Retro Videos

After many late nights and lots of tinkering, I’m pleased to announce that the retro audio project is finally completed. Also worth noting that instead of sitting with its guts out on a messy bench, this particular setup is properly mounted in a car (the savanna banana, to be precise!)

This is cassette deck build number two, a KP-717G deck from 1983 with added attenuator circuit (to bring the auxiliary input down to a level which the onboard pre-amp can handle), outputting through a CD-5 graphic equalizer into a pair of (hidden) amps.

At the moment only the front speakers are functional… they’re fucked and need replacing anyway, as evidenced by the awful crackle in the video – I won’t hook up the rears until the two-seater conversion parts arrive.

which should be sometime in the next few weeks. Then I can hit the streets with some phat beats playing, haha.

Continuing the theme of “collect all the ’80s audio gear!” – here is a freshly acquired Lonesome Carboy cassette deck and matching digital tuner being put thru the paces. Pleasantly surprised that the drive motor and belts haven’t completely fallen apart after 27 years.

I can’t find much information about the deck, except that it was apparently a factory upgrade option for the BF Familias and Lasers in Japan for a short time in 1985 before the CDX-P1 compact disc player was introduced, but the tuner is a standard Pioneer off-the-shelf item. This particular one, typically, is locked to Japanese AM/FM frequencies only.

There is a plan in motion for this setup; all shall be revealed in due course.

And it’s all over you, electric blue!

Made some significant progress today with the retro audio project – one of the decks is nowe fully modified for AUX-in operation. Here’s the quick’n'nasty rundown and demonstration video:

The next logical step is to create some sort of circuit to allow full switching between cassette and AUX, but that involves pulling one of my expensive functional cassette players apart so I’ll come back to this in the new year.

Love this video, it made my day.  Cheers Mr Vintage Grumble, you sir are a gentleman.

 



-Michael