The Car Stereo of My Dreams (Literally)

I've had 3 stereos stolen from my car over the past 10 years or so (2 from my current car over a 4 year period). Since the last one was taken I have been without radio of any kind. Just recently, I have felt the old desire for some tunes for my ride, and since I have been out of the loop for a while I wanted to check out what was new in the realm of mobile audio.

My initial thought was: I ought to get a cheap head unit with a front input plug for a high capacity MP3, WMA player like the Rio Karma. I began my search based on this. Trouble is, such units are hard to find. I only found one unit with a front input plug (all the rest seem to have rear inputs), and it is a brand that I don't really like or trust.

Then I decide to check out my favorite brand of car audio to see what they have going on. I found this. This is the coolest car stereo I have ever seen. The worst part is: last night, I dreamed that I had one. Is that the sort of thing normal people dream about? I think not.

The price is unforgivably high, and my need for any car audio is somewhat dubious considering I only have a 10 minute commute. Worst of all, I may be buying a new car soon which will mean an expensive reinstall. What is my problem?

Edit: Oops, I didn't check my link. The one I like is model AVX2494 on the menu to the right. Also any suggestions as to what sort of car would fit something like this (style-wise)?

Holy sh*t, memory stick too? That thing is hot. Gorack, get the head unit, just don''t forget to take the face plate with you when you leave the car. Nobody''s gonna steal a system w/o the faceplate. As for the re-install, just buy your self a soldering iron (like six bones @ Radio Shack) and do the install yourself. It''s about 20 minutes of work, maybe a little more if you''ve never soldered before. Go ahead and get it, bro.

The avx2494 model would be stolen 2 minutes the first time you parked any car after the install.

"Gaald" wrote:

The avx2494 model would be stolen 2 minutes the first time you parked any car after the install.

Even I''m thinking about stealing it once you buy it.

That is a pretty sweet head unit, but I think you would be better off waiting until you get a new car, then purchasing it.

For the money you will spend on it you should spend the extra cash and have it custom installed that whenever you leave the car you can mask it with a crappy head unit (Kraco, Audiovox, and the ilk, or at least the low end factory model that comes with the car you buy.). I have seen this done quite effectively in the past and it worked like a charm.

I love my Kenwood stereo in my pimpmobile. It plays mp3''s as well as normal audio CD''s. I load up a CD with small mp3''s and go a long ways without listening to the same song twice. Of course, I also have it rigged where I can listen to my 40-gig IPOD through my home stereo so I can go even further. That holds something like 7,000 songs and I''m only up to 792 so far...

I luv my Blaupunkt New Orleans. It plays Minidiscs, of which I have a huge collection. Also, connected to it is a Blaupunkt CompactDrive, which is an MP3 jukebox that uses replaceable IBM Microdrives as medium, and functions as if it was a CD changer attached to the headunit.

Me HU:

IMAGE(http://www.minidisc.org/images/blaupunkt_neworleansmd70.gif)

I took the fascia apart and painted that silver trim in glossy black, so it matches my car''s dashboard. And it matches it perfectly, including the illumination!

Me install:

IMAGE(http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0YQDfAsMZi3bVTRiIaCEeM087Aawx9z8wxYvFn8K*t3kboOaWWUV5jo0bwKAStzbLNByFZTupwSlXTI5bhxi5!NphsPGixTg69pj3Y8OB8CqzTGt814Z4Bg8J8eO1exkp!2Gf*TrCfSh*J0RyH!gaOQ/9-27-2003%2011-28-12%20PM%20-%207.JPG?dc=4675440631977251755)

Me MP3 jukebox, neatly installed under a mat in my glovebox:

IMAGE(http://www.caraudiodiscount.com/acatalog/mp3drive.jpg)

The car itself, while we''re at it:

IMAGE(http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0XADfAg4ZKijE*ztINes4uaA73cy8l!KVuHdu!CqAJ4yME6L1pdTpTRGGqL4GVV9fZDFQvyKs8TpBMvuIG1WWfSdCZ6OGSFeCPhaPHB0zzFehgSyf04WiMBpEqHhmBYAbad9f6M9m6rw/2003-05-12%2018-46-01%203185.jpg?dc=4675421732248230241)

/Gratuitious pics end

You might want to blur out the plate.

"Zedian" wrote:

You might want to blur out the plate.

Nah, no big deal.

"Gorilla.800.lbs" wrote:
"Zedian" wrote:

You might want to blur out the plate.

Nah, no big deal.

MUWWAAHAHAHAHAHA. Now that I know your licsense plate number I can, ummmmmm well... I guess know what your plate number is?

[size=9]And kill you[/size]

"KrazyTaco[FO" wrote:

""]

"Gorilla.800.lbs" wrote:
"Zedian" wrote:

You might want to blur out the plate.

Nah, no big deal.

MUWWAAHAHAHAHAHA. Now that I know your licsense plate number I can, ummmmmm well... I guess know what your plate number is?

[size=9]And kill you[/size]

Taco!
Be very careful what you say here on the boards, peopel can easily take it the wrong way and you could get in trouble!

[size=9]let me know when your going out, i''ll give you a hand.[/size]

Nice stereo! i recently picked up a low end JVC MP3 unit and love it. i''ll never go back. i just love having 50 million songs in my car on 4 cd''s!
it rocks!

Nice head unit Gorilla. I have a Blaupunkt Pasadena Skyline and love it. I can''t ""bump"" with the high school kids but I go for sound quality. I run two Blaupunkt 6 1\\2 mids, two Sony Xplod 5 1/4 mids, two Kicker 1 in. silk neodynium (sp?) tweets, and a Pyle 8"" sub, all in a standard cab Mazda pickup, so it all sounds nice. Wish I had held out for the Mp3 capability though, maybe in my next car and give the missus my Pasadena.

I would advise for getting the cheapest radio that supports a cd changer and then get one of those units that act as a CD changer but are units with a built in hdd and mp3 decoder.
A friend of mine bought one of them and has it hidden under the seat. Combined with the standard radio he has in his car it is unlikely that it will be stolen.

That does seem cool it is interesting how much sony technology it uses (ATRAC-3,Memory Stick). Sony has a fairly similar unit with a bigger hard disk and no dvd features. Personally I just bought a head unit that could play MP3 burned CD''s and it works out great. The one I have is the Sony CDX-MP70.

That does seem cool it is interesting how much sony technology it uses (ATRAC-3,Memory Stick). Sony has a fairly similar unit with a bigger hard disk and no dvd features.

Maybe I should check that one out. I''m not really too keen on the DVD player part of the unit (since I can''t watch the road and a movie at once).

Maybe I should check that one out.

This is the one I am talking about.

"Gorack" wrote:

The worst part is: last night, I dreamed that I had one. Is that the sort of thing normal people dream about? I think not.

I bet you''d make a lot of marketing people exstatic if you told them that.

Hey it turns I had one more gratuitious pic uploaded:

IMAGE(http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0YADRArEZ4GdE2R3qE7vMJACbgEFY3Id0eJ!itcUP6kr5y9LfG2M8gc6wq5cP!P44JCcxVoqE5B9OSIxwXJ6cb5lcjbT7g1XqSpV9Kxkr*L7XWvU1MN!XpFln6Zzdz8SiH2zoBVMm2yq6clECTW96aQ/2002-08-01%2015-03-22%20002%2002.jpg?dc=4675384769078028196)

So it''s really your mom''s car?

I think I''ve changed my mind. I''d like to have some more choices of models with hard drives, and more importantly I''m having trouble locating a new car that I like the looks of.

"Dr.Ghastly" wrote:

So it''s really your mom''s car?

Dude, that was ruthless.

Remember, Gorack, you''re going to be an uncle soon, with all of the financial responsibilities that entails- you don''t want to overcommit...

Uncles and responsibility? Surely you jest. Uncles are the corrupting influence.

Yeah, what uncle financial responsibility? Lol.

That hasn''t stopped me in my car hunting.

"Gorack" wrote:

Uncles and responsibility? Surely you jest. Uncles are the corrupting influence. :)

Don''t worry Gorack, you and I will have a talk. I have been an uncle for a while, I have a little book of advice I can share. Ignore Jadawin....we must stick together!

If you''re looking for a hard disc based HU, then I think the obvious answer is PhatBox from PhatNoise. Dorky name nonwithstanding, this product is awesome. Integrates well with standard HUs in a number of auto makes. Acts, again, as a CD changer. Kenwood has a branded model of it which cooperates with their own HUs.

This stuff is not bargain-basement cheap, but still more reasonable than that Eclipse.

edit: and that is my wife on that picture.