCA Cable to the Front Speaker using a Female (Male to Male) Connector.

9) Installed RediRad AM Adapter per instructions ($110). I suggest caution if ordering because there is both AM and FM Adapters depending on the type of radio one has - $110. I did not install my Radio Antenna Cable to the RediRad as per the instructions - personal preference. 10) Installed NVX VUBT2 Bluetooth Receiver per instructions - $40. 3). 11) I installed two toggle switches under the dash to Turn on Wires on the Amplifier and the Blue Tooth NVX VUBT2 - personal preference. 12) Reconnected the Battery. Plugged Phone or other to RediRad 3.5MM Cable or Using Blue Tooth and contrary to comments from some people; IT WORKS GREAT. No expensive radio conversion was required! To play all my Pedal Steel Guitar songs is heavenly. FYI, there are no harps in heaven, they have all been replaced by Pedal Steel.

As a note, I discovered afterwards that the Amplifier really wasn't necessary and the factory radio does have enough volume and can power two 100 watt speakers, but........!

 

[bnz84]

I'm trying to understand this setup. Tell me if I'm right. You had 2 mono speakers to power, 1 in front and 1 in the rear. You ran the speaker outputs/wires of the original radio to the amplifier using RCA cables. No line output converters were used...I guess the OEM voltage is under the max for the amps low level/RCA input. You then used more rca cables as speakers wires from the amp to the front and the rear speaker. With this settup you could listen to the radio. Then the redirad was put in the antenna circuit which allowed you to bring in the Bluetooth input. I get that. Highjack the antenna input using your BT receiver. Is that right?

 

[Mudeblue]

I'm trying to understand this setup. Tell me if I'm right. You had 2 mono speakers to power, 1 in front and 1 in the rear. You ran the speaker outputs/wires of the original radio to the amplifier using RCA cables. No line output converters were used...I guess the OEM voltage is under the max for the amps low level/RCA input. You then used more rca cables as speakers wires from the amp to the front and the rear speaker. With this settup you could listen to the radio. Then the redirad was put in the antenna circuit which allowed you to bring in the Bluetooth input. I get that. Highjack the antenna input using your BT receiver. Is that right?

Yes to Below:

"You had 2 mono speakers to power, 1 in front and 1 in the rear. You ran the speaker outputs/wires of the original radio to the amplifier using RCA cables. No line output converters were used...I guess the OEM voltage is under the max for the amps low level/RCA input. You then used more rca cables as speakers wires from the amp to the front and the rear speaker. With this settup you could listen to the radio"

Then:
Antenna cable plugs into the RediRad and the RediRad Antenna Cable plugs into the radio. At that point, you can plug your iphone into the RediRad and listen to your what is on your phone on the radio, tuned to tuned to 1,000. If you want to then go to Bluetooth, you plug the RediRad into the Bluetooth.

I tried to send you a PM with attached schematics and the procedures for the install which I developed but it didn't work, can't attach pictures.
Hope these work, if not, send me your e-mail and I will forward them which are excel files.

 

[bnz84]

I PMd you. If your amp has high level (speaker level inputs) in addition to RCAs you could have extended the OEM radio wires all the way to amp (or use the original rear speaker wires!) and that would eliminate the AMP on switch because amps have a voltage trigger that will turn it on whenever it gets voltage from the head unit once turned on. Also you say that the amp doesn't provide much more volume than the original HU and maybe not necessary. That seems odd. The amp should have a gain twist knob to turn it up. Or perhaps using RCAs for speaker wires is causing too much resistance and keeping the volume/voltage low.

 

[Mudeblue]

I PMd you. If your amp has high level (speaker level inputs) in addition to RCAs you could have extended the OEM radio wires all the way to amp (or use the original rear speaker wires!) and that would eliminate the AMP on switch because amps have a voltage trigger that will turn it on whenever it gets voltage from the head unit once turned on. Also you say that the amp doesn't provide much more volume than the original HU and maybe not necessary. That seems odd. The amp should have a gain twist knob to turn it up. Or perhaps using RCAs for speaker wires is causing too much resistance and keeping the volume/voltage low.

Try PM again. I am getting so damn many ad's that I can't even open my PM's to read. Lately on this forum it has almost become impossible to use because of all the pop up ad's! Grrrrrrr!