Home > Consumer Reviews > Dual XC4100 In Dash AM/FM/Cassette Receiver

My husband uses it to hook his portable MP3/CD player to. The sond is really good, although the radio part is weak and does not stay on the station well enough to listen to it for long before the occasional static gets to you. Luckily his CD player holds up to 400+ songs, so he does not use the radio often. But it's generally a nice little piece of equipment.

I put the DC4100 in my boat (inside the cabin, not waterproof for exterior use) with the pure intention of simply having a radio on my boat that was iPod ready. Having looking at other decks with more features, I really couldn't see spending more money for stuff I likely wouldn't use. I wanted to have some power for driving medium sized speakers, and I didn't want to waste time installing a used deck, so I opted for this product. It met my expectations on quality and construction, and it sounded as good as I hoped using either the radio or the iPod. A good solution for the money.

Before I say anything else about this item, bear in mind: this is a very inexpensive piece of car stereo equipment.

This being said, it pretty much gets the job done. Sound quality is decent. Don't know how well it would do as a stand-alone receiver, as it has only two speaker outputs and rather low wattage. On the plus side, it also has two RCA outputs, so plugging it into an amp or a CD player (which is what I did), is pretty easy. I had some major issues with ground-loop hum at first, though. (One car-stereo guy I consulted said that it may just be an issue with how the tape player is grounded.) Got rid of the hum, but it took some doing.

Another plus, though: the front 1/8" aux input jack is great. I really wish that this would become a more standard feature - I mean, how many people don't ever want to plug an iPod into the car stereo at least occasionally?

Bottom line: this isn't comparable to a bottle of fine French wine, but what do you expect at Thunderbird prices?

Good basic radio with a mini plug input. Plug your MP3 or CD player and it plays directly on your car stereo...nice!

This unit is worth the money so far. I did not expect a top of the line deck. When you have an early 1970's vehicle and dont want to butcher the dash you dont have much choice anymore. I am running this unit without amplification as it is just in one of my work vehicles. Drives two good 4 inch speakers just fine without distortion. Has a RCA type sub outlet for those needing to jack things up. Came with all necessary mounting items and good installation instructions. The only 2 negatives I have is the radio station tuning seems to be a bit weak (I live ruraly)and there is NO treble/bass adjustment other than a bass boost button that does increase lower levels.