Low Quality Stereo Audio - Options?

[AndrewRH]

Hi,

I'm a newbie here; this is my first post!

I just picked up my used 2006 Verso T3 2.2 Diesel ('55' plate) on Monday.

Its a pleasure to drive...except for the :censor: low quality of the stereo audio.

Radio stations sound dull compared to my 1999 Nissan Primera! And that was a radio / tape deck!

I have a Garmin Nüvi 670 GPS that includes an MP3 player and FM transmitter (as well as Bluetooth).

I load it up with my MP3 songs and have it transmit on 87.8MHz, just like I did in my Primera.

It sounds very poor in the Verso. Dull sounding music (and no, its not my taste in music that is the problem!); and the voice of the GPS sounds crackly - not at all like in the Primera.

I've tried increasing base to 3 and reducing treble; fading to rear; different stations -- all don't help much. Even BBC Radio 2 sound flat.

Does your Verso's audio drive you just as nuts?

Have you done something to fix it? What? e.g. replace Speakers, replace radio

Can Toyota dealers do anything to resolve this (the car still has warranty)? e.g. upgraded radio (I think other posts here say its a Panasonic)

Thanks for any tips and help,

~Andrew~

p.s. Did see someone else posted about putting in a completely different radio

Photo of the Verso: http://www.reeves-hall.net/2007/07/31/144/

[AndrewRH]

Found this info about installing a radio into a Verso from a Spanish site (translated through Google):

http://tinyurl.com/2r98ea

Photo taken from that same thread:

And here is another option: use the 2 DIN high facia from Toyota and fill it in with a black panel (excerpt from this thread):

[AndrewRH]

And here is a picture of the Verso stereo's facia plate (55417-0F010) that can be used as a starting point for fitting a new radio...taken from this thread (translated from Spanish by Google):

http://tinyurl.com/3a6z2v

[AndrewRH]

It looks like UK pricing has changed -- a call to the Toyota Inchcape (Sandhurst) dealer quoted a price of £29.17 plus VAT (£34.27 total) for this "retainer radio tuner".

The dealer thinks its made in Belgium. Edit: just bought it today (24 Aug) and it is like in the picture shown above - Made in Turkey.

Have others found similar prices in UK? Edit: called other dealers in UK, including Leeds, and it appears that it cost £34.27 everywhere in UK.

Anyone tried to source it from the continent, or Ireland?

Thanks,

~Andrew~

[AndrewRH]

I've decided upon an Alpine CDE-9873RB CD / MP3 receiver:

I like this one because it supports both an iPod adaptor (out the back) and an AUX input (in the front panel). I plan on attaching the audio output of my Garmin Nüvi 670 to the AUX input. Then I can choose between its MP3 player and my iPod without having to unplug either when switching.

Does anyone know if the steering controls will continue to work with this Alpine?

~Andrew~

[carls sr]

try just replacing the Speakers first if same as corolla hatch 16cm in front 13cm in bak but u basically need to distroy the Speakers so u can use the bracket the oem Speakers are help on by :) allso when i changed my headunit the fm transmitter for my ipod did get slighty clearer

[joncot]

paid £4 for mine from uk toyota dealer

[rosu]

here You go:

This is what I have.

[AndrewRH]

This is what I have.

What model stereo unit is it?

Do the volume controls on the steering wheel still work?

~Andrew~

[AndrewRH]

This is what I have.

What model stereo unit is it?

Do the volume controls on the steering wheel still work?

~Andrew~

...I found this posting had all the info...