Ok , so As most f you know i have a classic VW . My VW from the factory would of came with a Grundig radio , Uden , Sapphire radio or a Blaupunkt Radio. But the USA market got the Sapphire radios which would be ok if i had one.
So long story short, Most of these radios are 1 channel and 2 channel radio’s and are Mono only, Does anyone know if there is any ways to convert a single channel or 2 channel radio to 4 channel? I know that you can wire speakers in series/parallel to do 4 speakers on 1 channel but the issue is most of said radios are only 5 – 15 watts on the internal amp at 4 ohms , which is not a whole lot.
Now i do know that they make speaker to line out adapters and i even considered doing that and just adding a RCA connector driven AMP but those same line out converters are horrible quality and give bad distortion. And i cant find any info about people doing it to use for normal speakers and not Sub woofers as everyone who seems to have done that just uses them for subs which isnt what i want to do.
Now i know i can just install a modern radio in the dash and be good to go , but the issue is you risk cracking the dash by putting in an oversized radio inside a smaller space. One would have to dremel out the radio slot to fit a modern radio. I don’t want to do that , + i want to have a stock looking radio.
There are aftermarket radios but they to be honest look like garbage and function as such too as they all have a digital screen behind a vintage looking radio band which is just a sticker that you can stick over it . Which i can deal with if i cant find a solution but the price alone for one of those radios is anywhere from 300 – 800 USD I have found a few tested Grundig radios for 120 – 150 USD ( tested as in they power up and function ) not restored and used. But even then there aren’t a whole lot of sellers in the USA that are selling them, Most of them are UK and Germany.
The grundig radios although ancient by today’s standards and were back in the 70s too , They have a 6 pin and 7 pin DIN plug at the back of the radio. From the research i have done supposedly you can do audio out and audio in with the connector.
People are making bluetooth modules and 3.5mm AUX adapters which are plug and play that make your radio function like a modern radio would. I have found an old sales ad that shows that they had a external Amplifier that you could plug into the back of said radio to get more power output from it as in the DIN connector they also have a switched 12v output for your add-ons.
If i were to buy any of said radios that have the DIN plugs on them , Do you think it would be possible to either convert one to do 4 channels for mono or design an adapter for converting to say , stereo as those radios are rare and as stereo they only had 2 channels which can be wired as 4 speakers of course.
These radios are very expensive for people who live in the USA and while i rather not spend that much on a radio that will need to be restored , There are just no modern equivalents that look good and function good without dash modifications and because my dash is in near perfect condition and being 50 years old I just don’t want to ruin it. The radio i currently have is a early 90s radio and the Volume/Tuning knobs stick way out of the dash and looks hideous.
I know that some radios had an adapter for converting from mono to stereo for house radios ( Hi-fi tube conversions ) So one would think that it could even be possible to convert a car radio too.
I know that more information is needed and pictures so people can pull up Schismatics to check how they function , But theoretically could it be done without breaking ones pocket or bank?