Comorat2x2

I've been doging the hastle of trying to get a new stereo for my Z for some time now. First the "down arrow" tuner button broke off....then the damn ting would cut out on me (turns out the connector on teh wiring harness is a bit hosed up) but I could get around it.....then my antenna fell off (more of a cosmetic thing than anything since th radio work fine) and now the harness issue has resurfaced and is damn near unworkable.

So, as much as I love the factory Bose head unit I think it's time to upgrade and since Christmas is right around the corner and me being the good boy that I am, I might as well start researching to help Santa a little.

My primary concern is something that fits into the factory hole. I don't want some dipshit hacking my dash apart to make something fit and that seems to limit my options. But since I know some of you have upgraded your sound systems I figured why not ask here first?

I'm looking for an AM/FM, CD and MP3 playback unit. Not a I-pod compatable, I want to be able to transfer MP3's to a memory stick and then plug that into the unit. They have those right? lol

None of that XFM crap, I've grown past needing a tape player and I have no immediate plans to change out my speakers. Price isn't REALLY a factor but obviously I'm not going to spend 800 bucks on a car stereo.

Recomendations?

snwbrderphat540

go eclipse or alpine...they are good head unit companies... or if your looking more conventional yet still good, go kenwood

EDIT: wait...why am i helping you...you called me resident Ztard and somethign else...i hate you lol

wreckedj30

is your a small or big whole? the j30's was big and it was a jvc, the one in the s130 is small and it's a sony. They both work really well, i like the jvc better though, but it's know in my bro's new f150.

b300z

eclipse has some good cd players that use memory sticks, and great sound

kenwoods are pretty good, but none of the new models look nice

alpine headunits are on their way down the drain

i havent really seen any problems with fitment with any of the single din cd players yet. if someone is hacking, then they dont know what they are doing

you would also be better off with mp3 cds or an ipod, rather than memory sticks. all you really need for the ipod is an aux input on the back of the cd player. but if you dont have an ipod, i can understand why you dont care about it.

entropy31

wrecked, the z32 is single DIN. and the only fitment issue you might have with a single DIN headunit might be depth. crutchfield SAID that the one i got wouldnt fit due to depth. i checked the dimensions and did some measuring. it JUST fit, but it did go in.

wreckedj30

thats cool, the j30 was a stacked tall one, and i didn't know. i like kenwood, but w/e is your prefrence. Just make sure you get everything you want the first time, ie. the preamp, outputs, the bass controls and such. But that's if you want all that.

js9krcr01040

DONT GET THE KENWOOD EXCELON KDC-X979! Holy ungodly mean to tune, etc. We put the KDC-X879 in my friends Hemi Ram along with a JL 6250 4 channel amp and some XR Series components and they kick nice! But his GF got the 979 and its a bioch to tune. Too much going on. Just my .02

Fast240Z

I recommend Pioneer. It's my brand of preference, easy to set up, looks nice, and will fit in the single DIN port. Some have usb ports, but usually the cheap *** decks will have the memory stick slots.

Comorat2x2

Because just because I bust your nuts once in a while cause' you go all ADHD in your typing doesn't mean I hate you. lol Z love transends such petty differances. Besides....my speeling izn't sew gud sumdais.



Ok, so I'm seeing:

Avoid KENWOOD EXCELON KDC-X979

And look at either Eclipse or Kenwood, possibly a Sony or Pioneer.

Very cool, thanks folks. I'll do some poking around and toss up some options to get further input. And yes, my dash is a single stack with just the tape deck and a divider between the lower storrage area where the Bose CD player would have gone on the high dollar model. (at least thats what I've heard).

Sweet, well I'm off to do some online comparison shopping

b300z

the X979s that much diferent than the X879? Ive had 2 X879s and i loved them...probably my most favorite cd player evar. too bad i cant get one anymore. also the X979 isnt made anymore either.

js9krcr01040

Yeah the interface was completely different on the 979... You cant adjust just the bass, or just the treble. You need to like set up the speaker size, then adjust the flow rate etc. Its horrible...

wreckedj30

to me it'd just depend what you want, just read up on a crutchfield magazine, then go to a store and buy witch ever you want. You know, if you want to hook up an amp or two, you would want one with multiple rca cable outputs, and such...read for it..I have an older sony thats better then most newer ones, 52x4, 4 rca outputs and so on..it's the best at the least expensive. I bought it from a friend for 20$, so just look around, and read.

napoleonzheking

just make sure you get a wiring connector plug that will plug into your bose harness and don't hard splice it in like some ztards do.

wreckedj30

a, i'm one or those ztards...and even worse is that i forgot where them wires go...so i redone the whole system, but it was an upgrade so it's a plus.

Comorat2x2

Oh yes, was definately well aware of that one. Heard way too many horror stories to ignore it. I've actually had one for a couple of years just waiting in the "big box-o electric crap" for me to get off my *** and buy a stereo to go with it.

Still shopping, but the Alpines look cool so far.

napoleonzheking

I've had a kenwood, and an alpine in my car, they both were great... it just dpeneds on how much money you want to spend on a head unit...

snwbrderphat540

i had a kenwood excelon of somesort... nice...

Riz Z Speed

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...tailsComponent

Pioneer...

that's how I roll.

Comorat2x2

Ok....probally won't be going that high end until I have a new daily driver and this old girl becomes a project car.

Kenwood has a decent selection of what I want for the price I want to pay. Just hope I can find something that fits.

Here's a question though, for MP3 playback does that consist of the head unit reading and playing MP3 files right off a disk or do they still need to be burned down using EZ CD Creator or something?

Cause' it'd be a helluva lot more convenient if I could just copy everything over and not have to wait the 6 hours it usually takes for me to burn a full CD like I do now. Plus a lot of times the CDs I burn won't work in a car stereo even though they will work in a home stereo. Know what I mean?

snwbrderphat540

when you burn them you burn them as a DATA disk so it doesnt convert to an audio file... that way you can fit like 200 something fawkin songs on a disk... its cool... but at the same time it blows... cuase you now have soo many osngs and the only way to keep track of them is to set up your head unit to recognize either bands or genre's of music and sort them that way which will still take you forever.... its nuts stuff... my friend did it on his clarion...

Goofyz

but, if you really wanted to have your cake and eat it too, you would just bite the bullet and get a 150-199$ iPod ready head unit and then get a 79$ iPod mini ( yes i said mini a couple generations ago) or even a new nano for 150$ that way you will have lots of songs and no disks to worry about. Then again....its kinda fun dodging traffic while flipping through ones CD collection...

Apple still sells refurbed minis and they are pretty cheap and refurbed nano's are only 10$ more....

snwbrderphat540

everyone knows those are for gurls ^^^^^

Comorat2x2

The couple of units I'm looking at read like they recognize file names and display them. If that's the case I'm good to go because all my MP3s are already named by what song or something equally recognizable. And having the ability to just copy em' on over as a data disk is exactly what I want.

As for the I-pod, nah. I'll pass. If I had any use for an Ipod outside of my car I'd do it but right now it'd just be another thing for me to drop and break. lol

snwbrderphat540

i know they are named... but you cant just like jump songs.. you have to seek one by one and read each track so your looking at 2 secs per track till a name pops up then hitting seek to the next opne up to and over 200 times.... do the math... its alot of time thats wasted...

Comorat2x2

Yeah but the way I listen to music I usually put my top 10 favorites at the top of the list and everything else is liked equally, so I just punch shuffle and go with it. I don't spend a huge amount of time driving each day (thank god) so it's fairly low priority. At least for now.