Well, after having to get rid of my 242 GT of 20 years for a move across country, I think I've found a suitable replacement: a near mint 1991 780 Bertone.

But, most of the stereo stuff in it is down. The rear amp lights up, but no sound (the 6X9's in the back are in rough shape, surrounds are mostly gone, but they still read 4 ohms....).

And the CD player won't eject -- I was told it was newly replaced with a Volvo-branded Alpine, but no signs of life.... So, at the moment, I have five mighty watts (best I can tell) driving the front door speakers, your choice of radio or tape.

I do like the looks of the CR 814 head unit -- it just looks like it belongs in the dash.

My first inclination is to pick up a wiring harness from quickbrick motorsports that would allow me to plug an after-market amplifier into the stock head unit. I have a vintage Proton 60X2 + 30X2 4-channel amp, some nice KEF 6.5 components for the back, and some 5.25" coaxials for the front (I am a sucker for not wanting to cut this car up -- I have some component 5.25's I could install, but don't want to cut holes in the door panels for the tweets).

OTOH, I do have a NIB Rockford RFX 8250 Denon-made head unit, lovely in its own right, but I'm not sure if that titanium silver head unit, retro-ish that it is, would blend in with the 780 dash.

Finally, I would like to have Ipod capability -- easy with the Rockford, as it has an aux in -- tougher with the Alpine/Volvo HU. I bought an Ipod cable for it, that plugs in where the EQ circuit is on some cars (not mine). I had to unplug a little white bridge plug back there, and although I could hear the Ipod if I didn't breathe, it dropped the volume level of both radio and Ipod to sub-audible levels. When I put the little white plastic plug back, the volume came back.

So for any of you kind folks with experience in these matters, is using the Volvo head unit worth the trouble? Will it sound good cabled to an amp and nice speakers? Or is it doomed through its lack of preamp outputs to mediocre sound?

Is there any way to hard-wire an Ipod into that HU? (Does someone make a cable that actually works? I don't mind losing the CD changer (too much) if I could hard-wire the Ipod....).

Any advice will be much appreciated!!!

Thanks, bt

 

i personally would go with the Rockford RFX 8250. I had one for some time, and in my humble opinion, you would be much better off. I to would just use speakers that fit in as to avoid cutting it all up. A unit as old as that stock one prob could be altered to accept an RCA in signal, but it defiantly would not be easy. IMO you would be happier overall with the new equipment that reads CDs better, uses an ipod, has mp outs, etc.

 

of topic, but, a 780 ? you HAVE to post some pics.
That's one rare car.

 

If it was mine, because of how nice those are and the rarity I would also find speakers that would fit in there and avoid cutting anything up! There's something to be said about the classic lines of the inside and then cutting it up and then adding the grills that come with speakers better yet having to make pods for them would just take away from the car. Was the Volvo/ Alpine head unit reman.? or was it picked up used and then put in the car? Also if you did an aftermarket unit, would you re-wire the car?

 

I think for the time being, I've settled on a course of action. I'm with RCsound, I think I need a new head unit. After a bit of research, the Volvo/Alpine CR814 won't accept an Ipod cable -- it needs to read code from the CD changer, and an adapter for it would be $130. And I would still have no way to play CD's, as it's a cassette receiver. Finally, the volume control on it is kinda scratchy,

I also think someone enlarged the speaker holes in the door panels, so that 5.25" speakers don't quite span, but not quite big enough for the 6.5" speakers I have. I will probably compromise, and cut some tweeter holes in the door panels, but hidden behind the original speaker grilles. The original speaker grilles are very shallow, and don't have much room for modern coaxials where the tweeter protrudes 1/2-3/4" above the speaker frame. Old Kef coaxials could work, if I could find them, and JL audio makes a coax with shallow tweets, but they're $500 at Crutchfield. So I'll just make some door plates to mount some 4" component Kenwoods I have around the house, and hide all of it behind the original grilles. In the back, I found some 6X9 Kef coaxials that will replace the original 6X9's with no modification (except finding a place for the Xovers), and again fit under the original grilles.

I'll run all four from an old Proton 4 ch amp in the trunk -- I will have to run power and speaker wires under the door sills, but it should be hideable. So in the end, it'll all look original but the head unit, and that won't require any cutting either.

As a long-run project, I want to make a couple of wiring harnesses to add preamp outs to the original Volvo HU -- I'll have to order the DIN ends, not available locally, but if that works I can just swap head units out to run through the same amp/speakers -- with the original HU, the install will be invisible. If that sounds okay, I might break loose $130 for the Ipod adapter, or try to fix the old CD changer in the trunk. But for the moment, it's just too much stuff to try to troubleshoot.

I'll try to take some pix once I get the car back together!!

Cheers, bt

 

I am glad you want to keep it as stock as possible. There is always a way to modernize w/o ruining what you have. I think you will be far happier with the greater versatility and sound quality. Its always easier to do it the way you really want the 1st time. Good luck, and i am sure you know, take as much time as it requires, which for me is always longer that i assume.

 

Sounds good. Good Luck!

 

I figure it'll take the better part of a weekend or two. My 6X9's are supposed to arrive today, got a wiring harness and plastic faceplate coming in (hopefully by Saturday) and I think I've got the rest -- RCA's, amp hookup and speaker wire, etc. I found a speaker grille to replace one on the driver's door that has broken hooks, should arrive next week sometime. I'll take a few pix as I go....

Cheers, bt