Anyone know anything about car stereos?

[Matblack]

I am begining to get used to my new car, it's OK to drive, is more fuel economical then the MINI and I can take more than one passenger, however I have a niggle.

When I first went to see it the guy said it had an aux input for the stereo, so I could plug in my iPhone, but he was wrong and there was no way to get it to play music from the phone despite the fact it had Bluetooth phone capability which I liked. The unit is a double DIN with a multichanger built in so it has no changer prep and there really is no way to get a direct input. In the end the dealer agreed to put a hard wired radio frequency aux port in, which apparently would give me 'digital' quality sound.

Well quite frankly unless you listen to your ipod underwater and played though a piece of string and a paper cup then the sound quality isn't very good.

So I need to change the head unit; I want to keep mmy steering wheel controls and Bluetooth but I'm happy to have a single or double DIN replacement, doesn't need to be all singing and dancing but will ideally control my iphone from the deck and have Bluetooth phone capabilties.

What I've found is that unlike when I was in my 20s and actually interested in car stereos all the independant dealers seem to have disapeared and there isn't anyone around even in the chavy areas I work in who has walls and walls of stereos I can go and choose from. :(

I'm thinking Alpine or Clarion or Kenwood at the moment but does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

MB

[Grandad]

I'm no expert but Alpine and Pioneer are generally the highest regarded

having said that I have had problems with Pioneer's service depts in past so would prob look towards Alpine myself

is there no option for one of the inline ISO things to create the aux in ?

[Matblack]

The inline AUX ports rely on the head unit having CD changer prep and this dpesn't have it because it is itself a 6 disc changer. Major oversight on the part of the manufacturer tbh

MB

[Burble]

Are you 100% sure there isn't an AUX input or similar on the back of the unit? The nav unit in my car has an inbuilt cd changer but it also has an AUX and cd changer port on the rear.

I know if a great independent but he's based in Chorley so not exactly local to you.

[Matblack]

Hmmmm

I've just had a fiddle with it and I think I am going to persevere for a while. There seemed to be a problem with the jack plug, when its all the way in it the background noise increases quite a lot but it I stand it off by about a mm then everything is much clearer and crisper, not sure what the issue is, I still get full stereo when the plug is out slightly, I'm going to give it a go with my ipod rather than the iphone and see if that makes any difference :)

MB

[Grandad]

does the internal unit play MP3s

if so I would just load 6 discs up, should be moe than plenty

[Matblack]

Nasty to navigate using the CDs, I'm really happy with my iPod or iPhone. As I say it seems OK now, will try it for a while, if its not up to the job I'll replace the whole unit with an Alpine with a Bluetooth Module, I'd rather not if I don't have to, just just means the car is more likely to get broken into.

MB

[Mark]

iPhone jack or a jack on the head unit/aux port? I recall problems with the headphone jack on the iPhone 2G (or was it the iPod Touch 1G), but that was mostly poor design and was fixed on the 3G and I can't say I've had any problems with mine.

[Feek]

Not all 3.5mm jacks plugs are built equally. You could just have a slightly off spec plug on the cable which isn't seating correctly in your aux input.

[A Place of Light]

Would an iTrip do the job?

[Knipples]

Would an iTrip do the job?

Having had both an itrip and now an aux cable on the front of a stereo I had fitted to the car, I would never go back to an itrip.

The amount of sound quality you lose having to have it transmitted rather than directly plugged in is huge. Plus with an itrip, travel anymore than about 20 miles and you need to retune it due to other radio frequencies interfering with it.

[Desmo]

Have you looked at something like this?

http://www.sendstation.com/us/products/pocketdock/lineout-usb.html

It's still only using the 3.5mm jack but it comes from the direct line-out socket rather than the headphone jack. It's meant to be a better quality but never heard it myself.

[Justsomebloke]

Not all 3.5mm jacks plugs are built equally. You could just have a slightly off spec plug on the cable which isn't seating correctly in your aux input.

This ^^ :angry:
I've had it before with No explanation at all apart from Piss poor Quality standards at the manufacturers.
The way I overcome the problem was to slip a tiny rubber band I hand around the end of the plug which held it out the perfect distance. ******** thing.