Modern Car Stereo Receivers

[TomoHawk]

My JVC CD receiver shorted out over the winter when the heavy winter dews got inside-  I should've brought it in the house for storage.

So I went to BestBuy to see what's available, and the  current CD receivers basic are of two types- Bluetooth and "Media."  The bluetooth ones connect to your "phone" which I don't have, so it won't help me.  I do have a tablet for navigation, and if I could feed the audio instructions from the tablet to the receiver while driving, that would help.  The "Media" units  have one or two USB ports where you connect flashdrive, or an Android or IOS device for access to the music on the device, or to control (?) the receiver.

Most units have a mini-jack (1/8 stereo) on the front, which may be useful for some things.

One thing I noticed overall was that the dot-matrix displays are not very bright, and the one receiver I tested (placed the thing in the radio hole and drove around the parking lot once) was hard to read while driving, and I had to stop the car and stare at the display to read it!

I seem to prefer the Media receivers, because I would use the radio mostly, and switch to a CD for longer driving trips.  The USB port is convenient because you can quickly copy a few songs (holiday songs or something you want to listen to for a day)  to a flashdrive,  and take it with you, and share with others (like a DJ) or even have people put more songs on it for you to sample. USB Flashdrives are like reusable CDs...

I'd like some input from people who have either kind.  Please tell me what advantage you like for your device, the price (I'd like to stay under $100) and  why you'd recommend it.  If you feel a certain Brand is ointeresting, mention that-  I notticed some new brands lately, like BOSS.

BTW- I don't use a subwoofer-  just four speakers (quarter windows and rears) and I'd like something with an easy-to-read display with few buttons and a fixed antenna.

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by TomoHawk

[Chickenman]

Pioneer is always good. I've used Sony GT series in my Audi and that was also very good. Sony finally bit the dust after about 10 years. I've never had a Pioneer fail.....ever. Either in Car Audio or Home Audio.Visual. Still have my Pioneer PL-200 Turntable from the early 80's. Works perfect still.   

The Dot Matrix screen is usually adjustable in the Setup Menu for brightness. I'm suspecting that what ever you were looking at was setup to " Dim  or Night". Mots of the Dost Matrix screens are very bright when set to Day or Full. At least the Pioneer's and Sony's that I have used are.

Stay away from off brands like BOSS.

 

[TomoHawk]

Yeah, everbody says at first, "make it brighter," but I already had it at the maximum daylight brightness.  If it was in night mode, you wouldn't be able to see anything. 

BOSS is what I'd call a "chinese" cheapie unit.  None have a CD player, so it's just a cheap radio/MP3 player in a DIN box.

[26th-Z]

Why don't you just replace your JVC?  $129 at Crutchfield JVC KW-R925BTS.  It took me longer to type this response than to find the unit with Google.

 

[Marty Rogan]

That unit looks pretty nice.  It looks really big though.  will it fit in the dash of a Z Car??

 

[racer47201]

44 minutes ago, 26th-Z said:

Why don't you just replace your JVC?  $129 at Crutchfield JVC KW-R925BTS.  It took me longer to type this response than to find the unit with Google.

 

26th-Z,  the JVC you mentioned is a double din radio according to Crutchfield and they say it doesn't 

fit.  I am a novice on the newer radios, Now if they were a 70's or 80's radio, then I never had any problem installing those. But alas, that was 30 plus years ago. any help you could give me will be appreciated. Thank you.   By the way I have a '77 280Z.

 

[TomoHawk]

9 hours ago, 26th-Z said:

Why don't you just replace your JVC?  $129 at Crutchfield JVC KW-R925BTS. 

It won't fit the hole, and you can't just swap the units, like you change a car battery.  It has to be wired-in. I wouldn't be interested in that model anyway. The model I had was discontinued several years ago.

Racer-   Single DIN size units will fit

Edited July 12, 2017 by TomoHawk

[TomoHawk]

After browsing the Crutchfield website a while,  I'd say that "will fit" refers to a radio  that is similar in function and looks, with two knobs for controls., and the rectangular display area like you'll see on a car radio from the 1960s or 1970s. 

The model I would mostly be interested in would be a  JVC KD-R880BT    although I would never use the Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls, and very seldomly for anything else.

 

Edited July 13, 2017 by TomoHawk

[JSM]

You check eBay for your old model? Sometimes you can get lucky. 

[TomoHawk]

There was no luck. A new or refurbished one from a commercial supplier would be better-  you don't know the history of anything bought from eBay.

 In any case, I think  I'll keep the one I have for a while. 

Edited July 13, 2017 by TomoHawk

[w3wilkes]

I know I'm a little late to this party, but I just ordered this unit from MSA to replace the Sony cassette deck in my 71 Z car.

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic08c01/50-1289

I like the stock look. It has both USB and minijack inputs that could be placed in the glove box. Down the road if you get a Bluetooth capable device this would support that too. I have Bluetooth in another vehicle and about 250 albums on my Android phone. As far as I'm concerned this is the way to go for both music and hands free phone use along with no more cassettes or CD's in the car. I don't think it supports Sirius/XM, but I've had it before and dumped it. For me there was not enough value add for the subscription cost.

[ramsesosirus]

Whatever you do, make sure the receiver has a "AUX" port, I'm sure most do today.

This way you can use a Ipod or MP3 player and just plug it into the player.  Even I rarely use CDs anymore

Mine already had a CD player installed when I bought it.  It's not properly mounted, it just kind of sits there.  I've read mounting CD players in Z's isn't easy.