I've recently bought a 1987 Pontiac Firebird with a late 80's Compact Disc cartridge player. I'd like to keep this option in my car as it keeps to the 80's feel. Would anyone know as to where I can possibly purchase extra or replacement cartridges?

Added Note: You'd think that these ancient CD Cartrige players would'nt play burned CDs, however, surprising enough, it's probably the best CD player I own. It's played anything I've fed it and with no problems. In fact, on some CDs where skips were apperent in other CD players, they seem less often in this player. Who'da thought?!

 

That sounds cool, I didn't even know that existed in these cars... do you have pics?

 

I've seen similar cartridges used at a local radio station. The cartridges there help protect discs from fingerprints and possible scratches. Here's a picture of the cartidge itself. It looks like it was made by a company called Blaupunkt. Again, does anyone know where I can find extra or replacement cartridges?

 

No I've seen the cartridge-style ones before, I just said I had never known our cars had them... but now that you say it's made by Blaupunkt (a German audio company) I see it's not stock. The way you said it made it sound like it was a stock option.

 

Here's a pic of the player.

 

Wow, you've got an EQ and everything. Looks like that was a really high-end system back in its day. ;-)

 

No, definitely not stock. A previous owner installed it as with an older set of speakers and an older sub custom cabinet under the hatchback. As I hear, there was a lot of money sunk into the car back in the day. Compared to current standards, it doesn't look like much. An interesting thing to note are the two red switches above the player. The high and low frequencies are broken down into two seperate channels that can be switched both on and off.

In this pic you can make one of these such red switches:

 

I really like the way that setup looks. Got pics of the sub, etc.?

 

I'll try to take some pictures of the cabinet and amp.

Another pic:

 

Better pic of the switches I was talking about:

 

Custom box:

 

The amp was put into the key operated storage compartment on the left side under the hatchback. It's a 60 Watt amp also put out by Blaupunkt

 

Wow... that's a really nice ol' school setup you've got there!

 

Going to have to get ahold of Blaupunkt for that.
http://www.blaupunktusa.com/BlaupunktUSA
(800)950-2528
You going to need the model#.

 

Thanks. I'd like to keep the system the way it is. As I mentioned, it gives the car a bit of an 80's feel. Furthermore, thanks for the link, NEEDAZ. Its greatly appreciated. I've tried Ebay with no luck, so you've been very helpful. Thanks again.

 

deffinitly interesting. You ever though of custom making a compartment for aftermarket head unit?

Nate

 

id keep an eye on ebay..and check with some guys on the www.carsound.com forums theyve been around forever

 

My 89 GT Probe came with a Factory CD player in it and it plays burnt CDs as well and is better than most cheap aftermarket stuff ive seen.

 

I sent an Email out to Blaupunkt. I had been expecting a reply, but they never did. Today I recieved a package from them with a more complex and updated version of the cartridges they made. Here's a pic:

It was nice of them to send me one.

 

WOW! Great customer service, I haven’t seen that in a long time.

 

Cool, way to go Blue Dot (convert english to german and you get Blaupunkt)! I have an amp from them, an old '96-era 4x20 "distortionless"- it always did a damn good job for such a small box.

 

I love old skool setups! More pics more! lol

Looks damn cool, hows it sound?

 

For speakers as old as they are, they actually don't sound bad. Not bad at all...

 

The cartridges were an early Computer item...

I was told that when CD ROMs were first introduced for computers, they had stability issues. To help correct this, they used a cartridge to help stablize the disk, Back in 1991 at my first college, they had some of the cartridges...

I am not sure if they were universal cartridges or not, BUT it may be something to look into.

John

 

I guess at 60watts per 3 woofers, that those small circles are port-hole covers? A very interesting look!

I did not know you could fit a deck and an EQ in the headunit opening... that's pretty cool...

 

Wow, you're the only other person I have seen with an EQ there too. Cool look, I like it.

 

geez is there any easy way to flush-mount our decks? I really hate how far it sticks out--like it just wants be be stolen...

 

one of the previous owners of my car cut the heck out of the structure to get a deck farther in... I re-inforced it, and no one would be the wiser


John

 

whats your modle number and name of the cd player? just woundering

 

thats awsome, never seen that before. musta been one hell of a high end item back in the day

 

I can't speak for cars, but I know it was really common in the computer world back in the day, as others have posted.

 

I'm curious why someone would request this. Why would you want to turn off half of the sound spectrum?

 

maybe they just want to bass out for a minute... and then maybe they just wanna turn off their subs every once in awhile..... dunno