993 stereos and Blaupunkt nostalgia

[stevewak]

Bergvill has 10% off Continental head units: https://www.bergvillfx.com/categories/caraudio

[Cheburator mk2]

Speaking of classic Blaupunkts...

My ex UK press car 928 GTS Manual has a Blaupunkt Symphony RDS and my S4 Manual has a Toronto SQR46

Both have been overhauled and are excellent. I know that I can have BT capability added to them - anyone can recommend an outfit that can do it?

[chrisgaia]

Koln-RS said:

Porsche Classic PCM in 993.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Inayq6Ld3vY

Now that does look top notch! Top dollar as well, that fit out must be £1750+

[chrisgaia]

Okay kids, so the top notch, very expensive approach is the PCCM with an amp and speakers if you don’t already have a good set up. Established.

For those of you who want to come on the old skool shed guy approach with me…I have just bought my first “untested” Blaupunkt unit from EBay for the grand sum of £15.65 including delivery. Throwing cash at it, this will not be.

I have established that mid-2000s Blaupunkts seem to have superb sound, equivalent possibly to modern head unit and an amp. Unfortunately they don’t look good. So I have gone back a few years to possibly early 2000s with this puppy. It’s not period correct but it is good enough and it’s black!

Problems ahead…

1) Will it work?
2) Will I crack the code it almost certainly doesn’t have?
3) Will it sound like the travelpilot head unit it is replacing?
4) What will it cost if it is possible to fix above problems?
5) Should I buy more of this junk because I am having fun and I don’t want to do my tax return?

Even if you don’t like head unit this experience should apply to earlier ones as well…

Edited by chrisgaia on Thursday 28th November 14:32

[Orangecurry]

Cheburator mk2 said:

Speaking of classic Blaupunkts...

My ex UK press car 928 GTS Manual has a Blaupunkt Symphony RDS and my S4 Manual has a Toronto SQR46

Both have been overhauled and are excellent. I know that I can have BT capability added to them - anyone can recommend an outfit that can do it?

I only replaced my Blaupunkt as it was becoming flakey - it would cut-out now and again.

Any overhaul specialist recommendations please?

[chrisgaia]

Orangecurry said:

I only replaced my Blaupunkt as it was becoming flakey - it would cut-out now and again.

Any overhaul specialist recommendations please?

I found a guy on EBay who fits Bluetooth inside the unit for £75-£100. He is obviously messing around with them, I might ask.

There are definitely some guys in Lithuania I found but might. Be more hassle than worth.

Found these guys online https://retrocaraudio.uk/car-audio-repair/

[Orangecurry]

I've finally visited my Audio Museum, Cars section; Found the Blaupunkt - it is an RCM-43. With the same card as yours.

Getting it overhauled sounds like a plan. Love the 'tray' that the card sits upon.

[JohnnyUK]

Cheburator mk2 said:

Speaking of classic Blaupunkts...

My ex UK press car 928 GTS Manual has a Blaupunkt Symphony RDS and my S4 Manual has a Toronto SQR46

Both have been overhauled and are excellent. I know that I can have BT capability added to them - anyone can recommend an outfit that can do it?

Lovely!

Where are you?

Strongly recommend Stuart at Accutek in Winchester, who did my 928. Full 10.1 system with 1,200W Audison DSP Amp.

[chrisgaia]

Orangecurry said:

I've finally visited my Audio Museum, Cars section; Found the Blaupunkt - it is an RCM-43. With the same card as yours.

Getting it overhauled sounds like a plan. Love the 'tray' that the card sits upon.

Oh you beauty! And it’s the actual actual original stereo! Blaupunkt porn, bring it on :-D

Now, if these old stereos sound as good as my my old one I might look for one of those. Let’s see how much of a disaster my latest purchase turns out to be…

Edited by chrisgaia on Thursday 28th November 23:54

[Orangecurry]

I presume that is the original. As it was in the car in 2008, I can't see how that 1990s unit would have been installed in the 2000s?

Anyway - I'm not sure Bluetoothing them is the answer to high quality music... if I understand these correctly.

But for certain, whatever conversion you have done to your old hi-fi, it must be a certain codec from the list in article no.3 for the sound to be the least degraded, if that makes sense.

https://www.howtogeek.com/878574/bluetooth-vs-wi-f...

Bluetooth Can't Transmit As Much Data
As we talked about earlier, Bluetooth is limited to a certain amount of bandwidth. Especially using the default SBC codec, this means that your audio streams are relatively heavily compressed. This is true with Apple's AAC codec as well.

There are higher-quality codecs like LDAC available, and Bluetooth LE Audio seems promising. Even so, Bluetooth doesn't support lossless or hi-res audio well.

or
https://www.androidauthority.com/lossless-bluetoot...

or
https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2023/03/bluetoot...

...which is the clearest of the three... to me anyway.

The author has made it difficult to cut/paste, so look for the section with a table of the codecs.

[stewart rix]

Here’s what was available for the 96MY

[stewart rix]

[chrisgaia]

stewart rix said:

Here’s what was available for the 96MY

Fantastic info! Star! So Blaupunkts branded as Porsche? Interesting. Any other pages?

Edited by chrisgaia on Friday 29th November 11:06

[Orangecurry]

Looking at the text, with 'available from May 1997' on one of the Sonys, I'm thinking that options list must be very late 1996, if not actually 1997.

It also states 'New Porsche audio range', which makes me think they must have only just changed from named-Blaupunkt kit.

So pre-1997, it seems likely that Blaupunkt was the norm?

[stevewak]

chrisgaia said:

Fantastic info! Star! So Blaupunkts branded as Porsche? Interesting. Any other pages?

Agreed - mega info and backs up my Sony theory. Porsche ones might be rebadged Becker?

[chrisgaia]

Orangecurry said:

I presume that is the original. As it was in the car in 2008, I can't see how that 1990s unit would have been installed in the 2000s?

Anyway - I'm not sure Bluetoothing them is the answer to high quality music... if I understand these correctly.

Check your upgrade option codes to confirm. Mine was 334 Blaupunkt Bremen/London.

Yes this is a really interesting point only understood by gentlemen of a certain age (and pedigree). The input is often as important as the output. However the sound of my old Blaupunkt seemed to make up for the Spotify streaming. It still had a good sound. I’m not sure if that new Bremen would sound that much more dynamic with some serious bytes of input, much to my disappointment.

Edited by chrisgaia on Saturday 30th November 00:17

[chrisgaia]

stevewak said:

Agreed - mega info and backs up my Sony theory. Porsche ones might be rebadged Becker?

Just what I thought when I saw it. I knew nada about the Sony connection!

[chrisgaia]

So my first £15 EBay purchase pictured above was…completely dead and will be used as a novelty Xmas hat in a few weeks.

Second purchase of a Blaupunkt Munchen CD53 on its way! I think this is slightly earlier, maybe early 2000s, but during the front removable “face off” era, whenever that was. More than double the price at a heady £37.50 but apparently this one works!

I have also purchased an FM Bluetooth adapter for a tenner until I can be bothered to wire one in to the back. For those who don’t know this kit it sends your phone stream the FM radio on any stereo. I have a CD player for the quality side of music.

I re-tested the Bremen SQR 48 and I am so sorry to say that I think it is cheap crap. For those of you who have forked out, don’t worry because I have not found anyone to agree with me yet. I think it is partly to do with the comparison of JUST HOW GOOD those German Blaupunkts were. They are obsolete units now and few people actually do a side by side test. Like us oldies keep saying any kind of quality of sound has been replaced with height tech connectivity and Chinese engineering.