which cheapish car cd player?

[petemurphy]

Hi,

Havent had to buy a car cd player for 20 years! Just bought an old land rover defender which needs one and some speakers.

Dont have a huge budget.

Any advice which makes are good / things to look for? I think I need a front usb port as I want to connect ipod / iphone 5?

I dont want a boy racer looking one. Might be handy if its one that is expandable if possible in the future. Looking at under £200 really.

Are clarion any good - this looked good value? Theres an alpine one similar is there any difference between the makes?

http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-clarion-... What speakers are good?

Any other advice appreciated

thks

thanks

[McWigglebum4th]

Advice

Its a defender

You won't hear it anyway

[petemurphy]

ha yes i will! i can hear the tape player installed that comes out of one speaker so want something just a bit better! not after perfect sound

[powerstroke]

petemurphy said:

Hi,

Havent had to buy a car cd player for 20 years! Just bought an old land rover defender which needs one and some speakers.

Dont have a huge budget.

Any advice which makes are good / things to look for? I think I need a front usb port as I want to connect ipod / iphone 5?

I dont want a boy racer looking one. Might be handy if its one that is expandable if possible in the future. Looking at under £200 really.

Are clarion any good - this looked good value? Theres an alpine one similar is there any difference between the makes?

http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-clarion-... What speakers are good?

Any other advice appreciated

thks

thanks

clarion looks ok they have gone right down in price
I was looking at a pioneer had blue tooth and DAB around £160 but just a plain CD radio
are around £50 and speakers say £30 !!

[skirk]

Clarion are OK ...i would tend to go for a kenwood or Pioneer....you should'nt have to spend more tham £ 60 for something that will be ok in a defender.

Something like this.......

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kenwood-KDC-U41R-Car-CD-...

or this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-DEH-1400UB-CD-pl...

HTH
Steve

Edited by skirk on Monday 6th January 09:46

[viggyp]

I purchased a Kenwood stereo recently from Halfords for under £100 but may have gone back up to its original price which is still below £200.

It's very good. Has Bluetooth meaning listening to music/making calls wirelessly although there is a USB port for charging the phone too (I also have an iPhone 5), it has a headphone jack also and plays MP3, WMA, AAC discs.

[Toaster Pilot]

Got this in my snotter http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/... - I only paid £59 for it but didn't get the DAB adaptor.

Doesn't actually have a CD player but 2x USB, SD, full iPod/iPhone support, etc.

[petemurphy]

thanks so far keep them coming! is it me or do the ones these days all look boy racery - any that are more plainish and "classy"?!

think phone calls may be ambitious in a defender! does dab work well these days - is it worth having?

[Toaster Pilot]

I used DAB like this for a couple of months prior to buying the unit I linked to:



It worked amazingly well on my commute from Gloucestershire to Cardiff! I imagine a proper setup with dedicated DAB aerial works very well.

Oh, and the unit I have doesn't look as garish as some, fits in quite well in my knackered old Skoda.

[PlayersNo6]

I bought a base model Alpine to replace the original dealer fit Sony in my MX-5. Cost about £70 IIRC :

http://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/cd-head-units19...

Choice of green, red or orange illumination. Does the job.

[petemurphy]

PlayersNo6 said:

I bought a base model Alpine to replace the original dealer fit Sony in my MX-5. Cost about £70 IIRC :

http://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/cd-head-units19...

Choice of green, red or orange illumination. Does the job.

thats quite nice thats the one i was referring to that looks similar to the clarion. any diff bet clarion and alpine in quality?

[petemurphy]

always used to have blaupunkt in my bmws ages ago - are they good still? - like the fact this one looks less boy racery? or am i better with a halfords style one? like the idea of a rear usb for the iphone so theres no cable coming out the front

http://www.blaupunktdirect.co.uk/car-audio/toronto...

[martynr]

petemurphy said:

always used to have blaupunkt in my bmws ages ago - are they good still? - like the fact this one looks less boy racery? or am i better with a halfords style one? like the idea of a rear usb for the iphone so theres no cable coming out the front

http://www.blaupunktdirect.co.uk/car-audio/toronto...

I believe anything you get would do the job just fine. It is no point in spending lots on the unit and then have one speaker between your legs (sarcasm )

Ah, and you have an aipoun... I was about to suggest to get a head-unit with a front USB or SD card input as it would make less hassle putting the tunes on.

The alpine has an annoying feature of not saving the settings if disconnect the power as remove battery(very annoying). Although, I have one. It was a bit expensive when new.

Moreover, the more you pay-more features you get. I was thinking of upgrading my unit, but I want all features and it comes up to nearly a few hundred of British money.

[DKS]

I never understand why you'd want to plug your swanky ipod into your car? I'm a fan of these cheap and cheerful stereos with bluetooth (stream music and answer calls), USB and SD card slot. Bung all your music on a cheap 32Gb card and don't loose/ damage your ipod.
I got this in the Saab:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300757580357?ssPageName=...

And it's awesome, but cheap enough not to worry about it.

Edited by DKS on Monday 6th January 19:58

[The_Burg]

JVC do a CD less head unit for around £50.

http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-kd-x200_...

Brilliant little device. Dump all your music on a USB stick or just plug your phone in to the USB.
Sound surprisingly good and very easy to use. No issues with CD skipping of course too, which would be of benefit in a Landy i would think.

[aka_kerrly]

Toaster Pilot said:

I used DAB like this for a couple of months prior to buying the unit I linked to:



It worked amazingly well on my commute from Gloucestershire to Cardiff! I imagine a proper setup with dedicated DAB aerial works very well.

Oh, and the unit I have doesn't look as garish as some, fits in quite well in my knackered old Skoda.

haha that's quite amusing and rather wise. When I lived in Cardiff I had two stereos stolen so in the end I didn't bother putting a head unit in. Instead I took my mini disc player connected to some icro PC speakers.

I also remember a guy at sixth form who had a Astra van with a pair of huge Jamo speakers hooked up to a ghetto blaster -twin cassete deck no less. It was surprisingly loud especially the old Slammin Vinyl beats!

[ch427]

I recently upgraded the stereo in my new daily shed,kenwood head unit from halfords with usb input and a set of jbl components from good old ebay £100 all in.
No point going over the top price wise.

[petemurphy]

DKS said:

I never understand why you'd want to plug your swanky ipod into your car? I'm a fan of these cheap and cheerful stereos with bluetooth (stream music and answer calls), USB and SD card slot. Bung all your music on a cheap 32Gb card and don't loose/ damage your ipod.
I got this in the Saab:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300757580357?ssPageName=...

And it's awesome, but cheap enough not to worry about it.

Edited by DKS on Monday 6th January 19:58

hmm thats actually a good point re ipod in that its a crap old one so dont care about it but i dont want cables everywhere so instead of that hanging out the front usb just stick it on a card. would still want rear usb as want to charge the iphone.

if the iphone is connected by usb does it still need to be connected via bluetooth for calls etc?

talking of which anyone rec a iphone holder that doesnt look thick and plasticky. ie very slimline classy etc?

[PanzerCommander]

A timely topic as I am looking at replacing the double DIN stock stereo in the Mustang with a single DIN one to make way for some more racing related modifications.

[wiliferus]

Just a point of note... Not all stereos with a USB port are iphone compatible. My Sony won't acknowledge my iPhone is there through the USB. I have to connect it through the 3.5 mm jack.

As already said, USB stick is the way forward though. Stick 300 tunes on it, set to shuffle. Job jobbed.