how do they work?
They work in two different ways
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The nostalgia factor of pressing Play to connect your vintage boombox with modern day bluetooth is wonderfully emotive, innately satisfying, and seriously irresistible..
bluetooth boombox
Essentially, to modify a boombox we obtain the original circuit diagrams and connect present day bluetooth into the original circuitry in the appropriate places.
This means it uses the original amplifier, the original volume, tone and graphic equaliser, if there is one, and we do our best to ensure it balances nicely with the original radio and cassette volume levels.
There are two main methods we use to integrate bluetooth into a vintage boombox.
Often we’ll place a small switch, discretely inside the cassette deck cavity to select either bluetooth or tape, so when you press Play, magic happens!
Sometimes it’s not necessary to use a switch. Where there’s a Line-In connection, for instance, we can often make use of it.
The exact method used depends mainly upon the original circuitry and how it was designed to work. Every installation is customised to that particular boombox.
the switch
This method of coupling the bluetooth into the existing circuitry involves placing a discrete switch inside the cassette bay, so making a small modification to the case. The modification is not visible once the cassette door is closed.
When a switch has been added and switched over to Bluetooth, you press Play to enable the bluetooth connection, instead of playing the tape.
line-in
It is sometimes possible to make use of a Line-In function to enable the bluetooth, where it is available as a selectable input.
It isn’t always a viable option to use this though, even when the boombox has Line-In sockets and a Line-In function.
If that is the case we will use the switch method.