Car Radios from USA

Cond0r

Hi Guys,

I hope this hasn't been asked before - I did have a quick keyword search through the forum and didnt come up with anything.

My question is, has anyone ever bough a car stereo from an american site? Eg. hookedontronics.com, because they are majorly cheaper than any Irish/UK sites i've looked at.
So what I was wondering was, if one was to buy a radio from the states, I would assume the voltage is the same.. all 12/14v car batteries anyway.. but would one have to pay duty bringing it in?

Any info would be mucho appreciated

Rgds

C.

Ernie Ball

You'd have to pay VAT and duty on the price+shipping cost+VAT if they catch the package.

The problem with US head units is that the FM band has fewer positions on it. What I mean is, the US uses, say, 90.1, 90.3, 90.5, 90.7, etc., where Europe uses 90.1, 90.2, 90.3, 90.4, etc. So you would not be able to tune in precisely any radio station that was on an "even" frequency like 90.2.

Some head units might be switchable, but I don't know which those are. I've heard Blaupunkt are, but I can't confirm.

Cond0r

Yeah I've head about the frequency bit alright.. I don't think that would actually bother me too much..

So who's the "they" to catch the package? Say it's shipped by a courier company UPS or whoever?

I assume then the charge would be 21% of the price for VAT.. whats the duty then?

Thanks for the quick response

Our man in Havana

Try to find someone who will ship via USPS. This gets delivered by an post who won't charge you any tax.

Eoin

Cond0r wrote:

Yeah I've head about the frequency bit alright.. I don't think that would actually bother me too much..

You would be surprised - I thought it wouldn't bother me (I got a Sony CD/MP3 head unit from eBay) as Dublin radio stations are crap, but it's actually worse when your choice of crap stations is basically cut in half.

<edit>
You do know that the tuning thing means that the stations with an even frequency (104.4, 103.8) are pretty much unavailable to you, it's not just a case of bad reception?
</edit>

rymus

I can sympathise with that eoin, I have a radio on my US import motorbike and all I can get clearly in Cork is RedFM. Thank God for MP3 players!

nxbyveromdwjpg

or you could just get a band expander for €20 and the problem is solved...

kdevitt

A band expander won't sort out that problem because it only increases the range of frequencies available, not the 'steps' between each frequency that the head unit can tune in.

I got a high end Pioneer unit from Hong Kong - was a US model, and it was brilliant - allows you to adjust the steps between frequencies. Got it from an eBay user called Yuki668. Paid about €400 less than the Irish equivalent. He even marked the value of the package as $40 so I paid little or nothing in duty.

Eoin

nm wrote:

or you could just get a band expander for €20 and the problem is solved...

I don't think so nm, the US frequency band is the same band, they just don't tune into even frequency increments. AFAIK, a band expander is for countries (e.g. Japan) where the band is not 87 - 106 or whatever it is over here.

rymus wrote:

Thank God for MP3 players!

Absolutely - just about makes my commute manageable

Our man in Havana

Also the MW or AM as the yanks call it is graduated in 10KHZ slots instead of the standard 9KHZ in Europe. Their band is from 500-1700KHZ

steviec

So if you were sticking with Europe, where would be the best place to buy from in general?

Cond0r

eoin_s wrote:

You would be surprised - I thought it wouldn't bother me (I got a Sony CD/MP3 head unit from eBay) as Dublin radio stations are crap, but it's actually worse when your choice of crap stations is basically cut in half.

<edit>
You do know that the tuning thing means that the stations with an even frequency (104.4, 103.8) are pretty much unavailable to you, it's not just a case of bad reception?
</edit>

Now that you mention it, half the crap stations would be kinda bad.. although, I do usually listen to mp3s.

Bond-007 wrote:

Try to find someone who will ship via USPS. This gets delivered by an post who won't charge you any tax.

That sounds good.. but does anyone know how the charges are calculated?

Thnx!

Cond0r

steviec wrote:

So if you were sticking with Europe, where would be the best place to buy from in general?

Oi! This is my thread! :eek: Don't be wandering into a different topic... do a search on this board for threads like that... believe me there are plenty!

kermit_ie

Bond-007 wrote:

Try to find someone who will ship via USPS. This gets delivered by an post who won't charge you any tax.

Nope, it gets delivered by GLS who seem to have their own method of calculating VAT...

blastman

eoin_s wrote:

I don't think so nm, the US frequency band is the same band, they just don't tune into even frequency increments. AFAIK, a band expander is for countries (e.g. Japan) where the band is not 87 - 106 or whatever it is over here.

Correct. band expander is a slightly misleading term as what they actually do is band shift. So for example, a radio station that broadcasts on 96MHz here wouldn't normally be able to be picked up on a Japanese radio, which don't go above 90MHz. The band expander moves the 96MHz signal down by 12 or 14MHz, so can be picked up in 96 - 12 = 84MHz i.e. within the tuning frequency of the Japanese radio (normally 76MHz to 90Mhz).

Cond0r

kermit_ie wrote:

Nope, it gets delivered by GLS who seem to have their own method of calculating VAT...

lol

Does anyone know how this is supposed to be calculated?

Our man in Havana

kermit_ie wrote:

Nope, it gets delivered by GLS who seem to have their own method of calculating VAT...

Those GLS tossers have lost the contract since 1/1/05, an post are back in charge.

Cond0r

...so moral of the story is get it sent by USPS, and I wont be charged anything on top of what I pay to the company I buy it from?

DubTony

Cond0r wrote:

...so moral of the story is get it sent by USPS, and I wont be charged anything on top of what I pay to the company I buy it from?

Unless the USPS sends it to Germany first where the German post company, whatever they're called will charge you VAT. I have a question. Why on earth would you want to buy a radio that will allow you to listen to only half the radio stations? You just know that someday there'll be something you'll want to listen to and you won't be able to.

Cond0r wrote:

Oi! This is my thread! Don't be wandering into a different topic... do a search on this board for threads like that... believe me there are plenty!

:eek: ROFL

Eoin

DubTony wrote:

Why on earth would you want to buy a radio that will allow you to listen to only half the radio stations?

It is very annoying, and I didn't do my research when I bought the CD player so it wasn't until it was fitted that I realised the problem. Still have the original CD player, which works fine but the MP3 part and superb sound quality makes up for the reception problem. It's this model

DubTony wrote:

You just know that someday there'll be something you'll want to listen to and you won't be able to.

Dublin radio is so crap, that it is generally a case of something you don't want to listen to, and want to switch to some other inane gibbering monkey.

Curran

AFAIK.......if ya get the equivalant MP3 player / CD / Radio from Australia (same price as in the US)....it works the same as our ones here......ie....will play 98.1, 98.2, 98.3, 98.4 etc etc
But you'd wanna check that our to be sure!

DubTony

Curran wrote:

AFAIK.......if ya get the equivalant MP3 player / CD / Radio from Australia (same price as in the US)....it works the same as our ones here......ie....will play 98.1, 98.2, 98.3, 98.4 etc etc
But you'd wanna check that our to be sure!

you could check here

http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/