Are there GOOD looking replacement stereo's on the market?

Hello Everyone

Well, the 11 year stereo in our 1993 960 has just about had it. It still has
AM functionality, but the volume knob is crackling a lot when you adjust the
volume, the FM has been dead over a year, and the tape deck stopped working
silently for 6 months.... And it has no CD player to top it off.

I have my parents thinking aftermarket stereo, but they, like me have come
to the conclusion that there are absolutely NO distinguished, elegant
looking car stereo's on the market.

Maybe we are going to the wrong places... we don't want to pay thru the nose
either. All we need is CD, nice to have tape, and AM/FM.

Does the 960 have its own amplifier?

 

It most likely does have a separate amp which could be bypassed. If you want
something plain looking (and I couldn't agree with you more, most of the new
stuff is beyond fugly) look for something cheap, a couple years ago I got a
basic Blaupunkt CD player at Costco, it's black, clean and fairly plain
looking, and it works great, best of all it was only $100.

 

I don't think that there's any elegant looking stereos on the market
either. For ergonomics, you sure can't beat the Volvo radios. And
there's not too many out there that also do tapes and CDs in the dash.
You can find SC-816 in black from a later 960 or 850, or the more common
gray used in the x70s. For example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38640&item=2454302878
There is also the option of the gray only SC-901, but that one requires
an external amp, if you don't have an amp it's not too easy to wire one.

You can find out if you have an external amp by looking for the 6 pin
DIN plug on the back of the radio. (My brother's 97 960 didn't have a
separate amp.)

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

Those radios that don't have external amplifier have an internal one so it is
much easier to suss out the speaker wiring.

Cheers, Peter.

: Rob Guenther wrote:
: >
: > Hello Everyone
: >
: > Well, the 11 year stereo in our 1993 960 has just about had it. It still has
: > AM functionality, but the volume knob is crackling a lot when you adjust the
: > volume, the FM has been dead over a year, and the tape deck stopped working
: > silently for 6 months.... And it has no CD player to top it off.
: >
: > I have my parents thinking aftermarket stereo, but they, like me have come
: > to the conclusion that there are absolutely NO distinguished, elegant
: > looking car stereo's on the market.
: >
: > Maybe we are going to the wrong places... we don't want to pay thru the nose
: > either. All we need is CD, nice to have tape, and AM/FM.
: >
: > Does the 960 have its own amplifier?
:
: I don't think that there's any elegant looking stereos on the market
: either. For ergonomics, you sure can't beat the Volvo radios. And
: there's not too many out there that also do tapes and CDs in the dash.
: You can find SC-816 in black from a later 960 or 850, or the more common
: gray used in the x70s. For example:
:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38640&item=245
4302878
: There is also the option of the gray only SC-901, but that one requires
: an external amp, if you don't have an amp it's not too easy to wire one.
:
: You can find out if you have an external amp by looking for the 6 pin
: DIN plug on the back of the radio. (My brother's 97 960 didn't have a
: separate amp.)
:
: --
: Mike F.
: Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.
:
: NOTE: new address!!
: Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
: (But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

I'm not worried about the wiring... I'm an industrial electrician (or at
least in training to be one) and i've always been great at
electrics/electronics.

I'd prefer it if the car had it's own amp, as the current stereo sounds
quite nice, this is always an amp related thing, as it is what you pay
for... Anyone can build a tuner/CD player.

Any brand recommendations? James said Blaupunkt, and I tend to agree, they
have some alright looking plain units... Harman Kardon has GREAT looking
units, but 700 USD is a little pricey.

 

Would a radio from an 850/900 series late models/older S/V70s work in my old
960? Looks like the unit would slide right in, but sometime they change
stupid stuff like wiring over the years.

 

That's not nessesarily true, even the very best amplifier is garbage in -
garbage out. There's lots of opportunities for noise and distortion in the
tuner, CD player electronics, and preamp.

 

As far as I know they'll just slide into your older 960, but I've never
done it first hand. When I was thinking of changing the radio in the
S70, I didn't find one that I liked enough to make the switch, so I have
no recommendations.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

The SC-816 does have an internal amp, so an external one is not
necessary. The SC-901 does not have an internal amp so an external one
is necessary.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

Not to mention lousy radio reception in difficult areas!!

| That's not nessesarily true, even the very best amplifier is
garbage in -
| garbage out. There's lots of opportunities for noise and
distortion in the
| tuner, CD player electronics, and preamp.
|
|

 

How can I tell which I have. It has Tape, AM/FM, Controls for the CD changer
(not installed) 6 speakers.

 

You don't have either radio I've mentioned. Both have AM/FM/cassette
and 6 pack CD changer controls. The SC-816 has a single CD in dash, the
SC-901 has a cartridge that will allow 3 CDs to be inserted at once in
dash. To see pictures, go to ebay, search on "volvo radio" (no quotes)
and you'll see pictures.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)