Tim McKisson

I have a 1961 and I have replaced the stereo with a new deck. But my issue is around power. They have checked out my generator and it's working perfect and can't provide anymore juice. But even at high RPMs the stereo will cut out. Has anyone also had this related to the uneven output of the generator and what did you do to resolved it?

Frankie the Fink

The stock generator puts out 35 amps "all out"; how big of a sound system have you added...

C-1 Generation 2

I had a friend recently that had a similar problem with a 63 Dodge Polara
426 Max Wedge. He would have to run his headlights to get the stereo to work when driving. Even though he has an alternator his voltage regulator had a wire off. He put in a solid state voltage regulator.

Frankie the Fink

There are only a handful of C1 Corvette solid-state voltage regulators in the world; the person that makes them died. I sold both of the ones I had...

The problem with the C1 is that component placement is so tight that you may have a heat problem and some thermal protection circuit is firing off which has nothing to do with the power supplied... Some amplifiers will 'clip' sound peaks if certain parameters are exceeded...

Until you describe your stereo's layout and power requirements its hard to help...

Tim McKisson

That's what is annoying the stereo is nothing special or large. It's a pioneer deck with four speakers. No amps or anything fancy. Sometimes I can drive for awhile and works fine then all of a sudden it cuts out every 15 seconds. I do notice if I turn up the volume too loud it make the cutting out worse. Also if the car is off but the key in the on position stereo works just fine.

Scott Marzahl

Is the power and ground wired straight to the battery? Grounds can be a real problem with these cars.

Frankie the Fink

Well - I hooked a 12V car oscillating fan into the cigarette lighter (fan was fused) and tie-wrapped it near the radio and ran it on high with the cowl vent wide open in my '61 for a good ways and discovered my problem was heat related. Enough air and it played fine.... Not 'clipping' or power problems. You may need an amp....the Kenwood 8404 is cheap with excellent sound quality...

Tim McKisson

Scott,
I will have to check if it's to the battery or frame. What did you do or suggest?

Frankie,
Next time I drive it I will keep the cowl wide open and see if that helps. It has to be something small as there is no way there isn't enough power. That is why I figured maybe a small dedicated battery in the power line to the stereo would help smooth out the peaks and valleys.

Gary's '66

I have a C2 so, this may, or may not apply. That said, I had the exact same issue you're having. Turned out to be a bad regulator spiking at higher rpm and putting too out much voltage (around 15 volts), causing the stereo cut off. It would play perfectly when the motor was not running or at idle. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Gary

68hemi

In my 57 I have a Retro Sound Long Beach radio with a 25 watt 4 channel with the Corvette Central kick panel speakers which are 60 watts each and the dual speaker set up that are 40 watts each in the dash with a Kicker subwoofer with it's own 150 watt amp.

I had to turn the bass down on the Kicker at the amp because of clipping. If I turn the radio up at highway speeds they distort so I have ordered a 45 watt Retro Sound auxillary amp to power the front 4 speakers. I don't have any problem with power from the generator but the amp in the radio itself is too small.

Scott Marzahl

Myself, i wire any aftermarket stereo and or amp directly to the battery.