Craig Radio Op Amp?

[sdg3205]

My Craig radio has been great up until yesterday. I upgraded the speakers last summer to Infinity Kappas (as seen in other threads) and it's been a great little unit.

Now, after about 5 minutes of normal performance at ANY operating level, the right side (both front and back) will make some pretty crazy popping, fizzing and static sounds. It seems to me the right op amp is toast.

Adjusting fade and balance doesnt change the trend. I leave it off now to protect the speakers from voltage fluctuations.

Anyone have a similar experience? Dave/Bitsyncmaster, your electronics wizardry is welcome!

[Kenny_Z]

It sounds like what happened to my Craig. There were some quality issues and then finally one loud pop sealed the fate of the driver side channel.

[Grover]

I am planning on reaching out to this company in PA soon: http://www.mikehaganantiqueautoradio.com/stereo-conversions.html

I reached out to another company but they are back logged for many months, and mentioned that they do not have the time to do the conversion upgrade to a unit with a tape deck. They referred me to the company in PA, who has more experience with the tape decks.

If they can/are willing to upgrade the power output on the Craig radio and add the external input/output like they do on the other radios, I will be converting back to the Craig.

If not, they do offer rebuild services with solid state and up-rated parts.

[sdg3205]

Hey Steve,


that's what I'm leaning towards. To have my collector plates I have to keep everything pretty much stock. I also like the dated look of the Craig!

[Grover]

Yeah, I may even tell them to modify the units like the others to get the high output and input/output connectors and forget about the cassette deck. As long as it looks like it is there I don't mind if it doesn't work because I would use my ipod on the Aux connectors anyway.

I plan on calling them tomorrow, I will update this thread when I find out some more information from them.

Also, here is the link to the "conversion" service
http://www.mikehaganantiqueautoradio.com/converted-radios-1.html

[Bitsyncmaster]

I've fixed a few car radios and mostly it's the output transistors that go bad. Probably because they use pop rivets to hold the transistors onto the heat sink.

[jawn101]

Hey Steve,


that's what I'm leaning towards. To have my collector plates I have to keep everything pretty much stock. I also like the dated look of the Craig!

Wow, you really can't even upgrade the radio? That's crazy!

FWIW, I also like how the Craig looks. Mine was already gone when I got the car or I might have kept it too.

[sdg3205]

Wow, you really can't even upgrade the radio? That's crazy!

FWIW, I also like how the Craig looks. Mine was already gone when I got the car or I might have kept it too.

Jon - yeah, it's pretty rigid, but having the collector plates is a sweet deal; unlimited pleasure driving for $350/year! The craig has also never had a problem driving the infinity speakers.

A real aux input for an iPod would be awesome though!

[sdg3205]

Well Mike Hannigan (of the link posted above) got back to me with this:

"Nothing I can do with that radio. The new board will not hook up to a radio with a digital tuner and I don't rebuild cassettes as there are no parts no matter what make they are. Thanks Mike."

Back to the drawing board.