Recommend ~$200 HU? List of specs etc. ... wired remote? is Sony so bad?

 

New member
Username: Redknight

Atlanta, GA USA

Post Number: 1
Registered: Nov-04
Hi folks!

I need a new HU; my 9 y.o. Sony is finally going bad (can't read _some_ audio book CDs that work fine on home stereos, but does fine with other books on CD). I'm not looking for anything real special - I even still have my original Accord's speakers, but may upgrade them some day...

I'm looking for:

* $200 range, give or take (this is in U.S.)
* plenty of FM presets
* mp3/wma/CD-R/W
* satellite-ready is good, I guess. I have no plans for now, but it's always possible. Is XM the way to go, or the other one (Sirius?)? Seems like most HUs support XM.
* no fuss on loading CDs... do they all "fold down" these days? seems like one extra hassle
* very easy-to-read display, including in direct sunlight. (graphics can gth if they make it hard to read simple things! lol)
* of course, the usual desires like good tuner pull, clean sound - but with my speakers, it doesn't need to be anything special

One oddity is that I truly love the wired remote "Rotary Commander" I had with my old Sony. It mounts on the steering column and is always "right there" - I find it hard to believe most HUs include a handheld remote, which seems to defeat the purpose to me, lol. (If you have to reach for the remote, it's halfway to having to reach for the HU.) So I'd be interested in a HU with either some kind of wired remote that can mount on the steering-wheel column OR it can have an infrared option that mounts there if you guys can ab-so-lutely gaurantee the HU will _always_ be able to "see" it. (It seems like a mighty cramped space - home remotes rarely work when they are almost directly lateral to the recipient!)

A real plus is if it can be a Sony, so that I don't have to re-do the harness and might even be able to keep using my current wired remote. (Yep, I am lazy as heck! lol) My old remote is part RM-X2S and the Sony I was looking at (CDX-C7050) supports their optional RM-X4S Rotary Commander which looks identical, so maybe it'll work. Anyway, I've seen lots of posts where folks claim Sony's suck, but every one of these posts looks anecdotal to me - the only person posting any actual large numbers said his company loved them (in thread "Does a sony head unit suck?"). What's the deal with that?

Anyway - there are so many units that seem to have exactly the same functionality in this range, at least on paper. So, what really matters and what doesn't?

Okay, I've asked a ton of question. Thanks for any comments/suggestions, and tons of thanks to anybody that addresses all my qs! :-)

Mike
 

Bronze Member
Username: Carguy

Post Number: 65
Registered: Nov-04
Hey Mike, it seems like you're not into getting high quality sounds from your car stereo. In that case there are a lot of choices. Sony, JVC etc all make mp3/cdrw etc models. Since you seem to love Sony, you can buy their model and save money on harness. If though in the future you want high quality sound, I wouldn't buy Sony. It is true, they really suck. I had Sony before that's why I know. Sony may make good tv and other stuff, but when it comes to car audio, they know jack. Did you know that some of their amps catch fire?? I'm not kidding. They're such cheap crap, I don't know why they don't just give up and make more tvs and playstations or sue people downloading songs from the internet *grin*.
Your question on XM radio, it's a great product if you travel a lot, like into desserts and country roads. Because it's getting it's signal from a satellite, you'll pratically never lose a channel. This of course comes with a price, $10 per month usage fee. It's suppose to have better sound quality than a reg FM. I haven't seen much difference though. If you're interested in them, do a search on eBay, there's some cheap ones. I paid $49 for a complete kit there.
Oh the reason why I didn't give you a specific Sony model HU is cause I'm located in Canada and we have different models compared to USA.
One more thing, if you pay a little now, you can get a HU with dvd!
 

Silver Member
Username: Chevy_for_life

Post Number: 180
Registered: Sep-04
buddy did you happen by any chance read that whole thread through.. everyone on there has said that sony sucks but like 2 people..and trust me They do..i had one.. and it blew the first week i had it.
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