Looking for an MP3CD Head Unit for Girlfriend...

[homestarmy]

First, it must not stick out. We put a Kenwood one in there, and it stuck out, where her last one was pretty much flush. It didn't look right in her CRX.

Second, it must be black, though some dark silver or grey trim might be acceptable, but nothing shiny.

Third, we need red-lit buttons, or buttons that can be changed to be red! And preferrably white lettering for the screen, not some bright, obtrusively back-lit blue.

Any ideas? She would highly appreciate it.

I might even post a :camera: if you're helpful .

 

[j00fek]

what yr crx?

 

[homestarmy]

88

 

[nakedfrog]

How's this?

 

[Alex]

i'm pretty happy with my Sony Xplod head... they usually have pretty good cost/benefit sound quality and if you pair them with some nice speakers its killer

 

[Alex]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
How's this?

that looks nice but look at the specs... 18w RMS??? WTF!!!!!! that's crap! unless you don't care about sound quality/volume that's unacceptable... i suppose you get what you pay for though!


edit: i'd say go for like 40-50W RMS for a sweet sounding not too expensive setup

 

[PaNsyBoy8]

why red buttons? i thought the interior lights of the crx was green?

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: franguinho

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
How's this?

that looks nice but look at the specs... 18w RMS??? WTF!!!!!! that's crap! unless you don't care about sound quality/volume that's unacceptable... i suppose you get what you pay for though!


edit: i'd say go for like 40-50W RMS for a sweet sounding not too expensive setup

That's per channel, so 72 watts altogether. My Clarion has the same amount of power and it gets plenty loud.

 

[homestarmy]

Originally posted by: franguinho

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
How's this?

that looks nice but look at the specs... 18w RMS??? WTF!!!!!! that's crap! unless you don't care about sound quality/volume that's unacceptable... i suppose you get what you pay for though!


edit: i'd say go for like 40-50W RMS for a sweet sounding not too expensive setup

Yeah, that one is a little... below what we're looking for. Really though one of the biggest problems is that it is just pretty ugly, and it has that large silver strip. Thanks very much for helping though.

Also, head units don't put out 40-50w RMS. If you find one, let me know!

 

[j00fek]

i have this one http://www.crutchfield.com/S-0GlNZbhktId/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=130DEHP580, play burnt cds , everything else

man its 25.00 cheaper than when i got it! bahh

 

[DarkKnight69]

Originally posted by: homestarmy

Originally posted by: franguinho

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
How's this?

that looks nice but look at the specs... 18w RMS??? WTF!!!!!! that's crap! unless you don't care about sound quality/volume that's unacceptable... i suppose you get what you pay for though!


edit: i'd say go for like 40-50W RMS for a sweet sounding not too expensive setup

Yeah, that one is a little... below what we're looking for. Really though one of the biggest problems is that it is just pretty ugly, and it has that large silver strip. Thanks very much for helping though.

Also, head units don't put out 40-50w RMS. If you find one, let me know!

Lol, I laughed at that, there are def no decks with 50watts RMS. This is a 40watt max deck, so not so bad...

 

[homestarmy]

Originally posted by: PaNsyBoy8
why red buttons? i thought the interior lights of the crx was green?

Lights are various colors, but she prefers red.

And if you mean the gauge cluster, it is by default white, but we put in red bulbs and it looks much better.

See pic here.

 

[homestarmy]

Originally posted by: j00fek
i have this one http://www.crutchfield.com/S-0GlNZbhktId/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=130DEHP580, play burnt cds , everything else

man its 25.00 cheaper than when i got it! bahh

For her, it's too silver, and those things definately stick out. I had a lower version of that one and I didn't really like it at all (though I was a Pioneer fan). Ironically I now have a Kenwood that I like a lot better, and I was never a Kenwood fan at all.

My kickass headunit!

 

[BigSmooth]

It's actually kind of tough to find "understated" head units these days. I was looking a couple of years ago and I ended up with an almost all-black Clarion that I have been happy with.

It looks like these days all of Clarion's models have some silver trim, but not a huge amount. There is a relatively affordable model that has a multicolor main display (I haven't seen it in person, so I don't know how bright it is, but at least it's not just "obtrusively back-lit blue" - it appears to default to a slightly greenish color on a black background if the pictures are accurate). It also has 728 selectable accent colors so there is probably a red that's pretty close to the existing gauge cluster lighting. The price is around $200 online.
http://clarion.com/us/en/products/2006/...MP/us-en-product-pf_1134643389110.html

 

[homestarmy]

Thanks! That one looks good. I was hoping for a little cheaper, but I just may go for that.

Which one did you go with? Got a link? I'm interested...

 

[BigSmooth]

The model I bought is the DXZ545MP. It's got kind of a lot of writing on it, but it has a very small amount of silver on it, mostly just the volume knob which is metal so it doesn't look cheesy. However, it does have blue-tinged buttons and the screen is the "backlit blue" type that it sounds like you're trying to avoid.

What you would probably want to look for would be the DXZ745MP, which is a higher end-model from the same time that has similar styling but adds color changing-capability to the (monochrome) LCD and buttons. Here is a pic and some reviews on Epinions. And here's another pic (looks like most pics are of the default blue setting). Looks like they're still somewhat spendy on eBay, though.

 

[thehstrybean]

Originally posted by: homestarmy
Thanks! That one looks good. I was hoping for a little cheaper, but I just may go for that.

Which one did you go with? Got a link? I'm interested...

Now that you have a good suggestion, :camera:?

:evil:

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I didn't read the whole thread but I love my Alpine headunit and think they start at a higher quality level than most of the stuff you find at Best Buy. I'd grab an Alpine and call it a day, they're simple MP3 CD players and last a long time, not to mention have excellent sound quality.

 

[homestarmy]

Originally posted by: thehstrybean

Originally posted by: homestarmy
Thanks! That one looks good. I was hoping for a little cheaper, but I just may go for that.

Which one did you go with? Got a link? I'm interested...

Now that you have a good suggestion, :camera:?

:evil:

:camera:

 

[homestarmy]

Not what you were expecting?

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: homestarmy

Originally posted by: thehstrybean

Originally posted by: homestarmy
Thanks! That one looks good. I was hoping for a little cheaper, but I just may go for that.

Which one did you go with? Got a link? I'm interested...

Now that you have a good suggestion, :camera:?

:evil:

:camera:

http://images2.sina.com/cnnews/ent/2006/0529/1148903262_JQil1M.jpg

 

[0roo0roo]

any that play dvd/mp3s? i mean seriously, even 50 dollar dvd players can do mp3 now....

 

[homestarmy]

Yeah, for the $250 pricetag of the best one mentioned so far, one would think it could play DVDs. That would be a HUGE plus, and be worth paying extra for.

 

[0roo0roo]

meh goes to show how sh*t value after market headunits still are.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: homestarmy
Not what you were expecting?

O rly?