AM STEREO Capable Radios

Back in the 1980's and even into the early 1990's, there were indeed some radios available for sale in North America which were capable of receiving AM STEREO broadcasts.  Based on my own personal experiences and discussions I have had with various people about such radios, I have compiled a list (in alphabetical order) and included pictures (where available) below the manufacturer's name and model name or number of the unit:  

• Acura CQ-LH668A - Factory Car Radio with Auto-Reverse Cassette Player

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• AIWA CR-D60 - Personal Radio with Digital Tuning

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• AIWA HS-JX636D - Personal Radio with Digital Tuning and Auto-Reverse Cassette

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• AMC/Jeep/Renault (All ETR models) - Factory Car Radio

• American Audio ET-8602 - After-Market Car Radio

• Audi (VW Models) - Factory Car Radio

• Audiovox CPDEQ - Chrysler Factory Car Radio Equivalent  

• Audiovox GMADEQ - GM/Delco Factory Car Radio Equivalent

• Blaupunkt Berlin TQR-07 - After-Market Car Radio

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• Blaupunkt Dallas SQM-88 - After-Market Car Radio

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• Blaupunkt Tuscon SQR-06 - After-Market Car Radio with Cassette Player

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• Carver 2000 Professional Series - Digital Home Receiver

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• Carver PSB-11 - Digital Home Tuner

• Carver TX-11a - Digital Home Tuner  

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• Carver TX-11b - Digital Home Tuner

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• Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge 4311687, 4311686 (RAN) - Factory Car Radio

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  • The above is a picture of a 1985 factory Chrysler AM STEREO radio (Model # 4311686) with cassette supplier 7902.  This particular unit was manufactured in Huntsville, Alabama and is out of a 1985 Chrysler New Yorker.  Be careful when looking for this unit though, as the 1983 and 1984 radios look identical to this one, but do not have AM STEREO capability.  As a rule of thumb, AM STEREO capability was included in all domestically-built Chrysler vehicles with FM STEREO capability beginning in the 1985 model year up to and including the the 1992 model year.

• Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge 4311102, 4311103 (RAY) - Factory Car Radio

• Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge 4311827, 4311828 (RAL) - Factory Car Radio

• Chrysler Infinity - Factory Standard Radio with CD player on some Chrysler vehicles

• Clarion PP-9383L - Car Radio with Cassette Player (has Bose printed on cassette door)

• Clarion 990E - After-Market Car Radio with Cassette Player

• Clarion 8900RT- After-Market Car Radio

• Clarion 8925ST - After-Market Car Radio

• Clarion 9000E - After-Market Car Radio with Cassette Player

• Clarion 9425RT - After-Market Car Radio with Cassette Player

• Concord HPL-550 - After-Market Car Radio with Cassette Player

• Denon TU-680NAB - Home Tuner  (AMAX AM STEREO certified)

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• Eurovox 2300, 2301 - After-Market Car Radio 

• Ford/Lincoln/Mercury EVY-18806 B, C, E - Factory Car Radios

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• Ford F37F-18C815-AE - Factory Car Radio with CD Player

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  • The above unit was manufactured by Altec in Mexico and came from a 1994 Ford Ranger.  This unit is not labelled as being a Premium Sound model, but does use a separate power amplifier.

• Ford F57F-19B165-AE - Factory Car Radio with Cassette

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  • The above unit is a "Double DIN" model from a 1996 Ford Ranger.  Again, it is not labelled as being a Premium Sound model, but does use a separate power amplifier.

• GM/DELCO UX-1, UT-4, YE-2 -  Factory Car Radios

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• Grundig UC-436 - After Market Car Radio

• J.C. Penney 2275, 2276, 2277 - Home Stereo Component Systems

• J.C. Penney/Modular Component System MCS-3050 - Home Tuner  (uses the Motorola MC13020 IC decoder)

• Japan Radio Company (JRC) NRD-545 DSP - Home Receiver

• Kenwood KRC-8001 - After-Market Car Radio with multi-synchronous IC

  • Note:  Kenwood manufactured some home receivers during the 1980's that had "AM Stereo Output" jacks on the back.  However, these units were not capable of receiving AM STEREO broadcasts on their own as as they required a special adaptor to allow you to receive such broadcasts.  Strangely, and unfortunately, these adaptors were never manufactured for the North American market.

• Kraco ETR-1090 - After-Market Car Radio with digital tuning  

• Kraco ETR-1084 - After-Market Car Radio with digital tuning and auto-reverse cassette                                     player (Motorola C-QUAM capable only)

• Marantz SR-940 - Home Receiver

  • Note:  The Marantz SR-440, SR-640 and SR-840 home receivers do not come equipped with AM STEREO as a standard feature.  Instead, you 'll find a note in the box from from Marantz that reads, "You cannot get AM STEREO reception on this unit without the special AM STEREO adapter which a Marantz dealer can install for you."

• Mazda (Model # Unknown) - Standard Factory Radio in all RX-7's

• MetroSound AMS 400 - Add-on Car/Home Analog Radio with multi-synchronous IC

• Mercedes (Model # Unknown) - Factory Car Radio

• Mitsubishi JX3, MX4 - Factory Car Radios

• Mitsubishi M519 - After-Market Car Radio with Auto Reverse Cassette

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• Nissan (Model # Unknown) - Standard Factory Radio in all Maximas 

• Omnivox CR620 - After-Market Car Radio

• Pioneer KE-433AM - After-Market Car Radio with Cassette

  • Note:  Pioneer, like Kenwood, also manufactured some home receivers during the 1980's that had an "AM Stereo Out" jack on the back.  (See picture below)

  • 

  • However, please be advised that these units were not capable of receiving AM STEREO broadcasts on their own as they required a special adaptor to allow you to receive such broadcasts.  Strangely, and unfortunately, these adaptors were never manufactured for the North American market.

• Pontomac SMR-11 - Professional Broadcast Monitor

• Realistic TM-152 - Home Tuner (Catalogue # 31-1967)

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• Realistic (Model # Unknown) - After Market Car Radio with digital tuning (Motorola C-QUAM only); there were two of these radios made between 1985 and 1991 and their catalogue #'s were 12-1923 and 12-1933.

• Rolls Royce (Model # Unknown) - Factory Car Radio

• SAAB (Model # Unknown) - Factory Car Radio 

• Sangean SR-66 - Personal Radio

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• Sansui CX-990 - After-Market Car Radio with Auto Reverse

• Sansui S-X1070 - Home Receiver with multi-synchronous decoder (no Extended Band)

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• Sansui S-X1130 - Home Receiver with multi-synchronous decoder (no Extended Band)

• Sansui TU-77 - After-Market Car Radio with digital tuning and multi-synchronous IC

• Sansui TU-D99AMX - Home Tuner with digital tuning and multi-synchronous IC

• Sansui TU-S77AMX - Home Tuner with digital tuning and multi-synchronous IC

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• Sansui TU-S772MX, TU-SX777AMS - Home Tuners with multi-synchronous IC

• Sanyo MW-250 - Portable Boombox with Detachable Speakers (multi-synchronous IC)

• Sharp RG-B914 (Bk) - After-Market Car Radio

• Sherwood CRD-150, CRD-180 - After-Market Car Radios

• Sherwood CRD-210 - After-Market Car Radio

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• Sherwood CRD-250 - After-Market Car Radio

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• Sherwood CRD-350 - After-Market Car Radio

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• SONY CFS-6000 - Portable Boombox Type Stereo

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• SONY SRF-A1 - Walkman  (Model # SRF-A10 in Australia)

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  • NOTE:  Pictured above on the right is the extremely rare Coca-Cola Sony SRF-A1 Walkman which was given out in the mid-80's as a promotional item in Canada only.  Cool or what, eh?

• SONY SRF-A100 - Personal Radio  (Model # SRF-A200 in Australia)

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• SONY SRF-42 - Walkman (currently still available at Radio Shack stores in some areas of the United States, but is officially "Out of Production" according to Sony)

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• SONY ST-JX220A, ST-JX221, ST-JX420A - Home Tuners (only sold in Canada and Australia)

• SONY ST-JX520A - Home Tuner (only sold in Canada and Australia)

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• SONY STR-AV270, 390, 490, 570, 590, 770, 790, 850 - Home Receivers (only sold in Canada and Australia)

• SONY WM-F16 - Walkman with Cassette

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• SONY XR-A33 - After-Market Car Radio

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• SONY XR-A100 - After-Market Car Radio with multi-synchronous IC

• SONY XR-A740 - After-Market Car Radio

• SONY (Model # Unknown) - Clock Radio (only sold in Canada)

• Sparkomatic SR-420, SR-425 - After-Market Car Radios

• Sparkomatic SR-430 - After_Market Car Radio

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• Sunkyong SIR-7900 - After-Market Car Radio

• Teac T515 - Analog Home Tuner

• Toyota 5625 (MR2), 5627 (Cressida), 1626 (Supra/Celica) -  Factory Car Radios

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• Visteon CD-6 - Ford OEM Car Radio with Six CD Changer  NEW!!

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  • NOTE:  Be very careful which CD-6 unit you may be considering purchasing because it's not as straightforward as it appears.  The CD-6 units that Visteon makes for Ford do have AM STEREO, but the regular after-market version of the CD-6 available from Visteon does not.  A truly puzzling and bizarre situation, so please keep this in mind to avoid disappointment.

• Volkswagen - SC 73 ETR - Factory Car Radio for 1985 Golf and GTI Models

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• Volkswagen - SC 99 ETR - Factory Car Radio for 1985 Golf and GTI Models

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  • NOTE:  The SC 73 ETR and SC 99 ETR radios were offered in 1985-1987 Golf and GTI models.  However, these two radios only had AM STEREO capability in the 1985 model year.  The VW part #'s for these particular radios are as follows:

    • SC 73 ETR - VW part # 176 035 173
    • SC 99 ETR - VW part # 176 035 199

  • For the 1986 model year, VW apparently removed AM STEREO capability from both of these radios.  You can easily tell the difference by the part #'s though, as they added an "A" to the two part #'s listed above.  So, please keep in mind that radios without AM STEREO capability have an "A" on the end of their part #.

• Volkswagen - Units with the VW model # 176-035-199A (and two other non-standard VW #'s RX-851 and 349-606) are also AM STEREO capable.  These units feature AM STEREO/FM STEREO, digital tuning, auto reverse cassette, next/prev song, Dolby NR, Norm/CrO2 tape selector, three sliders, one large knob and a black face with VW on the cassette port.

• Volkswagen - Pictured below is a late 1980's VW radio (model # unknown) with AM STEREO capability.  This unit only came with cars sold in Canada and was standard equipment on the 1988 Canadian VW Jetta Carat and available as an option on the 1988 Canadian VW Fox.  Other years/models unknown.  The USA cars of the same era got Heidelberg radios made by Panasonic with AM Mono capability only.

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• Yamaha T-420A - Quartz Lock Synthesizer Digital Home Tuner  (only sold in Australia)

Lack of Precise Labelling Standards

All of the above listed radios have been confirmed to have AM STEREO capability. However, have you ever found yourself hunting around for old AM STEREO units, only to think you have found one, but weren't really sure?  Well, there's a reason for this, and that is due to the labelling which appears on the unit in question.

Specifically, it is somewhat difficult to sell a consumer something which he or she thinks they already have.  Complicating the situation is the myriad of receiver and tuner designations which currently appear on consumer equipment.  For instance, can you pick out which designation definitely has AM STEREO?

1. AM/FM Stereo

2. Stereo AM/FM

3. FM/AM Stereo

4. AM STEREO/FM STEREO

Actually, only with number 4 could you be reasonably confident that you are getting an AM STEREO capable radio.  Personally, I have always felt that there should be some kind of industry standard related to the disclosure of the AM STEREO capability in a radio.  In a nutshell, I feel that the whole are of precise labelling needs a good going over.  Anyone else, agree?

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