radioouman
Diamond Member
My sister has a car with a cassette player. She has asked for a CD player for Christmas, and I decided to get one for her.
She only needs single disc CD capability, and she doesn't even need MP3 although,I will probably get MP3 on whatever I buy.
Here's my dilemma. Over the past 7 years or so, I've tried various car radios and I've never been completely satsified with any of them.
Currently I have a 4 year old Pioneer in my vehicle that retailed for about $289. It is a nice radio with a ton of audio controls and it sounds great, however, the receiver is less-then-perfect. It gets overloaded in downtown areas or when I pass another radio station's transmitter. (There is no "local" setting for receive sensitivity.) My sister does a lot of driving in downtown, therefore I probably won't get her a Pioneer.
My last radio was a cheaper Sony that I bought 7 years ago. It had an outstanding receiver, but didn't have half of the audio controls that the Pioneer does. It had digital bass compression for CDs, and that was a great feature in a noisy car. (Unless a car is perfectly quiet, you don't usually want as much dynamic range in the car as at home....) Because of the lack of audio controls, the audio always sounded marginal or even cheap. But the receiver was excellent, the radio was easy to use, and the audio compression for CDs was very nice.
About 4.5 years ago, I bought a cheap Clarion. This radio sounded excellent and had an excellent receiver. However, I would never install another one because this radio required a high power lead directly to the battery. It made be nervous to have a fat wire going straight from my battery to my dashboard. Besides, I had to find a way to get the wire through the firewall. I won't do this for my sister. The Clarion was a b*tch to use.
After returning that Clarion, I bought a JVC. This was a fairly loaded receiver (with features) and it worked pretty well. The sound quality wasn't up to the Clarion, and the receiver wasn't up to the Sony, but the features offset that. I ended up selling this radio to the kid across the street who's cheap no-name CD player died, and I wanted my Sony back in my car.
I'm thinking that I may try Panasonic this time. Does anyone have any experience with them? For my sister, ease-of-use is the #1 priority. The receiver should be good too.
Cliff notes:
Pioneer receiver's overload
Sony's receiver is good, sound quality not so good.
Clarion too hard to use and install
JVC marginal, but lots of features.
What do you think about Panasonic?
She only needs single disc CD capability, and she doesn't even need MP3 although,I will probably get MP3 on whatever I buy.
Here's my dilemma. Over the past 7 years or so, I've tried various car radios and I've never been completely satsified with any of them.
Currently I have a 4 year old Pioneer in my vehicle that retailed for about $289. It is a nice radio with a ton of audio controls and it sounds great, however, the receiver is less-then-perfect. It gets overloaded in downtown areas or when I pass another radio station's transmitter. (There is no "local" setting for receive sensitivity.) My sister does a lot of driving in downtown, therefore I probably won't get her a Pioneer.
My last radio was a cheaper Sony that I bought 7 years ago. It had an outstanding receiver, but didn't have half of the audio controls that the Pioneer does. It had digital bass compression for CDs, and that was a great feature in a noisy car. (Unless a car is perfectly quiet, you don't usually want as much dynamic range in the car as at home....) Because of the lack of audio controls, the audio always sounded marginal or even cheap. But the receiver was excellent, the radio was easy to use, and the audio compression for CDs was very nice.
About 4.5 years ago, I bought a cheap Clarion. This radio sounded excellent and had an excellent receiver. However, I would never install another one because this radio required a high power lead directly to the battery. It made be nervous to have a fat wire going straight from my battery to my dashboard. Besides, I had to find a way to get the wire through the firewall. I won't do this for my sister. The Clarion was a b*tch to use.
After returning that Clarion, I bought a JVC. This was a fairly loaded receiver (with features) and it worked pretty well. The sound quality wasn't up to the Clarion, and the receiver wasn't up to the Sony, but the features offset that. I ended up selling this radio to the kid across the street who's cheap no-name CD player died, and I wanted my Sony back in my car.
I'm thinking that I may try Panasonic this time. Does anyone have any experience with them? For my sister, ease-of-use is the #1 priority. The receiver should be good too.
Cliff notes:
Pioneer receiver's overload
Sony's receiver is good, sound quality not so good.
Clarion too hard to use and install
JVC marginal, but lots of features.
What do you think about Panasonic?
