OMG - what an adventure - swapping out my radio for period correct Becker

scottevest said:
They said it should take only 1.5 hours to do the install, but when I got there they said they reserved 5 hours to do the work. I just think they took on more work than they were capable of at that time. They should have told me they couldn't do the work, or didn't want to do the work.
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Ah, I see.
The shop under-estimated the challenge, over-estimated how much attention they could give you, didn't warn you that they were too busy .... I guess this shop is perhaps not as professional as what you need.

Again, sorry to hear about the long drive for a disappointment.

Sometimes when I hear about the lack of expertise in your area I think about that reality TV show about people living in remote areas of Alaska ... seems like you are in the perfect situation to become a DIY'er.

John
 
Wow, this sounds more complex than it should be.
Starting from the windows. If they move in one direction it means that the ground to the motors is fine, and the 12V to the switches is there. It can only be that the switches were removed during the install and not cabled back correctly, or that during the install they were activated unintentionally for a long time damaging the switches or the motor windings. Mine has no current limiter, seems like yours has a breaker so maybe that would be different. My simple way of diagnosing this is to realize that the switches are symmetrical, so I would disconnect a rear switch, rotate it 180 degrees, reconnect it, and expect that the window goes up but not down now if the switch was the problem. If the winding was the problem expect that it goes down but not up.

On mounting an old radio, there is the mechanical mounting and the electrical. The electrical is very simple and can be done ahead of the mechanical.
That is, apply 12V from the radio power cables, this involves an in-line fuse that may come with radio, the radio fuse in the car, and a good ground. Turn on the radio and ensure that it comes alive. That is lights are on. Some radios can be damaged by being powered without a load, so maybe connect an external 8 ohm speaker that is known to work. If the radio and its amp work you should hear white noise in the speaker even without antenna in both the AM and FM bands. Then connect a long wire to the antenna center cable (coax) and see if you get any signal across the dial. A short wire should be enough for FM for sure. Once that works plug the output to the E9 speaker and see if the audio output is still there. Once all that works have the shop do the mechanical install. If any of this does not work take the radio back to bench using an external 12V supply and speaker. If it does not work in the bench ether is no point in installing it.
 
Markos said:
This confirms my comments above. Sounds like you have at least one if not two aftermarket amps in your car. So your setup is like this:

becker radio -> becker amp -> line converter-> aftermarket amp -> speakers.
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Why use an aftermarket modern amp at all? I would replace modern speakers with new period correct speakers and throw the aftermarket amp into the pond. Go from Becker radio to Becker amp to period correct speakers. For me part of the appeal of driving a vintage car is keeping it as period correct As possible. My coupe still has the original stereo speakers, one in the dash and two in the parcel shelf, and under dash front/rear fader dial that the dealer installed in 1974. Works fine. Adding the blue tooth mod is as far as I was willing to go.

Scott,
Ed at Becker Autosound is a very knowledgeable guy. They’ve done two radios for me. He’s always on the phone helping guys with installs and he’s been working Becker’s for many years. Also, one of your pictures show speaker wire connection for Blaupunkt not Becker. But I assume you’re installers would have noticed they’re not interchangeable. Having the installers talk to Ed before trying again is the way to go.
Good Luck. Becker Radios are so cool.
 
JMinNJ said:
Also, one of your pictures show speaker wire connection for Blaupunkt not Becker. But I assume you’re installers would have noticed they’re not interchangeable. Having the installers talk to Ed before trying again is the way to go.
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What pictures? I didn’t see any pics posted by Scott.
 
Markos said:
What pictures? I didn’t see any pics posted by Scott.
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Scott didn't attach the photos. He provided this Drop Box link that he sent to the installers.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com

This is what I was referring to:

blau.jpeg
 
JMinNJ said:
Why use an aftermarket modern amp at all? I would replace modern speakers with new period correct speakers and throw the aftermarket amp into the pond. Go from Becker radio to Becker amp to period correct speakers. For me part of the appeal of driving a vintage car is keeping it as period correct As possible. My coupe still has the original stereo speakers, one in the dash and two in the parcel shelf, and under dash front/rear fader dial that the dealer installed in 1974. Works fine. Adding the blue tooth mod is as far as I was willing to go.

Scott,
Ed at Becker Autosound is a very knowledgeable guy. They’ve done two radios for me. He’s always on the phone helping guys with installs and he’s been working Becker’s for many years. Also, one of your pictures show speaker wire connection for Blaupunkt not Becker. But I assume you’re installers would have noticed they’re not interchangeable. Having the installers talk to Ed before trying again is the way to go.
Good Luck. Becker Radios are so cool.
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I've not kept up on this over the years, but as I recall modern speakers have gotten more efficient to allow simplified amplifier designs so that modern speakers could easily be installed with a 1970s radio and amplifier.

In any event, I think the issue here is the addition of a modern amplifier in the chain. From the installer's comments, it looks like he retained the modern amp so as to keep the RCA cables, which indicates that the amplifier was installed in a location remote from the head unit (trunk, perhaps?). This, in turn, means the speaker wiring was not run to the head unit and he would have had to redo the speaker wiring in order to bypass the existing amplifier (or do half assed splices).

While you could probably retain the front speaker wiring, pulling it forward from the rear amplifier, cutting it and connecting it to an amplifier in the dash, the wiring to the rear speakers would probably have to be replaced (the existing wiring would be too short) and run from the rear parcel shelf forward to the head unit.

This would have entailed a lot more labor than he quoted you and he may also have been reluctant to suggest this because you came from far away and were waiting. Moreover, he had lot of other customers waiting and didn't need the work.

I would think sticking to the Becker stuff, eliminating the additional amplifier, and redoing the wiring would be the way to go.
 
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