What Non-oem Head Units Have You Fitted?

[johnny01]

Sorry, as this has been posted elsewhere but with no responses, so I thought I'd ask the lovely Yaris people what head units they have retro-fitted into their cars and what they think of them :D

I had a Blaupunkt Kingston R24 that went on forever years ago, and the new model looks quite solid. I've also looked at Alpine and Sony and have been quite impressed with their products too. My basic requirements are:

Budget: maybe £100 - £150 (£200 absolute max)

Aux in: 3.5mm input socket on the front essential

mp3 playback capabilities from CD-Rs essential

Fairly high powered outputs and good tonal adjustment

Must look nice lol, preferably black not silver

Ability to plug into something USB would be a nice option but not essential

Not bothered about sub outputs as it's unlikely I'll be fitting one

One HU I've seen is the new Sony CDX-GT929U, which I think looks nice as well as fulfilling all the above requirements. I've got the Sony double DIN unit in my current car and it's an impressive sound, even through the stock Speakers.

The unit will feed into a pair of series wired JBL's (2 Ohm units each, the GTO-427 2 way unit and the GTO-6537 3 way unit) for the front outputs and a pair of 4 Ohm JBL P953 6x9s in a new parcel shelf for the rear output.

Would be grateful to hear what people think - Johnny

[Yaris SR Kid]

My experiences with headunits arent that vast to be honest but all i know is my family/friends have always stuck to alpine and to be honest none have ever broken, and sound far better than other ones i have listened to, this may be because i hear them more often/better Speakers.

I have an ipod full speed alpine in mine, picked it up for £159.99 as there was a new one that plays dvds coming out, so within your price range, you can get models that do usb/3.5mm instead of ipod and it is 4x50watt so pretty powerful! Sound quality is crystal clear aswell!

Hope this helps!

Adam

[johnny01]

Cheers Adam - thanks for your input :D

I know a lot of people swear by Alpine, I've never owned one to be honest but am aware of their reputation. I looked at the Alpine CDA-9883R with is full speed iPod too (not sure if this is your model) but it seems to require one optional adaptor for this capability, a further optional adaptor for the 3.5mm aux input and yet another optional adaptor for USB feature, pushing up the price each time. I know most users would only require *one* feature not all 3 but there are units out there that have all these built in? It's a nice unit though I must admit

:D

[forde]

Hi mate, first words of advice, dont get a sony, they are DUNG. Alpine is definitely the way to go.

Now, i have had alpines in the past, but i just had a pioneer in the yaris there. Good unit, but slightly unreliable and the face plate has went walkies so i thought time for a new stereo. I know pioneer are supposed to be close to alpine for quality but tbh i wont have another after my experience, im gonna stick with alpine which i have always found to be class stereos.

Anyway, i just bought one of these. I havent recieved it yet mind, but its a steal. This is so cheap because the new ida-x range of alpine stereos are coming out for ipods and stuff. The new ones wouldnt suit you anyway tho because they are too dear for your budget and they also dont have cd mechanisms, just ipod and usb. The unit im linking you to, even tho i dont have mine yet, i have seen in person, real nice unit. Good looking too, looks a lot better in real life than in pics. I found some hi res pics somewhere which give a much better idea.

Alpine cde-9880r:

plays mp3 cds

full speed ipod connection

usb for flash drives and also can connect other mp3 players and phones through the usb afaik

3 pre outs

its the nice alpine "gunmetal black" colour. Can light up amber or green (matches yaris dash lights)

Doesnt have the 3.5mm jack, but it has everything else and buying one extra adapter wont hurt, and if you did that you'd be kitted out for anything possible lol, mp3, cd, usb, ipod and 3.5mm lol. Or just use the usb and ipod connectors and not the 3.5, after all, every phone and mp3 player has a usb lead.

£130 because it is last years model and doesnt look as good (well thats a preference, i think it looks better, the new range looks weird) as the new range, even tho it has a lot more functions than the new range does.

http://www.lowcostcaraudio.co.uk/shop/Alpi...ZZproductJJ3925

I think these were like £300 or definitely over £250 when they came out not that long ago. They were very near the top of the alpine range i believe. Certainly have the features of a range topping unit. A local audio shop near me had some and they were selling them at £130 down from about £300 to make way for the new range (which i had demos of and wasnt fussed on compared to this), but by the time i got there they had none left <_< so im ordering online.

The guys from that site seem dead on too, was on the phone to them.

[johnny01]

OK OK OK I'm sold on Alpine Actually the more I look at them the more attractive they become!

Alpine cde-9880r:

plays mp3 cds

full speed ipod connection

usb for flash drives and also can connect other mp3 players and phones through the usb afaik

3 pre outs

its the nice alpine "gunmetal black" colour. Can light up amber or green (matches yaris dash lights)

Doesnt have the 3.5mm jack, but it has everything else and buying one extra adapter wont hurt, and if you did that you'd be kitted out for anything possible lol, mp3, cd, usb, ipod and 3.5mm lol. Or just use the usb and ipod connectors and not the 3.5, after all, every phone and mp3 player has a usb lead.

I did seem to overlook this unit on my searches but it looks pretty good I have to say - though everywhere I've seen it advertised has the iPod and Aux connections as optional extras so that probably put me off a little. A unit I did see was the lower spec'd CDE-9874 which has CD and mp3 capabilities, a 3.5mm aux input and is iPod and bluetooth ready. It doesn't have USB and is slightly less powerful than the others but it sort of fits what I want...

Can light up amber or green (matches yaris dash lights)

It's a Yaris T-Sport I'm expecting - do they have red dash illumination same as the 'Rolla T-Sports?

[forde]

on the site im gettin it from it doesnt mention needing any optional extras to use any of those things and although the site sells them i wasnt expecting to need them for this unit. well maybe a lead to make the usb connection longer so itll reach the glovebox

aye it doenst have a 3.5mm, but im only gonna be using usb and cd anyway so its sweet for me.

the alpine bluetooth module that you will need to get to use bluetooth is very dear its like £110 if you really want it you can get deals on websites where you get a head unit and the module for about 200 or 210 but considering the head unit you would be getting is only like 130 without the module its still dear. best gettin a second hand one imo if you can.

re illumination all the yarises ive seen are green but the amber would look ok with red if it was red.

[Tuned_Up_T-Sport]

I got myself a "SEVIC Blue Laser" not a big name I know, but when i looked at the spec i was fairly impressed and at £150 its an absolute bargain,

Single DIN, Motorised removable front, 3.6" Widescreen.

DVD/CD Player, AV In/Out, SD Card reader and USB mini plug,

DVD/VCD/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/JPEG/MPEG4.

Mechanical and electronic anti-shock, Adjustable viewing angle, 4 RCA Audio Output, 1 RCA Video output, 1 Set RCA Audio/Video input, 1 RCA rear cmera input.

Max Output 55w x 4

Sound quality is brilliant even on the tiny yaris Speakers, Picture quality is spot on.

Well im impressed anyways.

Oh and its Black.

[forde]

i dunno about those cheap dvd headunits, you get what you pay for with those things. none of my mates that bought them cheap ones off eBay and ripspeed an all never had them last very long

[crazyman50000]

I've got a Clarion in mine. Was £160

http://www.clarionworld.co.uk/stock/dxz758rmc.asp

Can pick it up for £120 now. Sounds good, got quite a few extra features. Oh and ALL headunits only ever output a max of 25W RMS / channel. It's just marketing crap ;)

[forde]

Oh and ALL headunits only ever output a max of 25W RMS / channel. It's just marketing crap ;)

Your right, its always worth checking the rms output when buying a headunit. They ALL say max 40, 45 or 50 watts, but when you actually look at the rms it can vary from 2.5 to 25 even though they say the same for peak, a lot of cheaper headunits will say 4x45 watt but the rms will be like 5 lol

[Phiber_Optik]

Tuned_Up_T-Sport Does your Sevic unit fit in the coin tray? Or did you take the old Yaris head unit out completely and put in the Rav4 adapter etc?

[johnny01]

Thanks for that everyone :D

Oh and ALL headunits only ever output a max of 25W RMS / channel. It's just marketing crap ;)

Your right, its always worth checking the rms output when buying a headunit. They ALL say max 40, 45 or 50 watts, but when you actually look at the rms it can vary from 2.5 to 25 even though they say the same for peak, a lot of cheaper headunits will say 4x45 watt but the rms will be like 5 lol

Yeah I know - and know it's also very difficult to actually find this information! Alpine are particularly bad (surprisingly) at revealing the RMS power - even their website and the manuals that are supplied with the units only reveal peak power in the technical specifications. The Sony unit I was originally looking at is rated 52W peak, 27W RMS. Comparisons can also be pretty meaningless if not judged by the same standard, for instance DIN 45324, if the output rating isn't to this specification it could have a higher distortion content and any manufacturer can claim a higher RMS power from a highly distorted signal. I suppose with most things it's down to build quality.

I'm not too fussed about the DVD capabilities, I do occasionally watch my PSP in the car (I transfer a DVD onto the memory stick) so am sorted in that respect. I'm slightly wary of highly featured units that are 'budget' unless they're end of line discounts, because I think quality has to be skipped somewhere. Would rather spend the same amount on a 'bomb-proof' CD player that I won't need to replace in a years time. That's just my opinion though :)

I think I'm probably going to plump for an Alpine unit, it's just a case of deciding which one

[forde]

You can find it on websites for the alpine units tho. I wouldnt put it past sony to use that distorted signal trick to get a higher rating, the sony units i have heard have sounded far less powerful with far inferior sound quality to alpines. I have a feeling that the unit i linked you to has 4x16w rms power, but you can guarantee theyre 16 of the finest watts there are, as opposed to sony's 27 crap ones lol. Even tho the sony has it on paper, the alpine will be louder and clearer guaranteed.

I have all my Speakers amped anyway so im not really bothered, and sound quality would be more important to me.

re end of line discounts on stereos, the unit i linked you to and the other one you mentioned are cheap because of this reason, the one i linked you to for £130 should be near £300 but the new range are comin out now and its last years model so its cheap even though it has every feature you could ever want.

[johnny01]

You can find it on websites for the alpine units tho. I wouldnt put it past sony to use that distorted signal trick to get a higher rating, the sony units i have heard have sounded far less powerful with far inferior sound quality to alpines. I have a feeling that the unit i linked you to has 4x16w rms power, but you can guarantee theyre 16 of the finest watts there are, as opposed to sony's 27 crap ones lol. Even tho the sony has it on paper, the alpine will be louder and clearer guaranteed.

I have all my speakers amped anyway so im not really bothered, and sound quality would be more important to me.

Thanks again for that and yes, I've had a further dig about and the RMS powers are listed on the US Alpine site but are lacking from the European one. And yes, you are right (I assume they will use more or less the same trusted output stage design in all their units) as RMS powers are listed as:

45W peak power / 16W RMS

50W peak power / 18W RMS

I can't find any listings for their higher powered 60W peak headunits but these are probably out of my budget anyway.

Incidently, the clarity will be helped by the fact that the output stage can handle transient peaks well. It's all well and good to have an amplifier that can deliver a higher RMS output but that in itself isn't everything. To obtain a barely detectable 'increase' in perceived volume requires a 3dB increase in sound pressure level, and that needs a doubling of amplifier power, all else being equal. So really it's debateable whether there would be any big difference between 16W RMS and 27W RMS.

If it isn't loud enough for me I could drive all 6 Speakers with separate amps at a later date - there's further potential there ;)

[Tuned_Up_T-Sport]

Hey glad you got sorted, To be honest im not major into ice e.t.c. Just something to do the job, its a good bit of kit wher im concened, and it plays DVDs for when you've already walked around a show 10 times and wanna chill a bit, perfect wired up to Sun Visor monitor.

Phiber_Optik, Kule name btw, I got the RAV4 adapter and the £40 odd quid, toyota double din fascia.

[crazyman50000]

£40?!

You can buy a replica one off eBay for £15. Iso adaptors go for about £4.

Then again, double din might be dearer than single din (which is what I got)

[johnny01]

Hey glad you got sorted, To be honest im not major into ice e.t.c. Just something to do the job, its a good bit of kit wher im concened, and it plays DVDs for when you've already walked around a show 10 times and wanna chill a bit, perfect wired up to Sun Visor monitor.

Yeah getting there, thanks mate :)

I know what you mean about chilling out in your own personal space! Surprising how many people gorp in when you're watching a film though

[Tuned_Up_T-Sport]

Tinted windows matey lol. But yea i kno what u mean. Just reading your siggi, HOW MANY CARS do u want lol. I'll take the 99 celica off your hands if your wanting rid lol.

crazyman50000, I looked at them but wasnt really convinced, I'd rather buy genuine parts than something someones had a go at in the shed.

[johnny01]

Tinted windows matey lol. But yea i kno what u mean. Just reading your siggi, HOW MANY CARS do u want lol. I'll take the 99 celica off your hands if your wanting rid lol.

crazyman50000, I looked at them but wasnt really convinced, I'd rather buy genuine parts than something someones had a go at in the shed.

Oh... I wish... maybe I ought to modify the siggy to cars I've owned in order not actually cars I still have *dreams* incidently, the first car in the list would've beat the pants off any of the others - in a straight line anyway

And I agree about genuine parts, not seen the others crazyman50000 mentioned but if a job's worth doing it's worth doing well. :)

[Phiber_Optik]

Tuned_up_T-sport thanks for the complement on my user name, been using it for ages since I was a spring chicken.

Thanks for the info on your headunit. I just have mine tucked into the coin tray and I kind of like in there, want to put a scan gauge above it at some point where the radio would normally be.

Good info in this post...

[crazyman50000]

Well mine needed a bit of modification as the cigar lighter moved to the centre.

But at the end of the day, it's a lump of plastic. Spares yes - Toyota originals are go. But bit's of plastic like this that Im only going to change back when I sell the car - I welcome cheapo.