Aftermarket Stereos

[Hendry]

I used to be quite into aftermarket head units when I was younger and had cars which had bits and pieces "chavved up" like bigger alloys, loud exhausts, spoilers and so on but kinda grew out of that phase mostly and the standard of factory stereos has greatly improved, Infact that's partly the reason why I need an aftermarket stereo, my Corsa has USB, Bluetooth and DAB on the factory touchscreen stereo which ive gotten quite used to and I'm putting a 2007 Clio back on the road which just has a standard CD player/am/FM radio, cant even play mp3 CDs so I'm looking into fitting an aftermarket head unit with Bluetooth, USB and DAB compatibility which can also be worked off the factory steering wheel controls (with the right additional leads) and have decent sound quality, I'm aware good quality Alpine/Pioneer stuff at around £250 would be the simplest option but I'm just wondering if there's any half decent stuff around at less than that as I don't really fancy paying that much just for a car stereo.

[gordonbennet]

I've always had good service from Pioneer stuff, its usually powerful and reasonably simple enough even for an old technophobe like me to use, first place i look is Halfords online, if they've got summat suitable in their better than half price section it's very difficult to better the price elsewhere.

Ease of use is where some of the other stuff lets itself down, i don't want to eat a bloody instruction manual or have to use a magnifying glass just to switch on a soddin radio or listen to a recording.

[Slartibartfast]

I favour pioneer as well. Especially for something new enough to have DAB.

[Sigmund Fraud]

A base-model Pioneer, Sony or JVC would do the job - I don't think you'll need to spend more than £100.

[Eddie Honda]

No love for Kenwood (Chefs?)

[Vince70]

I found most of the cheapo Halford special Sonys and Pioneers Kenwoods etc to be complete rubbish compared to the units that were sharing the same names 20 odd years ago but I guess when car stereos seem of come down rather than up in price something must give..

 

I fitted a couple of modern Blaupunkt stereos to my cars which have a decent Bluetooth connection and are iPod/iPhone compatible and must say the quality seems better than most of the cheaper stuff on the market and if you go through eBay Germany you find you can get them for the same price as the stuff in Halfords due to a weak euro.

[sierraman]

Stereos in cars now are rarely that bad though not like old fiesta pops with the AM only wireless

[PiperCub]

My 20+y/old Kenwood is still going fine, have a Pioneer unit that's about 10+ y/old that's similarly good. Blaupunkt are good but tend to be pricey so only had one secondhand.

Alpine are supposed to be the best but never rated them that much esp. for the money they go for. Maybe one more for the types who want to boast they've got an Alpine head unit?

[Bren]

You need a late 80's or early 90's audioline stereo to get the most shite points.

[dave21478]

I have always big fan of Kenwood stuff but their latest offerings are getting a bit gaudy and you need a toothpick to hit some of the buttons.

 

Mid 90's Alpine was about the pinnacle IMO.....looked good, sounded excellent and not over complicated.

 

 

www.caraudiodirect.co.uk is a good place to search for units compatible with steering controls and the correct adaptors needed.

[mat_the_cat]

JVC KD-DB95BT ticks all the boxes, for just over 100 quid. Am thinking of getting one for the kangoo, as I now want DAB after discovering Radio X!

 

Not sure it will last 20 years like some of my old Pioneers though...

[mat_the_cat]

Ooh, thinking about it if you end up getting a Sony, I have a Clio remote interface for it spare.

[Eddie Honda]

You need a late 80's or early 90's audioline stereo to get the most shite points.

Ooo, I don't know about that. I'd say a Saisho out of Dixons, a Roadstar or mibbie even a Kays Catalogue Pye special might be up there.

[PiperCub]

You need a late 80's or early 90's audioline stereo to get the most shite points.

 

No, no, for top shite points it has to be the superior kit of the one and only.......... Harry Moss - the patron saint of wow & flutter.

 

Mind you, as Eddie says, Saisho are up there too. 

[Pillock]

I've given up trying to source an OEM VW DAB head unit for our Touran - there's so many issues, they reuse model numbers across DAB/NonDAB, and some of them don't even have RDS as they're torn out of Chinese models at the docks. Course, the sellers flogging the cheap nasty ones are crafty about the features and it just seems to inflate the price of a genuine UK one, that can tune in UK steps, has RDS etc to about £200.

Then it turns out if you put a 2009 head unit into a 2008 car, the CANBUS shits itself and flattens the battery. Another £175 for a modified CAN interface.

 

So for about £100 I can get a double DIN (so nice big buttons), CD/USB/Bluetooth/DAB head unit that colour matches the fascia. The only thing I'll lose is the nice feature that the OEM one has a six CD changer inside, and can play MP3s off all the discs - but that's only 4GB of music when you think about it, and I've got loads of 32GB sticks kicking around.

 

Even the Aux Input was an optional extra on the factory unit. Bloody VAG and their bloody options lists.

[HH-R]

Harry Moss, FTW.

[Bren]

Saisho - Dixons own brand. Roadstar were pretty good - my wife had one in her capri when we first started courting.

 

I remember my mate buying a cheap Japanese Shibuya item - as you would expect it was pish. When you put a tape in the bastard thing sounded like a Judas Priest album being played backwards.

[PiperCub]

I remember my mate buying a cheap Japanese Shibuya item - as you would expect it was pish. When you put a tape in the bastard thing sounded like a Judas Priest album being played backwards. 

 

Did they sound better?   

 

 

(Copyright Bill Hicks)

[andy18s]

JVC KD-DB95BT ticks all the boxes, for just over 100 quid. Am thinking of getting one for the kangoo, as I now want DAB after discovering Radio X!

 

Not sure it will last 20 years like some of my old Pioneers though...

Knowing that twat Moyles is on there is more than enough reason to not bother.....

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Slartibartfast]

Knowing that twat Moyles is on there is more than enough reason to not bother.....

 

 

Moyles is such a bizarre polarising person. I CANNOT STAND the man, but I know loads of otherwise rational, sensible people who love him. It's odd.

 

He was almost good as King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar alongside Tim Minchin. And his Toby Larone is a bit funny.

[Pillock]

Well he seems to work, Radio 1 breakfast listening figures dropped faster than the coolant level in an MGF once he was given the push, and apparently the Radio X numbers are massive compared to XFM - although they also went on DAB at the same time as him joining so hard to say what his effect alone was.

 

I'm really disappointed in DAB, it seems massively held back. Does appear to be a one in, one out system as the spectrum is full up so I was most upset to hear that Team Rock was going off to be replaced by Absolute 90s, or Absolute Pop, or Absolute Crock of Shit or something. Because it's full it just becomes a place where the stations with the biggest budgets get to broadcast, and big budgets probably come from either a lack of original content (save money by having dull DJs) or by running 20 minutes of adverts every 25 minutes. A glance across the DAB "dial" shows about 50% pop stations, an whole bunch of Christian radio stations (niche much?), one Rock, a couple of talk, and quite a few classic stations. Nonsense. Oh, and most of them broadcast in 64kbps mono anyway so sound awful.

 

Mrs_Pillock was eager to get a DAB unit in her car, hence the looking around for a OEM player. She's since been in mine enough that has factory DAB to know it's utter tripe, so now the hunt seems to be something that's easy to stream her phone too, or has a USB.

[rainagain]

I just ordered one of these for my OH's car:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291634428931?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

You get: DAB+, Bluetooth, Front AUX, CD Player, MP3 Player, USB slot

 

Gets good reviews and it's only £70 delivered, Halfrauds are still selling the model under it for £130.

 

I agree with Pillock re dab, I have a Kenwood dab in my car I noticed that one of the rock station suddenly sounded crap, checked the bit rate and it had been reduced. I also don't know why there are so many Christian radio stations, do they get some sort of reduced charity rate? I think the best solution is satellite radio like they have in the USA, small monthly fee, hundreds of channels and no adverts! Great reception everywhere, what more could you want? I used to use the excellent radio downloader to listen to stuff from the BBC in the car, but since the BBC managed to stop this I tried and gave up on 'get iplayer' so I've just started downloading audio books, I'm currently working my way though all of the James Bond books whilst commuting.

[Slartibartfast]

The BBC iPlayer radio app now allows you to download shows for later listening.

 

The only stations I ever touch are Radio 1, Radio 4, 6Music and Planet Rock, and I alternate between them depending on which station is pissing me off the least at the time.

Grimmy is getting way lower listening figures than Moyles, but apparently that's what the BBC want. It's bizarre.

 

 

[Radio 1 Controller Ben] Cooper said: “Since Radio 1 has been completely focused on younger audiences – and the most common age of a Radio 1 listener is 21 – it was highly likely some older listeners would move on, like the half a million over-30s that left us this quarter.

“I’m pleased that Grimmy is doing what I’ve asked of him by keeping his young audience happy and scaring off the over-30s.”

 

Old people listen to the radio on their way to work. Young people listen to 96kbps youtube rips. Gross generalisation obviously.

[Lacquer Peel]

Radio 1 used to be home to John Peel and Chris Morris, now it's all sub-facebook banter for idiot children.

[Slartibartfast]

Daytime radio 1 has always been shit, and it will continue to be so because the people listening in the day overwhelmingly want to hear familiar, Top 40 music and a bit of light banter. John Peel and Chris Morris were on at night. The spiritual successors to John Peel are Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart, Annie Mac, the people who play lots and lots of good, new music from every sort of genre you could want.

[Lacquer Peel]

That's a good point about daytime vs. night time. I'll try tuning in to R1 at night - Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq put me off for a long time.

[beko1987]

I just ordered one of these for my OH's car:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291634428931?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

You get: DAB+, Bluetooth, Front AUX, CD Player, MP3 Player, USB slot

 

Gets good reviews and it's only £70 delivered, Halfrauds are still selling the model under it for £130.

 

I agree with Pillock re dab, I have a Kenwood dab in my car I noticed that one of the rock station suddenly sounded crap, checked the bit rate and it had been reduced. I also don't know why there are so many Christian radio stations, do they get some sort of reduced charity rate? I think the best solution is satellite radio like they have in the USA, small monthly fee, hundreds of channels and no adverts! Great reception everywhere, what more could you want? I used to use the excellent radio downloader to listen to stuff from the BBC in the car, but since the BBC managed to stop this I tried and gave up on 'get iplayer' so I've just started downloading audio books, I'm currently working my way though all of the James Bond books whilst commuting.

Oooh that looks nice. Please let me know what the handsfree calling is like on it! Also, what aerial do you use with it? Did you buy a specific one or just a general dab style cable?

[Lacquer Peel]

I thought about buying one of them but it doesn't support switching tracks through the head unit apparently, which is kind of the point of getting a bluetooth stereo.

[rainagain]

I got an aerial from dabonwheels:

 

http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/DAB_car_aerials.html

 

Cheaper than ebay, in my own car I've got an ebay special and compared to the aerial the Kenwood head unit came with which I had to leave in the Alfa, it's a bit shit. I used to never get drops out but I now I do now and again. I keep meaning to replace it with something better.

 

"I thought about buying one of them but it doesn't support switching tracks through the head unit apparently, which is kind of the point of getting a bluetooth stereo"

 

I'll report back on this, the main reason I was buying is my OH likes Radio four extra and has spotify on her phone so this ticks all the boxes.

[rainagain]

The BBC iPlayer radio app now allows you to download shows for later listening.

 

 

I take it this isn't to MP3 so you can put it on a USB stick?