I paid $289 w/John, but my original radio is am/fm. John told me it's cheaper to start with am only and convert to am/fm than to refurbish an original am/fm radio. I was able to keep the functionality of the fm slider bar. Keeping the original controls is a bit more complicated. Hopefully I'll get my radio in sometime next week - will post results. Danny
Just wanted to give an update on my final result. I got the radio conversion back, but it didn't turn out like I thought it would. On the build I have there's no way to adjust the treble and bass or to fade between sets of speakers. Danny mentioned four channels in his posts. That's really what I needed. If you're running two speakers and not trying to get really rich sound this could work. The sound is certainly better than the old radio. It may work better with an amp too. I had problems with my amp so I pulled it out. I do want to say John Cavanaugh is a stand-up guy. He's really good with his email communications and was helpful in addressing my questions after I installed the radio. I assumed the stereo would have the power and control of the higher end current day stereos. I should have told John how I was planning on using it first. I ended up putting a Kenwood Excelon Stereo ($115) in the glove box. It has enough power to really push the speakers I have and the sound rocks. It's a four channel unit with a program equalizer. Also has USB and Ipod inputs. I can play music louder than I generally will and the sound is crystal clear. Even in the convertible the sound is great and overpowers the road noise. The Kenwood also has a remote that I can control everything with, but I do have to leave the glove box open to use it. I'm also really happy with all the speakers which I covered in an earlier post. Thanks to everybody for giving advice. It really helped with my stereo project.
Chris - We must have been on the same work schedule. I finally got my refurbished radio installed last week too. I agree with everything you said. If I had to do it all over again I would have told John C. (or at least asked whether it could be done) that I wanted a true four speaker set up for front and rear. It never occured to me to ask. I had a WTF moment when I unwrapped the radio and looked at the wiring diagram. I'll have to rethink this setup one day if I ever want to use kick panel speakers in front. That being said, I'm happy with the radio for what it is - my stock unit with new electronics that sounds better than before and also has connections for an amp and my mp3 player. The new Turnswitch dual cone front speaker sounds really clear and I can hear my tunes fine even with the top down at 70mph. However, even with the dual cone speaker there is not enough separation to hear true stereo. The audio still sounds like what it is - a single front speaker in the dash. Just lots better. For now that suits me fine - it adds to the period feel of the car. Glad to hear you eventually worked out a system that works for you. Danny
