What was your first car stereo system?

I first started installing in 1977 . Most of the stuff we installed was either Craig or Audiovox or other stuff i cant remember now. At that time things where changing from 8 track to cassett. We did a lot of hole cutting for the speakers and a full system was concidered as 4 speakers ; the head unit and an amplified 7 band eq. rated at about 80 watts max. Amplifiers where a seriously custom addition and there output was usually around 50 watts.

We spent a lot of the day being upside down , under the dash boards and rear decks of the cars. We also had to run wire from the front to rear as factory wiring was not there at that time . The skill of a good installer was measured by how well he could hide the wire safely and fit the new head into the dash .

Do any of you ole timers remember the fun we had with the old r/t switches ? These where radio / tape isolation switches that had 40 connections on them ! What a bitch they could be after a night out on the town !!

paul m

Hey Man : Are you for real ??

You started at age 8 ? and you make like you know what im talking about from the 70s ???

Come back bud !

Boy do I remember those switches and then throw in the variable of the common grounded speaker systems (one wire off of the speaker and the negative was through the frame of it). I also remember the old CB mic systems that tied into the factory speakers to where when the CB was receiving it switched the speakers over to it and then after it went quiet the factory speakers reconnected to the radio. 

I did dealership work when I started and the cars that had the radio accomidation packages would have the power, dash light, and ground wires already run but they were buried behind the dash and you had to know just where they were tucked at or where they were taped to the loom to get them accessible. Remember the old AMC's that you would punch the door panel to pop the cardboard plug loose and then trim out the vinyl and install the Ford rectangular grills ?.

Remember the different sized shafted radio chassis'. They made smaller than normal shafted radio's to fit the Toyota's that had a real small nose opening and tight center to center shaft spacing.

Back then there were no harness adaptors like there are today and you had to make all kinds of connections and like you said, had to run the wires.

Jim

Sorry Bud ; I didnt mean to smash you , I guess my sentence structure is pretty lame. After rereading it i can see why you misunderstood my meaning.

I havent seen one of those switches for about 25 years now and i was very surprised that you where familier with them as there hasent been an application for them for at least that long.

Where in the world did you find one ? ( the 71 Nova ) ? They where a real pain and where used quite a lot in the ole days. The last time i saw one was at a Radio Shack store . I doubt if they stock them now.  How do you like your Clarion stuff , when i owned my own shop Clarion was a big part of my sales and come backs where few and far between. Are you an installer now ? Its a good trade as cars are being loaded with more and more factory electronics etc. there will be a gap opening soon for aftermarket guys to repair the factory stuff as the car warrantys end. The money isnt all that good yet especially here in Canada but i hope that changes eventually.

Again ; sorry for the mixup .

hey man no problem i understand. this site is very resourceful for almost anything we will every come incontact with. its opinion base so you have conflect every now and then but i look at it as no harm done with what ever situation comes along. i am just trying to help another fellow installer or noobie or diyer. because i was give the info when i asked the guys that came before me so i just pass it on. check out this post that  a guy posted https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=64711&get=last for the most part i think he was miss understood but atleast we got to make clear what this site is about. anyways iwill keep you in mind and please do the same i own a automotive repair shop here in rhode island and if there is anything i can help with it would be a pleasure. thankx for the appology 

yes i did buy that switch at a radio shack and installed it in my moms 67 nova.

clarion is great to my ear i use to stand by alpine when they had there 6 crystal pull out tape deck but i dont like them any longer. clarion is the way to go for me. yes i do everything from tires up on a car mostly complete installs and full automtive tech. its truly my passion. thankx angain.