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Original radio and speakers


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Hi all

In my quest for originality I’m looking to fit an original factory supplied radio to my 1973 TR. A few questions....

Does anyone have any idea what radios were fitted from the factory/ dealerships?, was there a range of radio makes to chose from or just what was available at the time? If so any idea what were they?. I have a period Radiomobile from the 70’s fitted but just not sure if it’s the original.

secondly were the speakers fitted in the footwells? Currently mine are fitted behind the driver/passenger seats which I don’t think was the original location.

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Hi, my first 1973 CR car had a Radiomobile 1080 push button radio fitted. The single speaker was fitted on the rear back panel between the two seats. The picture shows the housing and speaker that was fitted.The antenna was fitted on the front offside wing in front of the windscreen. (Access under the wing by removing the baffle plate).   I believe this was the dealer/factory option, am sure there is an official BL publication for the fitting somewhere.

image.jpeg.b2657b62a847dadb3a12ccd304d52354.jpeg

 

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Hi,

Radiomobile did a fitting kit for the TR6 as per attached fitting instructions. In period these were fitted by the Triumph Dealer and the single speaker was fitted against the rear trim board.  There is a cover plate in the fitting kit which makes the installation of the radio in the H frame very neat. 

cheers

Derek

 

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10 minutes ago, Hawk said:

That speak box is awful

That is typical of off the shelf fitting kits of that era , nearly all were made of that pressed cardboard /fibre type material,

That is one piece of originality I could live without and why many folks made up speaker boxes and fitted them in all sorts of places at that time..

Brian

 

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3 hours ago, saffrontr said:

Hi,

Radiomobile did a fitting kit for the TR6 as per attached fitting instructions. In period these were fitted by the Triumph Dealer and the single speaker was fitted against the rear trim board.  There is a cover plate in the fitting kit which makes the installation of the radio in the H frame very neat. 

cheers

Derek

 

Mail0025.JPG

Mail0028.JPG

P1000486.jpg

In my area BL dealers did not fit car radios or in car entertainment? It was all supplied  by owners or a local Lucas Agent who had the Smiths and Motorola Franchise and he had a mobile fitting service.

Bruce. 

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Thank all, that's really interesting feed back and I actually had no idea about the little box speaker that was fitted on the rear trim board, every day is a school day, so to sum up.....

  • It appears from the conversations above I have the correct push button Radiomobile radio already fitted which is the right era and model which is a real bonus that I didn't expect(although missing the fitting kit no doubt through years of radio removal etc) 
  • The aerial is in the correct position on the offside front wing
  • Downside is I still have a pair of crappy Panasonic speakers cut into the rear trim board. However in my never ending quest for originality I would actually like to get my hands on one of the box speakers that everyone hates. I bet they are as rare as hens teeth......

Thanks again for the information and if anyone comes across one of those speakers or a Radiomobile fitting kit just let me know and I will gladly take it off your hands.

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I've taken the view that TR6s were hoon's (Aussie for not very intelligent but liking speed) cars back in the day, and would have been fitted with any available lo-fi enhancements. So I have a doof-doof sub-whoofer, kidney panel tweetery things and back panel mid range speakers. I still can't hear them when driving, but I'm sooo offensive at the lights :O

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Must be an antipodean thing JC.  Sub tube in boot (a bit useless overall TBH) and an amp driving the (1/2 decent) speakers on the rear trim...  I'd do tweeters, but best place would be the eyeball vents and despite the fact they're useless, I'm not going to destroy them.  (Although if I find another set that I could hide one in....hmmmm).  I think the amp makes the most difference as some speakers driven by a modestly priced 2 channel can still sound good with the lid down and no distortion

Can even hear top down on the motorway so must be irritating at the lights if it weren't for my fantastic taste in music...:blink:

(and for all of those who reckon the song of the six is sufficient... I love it, but I also love a good accompaniment!:ph34r:)

18 hours ago, JohnC said:

I've taken the view that TR6s were hoon's (Aussie for not very intelligent but liking speed) cars back in the day, and would have been fitted with any available lo-fi enhancements. So I have a doof-doof sub-whoofer, kidney panel tweetery things and back panel mid range speakers. I still can't hear them when driving, but I'm sooo offensive at the lights :O

 

Edited by matttnz
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On a side note

I got a bit obsessed with fitting a radio/audio in my TR6 and a buddy of mine who is a 20 yrs experienced sound engineer said forget it, with space available for sizable speakers, then adding engine noise, hood down you'd never manage it.  So I bought a big'ish portable bluetooth boomboom box that I drop behind the seats, ie on parcel shelf and connect to my portable device and stream.  I have power to it and its great.

Richard

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After all that negative comment about the original speaker - if anyone fancies maintaining originality, I have an original speaker and housing sat in the garage doing nothing, I would be happy for it to go to an appreciative home.
Ian

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Love this forum :D form me the best audiofile solution is to fix a boom bluetoth  box over the ash tray, the windscreen reflects the sound without much interference from the six lovely blurr and wind, and keep the original radio and droopof kidneys ;)

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On 10/26/2020 at 9:03 PM, Keith A said:

Hi all

In my quest for originality I’m looking to fit an original factory supplied radio to my 1973 TR. A few questions....

Does anyone have any idea what radios were fitted from the factory/ dealerships?, was there a range of radio makes to chose from or just what was available at the time? If so any idea what were they?. I have a period Radiomobile from the 70’s fitted but just not sure if it’s the original.

secondly were the speakers fitted in the footwells? Currently mine are fitted behind the driver/passenger seats which I don’t think was the original location.

From my experience of the 60's and 70's. Car radios were not fitted by the dealerships for any make of car. The company that I worked for as a buyer, it was my responsibility to have car radios fitted to company cars  when supplied by the dealerships. There were a number of Lucas agents that fitted them usually Smiths or Motorola as well as car radio in car entertainment shops which favoured the Japanese manufactured products because they offered FM and cassette type units + power amps and stereo.  The favoured places to site the speakers was in the doors or back backing board. The speakers were often mounted in a plastic mouldings bolted to the backing board or rear parcel shelf. The Japanese manufactures were a long way ahead of the European manufactures in terms of refinement!

Bruce.

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I bought a Becker Monaco period radio from Chrome London. They gut them and install DAB and Bluetooth. A decent set of speakers in the kidneys will be plenty. I have an antenna under the dash, works fine, but mostly I Bluetooth my iPod and play iTunes if I want more music than the engine can provide, great for longer trips. They are a bit pricey, but they have plenty of choice in their ‘value’ spectrum.

CD233E72-6131-4ABD-800B-7828E6A04A82.jpeg

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