Car Stereo Options?, And opinions Options

[hitbyastick]

I'm in the process of assembling the interior of my car. Now I have a tough choice to make. What kind of radio do I want. The old blaupunkts and becker knob radios might look allright, but they appear to be really pricey, and the sound can't be that great. The modern radios all have way too much blue LED lighting and things going on with the buttons or the screen. Does anyone know of a manufacturer that makes somethings reasonably simple looking? Or maybe you can tell me what radios you guys have. Thanks much,
Christoph

[iamchappy]

I have an Alpine, modern but not overkill.

[klikkid3]

I have an Alpine, modern but not overkill.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I also have an alpine, I used to manage the Car Audio department at Best Buy and Alpine consistantly had the most reliable and highest quality head units, while the other manufacturers added crazy buttons and graphics Alpine remained our top seller.

[Todd Enlund]

I don't remember where, but I've seen someone that puts modern electronics into old Blaupunkt chassis.

While we're on the topic, has anyone seen something that would be essentially hidden, that manifests as only a jack that one could plug an MP3 player into? Possibly a hidden volume knob as well?

I don't want a radio in the dash, but I might go for something inconspicuous like this.

[Sleepin]

I just put the Blaupunkt Brisbane SD-48 into Val's 914. It has a mostly black face, and fits into the 914 interior well. It also features no CD player! It has a standard AUX port, a USB port in the back of it, and an SD card slot in the front. Very nice, and it clears up having to carry CD's around. a 2GB SD card can hold more music than one can listen to on one trip.

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[749142]

jvc kd-g240. you can usually find them at pep boys and walmart but they are simple and have plenty of power 20 watts rms and 50 a channel. 4 channel. plays mp3 cds and has an aux in for your ipod and sound good and clean. cost 85 bucks. i just got mine. its fairly simple too
actually it looks really simple and easy to operate

[grouperalley]

jvc kd-g240. you can usually find them at pep boys and walmart but they are simple and have plenty of power 20 watts rms and 50 a channel. 4 channel. plays mp3 cds and has an aux in for your ipod and sound good and clean. cost 85 bucks. i just got mine. its fairly simple too
actually it looks really simple and easy to operate

[grouperalley]

i'm planning to fill the dash with an old blecker and then hide a pair of T amps to play my i pod. google t amps and there are multiple sites on the high quality sound out of these dirt cheap amps $35 each and how to modify them.

[oldschool]

i'm planning to fill the dash with an old blecker and then hide a pair of T amps to play my i pod. google t amps and there are multiple sites on the high quality sound out of these dirt cheap amps $35 each and how to modify them.

So my stereo has a weird thing going on.It turn on and off as soon as I start my car.
I have check the back of the unit and all looks clear. can it be a ground?
and by the way how many ground points do we have?(on the car)

[Gint]

I don't remember where, but I've seen someone that puts modern electronics into old Blaupunkt chassis.

While we're on the topic, has anyone seen something that would be essentially hidden, that manifests as only a jack that one could plug an MP3 player into? Possibly a hidden volume knob as well?

I don't want a radio in the dash, but I might go for something inconspicuous like this.

You guys don't watch any of the hot rod and muscle car based tv shows on Spike and such on the weekends?

I've been considering the same thing for my /6 when I finish it off.

Secret Audio available here (among other places I'm sure):

http://www.casmfg.com/

[maxincolorado]

put it in the glove box!!!! i dont have a 914 yeat so i dont know what the siz of the glove box is but in my current 1974 bug i just cut a nice hole in the glove box and it looks great. it also hides it from all those jackers around and you have a place to put your ipod so its not exposed either

[johannes]

In the new Kenwood range they have two radios that have a very classic look

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainmen...iver/KDC-MP538U

There may be a way to remove the blue lines (disable the led)...

[johannes]

You also have the Retrosound radio that is cheaper than the Becker.

http://www.retrosoundusa.com

They also have a range of speakers with very thin magnets that might fit in the 914 ...

Cheaper here
http://www.normansclassicautoradio.com/EZ-...um51/index.html

Information I got from chevelles.com forum "Avoid (for now) the new Retrosound USA units. While they are a definite step up from Custom Autosound, they have "issues." I've had two go south on me. Their customer service is superb, but they admit to an as-yet undiagnosed problem. Told me they have a second generation unit coming out soon."

[johannes]

Here you can find 5 x 7 speakers that may fit in the 914 original housings

http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm

http://www.retrosoundusa.com/products/details/id/66

[Twise]

(IMG:http://members.cox.net/quadraphonic/8-track-Car-Decks/Sanyo%20model%20FT%20867%204%20channel%20stereo%208%20track%20car%20stereo%20player%201.jpg)

You can pick one of these babies up on Evilbay. Or, just get an Alpine they are the best.

[Demick]

I really like the look of that Kenwood unit. One of the reasons I haven't replaced my 10+ year old JVC head unit is because the new ones are just too goofy, shiny, and flashy looking.

But I suspect that the simplicity of the Kenwood is also it's achilles heel. Hardly any buttons on the front means that you probably can't do much of anything except change volume with the front controls. That means either using the remote, or scrolling through menus on the head unit - neither of which are convienant when driving a car.

Demick

[johannes]

You can check the instruction book here

http://inform3.kenwoodusa.com/manuals/kdcx592.pdf

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[Slick914]

I wish I would have seen this post a few days ago. I too was looking for a stereo that was somewhat plain looking, mostly black. I really like the way that Blaupunkt SD-48 looks, except for the rainbow display. I ended up getting an inexpensive Clarion. It blends in pretty good when off as it's mostly black with a silver knob. When on it has red illumination, but figured that fits better than blue. I looked at that Kenwood as well, but controlling the on-screen menu with those 2 knobs is just too complicated. The Clarion also has all the main controls on the left side which helps in the 914 since it's on the passenger side of the car to begin with.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Ite...5MP&tp=5684

[Rav914]

These are some cool ones. I really wanted the new Becker Mexico but settled on the Blaupunkt MP-46. Huge price difference and the Blau works great. You can change the background to any color and it has bluetooth and iPod attachments.

[kconway]

I'm partial to Alpine products, I've owned quite a few over the years. For my 914 I'm going with this, old school dual knob NOS Alpine 7167 I found on eBay sometime ago. Prolly should have looked for a old school knob Blaupunkt but they seem to be hard to find NOS.
Kev