premium radio unit

SirBrickWagon · Post by **SirBrickWagon** » 24 Jan 2022, 11:23

good morning/afternoon/evening all, i've got a problem on my hands.

i bought a premium radio head unit for my car, and it came with one as well. one plays cassettes but absolutely sucks at playing CDs. the other one can't play cassettes but plays CDs marginally better. any way i can merge the 2 radios together or clean something on the new head unit to make it play CDs better?

asking because i found a CD while on a trip to fairmont that someone made. has some decent stuff but is scratched to hell and back. my mum's car plays it perfectly fine, though. open to any suggestions?

Post by **FireFox31** » 24 Jan 2022, 12:07

Tape players and CD players are sensitive pieces of equipment. I wouldn't try to mess with them. Seems much easier to pull more headunits from the junkyard or buy used ones off eBay.

Alternatively, you could replace the stock radio with one or two aftermarket radios. I installed two single DIN units on mine and installed an automatic switcher between them. One unit is an Alpine radio / CD / bluetooth receiver, the other is an MP3 computer. I added a basic amp under the front passenger's seat. The stock speakers in my 2000 V70 are surprisingly good so I left those.

I'll probably post the procedure here at some point. Thought I already did but couldn't find it.

Post by **scot850** » 24 Jan 2022, 12:25

Which head units do you have? SC-815 or SC-816 perhaps? Should be on the front face plate usually about half way down?

: SC-816

You can see the SC-816 to the left and below the LCD screen. SC-815 is an older but similar unit.

The CD issues are usually the laser needs cleaned (the multi-CD units in the SC-900/901 are bad for that) and cleaning the heads on the cassette can be as easy as using 2 cotton buds taped together to give the length needed to get to the playing head and some IPA/rubbing alcohol. If you are stuck, I can probably help and may still have some units kicking around as well.

Neil.

SirBrickWagon · Post by **SirBrickWagon** » 24 Jan 2022, 12:33

scot850 wrote: ↑24 Jan 2022, 12:25 Which head units do you have? SC-815 or SC-816 perhaps? Should be on the front face plate usually about half way down?

2018-08-05 Radios for sale 003.JPG

You can see the SC-816 to the left and below the LCD screen. SC-815 is an older but similar unit.

The CD issues are usually the laser needs cleaned (the multi-CD units in the SC-900/901 are bad for that) and cleaning the heads on the cassette can be as easy as using 2 cotton buds taped together to give the length needed to get to the playing head and some IPA/rubbing alcohol. If you are stuck, I can probably help and may still have some units kicking around as well.

Neil.

that's the unit i have! CD/cassette combo. how would i go about cleaning the laser on it?

Post by **FireFox31** » 24 Jan 2022, 15:13

Look for tape and/or laser cleaning kits for sale, perhaps on Amazon or an electronics store.

Post by **scot850** » 24 Jan 2022, 15:36

It is not too easy on these unit, much easier on the multi-changer head. You can buy cd cleaners and may still be able to buy cassette head cleaners. This may be the easiest way to tackle cleaning these units

viewtopic.php?t=6989

Here is a generic YouTube video on cleaning a car head unit. If I recall the laser head is not quite as accessible on the SC-816.

Hope this helps.

Neil.