Recommend a Car Stereo

Carb

Hi Guys, I've just bought a 97 Honda Accord, and unsurprisingly it has a 1997 cassette player to go with it. I'm just wondering does anyone have anyone recommendations on a replacement. The headunit on the existing one looks fairly standard, so there shouldn't be an issue there. Primarily, I'm looking for something with a radio, CD player and I'd rather an MP3 function instead of a CD changer. I've seen some lately with a USB port on the front of them to hook an MP3 playyer directly into the head unit. The budget is around 300 to 350 max, but obviously if I don't need to spend that amount, even better again

cannyf

Hi,

Recently bought two blaupunkts(cd/Mp3) from http://www.technikdirekt.de for 143 each (includes 22 euro postage) on seperate occasions.I had the player in three days.
Personally speaking, nice players easy to install if your connections are ISO standard. Net is alot cheaper than the shops with German internet shops cheaper than Irish ones.

Well thats my opinion anyway!!!

FYI:if I was back again would buy a DVD car player (about 300 euro or so) and could put 4.7 gb of mp3 on a DVD rather than 700mb on a standard cd.


Hope this helps!!

el tel

Halfrauds have a few offers at the moment including £100 off the price of Blaupunkt Calgary CD Tuner with MP3 (now £99).

check their website or call in. If you don't buy at least you'll get a flavour of what's available.

Wolverine_1999

Would never recommend Blaupunkt. Go for Kenwood/Pioneer for any car audio equipment.

blastman

Have a Pioneer in one car, the sound is fantastic from them. It's an American model though, so it plays CDs and that's it, and there's no RDS on the radio. I'm sure there's a better European version available though.

I have a Sony DVD player in the other car. While the sound isn't as good as the Pioneer, it's more versatile and plays MP3s from DVD, which is handy.

bp_me

Pioneer 4700-mpb or higher from the pioneer range. From about 125euro delivered from ebay.de

Remember, you're speakers probably weren't installed with 50watts per channel in mind, so they may need upgrading if you decide to take advantage of the volume available.

Oh...and stay away from Blaupunkt......I have been warned away by people who know what they are talking about and that is good enough for me.

cannyf

Just matter or interest?

What did ye hear about Blaupunkt?
I have been using them for the last 10 years and must say I have had no hassle with them!!

scuba steve

ya stay away from Blaupunkt, go for Sony or preferibly Pioneer

bp_me

cannyf wrote:

Just matter or interest?

What did ye hear about Blaupunkt?
I have been using them for the last 10 years and must say I have had no hassle with them!!

I don't have specifics, but I'm certain there is a reason said person refers to them as blaujunkt. Suspects its a quality thing. I'll ask him later.

cannyf

First time I every heard "blaujunkt". I have one in my car, sound is good, like the flip release as anti-theft and anyone I heard said they were a decent radio but maybe thats due to the bosch name. I am very surprised but would like to know the reasons for these opinions

scuba steve

I just have never really liked them as much as Pioneer and other brands. Dont know really why, I remember a relative had one in their car and it wasnt great and the current one in my Punto isnt great aswell so i just have never really trusted them

bp_me

cannyf wrote:

First time I every heard "blaujunkt". I have one in my car, sound is good, like the flip release as anti-theft and anyone I heard said they were a decent radio but maybe thats due to the bosch name. I am very surprised but would like to know the reasons for these opinions

After talking with this person who would consider himself an A/V enthuasist (sp?) it turns out that they are based on poorly constructed arguements..

1. built to a cost (isnt everything)
2. how many full blaupunkt systems do you see in cars (as in cars with a full system as in the modified sense)

Weak arguements at best, so I retract the "blaujunkt" statement, but still say I would only put Pioneer or maybe Sony in my car.

mondeoman

i got a Blaupunkt seattle mp74 for €300 posted form http://www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/seattle.asp
same stereo here cost €599 from deavys in waterford.
brilliant stereo,great sound & very easy to use,i would recommend it:D

TempestSabre

I did some back to back testing of CD/MP3 units in halfords. To be honest the sound across all the big names can be adjusted to sound the same. All are a big improvement over the Aldi cheapo unit I had before. I bought a pioneer myself, mainly because of the name (from the UK) and the price I got. It does sound very good eve with the stock speakers. But its little artificial in how the EQ's boost the sound. I haven't messed with the custom EQ's yet though so maybe I'll find another setting I really like. Can put out a seriously heavy bass. Nearly all the Preset EQ's have no mids for some reason.

Annoyingly it doesn't have a mute, and its doesn't scroll track titles automatically. Whch I would have though would be basic features. In hindsight I think the Blaupunkt's are a lot easier to use. The Pioneer is very fiddily. The best units are meant to be Pioneer and Alpine, though they weren't that noticeably different from other brands once you tweaked the EQ's to match. I've always liked Panasonic gear in the past.

bp_me

I have a pioneer 4700-mpb in the car. The track scrolling isnt really an issue as when driving I tend to concentrate on driving. If you hold down the disp button for a second it will scoll whatever is in the display.

The mute is slightly annoying alright. I usually hit the display remove button, which powers off the device, but leaves the facia in place. Or hold the src button for a moment switches the device off.

I can honestly say I don't find it fiddly to use. Any function I want I can access without looking down. If I'm changing settings I will be stopped and have time to actually concentrate on it anyway.

The one counter-intuitive thing is the way you navigate folders in the MP3 discs. The up arrow drops you down a folder and vice-versa. But once you realise this it's easily overcome and stops being an issue.

TempestSabre

I'm sure I'll get used to it. But I'm baffled as to why they make it harder than it needs to be.

kdevitt

I've never had any trouble with blaupunkt, just bought a new headunit for the girlfriends car, and the sound is fantastic even with crappy stock speakers. I've had quite a few of them as well - while there may be better quality out there, I reckon they're not as popular as others simply because they're more understated - well they used to be more understated anyway. Would disagree strongly with the blaujunkt comment.

Regarding the better quality units though, I'd recommend almost anything by Pioneer or Alpine - but unless you are upgrading the speakers in the car you're not going to really get the benfit of a better quality unit.

mondeoman

a nice feature of the 'seattle' by Blaupunkt is if like me you have an cd-r with just mp3 songs on it you can see the name of the next 3 tracks.:D

el tel

I put a Sony CDX-MP40 MP3 CD Tuner in my car and would recommend it highly. It's very reasonably priced and build quality is good too. It has credit-card sized remote control as well. Only negative point would be the display brightness which cannot be dimmed. At night it's a bit too bright for my eyes so I just flip the facia down.

mayto

you may as well pay a few quid extra and get reciever that plays dvd's too.you can get this jvc dvd/mp3 car stereo http://www.caraudio24.de/autoradios/cd/kd-dv5101.htm for 215 incl. del. ,which is a bargain.got speakers off same company a few weeks ago,highly recommended and they deliver by dhl.i got the higher spec version kd-dv6101 last year,which will accpet dab addon(the 5101 will not),i should not have bothered.can easily fit 50 albums onto a dvd-r disc.

markmcie

I like the look of these. USB port and SD slot which seem dead handy. And not too pricy either. 4*45 watts and pre out for sub if you wish. And less then a 100 quid (sterling).

http://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?q=H%26B+CA-5555&btnG=Search+Froogle&hl=en

Sparky

i have a sony CDX-F7750 mp3 radio in black that im meaning to put into my 206
http://www.exa.cz/images/CDX-F7750S.jpg

only thing is i have to find a flange for it as the standard radio (thats sounds good now) is bigger

A lad has done one simular here
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/8117/drxploddashscaled5am.jpg