Chrysler Stereo Pages at Allpar

chrysler car stereo

Chrysler-related radio and stereo articles at Allpar:
	Guide to Chrysler stereo head units, past and present Guide to Chrysler speakers and speaker repair Chrysler Electronics: making car stereos and more in Huntsville Next-generation UConnect systems (starting in 2013) The first all-transistor, solid state car radio (1955)	Tweaking the CD-Cassette players The 2012 stereos from Chrysler Adding a new stereo to an old car Minivan stereo swap / iPod adapter install Odd behavior or multiple failures
Take-apart, analysis, tweak, and repair guides (later stereos have a three-letter code on the face plate)
	MyGIG (REN) stereo/nav/DVD (Media Center 430) Huntsville RAQ CD-changer stereos Chrysler RAZ CD-Cassette stereos Chrysler-Alpine RBU stereos Chrysler-Alpine REQ CD changer stereos Chrysler RES CD stereos Chrysler - Mitsubishi DY-5UC6CWYD CD-Changer RBS: Early CD changer for Sebring, Stratus, and others 1990s/2000s CD Changer Tape Deck RX-696BH (LH and others) RGB? The first Chrysler-Huntsville CD player (1990s) Chrysler Electronics:1990s Economy Cassette Deck Original (1995+) CD-cassette combo units: extensive repairs	8-track tape decks Chrysler/Infinity sound systems Infinity amplifiers Infinity I cassette-stereo Infinity II cassette deck / head unit Infinity III head unit Infinity IV CD players Dealer Installed Quartz Lock Stereos Factory Quartz Lock stereos Eagle Premier/Dodge Monaco tape deck The Chrysler Ultimate Sound System

Some 2010-2011 stereos used by Chrysler required firmware updates to avoid high power usage on standby, which could drain batteries. There have also been stability and feature-fixing firmware updates for 2011 stereos and navigation systems.

We asked Chrysler about SD card compatibility with their UConnect stereos; we had mixed success with various cards of various sizes. The rep said to get class 2, 4, or 6 cards (not class 10, which is faster), and that 8 gigabytes seemed to be the dividing line between consistent function and problems. This information came in October 2012; firmware updates and newer hardware might change those specs.

Chrysler and windshield radio antennas

Burton Bouwkamp wrote:

From 1968 to 1975, I was Director of Product Planning at Chrysler. During that time Styling (Elwood Engle) lobbied top management to put the antenna in the windshield á la GM. I objected because of the loss in radio performance.

I had a very simple test. My cottage in Mecosta was 160 miles from Detroit and my favorite Detroit radio station was WJR (J. P. McCarthy, Bud Guest, etc). I could get WJR with a mast antenna from the cottage but not with a windshield antenna. I was worried that if the customer experienced this loss in performance that he would blame the reduced radio reception in his new car on the quality of the radio.

Finally in a showdown with Elwood I lost. Management made a compromise decision and that was to put the windshield antenna only on the Imperial - not across all car lines as Styling wanted.

The rest of the story is that after one year's field experience, the Chrysler/Imperial National Dealer Council formally recommended that we return to the fender mounted mast antenna. We did - but we built Imperials with windshield antennas for one or two years. (Eventually, GM also discarded the windshield antenna.)

Footnote: We (Engineering) were not happy with the fragile nature of the telescoping antenna so the Radio Lab (Frank Jenkins, Manager) came up with a fixed length stainless steel mast antenna which was rugged and provided good reception. I approved it. I can't remember the year that the stainless steel antenna entered production but it was when I was Director of Body Engineering (1979 - 1983).