dwasifar

As some of you know, I just bought an Accord for a winter car / daily driver. It came with a cassette player, which from my perspective might as well be a victrola, so I was thrust into shopping for car audio for the first time in about seven or eight years. The experience prompts a question:

Why are all car stereos so damned GAUDY today?

My requirements were simple: a unit that plays single discs, can control a changer if I decide to add one, and has preamp outs for an amp should I decide to add THAT in the future. I was expecting to get something that just sits in the dash and doesn't call attention to itself. Instead I found the following things:

1) All but the very cheapest units hide the disc slot BEHIND the faceplate, forcing you to flip it down, or wait for a little motor to do it, before loading/unloading a disc. The flipped-down face then gets in the way of your hand when you take the disc out, making you put your fingers on the playing surface instead of grasping it by the edges or center. The only player I could find that had the features I wanted AND had the slot right up front was a Panasonic unit that failed on point 2:

2) Horrible ergonomics. Asian electronics have always suffered from Button Proliferation Syndrome, but it seems to have gotten a lot worse in the last few years. They even use buttons for volume control (I think rotary knobs are more functional). Used to be, they'd have uniform rows of tiny, dimly-labeled buttons (dark gray text on black, usually). Now they have random scatterings of tiny, oddly-shaped buttons, set in strangely H.R. Giger-ish sculpted panels, which may or may not be worse; I can't decide. Some of them are dimly-labeled as before, the others are lit up like a police car, which brings me to point 3:

3) Bizarre displays. What IS it with the multicolored flashing lights and rotating circles? I feel like I'm trapped in an episode of Star Trek - one of the old ones, with Captain Kirk. Again, no unit above the $100 bargain-bin level is free from this, and as you go up the scale the graphics get more and more elaborately flashy; I saw one unit that had a matrix display showing animations of mountains and birds. Others have electronic representations of analog meters (conscientiously labeled "Bass" and "Treble"). What is all this FOR? A fun-filled family evening sitting in the car in the driveway and watching the stereo? Aren't we supposed to be watching the ROAD when we drive? Even when the displays have some connection to the sound, they don't tell you anything useful; they just follow the music, like a disco light. The Alpine unit I wound up buying, unbeknownst to me, does not dim when the dash lights come on, so not only do I have to put up with this nonsense, but it's the brightest thing on the dash - and it was one of the tamer ones.

Who designs these things? Science fiction movie set decorators? Sadists? Geeky 14-year-old techno-nerds taking a break from Xbox? Are any adults involved in the process? Why do I have to stick an aggressively ugly light show in my dashboard to get halfway decent sound?

AndyMenard

ROFL LMAO!!! I know what you mean!

Have you checked out the Alpine line?? They tend to be more on the conservative side than - say, Sony and others. Sony has definitely gone off a cliff with their stuff... have you seen the new XPLOD stuff... it looks like it belongs on a 12 year old kid's bicycle or something??

Anyway, I have a real nice head unit in my Frontier from Alpine. Does not have the fold down display. Just press the little button and the CD comes out so you can easily pull it out without touching the grooves. Also, has preamp outputs for your amps...as well as a separate SUB amp pre-out and the controls for the subs, all from the display. Easy and no fuss display on the one I have.

Check em out!

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Andy

'00 Imola Red M5 - sold 4/02
'00 Mustang Cobra R - #155 of 300
'02 F-250 SD Powerstroke Crew Cab 4X4
'00 Honda Accord V6

AMP

I went through the same thing a couple of years ago when I wanted to upgrade the stereo in my E34. I was doubly screwed because I wanted amber lights (to match the bimmer) and nothing wild.

I was left with Blaupunkt and Nakamichi. I actually tried both of them. The Blaupunkt looked better in the dash, but had some "sound" issues so I went with the Nak which had some infant mortality issues... hmm on second thought that was a real PITA.

As a side note... The factory stereo in your Honda is made by alpine and is actually a pretty good unit. You can add an Alpine changer (depending on year this may need a conversion cable) directly to the factory unit. You can then tap into that unit's outputs and drive a new amp with new speakers. Ultimately the sound quality would be the same whether you replace the deck or not. If I were in the same position I would go this route and spend some of the extra cash on better speakers.

Also... If I remember correctly part of the factory keyless entry system uses some circuitry in the radio. I remember seeing something on this in the manual for my old acura (same radio).

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'08 M5 Sedan Silverstone/Black
'07 M6 Coupe Silverstone/Black (gone)
'07 Z4 M Coupe Sapphire Black/Black (gone)
'06 330i Sapphire Black/Black

Chris Foote

I couldn't agree more -- the design of car stereos is becoming INCREDIBLY UGLY! What happened to simplicity for cryin' out loud? All these flashing lights and buttons drive me crazy. Typically the flashing lights don't even serve a purpose -- it's just to 'look' pretty. Man oh man....

You need to find an old Apline 7909....Rotary volume knob, simple ergonomics, well made. It's an oldie but goodie.

BTW, I'd shop around for older radios to get something that you were looking for. Admittedly it won't have a warranty, but the older stuff is probably better made anyways.

-Chris

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'00 M5 Anthracite - Imola Red/Black, bone stock, 11,000 miles (Yep she's a garage queen)

dwasifar

Actually I did buy an Alpine, in part because the display was not as hideous and ergonomically impaired as some of the others, and in part because when I add a changer I want to be able to use the same disc magazines as the beast. But all the ones with CD changer controls also have the fold-down face. So I had to compromise.

I wish I had known what AMP just said about the factory stereo before I started this process.

chazzy

The more recent Honda (and I think Acura ones, too) headunits are manufactured by Alpine and with a converter, you can add an Alpine badged aftermarket CD changer to the factory head unit. You can even get one that fits neatly into the center console underneath the arm rest on the '98-'02 Accords, which is a big plus.

AMP: the earlier headunits were manufactured by Pioneer and were in fact responsible for the link between the factory keyless entry and the factory headunit. This doesn't seem to be the case at all anymore, as I've yanked my Accord's headunit completely out and drove around without one just fine.

Blaupunkt and Nakamichi are definitely my votes for lower profile faceplates. I don't mind the motorized mechanism so much, but the four-color displays and such are a real headache. The silver faceplate is definitely a trend that caught on and most manufacturers have a line of silver-lined plastic faces. This is also true for bookshelf units from Aiwa, Panasonic, etc. Have you seen them lately?

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'01 M Shoe, Sapphire Black Metallic
368S/4

dwasifar

Yes, they're just as hideous for the most part. Or more so, because they're larger. They look like a Battlestar Galactica nightmare.

MWM

I have to respectfully disagree with AMP's "the sound quality would be the same" comment. It really depends on what you're going for, and definitely isn't an issue until the budget of your system starts to creep north of the $2k mark, but the "head unit" can have a huge impact on sound.

I recently shopped for CD deck with which I didn't intend to use a changer. A few years back, most makers sold at least one unit that was designed by engineers, not by marketing folks, with good sound being the primary design goal. Evidently, this approach didn't sell many units; I guess your average car stereo guy wants features, not sound. So most manufacturers have dropped this type of model from their line.

Anyway, after much research I looked for an out-of-production Clarion unit (I think it's called DRX9255?) that was very homely-looking, had a simple knob for volume, and no flash or gimmicks. It did have 4 high-end D/A converters (Burr-Brown for those of you into audio) and was enclosed in copper or something to shield from the car's electromagnetic "noise." I managed to buy one used from eBay that wasn't in a car for long then sat on a shelf collecting dust.

I simply swapped the old head unit in my system (which was a very nice Denon player that was tops in its day) for this new one, and powered up the system to make sure everything was connected OK without making any adjustments. I was completely blown away. The difference made with a high-end deck whose only mission is outputting a clean signal for amplifiers was like night and day for me.

So, if you're changing stereos for better sound (part of me asks, "Why else would you go through the trouble?" ), your choice of head unit can make a big difference.

EBMCS03

I have not given it much thought but after reading your commet about recient stero systems YOU ARE RIGHT! hahahaha Especially number 3 "Bizarre displays. What IS it with the multicolored flashing lights and rotating circles? I feel like I'm trapped in an episode of Star Trek" I was travelling up to Mammoth with my cousin and he has one of those nice brightly lit faces and it was sooo annoying after a few hours that we had to put a wendys bag in front of it to block out some of the light... It was bright enough to actually allow other divers to see our faces when they passed by...

AMP

Definitely agree... I made the distinction in my mind, but not in my message.

so to re-phrase...

If your goal is to add CD and improve performance then add a changer to the factory unit, add an amp, and swap out speakers. If your goal is to create a mobile listening environment then definitely look for a "designed for sound" unit.

__________________
'08 M5 Sedan Silverstone/Black
'07 M6 Coupe Silverstone/Black (gone)
'07 Z4 M Coupe Sapphire Black/Black (gone)
'06 330i Sapphire Black/Black

GDR

Nakamichi was my compromise. It is very understated and superbly ergonomic. The 45z comes with a choice of green or amber displays to match various interiors. No bells, whistles, or laser light shows.