headunits. Educate me.

[sv_i]

Hi

many years since I looked at car audio.

I have got a 70's Mazda wagon. I've put two pioneer something somethings up the back (round, have tweeters blah blah), and I plan to run some slim speakers hidden up under the dashboard at the front.

I've got the original AM radio in teh dash and one of the tech dudes at work has made me a splitter for the aerial, so I can use the aerial for the old radio and whatever new headunit I run.

I want to hide the new headunit in the glovebox or up under the dash as well. This is what I want

- remote
- can play mp3's and whatever else
- usb - so I can plug a usb stick in (can you run a external USB hdd off a headunit?)
- not planning to use CD's, but I need something that is pretty tough as I'm going out bush with the wagon (charity rallies etc)

recommendations? what have I missed?

[willsy01]

I think almost everything has those features these days......Pioneer, JVC, Kenwood, Alpine etc.

Pretty sure you can't run a USB hard disk from them. Just buy a 32gb stick.

[TTerror]

As above, although bottom models around $100 generally wont have USB input.

[Shonky]

You want to keep the old AM radio with the new speakers or just whatever crappy speaker was there from the factory (in the passenger side of the dash board or similar)? ie. two separate sets of speakers.

As said almost all but the bottom end of players will do what you want.

USB HDD probably won't work unless specifically mentioned. USB sticks are cheap. If it's going to take a bit of a beating though rather than have it hanging off the front end of the head unit, I'd probably get a short USB extension.

[bunnyfart]

pity you want to hide the head unit.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Double-2-...item3a6bd1912c

[sv_i]

Shonky - yep old head unit runs to a new single speaker sitting where the old one was up near the top of the dash/windscreen.


Good ideas with the USB leads, I was going to get some USB sticks with different genres and keep them in the centre console.

Bunny, I spent ages sourcing an immaculate interior and dashboard, I couldn't cut it up!

[bunnyfart]

how about relocating it under glovebox with a custom facia?

[WildZero]

All I was going to say has been covered, but as my first car was a late 70's Mazda wagon I don't suppose you have any pics to satisfy my curiosity?

[sv_i]

Wildzero:

yes, yes I do. What was yours, 808? 1300? 929?

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/foru...php?f=5&t=5210

[Shonky]

Good ideas with the USB leads, I was going to get some USB sticks with different genres and keep them in the centre console.

Yeah that would be useful. I was thinking more of the stress the USB stick would put on the head unit connector.

[MRMOPARMAN]

you can get USB extensions that you can bolt places from jaycar fairly cheap. or what i usually do is chuck the extension in through the back of the ashtray to keep it out of site.

im a massive fan of alpine. most people reckon they are overpriced, but from all the other headunits ive sampled (apart from VDO(a long time ago) they are a cut above in sound quality, tunability and user freindlyness.

here is the top of the range single din alpine, quite reasonably priced i think at $399 retail.

or you can get them of ebay for $300ish (but then postage would probably take it near that price anyways). USA and japan use the same FM frequencies as us. AM im not sure, but you have the factory radio for that

[GTREA]

Japan.

Sure?

I had to replace the factory head unit in my GTR when I imported it

[Shonky]

Japanese FM is not the same as Australia or US. 76-90MHz vs 88-108MHZ here. AM in Japan is basically dead I think.

US uses 0.2 MHz FM increments on "odd" frequencies (e.g. 107.7, 97.3 etc) whereas Australia uses 0.05MHz. I think there may be (very few) stations in Australia that wouldn't work. My old Alpine was switchable though so I'm sure they still are.

AM in the US is in 10kHz increments whereas we use 9kHz. Again *should* be switchable an the Alpine.

[MRMOPARMAN]

ahh yes, you might be right actually now i think about it.

GTREA - do you still have the factory head unit? been looking for one for ages!

[GTREA]

GTREA - do you still have the factory head unit? been looking for one for ages!

Good question.....dunno

I check thru my shit on weekend

[MRMOPARMAN]

thanks dude!

[sv_i]

Thanks guys, does remote ready mean it comes with a remote or it's an optional extra?

And yes jap radios only get stations at the very start of the fm band from memory or something something all too long ago now, the last time I did a stereo for someone was back in around 2001 and it was for a newly imported 180sx, the guy could only just pickup one station on the fm band.

[bryan]

So will a remote be good enough to work through a glovebox?
Or do i have to open the glovebox evertime i want to skip a song?

[MRMOPARMAN]

Nah they work through every glovebox ive seen

[GTREA]

thanks dude!

Fitted a new headunit, Reverse camera and reverse sensors to my Mitsubishi L400 today.

Whilst doing it looked for the GTR stereo but no luck, only the factory ECU, and a Kenwood 6 disc stacker which used to plug into the factory headunit!?

[Mr Jones]

Different idea but might suit you... no headunit.

In my Caddy and my HK ute I a run a hidden amp to power the speakers then run a cable out to some where inconspicuous and plug it into an ipod. Kind of like having a remote but all your music is in it.

For the cable you can run a headphone jack, which allows you to control volume on the ipod but won't charge it. Other option is plug into the bottom of the ipod with the flat plug thingy and run an inline volume control knob thing which you can hide or integrate into the dash somewhere. This plug will charge it too.

Same goes for the amp just run a switch somewhere to turn it on and off.

I like it because you dont really have to cut anything up and you can put the headunit in your pocket, tuck the cable away and nobody knows the system exists

[MRMOPARMAN]

Fitted a new headunit, Reverse camera and reverse sensors to my Mitsubishi L400 today.

Whilst doing it looked for the GTR stereo but no luck, only the factory ECU, and a Kenwood 6 disc stacker which used to plug into the factory headunit!?

thanks anyways mate, if ya find it later on just pm me or something.

Different idea but might suit you... no headunit.

In my Caddy and my HK ute I a run a hidden amp to power the speakers then run a cable out to some where inconspicuous and plug it into an ipod. Kind of like having a remote but all your music is in it.

For the cable you can run a headphone jack, which allows you to control volume on the ipod but won't charge it. Other option is plug into the bottom of the ipod with the flat plug thingy and run an inline volume control knob thing which you can hide or integrate into the dash somewhere. This plug will charge it too.

i used to do this on my old corolla but kept on blowing amps. i was told this was due to the amp having to work too hard from the small signal from my phone.. apparently to do this successfully you'd need a preamp of some sort in between the amp and ipod/phone (which you can buy kits from jaycar for fuck all. also some graphic equalisers have small internal amps, and would give some dynamic control). having said that my amps were at least 5 years old then, and amp tech has changed considerably since then

[Mr Jones]

Dunno ay? Never had a drama and both cars run poxy $100 fusion amps. One is about 5 years old the other one probably about 3 and it lives in the cavity under the tray of a HK ute so it's not exactly living the dream as far as ideal working conditions

[WildZero]

Wildzero:

yes, yes I do. What was yours, 808? 1300? 929?

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/foru...php?f=5&t=5210

Wow what a write-Up! There goes 2 hours I could have been doing on assignments!
Mine was a hand-me-down 1979 929L Wagon in two-tone Gold over silver, with the awesome double stacked headlights. It wasn't in great shape when I got it, and being a first car I wasn't especially kind with it. (Hey at least I learnt to double-de-clutch once I killed the syncros!) But it eventually amassed over 500,000km with two engines.

Sadly it was pretty far gone in every area to be saved (at least with my limited car knowledge at the time) especially the interior which showed its age the worst. I eventually bought an '81 929 Wagon with a blown headgasket for a donor car but my mechanic skills were pretty shit at the time so nothing much got used from it.

I love your thread especially because I really lusted after a pointed-nose RX4 coupe back then!

[sv_i]

Haha, 929l's rock!

Mrs j' yes thought of something similar, since I don't have a smartphone, can you get radio on say an iPhone?

[Mr Jones]

No idea but I think you can get other mp3 players that do radio

[Mr Jones]

Or just use the factory radio??

[sv_i]

factory is AM only. Good for listening to old people complain about the price of cheese and magic 1278am, crap for everything else.

[MRMOPARMAN]

Good for horse racing and greyhounds too

Imo magic 1278 rocks! Who needs fm

did ya choose a headunit yet?

[sv_i]

no, still need to sell more stuff. I have wired in the aerial splitter that a dude at work made for me though and run cable/put in speakers.