Cheap generic head units.. do they annoy you too?

[DaveDorson]

I know it makes you come across as a bit of a licker.. but does anyone else get put off cars with Halfords tat headunits installed?

 

The ST170 I bought a few weeks back has a Sony something or other that puts out a horrible red and blue hue that reflects off all my windows at night and generally gets on my tits.  It's not a £49.99 one either, but it looks really horrible and tacky.  No doubt added for the Bluetooth connectivity and ability to connect via USB or something.

 

I don't mind it in most cars.. I've run stuff in the past with aftermarket HU's and I've been happy enough.  Usually if I'm driving something old and a but pants, one of the first things I do is whip out the stereo and speakers and put something a bit less horrible in there that will play modern media.. or CD's at least..

 

But, as stock, this car would have had a 6 cd changer in the dash, and it'd not have been gopping horrible hues of blue, just in your field of view, glowing at you.. judging you..

 

Thankfully my friend just bought a TDCI sport with the correct head unit installed.  I'll be doing a trade, as he's less of a tart about these things than me.

 

 

 

 

[Parky]

Agreed. A lot of new units are very fussy and a bit distracting. Blaupunkt make some discreet units if you want to avoid constantly moving red or green pixels in your peripheral vision

 

Surely an original Ford unit won't be too expensive from the Bay?

[strangeangel]

My BX came with a Ripspeed stereo, which is about as bad as it gets, surely? This doesn't bother me because:

 

1) I am happy with anything that accepts SD cards and can have a variety of inappropriate speakers attached to it

2) You can pull the cover over it so that others are not alerted to the lowly status of my head unit

[alcyonecorporation]

 

Clarion's FZ102E is one of my favourite modern head units - just a pity they don't make them in any other display colour.

[AMC Rebel]

I have a 90s Grundig that has been in many of my cars - it even has a massive separate box for the DAB receiver.  It is discreet and you can change the illumination from green through yellow to red to suit the car.  It doesn't do any silly dancing graphics etc.

 

Those Ford/Sony in-dash changers are notoriously unreliable.  I had one replaced under warranty on my 2005 Mondeo but the new unit failed too - it gradually decided all 6 slots were occupied by CDs when they weren't.

 

That Clarion looks smart.

[dome]

I'm loathe to part with my e46s standard jobbie even though the sound quality is average, the CD changer is gubbed and theres no dab.

[DaveDorson]

Agreed. A lot of new units are very fussy and a bit distracting. Blaupunkt make some discreet units if you want to avoid constantly moving red or green pixels in your peripheral vision

 

Surely an original Ford unit won't be too expensive from the Bay?

£35.00 or so.

 

My mate's one will be a swap over.

 

The Sony has no real resale value.  There's a pile of CD radio head units from various name manufacturers in my unit that all sound about the same and do about the same.

[Pillock]

It doesn't have to be stock for me, but I can't stand garish blingy flashy shit. I do like the look of that Clarion, I thought it was a stock Rover 1990s unit to begin with.

[saucedoctor]

I put the old-ish Pioneer HU that I had in the Rover 25 into the Focus. The Ford 6000CD that came with the car was a bit "function-limited", although the sound quality was pretty good. The Pioneer lighting was a bit bright (although the correct colour). I put a wee bit of nail varnish on the bulbs, and it matches pretty well now. The main display is fairly restrained, and doesn't do dancing equaliser nonsense.

 

 

[Shep Shepherd]

I don't like aftermarket head units with lots of chrome or silver detailing, as to me they look out of place in any car.

 

For my aftermarket head unit needs, I have a selection of late 1990s Blaupunkt units, all of which work with The Volvo's CD changer, look good and are easy to use

[rantingYoof]

The only appropriate place for any music playing apparatus within a car is IN ITS OWN SELF CONTAINED GLOVE BOX.

 

[/spoilt Lexus brat]

 

On a sensible note, I'd politely turn down a car that's had a built in CD changer replaced with an aftermarket head unit.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Supernaut]

Aren't you lot precious?

 

Look at the road, not the dash.

 

Admittedly, most cars I've owned have had the radio mounted low enough down the centre stack that even if I do have a silly light-up thing it doesn't bother me. The E36 has its radio mounted fairly high, but it's a very restrained aftermarket thing. Maybe it's meant to be like that, or maybe that's because it's a bit tired...

 

 

 

The HU I have in the Xantia would probably drive you lot up the wall. It lights up red, and I have a USB stick plugged into it that has a blinking green light on the end when it's reading files. It doesn't even match with any of the rest of the interior illumination. Doesn't bother me at all.

 

 

Also, you can turn off the stupid blinky demo mode on head units fairly* easily. If you don't have the instruction manual to hand, just put the model number into Google with the word 'manual' stuck to the end. That tactic has never failed me yet.

[DaveDorson]

Aren't you lot precious?

 

Look at the road, not the dash.

 

Admittedly, most cars I've owned have had the radio mounted low enough down the centre stack that even if I do have a silly light-up thing it doesn't bother me. The E36 has its radio mounted fairly high, but it's a very restrained aftermarket thing. Maybe it's meant to be like that, or maybe that's because it's a bit tired...

 

 

 

The HU I have in the Xantia would probably drive you lot up the wall. It lights up red, and I have a USB stick plugged into it that has a blinking green light on the end when it's reading files. It doesn't even match with any of the rest of the interior illumination. Doesn't bother me at all.

 

 

That's the thing.. I am looking at the road, but also acutely aware of the reflections in my windows as I glace at mirrors and things.

 

That does my noggin.

 

And in the Focus it's low at a low level light the Fronterror's one, so it's kind of in your peripheral vision anyway. 

[alcyonecorporation]

A lot of Pioneer head units have adjustable CMYK lighting and dimmer functions to match dashboard lighting.

Its lower end kit is still pretty impressive but uses plain black displays and buttons.

 

One of its double DINs (below) with Bluetooth is going in the SVX when I get chance (and build up the stones to take the dash to bits).

 

 

This is about as plain as modern HUs get - one chrome volume knob and that's it. Get the illumination the same on the display and buttons (you can have dual shades for some reason, must appeal to the ADD twitchers), dim the display to match the levels of everything else, and it'd look pretty smart, IMHO.

[Lacquer Peel]

I bought a mech-less Alpine Bluetooth head unit because I thought it'd be good. WRONG. Decent sound and it looks okay but some of the buttons have stopped working and it's functionally stripped. I'm sure a generic no name one would be better.

[alcyonecorporation]

I bought a mech-less Alpine Bluetooth head unit because I thought it'd be good. WRONG. Decent sound and it looks okay but some of the buttons have stopped working and it's functionally stripped. I'm sure a generic no name one would be better.

Alpine's kit has gone downhill in the past decade. I've had no issues with Kenwoods and Pioneers, hence why I continue to use them.

 

Tevion stuff is reliable despite looking like a jukebox on smack when powered up. The unit in the ex PBK/WilsonWilson MGF still behaves flawlessly.

[wuvvum]

The main thing that bothers me about the cheap Lidl head unit in the Hyundai is that it keeps dropping the bloody signal even when it's adequately strong, and does endless RDS searches thereby cutting out my choonz.  I don't have a problem with the lighting.

 

The (expensive) Kenwood head unit in the Toyota annoys me though - it does a daft animation sequence including dolphins and a bloke swimming, which I've turned off numerous times but which it seems to automatically switch back on every time the car battery goes flat (which is quite often).

[HMC]

This new Merc of mine has an aftermarket replacement Sony headunit. It chirrps at me annoyingly every time the ignition is turned off (I think as a prompt to takes its FACE OFF) I hope there's come way of silencing it as its driving me crayzeeee!!!

[Dirk Diggler]

That's the thing.. I am looking at the road, but also acutely aware of the reflections in my windows as I glace at mirrors and things.

 

 

If you stopped cleaning your windows and took up pipe smoking or unfiltered cigarettes the stereo would bother you less

[dean36014]

The Lidl/Aldi stereo i inherited out the ex Beko ZX lost its signal continuously too, it drove me mad. I picked up a nice sony with USB input of a facebook sale site for a tenner and that works great. All the flashing lights drive me mad too so i'm glad I'm not the only one.

[Eddie Honda]

Forget this new-fangled RDS nonsense. The Volvo 4 Microprocessor RX-2Q radio/cassette is the future:

 

2012-03-12_19-50-10_835.jpg by E Honda, on Flickr

[DaveDorson]

If you stopped cleaning your windows and took up pipe smoking or unfiltered cigarettes the stereo would bother you less

 

Given the fact my lungs are already shagged and I'm over-weight and under-fit, that won't happen .

 

Changing the headunit is easy.. 

[saucedoctor]

This new Merc of mine has an aftermarket replacement Sony headunit. It chirrps at me annoyingly every time the ignition is turned off (I think as a prompt to takes its FACE OFF) I hope there's come way of silencing it as its driving me crayzeeee!!!

 

The OEM Sony in my (then-new) Polo 6N did that. It got to the stage where I'd pop the face off it before I shut off the engine. SOOOO annoying.

[oldcars]

Aren't you lot precious?

 

Look at the road, not the dash.

 

Admittedly, most cars I've owned have had the radio mounted low enough down the centre stack that even if I do have a silly light-up thing it doesn't bother me. The E36 has its radio mounted fairly high, but it's a very restrained aftermarket thing. Maybe it's meant to be like that, or maybe that's because it's a bit tired...

 

 

 

The HU I have in the Xantia would probably drive you lot up the wall. It lights up red, and I have a USB stick plugged into it that has a blinking green light on the end when it's reading files. It doesn't even match with any of the rest of the interior illumination. Doesn't bother me at all.

 

 

Also, you can turn off the stupid blinky demo mode on head units fairly* easily. If you don't have the instruction manual to hand, just put the model number into Google with the word 'manual' stuck to the end. That tactic has never failed me yet.

I have a 75, i sit in it for hours in my drive, stareing at the dash. I have many friends 

[Guest Breadvan72]

The stereo that came with my Dolomite practically creates a head up display on the windscreen.  Mucho annoy.  

 

ORL MODAN RAYDYOS R RUBIHS

[Shep Shepherd]

Forget this new-fangled RDS nonsense. The Volvo 4 Microprocessor RX-2Q radio/cassette is the future:

 

2012-03-12_19-50-10_835.jpg by E Honda, on Flickr

 

I'd love one of those in The Volvo 

[Eddie Honda]

The Volvo 

1990? 740? Then the nearest would be the CR102 / 4041 (The CR101/4061 has obsolete AVI-traffic wotsit). Shame they're LCD and not VFD.

[alcyonecorporation]

The OEM Sony in my (then-new) Polo 6N did that. It got to the stage where I'd pop the face off it before I shut off the engine. SOOOO annoying.

"BEEK A BEEK uh. BEEK A BEEK uh."

 

I think most 90s and Noughties cars ended up with a Sony Xplod head unit at some point in their lives. Oddly nostalgic.

[Lacquer Peel]

There's no way to turn the Sony beep off. RAGE.

I want a Bluetooth head unit that doesn't look pants and doesn't cost a fortune, any recommendations?

I forgot to mention the shit Alpine Bluetooth sometimes skips and drops connections, not something replicated tethered to OEM systems so it's not my phone.

[Shep Shepherd]

1990? 740? Then the nearest would be the CR102 / 4041 (The CR101/4061 has obsolete AVI-traffic wotsit). Shame they're LCD and not VFD.

 

A CR102 or CR4041 would be splendid, and far more pleasing to the eye than the CR718 that the car was originally equipped with