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Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 21 Oct 2012, 08:17
by trucker
Hi, its 20 years since I last bought a aftermarket stereo so I'm looking for some recommendations for a nice budget [under £100] stereo pref with ipod compatibility
and one that doesn't stick out the dash too far.
Thanks
Paul

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 21 Oct 2012, 12:31
by Plasticman
your near the border so loads of choice, you need an 'essex' these models have loads of flashing lights,little substance and are major bling. :rofl
mm

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 21 Oct 2012, 17:26
by Cruz
Most normal headunits with a cd require a spacer as they are a very tight fit and can damage the wiring/aerial if forced to fit. Spacers are avaiable from many sources.

But you can get non-cd headunits that are not as wide and come with sd slots/usb and front aux for an ipod. Someone posted one recently that was about £35 on ebay

Personally I have an Alpine I got cheep in a halfrauds sale fitted with a 15mm spacer from brickwerks. Radio has cd/aux port/usb. Since buying it I have largely used the aux with a 32gb memory stick but as I own a lot if cd's I still wanted to be able to play the

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 21 Oct 2012, 17:51
by Plasticman
im thinking of going non cd myself as its easier to stick a card in.less bulk and no player to pack up as my cheapish ones do
mm

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 21 Oct 2012, 19:28
by Rust Bucket
I got something similar to this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SINGLE-DIN-DI ... 4162284ea8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
fits in the dash prefect.

Michael

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 21 Oct 2012, 19:38
by lefty67
think im going to have to keep up with technology, ive just been looking at a push button one with cassette player.

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 21 Oct 2012, 19:49
by 82JEW75
Rust Bucket wrote:I got something similar to this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SINGLE-DIN-DI ... 4162284ea8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
fits in the dash prefect.

Michael

Looks very similar to the one I currently have in my car.
(very similar = identical other than the brand and some of the button placements around the dial)

Mine works, has decent sound quality, but has two problems.

First is that it regularly needs to be reset, to the extent that I keep a pen on the dashboard, annoying, but not a major issue.

Second, there is no random play mode, nor any ability to search by artist or folder, so you're limited to +/- 10 tracks to move through your music collection.

I have another in my 4x4 which cost about the same, but has random play, still needs to be reset though and sometimes refuses to work.

The one in the van cost a little more and has more features (remote control, bluetooth), not really been tested in anger yet, but was playing for hours today while I was working on the van, no problems to report as yet.

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 22 Oct 2012, 08:35
by ghost123uk
Cruz wrote:
But you can get non-cd headunits that are not as wide and come with sd slots/usb and front aux for an ipod. Someone posted one recently that was about £35 on ebay


That might have been me. I bought a "Bass Face" unit and reported on here how pleased I was with the sound quality and volume available LINK HERE

However I have found just one downside to this unit = it does not go quiet enough !! At night when we might want to have radio 4 on, or some sleepy music, even number 1 on the volume is a bit too loud for us. Being from an electronics background I have been able to modify it to circumnavigate this issue but not everyone wants to mess around like that !

Re the lack of "search" when using memory cards =
They are so cheap these days I just bought 10 of them off ebay and numbered them 1 to 10, then made compilations of just 20 or so tracks on each, "Mood music", "Reggae", "60's", "Blues" etc etc Then you just treat them like you did with cassettes = just put the card you want in and forget "searching". Just resist the temptation to put too much on each memory card = simples :)

.

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 22 Oct 2012, 11:02
by BALDY3260
i like the idea of these head units without cd/tape player, but would like to find one with dab radio, no luck so far, so if anyone knows any different, please pass on a link. cheers baldy

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 22 Oct 2012, 11:28
by nicq
Try this link found it when looking for my van http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-CDX-DAB665 ... 82&sr=8-10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nic

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 22 Oct 2012, 11:37
by BALDY3260
thanks nic, but that has a cd player, baldy

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 22 Oct 2012, 12:33
by trucker
Cheers for the replies :ok
I'm thinking of this one http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/produc ... 17802.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Paul

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 22 Oct 2012, 15:09
by California Dreamin
Hi mate, not much use now but I brought a 'lidle special' last year for £49.99 with blue tooth, great for automatically connecting to a mobile phone 'hands free' but the best feature is a SD memory card slot...so you can bung several hundred tracks on a cheap 4/8 gig SD card and bobs you're uncle.

Martin

Re: Stereo Recommendation

Posted: 22 Oct 2012, 15:36
by ghost123uk
California Dreamin wrote:Hi mate, not much use now but I brought a 'lidle special' last year for £49.99...


the best feature is a SD memory card slot...so you can bung several hundred tracks on a cheap 4/8 gig SD card and bobs you're uncle.

Martin

Has that got any decent way of navigating through all those tracks ?

Mine hasn't, that's why I use smaller SD cards (labelled) with compilations on them.