Recommendation for basic bluetooth headunit with easy peasy fitting?

[dr_mat 0]

As per the title...

 

What do you guys have for an easy-to-fit basic headunit with bluetooth connection and (ideally) DAB .. ?

 

I have no ambitions for anything other than drowning out the rattles, but want something that's reliable.

 

Cheers!

[Bengould 10]

Any of the "big" brands, Sony, alpine, Kenwood etc, will be plenty reliable and all straight forward to fit. As long as your original iso wiring loom is still there and unchopped.

 

Most, at least at mid range and above, will come with Bluetooth. I think dab is still a bit of a rarity, although I have to admit I haven't looked into stereos for years now.

 

Nip into halfords and have a play with the stereo wall, find one you like the look of and features of, then go buy it online cheaper.

 

Ben.

[dr_mat 0]

Yeah DAB is likely to be more complicated because I believe it needs a different antenna. Will take a look around. As far as I can see behind the old radio the ISO connectors are still in place.

 

Thanks.

[EJ Taylor 22]

hardest part youll find is having to fit the microphone for the hands free on any bluetooth model. best thing to do it go from rear of stereo to bottom of windscreen pillar, take pillat of, run it up with ex wiring tuck in in the roof lining and have it clipped onto the lining just behind the rear view mirror. Pioneer are ok, bit fancy, flashy colours, user interefaces are way to complicated ans **** ti live with. also they look a bit naf imo. kenwood good brand nice units personally alpine all the way. for what you want, simple and nice looking i would go for an alpine CDE-183BT model is a year or so old now so wont cost you too much overall fantastic all round unit with built in parrot system, an actually integrated parrot system not some re made own system. then has 3 x pre outs if you want to run anything from it and the user interface is soooo user friendly and overall just a lovely unit! DO NOT be tempted by any unbranded stuff, it may look cheap and appealing and the advery said it was good, but its not, its awful and is NEVER relaiable or good. always sh it and wehn something goes wrong, you cant get parts, no1 knows how to fix them, there is no wiring diagram and there is no customer support as the brand does not exist. so year, kenwood or alpine, i would go alpine.

[EJ Taylor 22]

also, i say microphone fit, anything with an integrated microphone stay away from, they are always awful and no1 will ever be able to hear you when your actually come to use it. Alpine units as with all main brand have bluetooth audio streaming aswell as hands free

[EJ Taylor 22]

http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-alpine-cde-183bt_p-31991.htm#

 

£280 down to £155 just because the models now been replaced on alpines range. well worth it for that!!!!

 

Also has front facing USB and can change illumination colours, can even set EQ bands and frequency pass filter slopes!!!!!! Great unit for £155

[Jim 2]

Friend of mine has a Pioneer unit - basic one from Halfords. I had the one with DAB and he had the one with Bluetooth. Both were rock solid and worked great so I'd happy recommend them. Illumination was quite bright but you could choose the colour (like green to match the rest of the Corrado dash lighting) and also there was a 'dimming' mode which reduced the glare a bit.

[dr_mat 0]

Bizarre how it's 2016, and they keep talking about turning off FM radio inside the next year or two, and yet DAB is still an optional extra for another twenty quid.. (and probably needs an extra aerial to boot)..

 

I like the pioneer ones. Look a bit less like an explosion in a Chinese LED factory.

[dr_mat 0]

So I got a pioneer.. works well, but have to say it's tight behind the dash. The new unit is about 12mm deeper due to a large heatsink and it's basically sitting wedged against the back. Works though.

 

Unfortunately I now know for sure that both door speakers have gone (and it's not the wiring either..).

 

So I stripped the doors down.. (never an end to the jobs on these cars..) will pick up some speakers in the next few days hopefully and finish the job.

[MZpog 10]

So I got a pioneer.. works well, but have to say it's tight behind the dash. The new unit is about 12mm deeper due to a large heatsink and it's basically sitting wedged against the back. Works though.

 

Unfortunately I now know for sure that both door speakers have gone (and it's not the wiring either..).

 

So I stripped the doors down.. (never an end to the jobs on these cars..) will pick up some speakers in the next few days hopefully and finish the job.

 

Treat yourself to a nice set of components for the front, you'll not regret it. I went with some Hertz for about £80 that many had recommended and they sound good. Tweeters were fitted into my dead stock tweeters, that I butchered with a hole saw and then popped into the stock location.

[EJ Taylor 22]

get some mdf rings and a bit of plywood and make some door buld to imo, i whipped mine up in an hour or so, so easy, and door card goes straight back over the top no problem, having speaking floating in the door cards destroys any chance of them every being able to sound good, regardless of what speakers they are. ill find some pics.

[EJ Taylor 22]

 

 

 

 

 

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

i like it EJ

 

out of interest, what door liner is that you have? (the silver stuff)

[EJ Taylor 22]

Silent Coat, sound proofing, got bloomin tones of the stuff on each door, now im going down the speed route i may have to peel it off though i recon. we shall see

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

Silent Coat, sound proofing, got bloomin tones of the stuff on each door, now im going down the speed route i may have to peel it off though i recon. we shall see

 

ahh i see

 

i thought it was something different as i knew you had used a lot of dynamat for soundproofing.

 

it looks like it is stuck well to the doors in lots of places, does it have a sticky back or did you use the black horrible putty stuff?

[EJ Taylor 22]

Yer it's self adhesive bro. Sticks well!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dr_mat 0]

Yeah the front speaker pods are always going to sound a bit crappy and boomy without a decent structure behind them. Best I can hope for is a lack of rattles at the moment.. Really wish I had a garage at times like this..

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

Yer it's self adhesive bro. Sticks well!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

hmmm intersting

 

what kind of price is it? i might use that to re-line the doors as self adhesive has to be better than that awful black putty stuff

 

Edit: its not too bad really http://www.silentcoat.co.uk/collections/silent-coat/products/silent-coat-2mm-mat-door-pack

Edited June 2, 2016 by g0ldf1ng3r

[Jim 2]

Yeah the front speaker pods are always going to sound a bit crappy and boomy without a decent structure behind them. Best I can hope for is a lack of rattles at the moment.. Really wish I had a garage at times like this..

 

I got excellent results in my old Corrado, when I replaced the puny dash speakers with some much heavier duty Infinity Kappa 5.25 inch speakers. It was a bit of a bodge installing them, but it can be done - and it's well worth it. It really seriously improved the sound stage up front. You need to get something low profile enough so that the standard grille covers still fit over (which I admit I had to butcher the speakers a bit as the ones I got didn't entirely fit) but it was a massive improvement.

 

Something like these: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ee75uL0wRxb/p_1085211I/Infinity-Kappa-52-11i.html

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

I got excellent results in my old Corrado, when I replaced the puny dash speakers with some much heavier duty Infinity Kappa 5.25 inch speakers. It was a bit of a bodge installing them, but it can be done - and it's well worth it. It really seriously improved the sound stage up front. You need to get something low profile enough so that the standard grille covers still fit over (which I admit I had to butcher the speakers a bit as the ones I got didn't entirely fit) but it was a massive improvement.

 

Something like these: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ee75uL0wRxb/p_1085211I/Infinity-Kappa-52-11i.html

 

lol i too have those very speakers in the VR doors & i decided to not refit the covers rather than butcher them

 

i like the tweeter button on them but often catch it with my foot when exiting the drivers side

 

cracking speakers though! & i have the 6*9 Kappa's in the rear shelf too - a well worth addition if you dont have them already Jim!

 

FYI ive a couple of old parcel shelves if you need a donor m8 ;) & can send you a pic of my shelf install, as i stiffened it up so as to reduce vibrations etc

 

EDIT - just realised you put them in the dash, that must of been tricky.

 

in the valver i put some small 4" infinity's when i 1st owned it, the covers still didnt fit though. they were still there when i brought the valver back too lol as were the ally door pins :D

Edited June 2, 2016 by g0ldf1ng3r

[Jim 2]

Hm - you're right, they're only 4" speakers in the dash and I got my wires crossed.... can't find my original invoice email with the details in.

 

But even only 4" ones made a massive difference!

[dr_mat 0]

5" in the door. Dash only houses tweeters by default. The old door pods had Nokia speakers in but the cones don't travel very far, which is presumably why they don't offer much in the way of bass extension.

Don't know what the original rear speakers are I haven't looked yet.

Edited June 4, 2016 by dr_mat
Actually 5" not 4"

[delfinis38 1]

4" in the door too. Dash only houses tweeters by default. The old door pods had Nokia speakers in but the cones don't travel very far, which is presumably why they don't offer much in the way of bass extension.

Don't know what the original rear speakers are I haven't looked yet.

 

Rear origional are Nokia again... Rubbish... Only direct replacemnts I've found are alpine.

[Jim 2]

JBL used to do some replacements for those rear parcel shelf support speakers.

[dr_mat 0]

Pioneer do a 10cm and 13cm direct replacement, as do halfords own brand. The Nokia ones were decent, well made, but uninspired, and they are twenty yrs old now.. To be fair the Nokia may be better with new surrounds, the old ones are probably stiff as buggery.

Edited June 4, 2016 by dr_mat