I installed one of those custom retro radios in my 75 C3 Corvette, here’s the issue, when I’m listening to a radio station and I switch over to Bluetooth, I can still faintly hear the radio station. I was previously listening to through my right side speakers., has anybody ever experienced anything like this? I have talked to many stereo shops and nobody’s ever heard of this. I called customer radio and they haven’t heard of this either. I’ve checked every bit of my hookups. My grounds are all perfect. My wiring is perfect. I don’t understand what could’ve caused this or why it’s doing this. This is a new install and I just have noticed it. I’m also experiencing alternator whining noise, but I have some noise suppressor ordered so I think I can take care of that at the alternator..





here’s my installation I have the retro radio mounted in the front. I ran the audio cables on the right side toward the center of the seat underneath the seat to the rear where the jack compartment used to be is where I located the amplifier. It’s an Xfinity 6004 a 40 W amp. , in the center compartment I have my fuse block and my automatic fuse cut off, in the battery compartment I have my battery cut off. And on the the driver side, I ran all the power cables to the back., the radio is grounded from the back battery. Everything is hooked directly to the battery and then over to the fuse block, including the ground. I double checked the grounds and they’re a perfect.. I know there’s been a lot of writings on here, but my situation seems a little strange as if no one ever heard of this happening before.. a lot of stereo shops have said as the head unit and suggested pioneer radio head unit, but then I have to do away with a custom look of the original radio.. and I really didn’t wanna have to do that. Custom AUDIO said that my radio was still into Warranty. I had a year left, but they don’t cover parts. They just cover labor and they don’t cover postage from here and there., and they definitely don’t handle anything to do with how much it cost to uninstall and reinstall these units, which can certainly be a pain in the rear end. Anyway, that’s my scenario in a nutshell. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

thank you
Powe

 

WOW!
So what is blue tooth?

 

There are many threads on retro Bluetooth radios and their issues. One common denominator is the manufacturer/seller never admits it’s their issue. I went this route in my ‘75 and the installer could not make it work, even after repeated calls to the manufacturer. Eventually gave up, and on the installer’s recommendation, put the old non functioning radio back in for period correct look, and a Bluetooth amp was installed. This works great and was, for me, the best option.

 

So , back in the 70's, we had a AM radio. The cheapest.
then the AM/FM radio. And the super deluxe had a 8 track tape player.
So, all these years later, your trying to put stuff in that belongs in a 2024 car? And you can't understand why it's not working?
And I can't understand why.

 

I added a Bluetooth adapter to my radio in my Silverado. It is the type where you tune in to a specific radio frequency in order to receive the Bluetooth signal. Yes, I had bleed thru from the regular broadcast signals that were close in frequency. It's just a suboptimal way to connect to Bluetooth. I bet the technology used in your radio is the same.

 

I had a guy refurbish my OEM AM/FM stereo and add a lead into which I can plug a digital source. I think I had interference also, until the tech told me to move the slidebar to AM. Problem solved.

 

It depends on how they integrated the bluetooth into the radio but I would bet the problem is the radio and not your installation. Bluetooth module takes ~5V power with a wireless signal in (paired from your phone usually) and puts out a line-level signal. Typically you would switch the input to the volume control between the tuner output OR the bluetooth output. Before the volume control you'll find the RF radio tuner or the bluetooth signal at line level, or a tape signal in the old days, and after the volume you'll find the power amp stage to get it to speaker level. I would bet the switch over to bluetooth is not completely disconnecting signal from the FM tuner and your getting bleed from the FM tuner into the amp hence both signals in your speakers. The other possibility is the radio signal is crossing over from induction which would be a major design flaw in the radio itself.
Either way, its probably the radio itself.

 

I did the same thing this morning. I slid it to an a.m. channel with nothing playing on it, no noise, not anything…. as soon as I switched it to a.m. the noise went away.

Thanks
Powe.

 

Simple enough workaround. At least you can use it.

 

I have a 1980 Vette and I installed a Bluetooth stereo with mic/phone connection and 2 amplifiers for the kicker sound system it has. I also installed a Dashcam with back up camera and GPS. So yes adding 2024 stuff to these cars can be done. It is just a major pain in the A$$ with the limited space under the dash.

 

Nice neat & hidden installation!

Glad you fixed your problem.