Radio Cassette to fit Beta Spyder dash without modification

[Clifford3051]

Hi all.
Has anyone found a radio cassette which fits neatly into the radio dash panel without modification or and modification to the radio/cassette facia panel?
If so I would be interested in knowing what make and model it is.
Many thanks.
C

[WestonE]

Hi Clifford

I used aluminum small angle to make brackets fitted to the steel behind the plastic and to the holes waiting on the side of an Alpine Head unit. I them carefully trimmed the plastic frame so I could still fit the cover blank. This gave a rock solid mount decent access and a bit of theft deterrent.

[WestonE]

Ignore the phone mount, Traction control and ECU related lights!

Eric

[Neil-yaj396]

Several companies offer 'vintage' radio units converted to DAB, Bluetooth etc. Most late 1970's types would fit the standard Beta dash.

Having my old Blaupunct unit converted is on my to do list.

[HFStuart]

Depends whether pre or post F/L interior.

[Neil-yaj396]

Depends whether pre or post F/L interior.

Pre F/L radio wasn't in the dash. There was an optional unit to house it in front of the gear stick if that makes sense. At least that was the case on my pre F/L Coupe.

[HFStuart]

Depends whether pre or post F/L interior.

Pre F/L radio wasn't in the dash. There was an optional unit to house it in front of the gear stick if that makes sense. At least that was the case on my pre F/L Coupe.

Yes that was what I was going to say - some people did butcher the ash tray area to fit a radio though.

[SanRemo78]

I doubt I've got any pictures but I was guilty of butchering an early brown dash to fit a radio up there. In my defence I never smoked so it was pointless having an ashtray. Things got worse. The original mustard interior wore to the point it was only really fixable with an interior swap from the later HPE.... I seem to recall no particular problems except for the rear side panels.... And I can't remember how I sorted that out!

Guy

[Clifford3051]

Sorry guys, I should have mentioned it's an '81 plate Spyder so F/L
C

[rossocorsa]

I haven't tried this yet as my VX, as always, is still in pieces however my idea is to do away with the radio altogether, it is possible to get some small amplifiers from China which seem more than adequate for in car use and can be used via bluetooth. I use one to drive a pair of old mordaunt short speakers in my garage, plenty loud enough and not bad sound. Attach one of these to an ignition switched supply and use your mobile on a holder to stream and control the volume. In theory it should work although I think most are only two channels but probably adequate for a Beta coupé The brand is 'nobsound' have a look on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay etc. see what you think. Very small so could be tucked away discreetly.

[peteracs]

Hi Alan

I bought something similar for the HPE, there is a volume control knob on it which could be relocated to the dash, which is what I was aiming to do. My dash is the early one without radio slot, so made sense for me.

Peter

[WestonE]

Classic Car Stereo sell a range of decent options including hidden Bluetooth audio and period speaker grills.

My Alpine head unit does the full Bluetooth connection and I installed a decent 4x50 watt compact amplifier in the boot. I also have high sensitivity speakers and Cambridge Audio interconnects and speaker cable. This is OTT unless you care about clean accurate sound. Do pay attention to speaker quality making sure they are suitable for the amplifier chosen. The OE Speakers tend to obvious distortion much over 10watts a channel and the cardboard cones are often in a state.

Eric

[peteracs]

Hi

As a budget but well reviewed speaker I bought these for the HPE, benefit is they fit in the existing holes and have inbuilt tweeters.

http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4586.msg36715#msg36715

Peter

[rossocorsa]

Classic Car Stereo sell a range of decent options including hidden Bluetooth audio and period speaker grills.

My Alpine head unit does the full Bluetooth connection and I installed a decent 4x50 watt compact amplifier in the boot. I also have high sensitivity speakers and Cambridge Audio interconnects and speaker cable. This is OTT unless you care about clean accurate sound. Do pay attention to speaker quality making sure they are suitable for the amplifier chosen. The OE Speakers tend to obvious distortion much over 10watts a channel and the cardboard cones are often in a state.

Eric

Just my opinion but I rather think that clean accurate sound and a classic car interior don't really go together, it's just handy to have something basic and inexpensive fitted so as to navigate in this busy modern world etc. Chinese products just get better all the time, I now have a Chinese head unit in my modern Abarth after the factory one died and actually it's really not bad at all at about half the cost of a traditional brand and designed to fit with canbus integration etc. It is a pity that the Chinese don't seem to see a market for classic car specific products as I'm sure there could be some clever solutions.

[WestonE]

You are not wrong about some of the Chinese items but it is a mine field at times finding decent quality. I have done a serious sound proofing job on my cars because no decent speaker sounded better in a door/panel resonating like a wasp in a tin can. You often find better speakers are not Japanese mainstream brand items. I have some rainbow speakers for example which are German made. In the Montecarlo I swapped out Panasonic Speakers bought years earlier from Halfords complete with lots of big Peak Power claims. The difference was amazing clarity and depth with exactly the same housings cable amplifier etc. I am not running subwoofers or cables sized for towing a truck. But I do use decent quality speaker cable of the low end domestic HiFi kind.

Before the soundproofing job and supercharger in the Monte there was no point at all in having in car HiFi because you would not hear it except at ear bleeding volume.

Eric   

[rossocorsa]

You are not wrong about some of the Chinese items but it is a mine field at times finding decent quality. I have done a serious sound proofing job on my cars because no decent speaker sounded better in a door/panel resonating like a wasp in a tin can. You often find better speakers are not Japanese mainstream brand items. I have some rainbow speakers for example which are German made. In the Montecarlo I swapped out Panasonic Speakers bought years earlier from Halfords complete with lots of big Peak Power claims. The difference was amazing clarity and depth with exactly the same housings cable amplifier etc. I am not running subwoofers or cables sized for towing a truck. But I do use decent quality speaker cable of the low end domestic HiFi kind.

Before the soundproofing job and supercharger in the Monte there was no point at all in having in car HiFi because you would not hear it except at ear bleeding volume.

Eric   

I used to be a hifi obsessive when younger, luxkit class A power amps, pd300 turntable, mission arm, wasted too much on various cartridges, other tonearms etc. These days I put ease of use above chasing elusive perfection especially in the car. I do think it's very difficult to install modern audio sympathetically into a classic, in some ways probably better without.