Thumbwheel Radio from Jegs

[CRW-FK5]

I am planning on buying one of these aftermarket radios for my 1970.  I believe I already have the correct bezel for it, which I believe is for an AM/8TRACK.  The AM radio currently in there would be removed and replaced with the aftermarket one.

Just wondering if anyone has any feedback on these radios, good, bad, otherwise?

[ODZKing]

I purchased one for my 73 at Carlisle a few years back ... I hated it.
First it doesn't sound very good but that is a matter of opinion I guess.
But my biggest complaint was the tuning, settings and the external connection.
To play an MP3 player or phone you have to plug a cable into the back of the unit. Quite inconvenient but ... OK. There is no switch, it detects audio coming from your player, which means in between songs it switches back to the previous setting (AM or FM, whatever).
Also, it was supposed to have L/R and front/rear fading capability. The same knob does both. To get the knob to fade the rear speakers, you have to dial all the way to the far right on the dial and after a few seconds it will change, this is a pain in the a** and it never stays the same.
Lastly there is no "tuning" per se, it only has seek which means if you listen to a weak signal it will skip it or not find it. After one car season of this nonsense, I yanked it out and put my original AM/FM stereo Chrysler radio back in.
I purchased one of these on EBay pictured below and it works great tuned to whatever FM frequency I need.
That is my 2 cents.

[CRW-FK5]

I purchased one for my 73 at Carlisle a few years back ... I hated it.
First it doesn't sound very good but that is a matter of opinion I guess.
But my biggest complaint was the tuning, settings and the external connection.
To play an MP3 player or phone you have to plug a cable into the back of the unit. Quite inconvenient but ... OK. There is no switch, it detects audio coming from your player, which means in between songs it switches back to the previous setting (AM or FM, whatever).
Also, it was supposed to have L/R and front/rear fading capability. The same knob does both. To get the knob to fade the rear speakers, you have to dial all the way to the far right on the dial and after a few seconds it will change, this is a pain in the a** and it never stays the same.
Lastly there is no "tuning" per se, it only has seek which means if you listen to a weak signal it will skip it or not find it. After one car season of this nonsense, I yanked it out and put my original AM/FM stereo Chrysler radio back in.
I purchased one of these on EBay pictured below and it works great tuned to whatever FM frequency I need.
That is my 2 cents.

Thanks for the detailed feedback.  Not what I was hoping to hear but I do appreciate it.

[ODZKing]

I see you don't have the correct radio in yours so you are clearly looking for something correct.
MY suggestion is to find a thumb-wheel ( non-working) carcass and have it retro fitted by one of the places that do that. There are plenty, must be 3 or 4 at Carlisle every year.
I just took a peek on EBay and there are plenty out there.
Good luck with your decision.

[b5blue]

If that's a factory AM/FM 70 radio it's worth quite a bit of money! I'd put proper face plate to it and just hide a modern quality unit/speakers. (Less money/work W better results.)

[Nacho-RT74]

I purchased one for my 73 at Carlisle a few years back ... I hated it.
First it doesn't sound very good but that is a matter of opinion I guess.
But my biggest complaint was the tuning, settings and the external connection.
To play an MP3 player or phone you have to plug a cable into the back of the unit. Quite inconvenient but ... OK. There is no switch, it detects audio coming from your player, which means in between songs it switches back to the previous setting (AM or FM, whatever).
Also, it was supposed to have L/R and front/rear fading capability. The same knob does both. To get the knob to fade the rear speakers, you have to dial all the way to the far right on the dial and after a few seconds it will change, this is a pain in the a** and it never stays the same.
Lastly there is no "tuning" per se, it only has seek which means if you listen to a weak signal it will skip it or not find it. After one car season of this nonsense, I yanked it out and put my original AM/FM stereo Chrysler radio back in.

LOL, I hope I will be able to handle it better.

But I think the radio posted by the OP is not exactly the same unit manufacturer you got. It comes from another manufacturer. Dunno if works the same thought.

WHICH BY THE WAY it mentions doesn't fit on 8 tracks bezels
https://www.retromanufacturing.com/products/1968-1970-dodge-charger-redondo-radio?rq=yr_1970~mk_dodge~md_charger&variant=14495232643

the manufacturer ( Antique auto radio ) of the one you mention offers these:
https://www.classiccarstereos.com/1969-mopar-b-body-radio.html
https://www.classiccarstereos.com/1970-mopar-b-body-radio.html

They look different of the RetroSound ones

[CRW-FK5]

I see you don't have the correct radio in yours so you are clearly looking for something correct.
MY suggestion is to find a thumb-wheel ( non-working) carcass and have it retro fitted by one of the places that do that. There are plenty, must be 3 or 4 at Carlisle every year.
I just took a peek on EBay and there are plenty out there.
Good luck with your decision.

That's correct.  My car is coded R11.  I am just looking to get rid of the under dash radio I currently have and upgrade an in-dash model that has a factory look.  I'm not sure how the AM/8-Track bezel ended up in there with what I assume is the original AM radio but that's how it came when I bought the car.  My original plan was to replace the bezel but I was worried that any aftermarket wood grain would not match the adjacent wood panels, and trying to find an original wood grain bezel has proven difficult.  Had I been able to find an AM bezel I would have just upgraded the AM radio to modern internals to get stereo sound with bluetooth compatibility.  Now, however, it them seemed the better (easier) route may be to just get a retro-style radio to match the original AM/8-Track bezel, which is what prompted this posting.  The only downside to that is the fact that it wouldn't match the R11 code for my car, which is not a big deal to me.  I may look into your suggestion.  Thanks for your reply.  Greatly appreciated.

[CRW-FK5]

If that's a factory AM/FM 70 radio it's worth quite a bit of money! I'd put proper face plate to it and just hide a modern quality unit/speakers. (Less money/work W better results.)

Yeah, I gathered that since it is a '70 Charger only radio (if I understand correctly).  My challenges have been in locating a wood grain bezel that provided a good match with the adjacent wood grain.  The aftermarket looks okay but seems like you really need to replace all sections to get good continuity.  I could be wrong.  Thanks for posting your reply.

[CRW-FK5]

I purchased one for my 73 at Carlisle a few years back ... I hated it.
First it doesn't sound very good but that is a matter of opinion I guess.
But my biggest complaint was the tuning, settings and the external connection.
To play an MP3 player or phone you have to plug a cable into the back of the unit. Quite inconvenient but ... OK. There is no switch, it detects audio coming from your player, which means in between songs it switches back to the previous setting (AM or FM, whatever).
Also, it was supposed to have L/R and front/rear fading capability. The same knob does both. To get the knob to fade the rear speakers, you have to dial all the way to the far right on the dial and after a few seconds it will change, this is a pain in the a** and it never stays the same.
Lastly there is no "tuning" per se, it only has seek which means if you listen to a weak signal it will skip it or not find it. After one car season of this nonsense, I yanked it out and put my original AM/FM stereo Chrysler radio back in.

Thank you.

LOL, I hope I will be able to handle it better.

But I think the radio posted by the OP is not exactly the same unit manufacturer you got. It comes from another manufacturer. Dunno if works the same thought.

WHICH BY THE WAY it mentions doesn't fit on 8 tracks bezels
https://www.retromanufacturing.com/products/1968-1970-dodge-charger-redondo-radio?rq=yr_1970~mk_dodge~md_charger&variant=14495232643

the manufacturer ( Antique auto radio ) of the one you mention offers these:
https://www.classiccarstereos.com/1969-mopar-b-body-radio.html
https://www.classiccarstereos.com/1970-mopar-b-body-radio.html

They look different of the RetroSound ones

[Jonas_N]

Just for another opinion. I have the retrosound stereo pictured in the OP.
I have the full system installed with the dash speaker, two speakers in the luggage tray and the active sub.
I also have the USB extension that fits in place of the cigarette lighter and is totally hidden with the ash tray closed.

It works and sounds great imo.
The controls took some time to get used to but with fader/balance/levels tuned the sound really shines.

Negative stuff would be that the thumb wheels feels very plastic.

[ODZKing]

I just looked up the Retrosound one for my 67 and what they show for 66-67 is not correct. Face as well as knobs are wrong. Just sayin' 

[funknut]

Just for another opinion. I have the retrosound stereo pictured in the OP.
I have the full system installed with the dash speaker, two speakers in the luggage tray and the active sub.
I also have the USB extension that fits in place of the cigarette lighter and is totally hidden with the ash tray closed.

It works and sounds great imo.
The controls took some time to get used to but with fader/balance/levels tuned the sound really shines.

Negative stuff would be that the thumb wheels feels very plastic.

I just powered mine up for the first time last week and I like it quite a lot.  I agree the controls take some time getting used to.  For some reason volume up is down and down is up.  I could have messed up when I installed mine.  I have the retrosound dash speaker and some name-brand-but-not-expensive 6x9s in the package tray.  It sounds really good, the bluetooth works great.  I doubt I'll be using the mic for hands-free calling, but that's available if/when I want to.

The buttons do feel funny and I wonder if the chrome finish will hold up, but as modern conveniences go, it's a very nice addition.  I also wired in the 2 USB ports to my ash tray so I can charge a phone through that and still have my 12v socket for other stuff.

[Jonas_N]

I do have volume up when moving wheel up.

[funknut]

Ok thanks I figured I just goofed it up when I assembled mine. 

[ODZKing]

I really like the ash tray setup 

[Jonas_N]

I also put the sub control in the ash tray.
Added a flat luggage tray cover and hid the sub under the passenger seat.