Stereo went pop and found a Halfrauds bargain!

Post 652533 by M-R-P on 2013-10-14 12:35:47

Well the faithful old Pioneer head unit went bang on saturday and, although I haven't used the radio much since fitting the new zorst, the idea of not having tunes just doesn't appeal. So I took a mooch around my local Halfrauds and picked up this little beauty... Linky £60 quid off and was almost in my price bracket so I paypalled some funds over to my bank and bought it. Fitted it in Halfrauds Car park in 5 minutes :D And I'm bloody impressed. The good stuff..... 1. Bluetooth is superb, phone calls are as clear as day with no echo or noise to the person calling you and the BT audio feature, although missing song names (or I've not switched it on yet) is exceptional - I can even use my equaliser and surround settings from my phone to adjust the sound quality of the playback! 2. Looks really nice 3. 2 x USB sockets - one in the facia and one on a 1M cable which you can hide in the glove box or center arm rest, 3.5mm aux input on the facia, stereo preout socket on the back, Dab input (additional gizmo required) 4. Very immersive sound once set up. The down sides... 1. No CD slot... yep, the new generation is here - totally digital making the unit half the depth of normal head units. Not that bothered as all my music is digital now and I can either play from my phone or plug a dongle in somewhere. Plus I don't have CDs rattling about in the car any more :) 2. FM radio sound quality isn't great (gonna try it with the FM radio on the phone tonight) I may have missed an audio setting somewhere so I'll update the thread if I sort it. 3. The preout sockets appear to be for a standard stereo amp and not a sub, which means I've got some fiddling to do to get the sub sounding right. 4. Sub makes a "thump" noise when the stereo switches on. Nothing worrying, just annoys me lol. 5. Limited audio adjustments available - some presets and a user setting that lets you do bass, treble, balance and fader. There's also the DBB and MAX-B functions that won't be getting switched off any time soon I've not had chance to have a good fiddle with it yet so I'll update if I find anything interesting.

Post 652537 by Wobbly Dave on 2013-10-14 12:46:12

I still have a Sony unit here you could have - inc. 6 CD multi change & direct wired connectivity for Ipod.

Post 652538 by M-R-P on 2013-10-14 12:54:20

You still not got rid of that thing Dave? I'd have thought it would have gone pretty quick?

Post 652567 by AndysR on 2013-10-14 13:59:46

Wow, that looks like a bargain and I think a worthy replacement for the old cassette player in the 940 :)

Post 652576 by V70 Graham on 2013-10-14 15:04:17

Looks a great unit for the price.....and I'm glad you got an iPhone/iPod ready one.....it even says so on the right of the unit :hilarious

Post 652581 by M-R-P on 2013-10-14 15:17:22

[QUOTE=V70 Graham;652576]Looks a great unit for the price.....and I'm glad you got an iPhone/iPod ready one.....it even says so on the right of the unit :hilarious[/QUOTE] fortunately, it's compatible with proper phones too. they write iPhone on it incase iPhone users forget what to connect it to.

Post 652716 by M-R-P on 2013-10-14 21:43:38

Bit more faffing tonight, got the FM radio sounding good and made some headway with retuning the sub too. Hoping to make more progress soon, still a cracking bit of kit for 80 quid and highly recommended.

Post 653596 by partsforvolvos.com on 2013-10-18 11:49:26

oooh look at this link i heard from connects2 that halfords have over 90% of the digital radio aftermarket

Post 653599 by daza-b on 2013-10-18 11:53:15

[QUOTE=partsforvolvos.com;653596]oooh look at this link i heard from connects2 that halfords have over 90% of the digital radio aftermarket[/QUOTE] Thats awesome i think ill get one of those!!

Post 653601 by partsforvolvos.com on 2013-10-18 11:56:37

that's what i thought daz, and the oe vauxhall stereo i have has a knackered power/volume button. - good excuse !

Post 653602 by expolicev70t5 on 2013-10-18 11:58:17

Now that is very neat!

Post 653603 by M-R-P on 2013-10-18 11:58:34

Happy with mine stuck to the windscreen (sat nav) and the app is just a simplified version of the car mode that's already on my phone. 20 quid for a phone holder attached to the front of the stereo? I'll give it a miss lol

Post 653607 by daza-b on 2013-10-18 12:05:10

I have a Sony stereo in mine but I dont have an ipod to put into it etc and always wreck cds so this is perfect for me, just put in an offer on one on ebay and will sell the sony Happy days :)

Post 653609 by partsforvolvos.com on 2013-10-18 12:19:40

I've got a digital tuner thingy with has an input as well. i dont really use it becasue when i leave work the fm signal frequency is ok, by halfway home it needs retuning - fail :slap:

Post 653614 by oblark on 2013-10-18 12:24:06

Im waiting for the pioneer double din stereos to come down in price :)

Post 653623 by daza-b on 2013-10-18 14:06:34

[QUOTE=partsforvolvos.com;653596]oooh look at this link i heard from connects2 that halfords have over 90% of the digital radio aftermarket[/QUOTE] Just bought one of these so will give a review on it when it arrives :)

Post 653627 by partsforvolvos.com on 2013-10-18 14:44:43

u jammy git- i'm skint

Post 653633 by daza-b on 2013-10-18 15:08:44

[QUOTE=partsforvolvos.com;653627]u jammy git- i'm skint[/QUOTE] Lol found a 2 week old one on ebay and got it for £55 delivered :p lol

Post 654735 by M-R-P on 2013-10-21 21:50:15

bit of an update... I just couldn't get it to sound right and in my opinion, if you're going to replace something, replace it with a better version so I took it back. for an extra 20 quid I got this... note the logo in the red square at the top... quite apt I thought lol. what can I say...? epic! it's far better than the old Pioneer unit that went pop and those who have heard the old one will know that's a hard act to follow! the sound is infinitely adjustable (meaning I'll be fiddling with it for some time) the FM signal is spot on, the bt audio is perfect, the phone sound is great although I'm gonna get the external mic to improve it a bit and the overall sound quality is breathtaking. go buy it!

Post 654780 by M-R-P on 2013-10-21 23:23:47

Here's the link

Post 654781 by daza-b on 2013-10-21 23:25:53

Looks like a good stereo, mine should be here in the next couple of days ;)

Post 654782 by Kingsford G on 2013-10-21 23:27:58

Been to Halfords today and some cracking bargains there, few half price headunits with lots of bells and whistles in them.

Post 654783 by M-R-P on 2013-10-21 23:37:04

[QUOTE=daza-b;654781]Looks like a good stereo, mine should be here in the next couple of days ;)[/QUOTE] Hope it's better than the one I just binned mate, I just couldn't get on with it. [QUOTE=Kingsford G;654782]Been to Halfords today and some cracking bargains there, few half price headunits with lots of bells and whistles in them.[/QUOTE] I can't recommend that Sony enough mate, if you were looking to spend £100 on a head unit, you won't get better.

Post 654784 by Kingsford G on 2013-10-21 23:48:04

I looked at that Sony and Pioneer,back in the days u wouldn`t buy anythig good for less than £300,I rmember I paid £350 for my Pioneer 12years ago,it was good money back then.

Post 654787 by M-R-P on 2013-10-21 23:58:02

[QUOTE=Kingsford G;654784]I looked at that Sony and Pioneer,back in the days u wouldn`t buy anythig good for less than £300,I rmember I paid £350 for my Pioneer 12years ago,it was good money back then.[/QUOTE] Agreed. The Pioneer that went pop was £450 when new 5-6 years ago.

Post 654796 by daza-b on 2013-10-22 01:47:45

[QUOTE=M-R-P;654783]Hope it's better than the one I just binned mate, I just couldn't get on with it. .[/QUOTE] U and me both mate lol

Post 654800 by V70 Graham on 2013-10-22 04:27:31

Glad your happy with the new unit......what a difference £20 makes eh lol

Post 654814 by M-R-P on 2013-10-22 08:07:12

[QUOTE=daza-b;654796]U and me both mate lol[/QUOTE] I've been told there's some software you can upload via bluetooth that opens up more options in the sound menu but I didn't investigate it further. Might be worth looking into. [QUOTE=V70 Graham;654800]Glad your happy with the new unit......what a difference £20 makes eh lol[/QUOTE] The Sony is supposed to be £200 (1/2 price offer in Halfrauds) and if I'd paid the full price, I would still be impressed. And this one has a cd player. Plus... since my phone is Sony, it wants to do all sorts of stuff when it connects. Must do some googling to work that lot out lol.