Going through the junkyard today, and I found an OEM AM/FM cassette player in a 1985 Ford Bronco that looked EXACTLY like the one in my 1985 F150 except it had "Premium Sound" written on it. Both tape players I am talking about are the mechanical push-button style (not electronic) with the round ***** on each end.

What exactly does "Premium Sound" mean? Is there any difference to the AM/FM cassette player marked "Premium Sound" versus the exact same radio without the "Premium Sound" marked on it?

 

I would imagine the 'premium sound' variant has a more powerful amplifier built into it (read:
it can get louder, advantageous in these vehicles which generally have much road &
driveline noise needing to be overcome). If you can, pull it out of the vehicle (or look at it
from the top, last choice would be from underneath) and see if it has cooling fins protruding
from the very back. Those fins are for the amplifier components. I got such a stereo out of a
Mercury Marquis or some such lux-o-boat vehicle.

-ct