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Radio and CD Player 73-91

Liamking01

Liamking01

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Hello Everyone,

I have a 1986 Blazer, and I am starting to rebuild some of my interior components and planning out the radio head unit. I am a younger guy, so a lot of these older systems are a bit foreign to me. I don't particularly want to modify the dash, and I would like to have a CD player. I have seen the "vintage style" head units on places like LMC - will they connect to a disk player? Are they worth the money?

I have been on ebay and found some of the old disk changers units with the magazines to load 6-12 cds into - Dad said this was common back in the day, but it is new to me hahaha. All are around $150 - $200 for one that is in "new in box" condition. I have heard that Sony used to make the good ones back in the day - but I'm nervous buying one because who knows if it will work and or if the plastic has gone brittle.

Looking for any and all advice. I really don't know much about these older sound systems - I hate the cheapo Walmart head unit the owner before me installed with the glowing rainbow LEDs - it works fine, but it just looks horrible and feels cheap.

Thanks!
Liam
 
Welcome! Liam

I’m an Alpine guy myself. I have Alpine ILX-650 in the cars I drive, double DIN, 7 inch screen does everything I need it to. Has CarPlay capability too. I’ll be putting one in Chloe, shortly, my 1973 short box Crawler K10
But, anymore, just get yourself a Kenwood single DIN, AM/FM/BLUETOOTH deck and be done with it.
I say that as I love my old CD collection, but, it sucks always carrying them around. Bluetooth is the way to fly now
I haven’t used a CD in a very long time.
I listen to music more than most people as I drive a big truck. My phone has the Spotify App. I have a family account, it’s $20/month. All my adult children and wife use it too. My adult kids all give me $5 a month for it. There are 4 of them , so Spotify is free for me.
Trust me Bluetooth is the way to fly nowadays.
 
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I have the classic Auto Sound USA-630, it has the input for a remote cd changer. I am using that input for the bluetooth adapter. If I were to do it again I would get the USA-740.

Just checked and the prices have more than doubled since I did mine, so maybe I wouldn't do the 740.

IMG_20190106_164102.jpgIMG_20190106_164113.jpgIMG_20190108_182348.jpg
 
Being an ‘86 if it’s got an aftermarket head in it, the dash is probably already cut for at least a DIN sized radio. An ‘86 would have had an old style two knob style head unit. Those at most would have a cassette deck and no cd option.

If it’s already cut it opens up the options. The crutchfield link being one of them. I’m running a Kenwood cd deck I picked up from a swap meet. It does have Bluetooth and a usb input on the front face.

In addition to the Kenwood, I’ve got a small amp under the console and it’s powering the two Kenwood 6x9’s in individual enclosures. I’ve got better aftermarket 3” dash speakers up front. It’s simple, basic and works pretty good. Though I rarely use a cd in it. I run my phone through it via Bluetooth. If I’m off grid out of cell coverage I’ll plug in my iPod nano with about 40+ hours of music on it.
 
I’ve always been partial to Clarion myself. But in my younger days I had Alpine and Sony also. I still have a majority of my old 90s equipment…my Fosgate Amps and whatnot. . I even have my Sony and Clarion cd changers still. Currently both my K5 and Dakota work truck have clarion decks but neither have cd. Rarely listen to them anymore.
I’d go to crutchfiekd and buy whatever you can afford They will send you the stuff you need to install it as well as instructions on how to do it.
 
If the dash is already cut for an aftermarket radio and you want to go back to a more stock style look and feel, the Retro Sound radios come with parts to put their stock-looking radio in a cut dash. Once the radio and dash bezel are in, you can't tell the dash is modified. The radio doesn't have a CD player, though.

I also like CDs, but am not planning on putting a CD player in my truck just for simplicity and space reasons. If your preference for CDs is because of the audio quality, see below. Either way it might be worth considering options that don't have a CD player...

Both Apple Music and Spotify offer lossless compression (if you enable it) streamed or downloaded to your phone. Most radios also have a USB input, which means you avoid Bluetooth compression. In other words CD-quality that can be available offline if you want.

That being said I think the quality limitation is the fact that you're in a truck and not sitting in front of a stereo at home, so I wouldn't worry much about it.
 
The title says through '91, but somewhere around 1989, the dash changed to hold a 1.5-DIN unit. Is your dash cut or still the dual-shaft style? I'm thinking the latter because you are talking about CD changers. The face of the dual-shaft style is too narrow to hold a CD.
 
I appreciate all the feedback y'all! There are some good points to be made here and a lot of decisions to make. A good stereo system really makes a car pop. My 86 has been cut I realized which really opens up my options. - It will really come down to cost from what I can tell. I will still be pushing for cd player of some kind. I am kind of a music nerd, but hopefully my justification below makes sense.

The reasons I like the CDs are not for the sake of sound quality, but instead, I enjoy the way a CD forces you to understand an album. Truly good albums need to be listened front to back. Also, a lot of my CD collection is not available on streaming platforms - why I bought many of my CDs in the first place. One of my favorites, Stevie Ray Vaughan, for example has some major albums on Spotify but not all of the good deep cut stuff is on there. Other artists such as Garth Brooks flat out deny all streaming services making it so you can only listen to him on the radio or cd - (his case is not for more creative control but to make more money sadly.) Not sure if anyone on here listens to Sturgill Simpson or not, but he just announced an album that will only be released on physical media like CDs and vinyl and even cassettes. Sounds like more and more bands are starting to move away from streaming as it has become saturated with AI bands that are taking huge profits without making real music. (One of willie nelson's sons is a big advocate of this) I've also found that it has shifted the way people make music as they are focused on making individual songs and not a cohesive whole. It takes away from the truly great artists and encourages a lazier approach to songwriting. A lot of new bands have a hit or miss repertoire and fail to create a unique sound for themselves. From what I can tell CDs are making a bit of a revival with folks my age. Many of my friends feel the same way I do. Seems like it's becoming the "hip" thing for my generation - the same as collecting vinyl is to millennials. Who knows how the music industry will respond.

I know this is not necessarily car related hahaha - more of a personal rant I got on. I may be way early to predict this, but I think the music industry will be changing. Either these artists will force streaming companies to respond, or they will fall back on traditional media forms. Just a thought for those of you that are thinking about removing or adding CD players - there may be more reason to keep them around than to get rid of them. Time will tell...
 
Liamking01 said:
Sturgill Simpson
Click to expand...

Hell Yeah Brother GIF
 
It's also pretty easy to rip CDs at full quality, save them to a phone (or whatever), and play the songs (in original album order if you prefer) to a head unit with Bluetooth and/or USB input.

I'm not trying to discourage installing a head unit with a CD player, just an idea in case you can't find one that you like.
 
Conner said:
It's also pretty easy to rip CDs at full quality, save them to a phone (or whatever), and play the songs (in original album order if you prefer) to a head unit with Bluetooth and/or USB input.

I'm not trying to discourage installing a head unit with a CD player, just an idea in case you can't find one that you like.
Click to expand...
Hahahah love it! Haven't thought about burning cds to MP3 files in a very long time. I could easily just keep an old ipod from ebay in the car preloaded with all the cds.
 
Liamking01 said:
Hello Everyone,

I have a 1986 Blazer, and I am starting to rebuild some of my interior components and planning out the radio head unit. I am a younger guy, so a lot of these older systems are a bit foreign to me. I don't particularly want to modify the dash, and I would like to have a CD player. I have seen the "vintage style" head units on places like LMC - will they connect to a disk player? Are they worth the money?

I have been on ebay and found some of the old disk changers units with the magazines to load 6-12 cds into - Dad said this was common back in the day, but it is new to me hahaha. All are around $150 - $200 for one that is in "new in box" condition. I have heard that Sony used to make the good ones back in the day - but I'm nervous buying one because who knows if it will work and or if the plastic has gone brittle.

Looking for any and all advice. I really don't know much about these older sound systems - I hate the cheapo Walmart head unit the owner before me installed with the glowing rainbow LEDs - it works fine, buany rat it just looks horrible and feels cheap.

Thanks!
Liam
Click to expand...
I haven't had any radio in my vehicles for a long time, I lost interest in listening to music while driving but I did hold on to my few good radios including the jvc I got in 1999 with a 12 cd changer, and remote control that was in my conversion van.
Maybe some day when I finish the overland suburban I am building I will put it in there.
I also have collected some of the older radios I pulled from trucks I parted, both stock and aftermarket.
I should start listing some because I'm running out of storage space for all the parts I have collected.
Right now if I do listen to anything it's podcasts on my phone with a BT speaker I lay next to me.
 
Liamking01 said:
I appreciate all the feedback y'all! There are some good points to be made here and a lot of decisions to make. A good stereo system really makes a car pop. My 86 has been cut I realized which really opens up my options. - It will really come down to cost from what I can tell. I will still be pushing for cd player of some kind. I am kind of a music nerd, but hopefully my justification below makes sense.

The reasons I like the CDs are not for the sake of sound quality, but instead, I enjoy the way a CD forces you to understand an album. Truly good albums need to be listened front to back. Also, a lot of my CD collection is not available on streaming platforms - why I bought many of my CDs in the first place. One of my favorites, Stevie Ray Vaughan, for example has some major albums on Spotify but not all of the good deep cut stuff is on there. Other artists such as Garth Brooks flat out deny all streaming services making it so you can only listen to him on the radio or cd - (his case is not for more creative control but to make more money sadly.) Not sure if anyone on here listens to Sturgill Simpson or not, but he just announced an album that will only be released on physical media like CDs and vinyl and even cassettes. Sounds like more and more bands are starting to move away from streaming as it has become saturated with AI bands that are taking huge profits without making real music. (One of willie nelson's sons is a big advocate of this) I've also found that it has shifted the way people make music as they are focused on making individual songs and not a cohesive whole. It takes away from the truly great artists and encourages a lazier approach to songwriting. A lot of new bands have a hit or miss repertoire and fail to create a unique sound for themselves. From what I can tell CDs are making a bit of a revival with folks my age. Many of my friends feel the same way I do. Seems like it's becoming the "hip" thing for my generation - the same as collecting vinyl is to millennials. Who knows how the music industry will respond.

I know this is not necessarily car related hahaha - more of a personal rant I got on. I may be way early to predict this, but I think the music industry will be changing. Either these artists will force streaming companies to respond, or they will fall back on traditional media forms. Just a thought for those of you that are thinking about removing or adding CD players - there may be more reason to keep them around than to get rid of them. Time will tell...
Click to expand...
most newer units will have a usb slot, rib you cd's to mp4 on a 256g stick and use that. I neglected to mention the usa-630 has an usb aux port. I get it I have some SRV bootleg stuff.
 
I was trying to explain to my daughters (9 and 7) the old days of having a CD player in your car and having a "keeper" of CD's that you had to unzip, flip open, find the CD you wanted, and then insert into the dash to listen to. It was like trying to explain a phonograph to them.

I moved all of my CD's over to music files and they've lived on various iPhones since the early 201x's. Now-a-days I mostly listen to YouTube stuff and podcasts and just stream my phone to the "Entertainment System" the same way I listen to the music.
 
I replaced the battery in my old 160gb ipod a couple years ago. It's like a radio station that plays everything I like. I have a hookup in most of my rigs for it. Makes it nice when you want to put the phone away and not deal with it.
 
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