What Minuit knows about stock Jeep radios

[NickyV]

@holoceneghost Apologies if I'm explaining things you already know, but...

 

I've done a fair amount of tinkering with a number of these radios. Not as much as @Minuit, but a lot. One thing I can say is that I've made some simple mistakes in the past.

 

One example of a mistake was only connecting power and speakers. I thought that would be enough to get the radio to work, but on some of these radios you must connect the antenna to even get it to power on properly. Sounds like you are past this step, but it's just an example. Connect everything!

 

Another tip is to invest in a bench power supply and some cheap speakers plus all the appropriate connections. Troubleshooting on the bench is WAY easier. Trying to figure out issues inside the cab with the radio in the dash is no fun.

 

Finding manuals for these radios is hard, in my experience. You might be able to find one on e-Bay. But you can also try the Internet Archive. They have a very large database of manuals. Searching it takes patience and isn't super intuitive. I just took a look and I was only able to find one manual. It was not the radio you have. But yours is on there!

 

If you happen to make a breakthrough in how to find our radio manuals, please let us all know!

[holoceneghost]

1 hour ago, NickyV said:

@holoceneghost Apologies if I'm explaining things you already know, but...

 

I've done a fair amount of tinkering with a number of these radios. Not as much as @Minuit, but a lot. One thing I can say is that I've made some simple mistakes in the past.

 

One example of a mistake was only connecting power and speakers. I thought that would be enough to get the radio to work, but on some of these radios you must connect the antenna to even get it to power on properly. Sounds like you are past this step, but it's just an example. Connect everything!

 

Another tip is to invest in a bench power supply and some cheap speakers plus all the appropriate connections. Troubleshooting on the bench is WAY easier. Trying to figure out issues inside the cab with the radio in the dash is no fun.

 

Finding manuals for these radios is hard, in my experience. You might be able to find one on e-Bay. But you can also try the Internet Archive. They have a very large database of manuals. Searching it takes patience and isn't super intuitive. I just took a look and I was only able to find one manual. It was not the radio you have. But yours is on there!

 

If you happen to make a breakthrough in how to find our radio manuals, please let us all know!

 

Appreciate the reply! It doesn't even get signal without the antenna plugged in. I found a website that claims they have schematics for these radios but was double checking here first. 

[holoceneghost]

2 hours ago, holoceneghost said:

 

Appreciate the reply! It doesn't even get signal without the antenna plugged in. I found a website that claims they have schematics for these radios but was double checking here first. 

Not sure what happened, but I fully installed the radio in the car just intending to use the tape deck for now and it slowly started picking up stations. 

[NickyV]

That’s great (hopefully!), @holoceneghost. I have no idea why that would have been the case for you, but back to what I was saying.

 

I’ve made simple mistakes and I’ve also stumbled bass-ackwards into breakthroughs.

 

I forget where it is on the forum, but there is a link somewhere to the “Electrical Troubleshooting Manual” in PDF form. I think I grabbed it from the user with the Taz icon (Tasmanian Devil cartoon).

 

That manual is super helpful.

[MJPIA]

Crossing over from YJ land, I've recently acquired an RX-135 and am very happy with it, it screams like an banshee while ejecting tapes but I don't particularly care about that.

Given this has only two speakers in the dash and I literally bought the cheapest ones I could find I am very pleased with how it sounds

The DNR in areas with poor reception is also baller at cutting static

The KX-135 and KX-137 are identical with the 137 simply having an light up Renault logo instead of the AMC on the cassette flapper, I'm wondering if the service manual for either exists anywhere online, I'm just more thinking for the future given these heavy radios are crammed with circuit boards packed full of 40 year old components and nothing lasts forever so its better to have it on hand that try to hunt things down after something breaks.

 

Secondly I have this sitting around and the hand written number on the top and green tag comes up with nothing on google, I'm mostly curious about it because of the massive sample sticker which makes me wonder what it is and where this could have come from.

Kinda wondering if it was some dealership display where customers could compare the different levels of radio on offer, I dunno

 

Also on a sidenote I have a 74 page dealership 1988 AMC renault manual which lists every accessory they had for everything AMC/Jeep/Renault and breaks down every single radio offered in all their vehicles from 84 to 88 including the part numbers for everything alongside a separate section which lists the 7 Canadian exclusive radios, I could upload those pages if people want them.

Like for example as an oddity 1986 model year lists the AM/FM ETR stereo cassette with DNR in 5 vehicles under 3 different model numbers, Alliance, Encore, both Eagle's and the Comanche but next to the Comanche it notes (Less DNR)

Then for 87 its available for 8 vehicles under 5 different model numbers, none of which correlate to the previous part numbers and the Comanche has DNR while the Wrangler notes (Dolby) next to it

[NickyV]

I would absolutely be interested in learning about all the radios they offered! You should upload that puppy!

[hgeranium]

I would message Minuit personally, but he seems to have been inactive for the past 6 months so I will ask here. In 2022 I installed a Pioneer DEH-S4220BT in place of some old crappy 2004 aftermarket radio. I have zero complaints; it works great. However, a few years ago I pulled a relatively nice RX-173 from an XJ in a pick-n-pull. I love how it looks and I love the idea of being able to play my cassettes in the truck. I know it's gimmicky and bluetooth/streaming will always be convenient, but nothing else about daily driving my truck is convenient so it will make it a little more fun popping tapes in there. I could always swap back if I don't like it as well.

 

For those running stock radios, how is the sound quality compared to a modern unit? I understand it will be worse but how much worse are we talking? Is it worth the look to revert to a stock stereo if it means downgrading in sound? I also just hate the bright blue LED that my new radio has. The old radio that was in there had some terrible compression issues too. Just switching the radios made the audio sound like I swapped the speakers. The sound was way more crisp and waaaay louder. With the old radio, I could barely hear it on the highway at max volume. I'm worried that the RX-173 will bring me back to that but worse considering it's about a decade older than the other unit.

[Gjeep]

The stock units sound hollow as they are not amplified and typically running through stock speakers. Add an amplifier, good speakers, and a sub of any size in an MJ and you'll be cookin'. I love the look of my stock radio with all the modern trimmings. Sounds great

[NickyV]

I second everything GJeep said about adding an amplifier and a sub to your setup. @hgeranium

 

Something I didn’t realize until I got into car audio is that even though many head units do have decent amplifiers built into them, these built-in amps are very small, and are not powerful enough to drive speakers at their full potential. Amps are not just for subwoofers. They are for all the speakers in your system.

 

That means, you will struggle to get your speakers loud enough to be heard while you are driving on the highway. It also means that your signal will get more distorted. (Think of it this way: to get even close to highway volume, you will have to push a tiny amp all the way to its maximum. But if you have a more powerful amp, you will only need to push it maybe a quarter of the way to get to the level you need.)

 

I also want to draw your attention to the end of Minuit’s original post — to the “Science Projects” section. Here is where you will find a write up on how to add an auxiliary input into your RX-series radio.

 

By doing this procedure, you will be able to add an auxiliary input to your head unit. I have done this procedure myself and it is very simple. (It is more complicated on units with tape players, but only slightly. That’s because you have to pull the tape player module out of the way to access the input posts.)

 

If you do this procedure, you will be able to use the head unit’s built-in volume, bass, and treble controls on your aux input. You can make your aux input either a 1/8” input or a Bluetooth module. Then you will have a radio, cassette AND Bluetooth player! And it will look completely stock :)

 

One additional thing to note: If you do this, you will want to either perform the “AM Delete” procedure, or you will want to carry a blank cassette in the truck.

 

I believe most of this is explained in the “Science Projects” section. It is also covered in this YouTube clip:

 

If you have additional questions, feel free to DM me.

[hgeranium]

29 minutes ago, NickyV said:

I second everything GJeep said about adding an amplifier and a sub to your setup. @hgeranium

 

Something I didn’t realize until I got into car audio is that even though many head units do have decent amplifiers built into them, these built-in amps are very small, and are not powerful enough to drive speakers at their full potential. Amps are not just for subwoofers. They are for all the speakers in your system.

 

That means, you will struggle to get your speakers loud enough to be heard while you are driving on the highway. It also means that your signal will get more distorted. (Think of it this way: to get even close to highway volume, you will have to push a tiny amp all the way to its maximum. But if you have a more powerful amp, you will only need to push it maybe a quarter of the way to get to the level you need.)

 

I also want to draw your attention to the end of Minuit’s original post — to the “Science Projects” section. Here is where you will find a write up on how to add an auxiliary input into your RX-series radio.

 

By doing this procedure, you will be able to add an auxiliary input to your head unit. I have done this procedure myself and it is very simple. (It is more complicated on units with tape players, but only slightly. That’s because you have to pull the tape player module out of the way to access the input posts.)

 

If you do this procedure, you will be able to use the head unit’s built-in volume, bass, and treble controls on your aux input. You can make your aux input either a 1/8” input or a Bluetooth module. Then you will have a radio, cassette AND Bluetooth player! And it will look completely stock :)

 

One additional thing to note: If you do this, you will want to either perform the “AM Delete” procedure, or you will want to carry a blank cassette in the truck.

 

I believe most of this is explained in the “Science Projects” section. It is also covered in this YouTube clip:

 

If you have additional questions, feel free to DM me.

This has been invaluable information, thanks so much! Now you have me really excited to have a period correct head unit in the truck again

[hgeranium]

20 hours ago, Gjeep said:

The stock units sound hollow as they are not amplified and typically running through stock speakers. Add an amplifier, good speakers, and a sub of any size in an MJ and you'll be cookin'. I love the look of my stock radio with all the modern trimmings. Sounds great

That makes a lot of sense. I'm sure my new head unit sounds so good because of the amplifier. I'll pick up an amp and give it a try on this 173

[Gjeep]

If you look at my builds I found a good amplifier for the MJ. Nothing crazy. Slippery Slope project probably best. You can see some of the wiring; and the creativity around it. Feel free to DM if questions.

[eaglescout526]

I’m wondering if I should break this thread up into a thread on what we can do with factory radios and how to fix them on our own? I found my Eagles original radio has a leaked capacitor to replace so hoping that will fix its issue of being intermittent. 
 

What do you guys think? We probably should leave this thread alone

[NickyV]

Happy tinkering! Just go slow and Make sure to take pictures and notes as you go, so you don't lose track of how to reassemble.

[NickyV]

1 minute ago, eaglescout526 said:

I’m wondering if I should break this thread up into a thread on what we can do with factory radios and how to fix them on our own? I found my Eagles original radio has a leaked capacitor to replace so hoping that will fix its issue of being intermittent. 
 

What do you guys think? We probably should leave this thread alone

Makes sense to me!

[Pete M]

7 hours ago, eaglescout526 said:

I’m wondering if I should break this thread up into a thread on what we can do with factory radios and how to fix them on our own? I found my Eagles original radio has a leaked capacitor to replace so hoping that will fix its issue of being intermittent. 
 

What do you guys think? We probably should leave this thread alone

 

 

go for it.  

[eaglescout526]

30 minutes ago, Pete M said:

 

 

go for it.  

Absolutely will Pete! I was just waiting on the input from the other members who are participating. I’ll do some splitting tomorrow.