Car Stereo from US

trotter_inc

Thnking about buying a car stereo from eBay - supplier is from the US and Ive heard that the FM radio's in their stereo's dont work over here.

Is this true? Anyone bought any stereo's from the US?

Its a great deal - about 150 euro cheaper than over here!

Thanks.

Genghis

In case you don't see my reply in Home Entertainment .... (this is a better place for it anyway, methinks).

AFAIK they use a different part of the FM spectrum (it starts at 79.0, I think, but it may actually go as far as 108.0), and you will find it doesn't tune in the same 'increments'. I had a US walkman that could tune, for example, 89.1 FM, but not 89.15 or 89.2, the next increment was 89.3. The AM band was similarly configured.

All this is a bit sketchy now (I'm going back a couple of years). However my walkman had a 'reset' toggle which allowed you to tune to European frequencies. You had to reset this everytime the battery completely died.

As a final point, I have a Japanese stereo in my car, and I find it 'tolerable' but still a pain. Its reception is poor, and none of the frequencies match the Irish frequencies (though you can pick up all the channels - for example Today FM is at 80.9, not 100.9). The Japanese stereo does not appear to have any way of 'making it European', and I would have to say that overcoming it is possible not worth the saving. For me, whether I could reset or not the radio (or buy some sort of in-line converter) would be a major consideration - you will be using it everyday, I assume.

DMC

As Genghis pointed out, the way for instance the US increment the separation of channels on FM and AM is different to European standards and will probably be an expensive buy if there is no way of resetting it. I would say that there is not, as with all likelihood, the FCC would deem it illegal.

trotter_inc

FCC?

DMC

FCC Federal Communications Commission.

You know, the same people who ban Howard Stern and Eminem sings about.

PBC_1966

As pointed out, the channel spacing is the big problem. There was an old American FM band on different frequencies many years ago, but the current band has been standard there since 1945. American channels run 87.9 through 107.9MHz in 200kHz steps, hence the last digit (after the point) will always be odd, whereas in Europe stations can be assigned other frequencies in between.

Similarly, on AM the American broadcast channels are on a 10kHz spacing (540, 550, 560, 570 etc) vs. the European 9kHz channels (540, 549, 558, 567 etc.).

In the "old fashioned" days of manual continuously variable tuning that wasn't a problem, of course, but with modern digital stepped tuning, it makes some stations unreceivable.

There's no particular reason why the FCC would prohibit receivers from being switchable or programmable (transmitters are another matter), and indeed many sets are made for a near worldwide market now with the appropriate options set for the intended country. The PLL (the section inside which generates the frequencies for the different channels) may well be programmable to American or European standards, either with a specific key sequence or by changing a link inside the set. You would need to check with the manufacturer if that's the case.

One other small item to note is that the pre-emphasis used on the FM band is different as well, 75uS in North America vs. 50uS in Europe. That doesn't stop the set from working, but it does mess up the frequency response of the receiver and affects the background noise. You can compensate to a degree by using the tone controls, but again, some modern sets can be reset to either system without too much difficulty.

kdevitt

I just bought a Pioneer unit from Hong Kong via eBay - worked out almost €400 cheaper than the equivalent over here, might be worth a go - only thing is that while the FM frequencies are bang on for over here, theres no RDS on it!! So it means I have to manually seek stations if I'm on a long drive and it doesn't display station names

trotter_inc

Cheers kdevitt - but just bought from the Uk - incarexpress.co.uk - worked out about 120 euro cheaper than over here - not as much as 400 euro in your case tho

Wrestlemania

Got a Pioneer from Caraudioexpert.com

It is US Freq, but I can get 95% of channels on it so not a problem, the likes of FM104.4 I can get but it is 104.5 still okay and great CD/MP3 Headunit and only cost $179 dollars. Pioneer deh 7400.. same one here was the guts of 500 euros.

So well worth the little inconvience for a great headunit.