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Converting the radio of a reimported RV8
We noticed in an advert Mike Simmonds (Woodcote Green 1504) from Berkshire posted on the V8 Website offering his car for sale, that he had fitted a "new" UK market radio rather than the alternative of fitting a frequency band expander to the original Japan market radio. (Jan 05)

The popular option for overcoming the mismatch of the FM bands of a Japan market radio and the frequency band of broadcasts in the UK, is to fit a frequency band expander or converter as described in RV8NOTE220. So when we saw Mike's advert stating his RV8 "is fitted with a plug-in replacement UK specification Panasonic radio which controls the original equipment Panasonic boot-mounted CD player" we sought details of the new Panasonic radio he had fitted. Mike's reply was "there are new radios, and there are "new" radios. The one I fitted was spotted on a table at a car-boot sale a few months after I bought the RV8 - it is a "period" radio of the mid-nineties, but no RDS, I'm afraid. It is a

Panasonic R805E Cassette Player and Receiver with Changer Control and it has a removable front panel. The CD player plug fitted straight in with no changes and worked well. The only changes I made were to the plugs on the back of the radio. The original (Japanese market) radio has three multi-way connectors on the rear of the set for power, speakers and rear "woofer" output". "The replacement radio did not have the third woofer connector. I made the choice of not connecting the woofer, although with a suitable cross-over, I'm sure this could be made to work. But bleeding ears for me and passers by does not appeal - I must be getting old!"

"So, in summary, I did not cut any wires, I redirected a few, and I did not connect the woofers, but apart from that, it works fine".
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