Review of RetroSound

[John Simion]

I bought a RetroSound Zuma radio for my car, together with RetroSound enclosures for two 6×6 speakers (back wall of package shelf) and two 4×6 speakers (front kick panels).  I bought RetroSound speakers so everything would fit well.

Yesterday I finally got everything hooked up and I’m happy to report that everything now works.  That is the one and ONLY good thing I can say about RetroSound products.  Bottom line is that they are very costly and yet very, very poorly designed and made.  The speakers and enclosures especially scream, “CHEEEEEEEEAAAAAP!!!!”

The radio is the “best” part.  It’s merely hard to figure out how it goes together and very difficult to get the length right on the knob towers.  A piece of advice, it would be MUCH easier to mount to thin metal than to plywood.  Oh yeah, and the $25 knobs are loose on the knob towers, and they WILL fall off unless you glue them on.  Other than than that, the radio seems to be okay.  At least it works, and it is nice that it will play songs from a flash drive.

The speakers and enclosures are a nightmare.  The enclosures are made out of the cheapest molded plastic known to mankind, plus the plastic covers the entire area where the speaker actually goes.  This means that you can’t use them until you cut out the pattern of your speaker.  This wouldn’t be too bad except that the plastic is also very, very soft.  It’s too thick for a knife and too small for a portable jigsaw.  Nothing that reciprocates will work because of the small size and light weight of the material.  The only tool I had that would cut it was a Dremel with a cut-off disk.  This would work but it was extremely slow and constantly clogged the wheel.  In addition, as I’d move forward, the plastic would melt back together behind my cut, requiring me to re-cut the areas I had just cut a minute before.  The process took hours and made a real mess.  Then you have to sand off the edges of the rear speakers to get them too fit, although that part wasn’t that bad.

Now you want to attach the RetroSound speakers to the RetroSound enclosures.  This is called, “You Figure It Out.”  You might expect easy fit since both products come from the same company, but you would be wrong.  I had to cut off the corners of the 4×6 speakers to get them to fit, and was only able to attach the 6×6’s by drilling little holes at the extreme edges of each speaker.  I finally got them mounted, but it was more hours.

So now you want to attach the speakers.  The speakers have little spades to attach to their proprietary speaker wires.  Unfortunately either the body shop or the upholstery guy lost one set of wires, Home Depot doesn’t sell spades in that small a size (and they use two sizes for each speaker), and Radio Shack is kaput.  I guess I could have ordered new speaker wires from them but I spent so much time on this project already that I just wanted it over with.  Ended up finding four tiny screws and screwing into the spades, and this did work.  Hopefully they will never come off!

And last but not least, the speaker grilles.  They’re made of flexible plastic and too large to fit.  Very poor design and very cheaply made.  After struggling multiple tries and watching them scratch hell out of my nice fresh paint on the enclosures, I gave up and cut a few slits on the edges so they overlap a little and this lets them go in.  I’ll just have to mask everything off and respray.

Maybe I am just really stupid, but these products do not impress.  The radio looks right for the car, it would be incredibly difficult to steal, and with four large speakers in this tiny passenger compartment, it sounds pretty good.  The real irritant here was the speakers and enclosures.  In 20-20 hindsight, I would have found a better way to mount speakers that didn’t require RetroSound enclosures.  Oh well.  In a couple of months maybe I will forget about all the annoyance.

johnsimion2015-11-11 21:45:18

[Rich Kallenberger]

Small comfort now but you may be able to find both sizes of spade connectors at an auto supply. Check in both auto electrical AND auto stereo aisles. Two sizes are used to insure correct polarity ( for the color blind I guess).

[edward ericson]

Sorry for your troubles, John. Thanks for the product review though. Very helpful.

[Paul Mossberg]

Thanks for the review!

I’m consideration a Retrosound head unit for my Intermeccanica. They have a model that is period correct for a 59 Porsche, and also have the correct faceplate.

I don’t need to replace the speakers. But If I did, I would not buy them from Retrosound. If you want to stay online, I highly recommend Crutchfield. They’ve been in business for decades, have great variety, great customer service staff, and a very informative website. If you want to hear your speakers first, you local electronics stores will also have far more options than Retrosound.

As far as enclosures…

I have two 6 1/2″ round speakers in my TDr, mounted on the back panel of the passenger compartment. The picture is a bit blurry, but it is here. They are enclosed with the 1982 version of these:

They are simply foam covers. They come in sizes to match all the standard speaker sizes. Nothing to cut, nothing to drill. Push them through the speaker hole, drop the speaker on top of them, and affix the speaker like normal. The ones I have have held up fine since 1982.

PMOSSBERG2015-11-12 08:38:53

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[newkitman]

Can you actually hear the music from back there? It seems like you should hear them better than if they were under the front seats. But what about engine noise?
Also…do you have front speakers as well. I was thinking of using the VW angled speaker mounts for the front.
newkitman2015-11-12 10:33:27

Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The Shack

[John Simion]

I used the RetroSound enclosures so the speakers could be mounted on the surface. I had some concern about structural integrity of the car in making two six-inch holes in the back of the package shelf — but mainly I didn’t know how to seal the back sides (I didn’t know about the Boom Mats). In 20-20 hindsight, regular speakers with Boom Mats would have worked well. Yes, I have two 4×6 speakers on the front kick panels, high enough not to get “kicked.” To mount them, I cut wood to even them up with the door frame, glued it to the fiberglass with hefty amounts of Liquid Nails for Projects, and attached the enclosures to that. The wood glued very securely although it took a lot of grinding to get it flat up against the fiberglass so the glue could grip. About the sound, I figured the stereo would mainly be for when the car is parked, but in any event the rear speakers are loud and close enough to overcome the VW engine (at least at low speeds).

[Paul Mossberg]

Allen,

I only have the two 6 1/2″ speakers in the back. Nothing up front.

Yes, I can easily hear the music from “back there,” even on the highway.

“Back there” isn’t very far back. The speakers are probably about two feet from my ears.

Bass frequencies are omni-directional. That’s why your home theater or sound system can get away with a single sub-woofer. Treble frequencies are directional. Technically they should be aimed at the listener.

There are a ton of variables when you start discussing proper placement. Especially in an open car. Double especially in our TDr’s.

But I would believe that speakers under the seats, aimed at the listener’s ankles would not produce optimal mid-range and high range sound.

PMOSSBERG2015-11-12 14:46:44

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[newkitman]

Thanks Paul. With the speakers behind you the sound should be fine. I have a pair of 6 inch round speakers so I think I’ll just order the boom mat speaker foams.

Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The Shack

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