dave21478 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I cant find the thread now but a while back someone posted about sub £20 ebay Chinese head units.....no cd player, just radio and USB / SD card.Are they any good? I need a new unit, preferably cheap, and see no point getting one with a CD player any more. My worry is whenever I have had cheap head units in the past they turned to shit after a few months.....volume knobs not working, bad contacts on the fascia etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aston Martin Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I had one and the station up button broke. It got stolen, but it was alright and the fact it was cheap didn't bother me that it was stolen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooSavvy Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 ^^ I'd have been well pissed off if the car was nicked & the radio left on the doorstep "ffinn shite M8, The Pikeys" TS DSdriver, barefoot, hauserplenty and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangeangel Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I know someone who did and IMO the sound quality was wank. I've never gone any cheaper than the Aldi Tevion CD/radio/SD card/USB/bluetooth things that usually cost £50-ish and for the money I've been very pleased with them. I do have a tendency to use bookshelf speakers than actual car ones though, which seem to improve matters greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UltraWomble Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I had one in the Maverick.Sound quality pretty good, scotchlok wiring as no ISO fitting, just bare wires.Display wasnt as advertised but at something like £13 I wasnt going to grumble. Got Radio 4 and Radio 2 which was all I was arsed about and the kids listened to Harry Potter via the USB input. I now have a not quite as cheap £70 sony DAB so I can have Absolute 80's and Radio 4Xtra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derskine Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I saw Aldi had some for £33 or something a couple of months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CortinaDave Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 My local scrappy u pull it give you a choice of half decent Sony/kenwood etc CD players for just over 20 quid. Would sound a lot better than one of the Chinese units I suspect. I've just splashed 75 on a new old stock Sony DAB unit for the calibra off eBay. Came with the dab aerial etc and took me all of ten minutes to fit. It's got a direct port for my iPod as well. Decent bit of kit for the cash. This is what I bought: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=351099647636 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beko1987 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I have an aldi one. Phone hands free is a bit rubbish, but everything else is top notch. Radio, USB, sd and Bluetooth music streaming all work very well. Is a smaller unit too so better if you don't have much space behind the dash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb47 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I bought one of these from aldi,its in my Volvo,has bluetooth,both phone & music,also usb & sd card.Installed this,fitted straight in,only about 4" deep so would fit in shallow dash.Plugged direct into existing wiring.Sounds really good,bluetooth through iphone worked straight away,plays music fine as does phone hands free.Well recommended especially at £35 with 3 year warrenty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacquer Peel Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 The Volvo's head unit is really nice, double DIN job with CD and tape, I'm tempted to upgrade it with one of these. http://www.gromaudio.com/store/usb_adapters/volvo_94-00_usb_ipod_adapter_direct_digital_interface.html Pricey, though. Is there a shiter's way to add bluetooth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pillock Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I reckon I had the same basic unit as Daveb but mine was wharfdale from Argos. Exactly the same display, button layout etc. It was OK, lasted 10 months and one speaker kept crackling every couple of days - a minor annoyance for £35 or something. I took it to Argos thinking I'd just swap it for a new one, they gave me £35 back without even asking and physically lobbed the head unit into a corner. Apparently they get a steady stream of cheap head units back. Lacquer Peel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pillock Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 The Volvo's head unit is really nice, double DIN job with CD and tape, I'm tempted to upgrade it with one of these. http://www.gromaudio.com/store/usb_adapters/volvo_94-00_usb_ipod_adapter_direct_digital_interface.html Pricey, though. Is there a shiter's way to add bluetooth?Does it have an Aux-in? I bought a Bluetooth dongle, needs USB but only for power so I tapped into a spare fuse that's ignition switched and hardwired an old phone charger in. This dongle then has a 3.5mm aux out which goes to my head unit aux in. It was about £3.50 - actually decent quality, and I was so chuffed I splashed an extra £4 or so on a 12v - 2xUSB module so I've got a couple of USB power ports in the glovebox. BT dongle in one, other spare for a dash can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nacho man Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 You can get say sony/jvc/kenwood etc for like 39.95 with just aux in radio. or splash a bit more you get bluetooth etc http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-kenwood-kmm-bt34_p-32070.htm http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-pioneer-deh-x6600dab_p-31369.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacquer Peel Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 No aux-in, it's the finest mid nineties technology. I think it's made by Alpine, I see you can get a CD changer plug to 3.5mm cord for an Alpine head unit, it might be worth trying for phone integration on the cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pillock Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 If it has a changer port at the back, there's often a way to trick it into thinking it has a changer connected and you can blast Aux into the back. Like http://www.auxadapter.se/ does Or someone good with electronics could probably disable the tape player and feed a cable in to the same bit so it amplifies it and it comes out the speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 There's a how to on the VOC for connecting a 3.5mm aux in place of the tape player. The socket goes in the IR port apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catsinthewelder Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Or someone good with electronics could probably disable the tape player and feed a cable in to the same bit so it amplifies it and it comes out the speakers. I had a go at adding an aux in to an old head unit with a knackered tape deck using random bits from the scrap box, it worked but the sound quality was shit. It would probably have worked better if somebody who was actually good at electronics did it with decent materials but it proved the concept. dugong 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSdriver Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I was brought up on radios that had a knob on either side of four or five pre-sets. After that they had cassette slots which I could cope with. Nowadays I have to ask a small child to help if I want to listen to something else on the radio. barefoot and inconsistant 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanky Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 If you have a cassette player, get one of those shite tape-to-3.5mm-jack things that poor people used to use for connecting discmans to their cars to play cds. If you run it to your phone (assuming it has a headphones out) then you get the ability to do handsfree phone calls as well as playing any music or whatnot off the SD card in your phone too. GR12 IMHO. Oh, it also amplifies the sat-nav thingy on the phone too, so if you're into that then it makes it eleventy tenhundred times more useful. All for about £2.25 delivered. I did it and was amazed at the versatility of the setup. EDIT - cassette head units (incl decent ones) are giveaway cheap too, so if you need the whole kit and caboodle you can probably source it from ebay or somesuch for less than £20 for a shit new head unit. Plus, no-one would ever try breaking into your car to steal it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beko1987 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I had one of those tap to aux jobs in the xm. £7 from asda. From my phone it was proper shit as the unshielded cabling in the xm picked up every bit of interference. I knew when I was about to get a text before it came through... On airplane mode it was fine, but then I couldn't use Google maps and listen to music... Taff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethj Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I think the best solution for you is to buy a Renault 25, one with the "Concert" stereo system. It wouldn't really answer what you wanted in your first post, but sometimes only a friend can see what you really need. AnthonyG, philibusmo, strangeangel and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisfan Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Can i fit this new fangled USB you talk of to my gramaphone in my vehicle? Also trying to get the shipping forecast on my MW/LW wireless but cant? I had one of the aldi specials was ok but didnt like minus temperatures, was very slow to work when cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CortinaDave Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 If you're planning to get one of those cassette adapter things, get the Sony one. About 7 quid. I had loads of them over the years and they were all farty and shit. The Sony one is the only one I ever found that was decent. Sounded as good as a CD to me. hauserplenty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UltraWomble Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 My local scrappy u pull it give you a choice of half decent Sony/kenwood etc CD players for just over 20 quid. Would sound a lot better than one of the Chinese units I suspect. I've just splashed 75 on a new old stock Sony DAB unit for the calibra off eBay. Came with the dab aerial etc and took me all of ten minutes to fit. It's got a direct port for my iPod as well. Decent bit of kit for the cash. This is what I bought: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=351099647636Yep, thats the one I have - £70 new from Halfrauds in the Boxing Day sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 French radio makes me want to swerve into oncoming traffic and I dont have any CD's left, I ripped them all to the computer before I emigrated as I couldnt be arsed humpfing boxes of the things around.My telephone is a monochrome screen Nokia 1110, so no point in connecting it to anything. I am leaning away from the cheap Aldi units as I must have gone through 3 or 4 cheapo stereos in previous cars and they all turned into a pain in the ass after a while. Ebay has plenty of decent branded units that have a front USB or SD card socket. They still have a CD player, but thats not a problem.Cheers. John F 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollywobbler Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Cassettes are great. They provided the soundtrack for my trip to Devon. Charity shops a good source of albums or make your own at home. Sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSdriver Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 If you have a cassette player, get one of those shite tape-to-3.5mm-jack things that poor people used to use for connecting discmans to their cars to play cds. If you run it to your phone (assuming it has a headphones out) then you get the ability to do handsfree phone calls as well as playing any music or whatnot off the SD card in your phone too. GR12 IMHO. ...I've got one of those that plays my SD card. You have to charge it up via the cigar lighter. The problem is it wont work in the cassette slot with the charging lead plugged into it. Design fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefoot Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I have one in the T2, I think it's a JVC but it could be anything.I bought it in one of the endless Halfrauds sales for about fifty pounds - basically so I could take it back if it packed up.We use it to listen to the iPod when we are camping. It does everything I wanted it to.It said it would blue tooth to my phone but it was hard work & no bugger ever calls me anyway. Best of all, I can make the display ORANGE like the van and it has a remote control for when we iz sat in back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 My local scrappy u pull it give you a choice of half decent Sony/kenwood etc CD players for just over 20 quid. Would sound a lot better than one of the Chinese units I suspect. I've just splashed 75 on a new old stock Sony DAB unit for the calibra off eBay. Came with the dab aerial etc and took me all of ten minutes to fit. It's got a direct port for my iPod as well. Decent bit of kit for the cash. This is what I bought: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=351099647636 Did you remember the irritating Vaux habit of resersing the permanent live and the switched live in the ISO connector? If your radio won't remember station presets, this is your reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UltraWomble Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Did you remember the irritating Vaux habit of resersing the permanent live and the switched live in the ISO connector? If your radio won't remember station presets, this is your reason.Not just Vaux - buy post 2000 BSI French PSA chod too. The Pic keeps the radio playing for 2 minutes after the car has been locked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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