Need recommendation for after market receiver

[sontakke]

I want single DIN (double DIN will do) receiver, cheaply priced (about $130). The only real must is the ability to remember pairing of few phones and most importantly ability to connect to the already paired phone as soon as it finds it. Oh, I also want audio streaming support and would like Siri support for spoken navigation commands.

I thought I was all set and selected JVC KD-R97MBS receiver and on paper it has everything I was looking for. But the implementation leaves lot to be desired. Too many stupid bugs or oddity.

It connects to my phone within couple of second after the car is turned on which is great. But if my wife drives the car after I have driven it, her phone will NOT automatically connect to the car. She has to go through bunch of menus on the receiver to connect her phone. And vice versa. Since both of us drive that vehicle, I really want a receiver that can handle this particular situation.

To be honest, even the factory Acura does not automatically switch the phone. I have to go through the menu on the car to select the different phone. I just don't quite understand what is the technical problem here. The BT was specifically *designed* to be able to do this seamlessly.

Can somebody confirm that their aftermarket receiver handles this situation?

 

[NutBucket]

I think the reason they don't switch automatically is the situation where both phones are present.

 

[sontakke]

I was asking about the case where only one phone is present.

 

[NutBucket]

Right, so I'm saying it they do this in the event two phones are present. Every car I've had works this way (Honda, GMC and Subaru).

 

[sontakke]

But this receiver supports 2 phones plus another BT audio only device to be connected at the same time.

Well, in the morning I just carried both the iPhones in the car and got them to connect to the car simultaneously. Later I was able to simulate either of them connecting by turning off BT on the other phone.

The receiver tries to connect them in the order they are listed in its memory. The first one got connected in less than two seconds while the second on the list took about 5-10 seconds but both were connected and I was able to make the phone calls from both of them. Hitting phone button twice would access the second phone.

Something interesting to note that the "hardwired" receiver presets phone numbers go with the phone i.e. receiver presets are "owned" by the respective phone and not by the receiver. I wonder how they implemented that feature!

I am not sure why multiple phones were not working before and I am afraid that it would probably stop behaving "correctly" in future.

 

[sontakke]

As expected, it did NOT work in the morning. I waited for 5 minutes to see if it will connect on its own but it did not. Looks like I am returning JVC and going to try Pioneer.

 

[NutBucket]

Have you tried contacting JVC? Another thing you might try is calling Crutchfield and see if they can help you find one that works they way you want.

I don't disagree it should work that way but I've yet to see it.

 

[sontakke]

I already talked with Crutchfield and they had opened a case with JVC but did not get any answers. Anyway, they offered me to ship equivalent Pioneer and I accepted it. Over the weekend, I will do the swap. I will lose black LCD over white background display and will have to settle for white LED over black background and only 3 BT pairing remembered but everything else looks better on Pioneer after comparing the owner manuals for the respective receivers.