Well this recent heat wave killed my iPod and the single din head unit stopped reading CDs about 2 years ago so i figure it is time to upgrade. But there is a problem, i know almost nothing about car audio.
What im looking for:
Double Din(pretty sure that is the size that'll fill up a 03 cavy radio hole with no modding)
Decent internal memory(so i can store music on it, but i dont know if this is an option)
USB dock(so i can hopefully play music off a thumb drive instead of a POS iPod)
Decent quality. If it dies in 5 years, ok, but i rather not have to replace it after 1 year.
And i think $500 is going to be my price limit.
Im not a fan of huge buttons and knobs, but i dont know if touch screens are in my price range.
I already have that fancy door chime kit and special harness for the single din. Will i be able to keep that and will it be plug and play or do i need another harness kit.
I did alittle looking yesterday and will probably do alittle more today, but i dont know what makes one unit better than the others or if there is a "best bang for your buck" unit out there.
its an old concept. time for something new to take the reigns. - Z yaaaa
i have the pioneer 3300 for 100 bucks more you can step up into the 4300 range. i was trying to keep my costs low for mine. it was 300 or 400 can't remember but your getting a screen, dvd player, touchscreen standard power output. usb input and a sdcard slot which in my opinion is better then the usb slot because i have 16 gig sdcards. i just loaded about 30 cd's or so worth of songs with very very minimal compression to retain sound quality and just keep it in the slot. you dont even notice it much and doesnt stick out like the usb thumb drive does. its a clean little unit.
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I was looking at a Pioneer AVH-P2300DVD when Jeffie texted me recommending that very unit. I decided that it must be fate so I picked it up.
Thanks for the input everyone.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, July 25, 2011 10:48 AM
its an old concept. time for something new to take the reigns. - Z yaaaa
I have the avh-4200dvd and clarion vx-401 (ebay 200 bucks)
I like both units and as long as there is a isbn u can hook up a hard drive. I have a 500gig with a @!#$ load of songs, photos and
movies on it
imo pioneer and alpine are the best ones out there; most of them have 5v rca output which is what you need for a nice clean signal
kenwood is the next best thing and that's i am running right now and no complains about it
i would steer clear of clarion as i had nothing but problems with them.
I ran clarion for years in my db drag car and the only problem I ever had was the back light went out after 4+ years. I love them and the older pro-audio line was one of the best
ive had no problems from my clarion double din. i liked my pioneer unit better but the pioneer unit was a high end sq unit versus the clarion which was just a middle of the road dvd type unit.
as for the 5 volt output, its great but in reality anything over 2 volts is plenty to give you a clean signal. voltage output used to be a big factor 10 years ago when most high end units were only putting out 1 volt. but if you can't get a clean signal from a 2 volt output you have some major problems.
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