Show me your head unit!

[KI11Z]

Hey guys,

I love the oem look and i've persevered with and paid too much for a Bose "Premium Sound" mk3 head unit from the states but i'm still unhappy with its sound. i've converted the output to run through an amp and it's still puss.

So I want to run an aftermarket head unit though I want it to blend as much as possible with the dash....

Criteria is it can't stick out off the dash (i.e have a shallow face), is mostly black and lights up green, if possible....

if you're this way inclined and love your unit can you dump a pic in here for myself and anyone else having a hard time finding a suitable replacement?.......

[Ben J]

Maybe you could hook up something oem out of something newer somehow? Sure it would be much harder to do then say though, with security codes and that sort of thing

I'd post a pic of mine but its far from what you are after

[HaydEn]

Respond head unit from jaycar.

Looks oem as, however probably doesn't have the sound capabilities you are expecting at only $80

[anthony--t]

Agreed. Those jaycar ones look the goods. I think I'm going to have a look at one for the vento. Hopefully it has RCA outs and I'll get some harness adapters to keep oem wiring for easy change back to stock.

[KI11Z]

Maybe you could hook up something oem out of something newer somehow? Sure it would be much harder to do then say though, with security codes and that sort of thing

I'd post a pic of mine but its far from what you are after

the thing with newer units is that they're lit up blue and red :/

Respond head unit from jaycar.

Looks oem as, however probably doesn't have the sound capabilities you are expecting at only $80

i've thought about them but I can't bring myself to buying one for whatever reason.... lol...i'm looking at some older pioneer decks at the moment....

[ryana89]

Not in a MK3, but you get an idea.



$99 Jaycar unit (SD, USB, AUX, but no CD's

Shallow mount (its tiny)
1 rca set out
Lights up green too.

[KI11Z]

hm, well they certainly tick all the boxes.... but i'd hate for it to give me the same sound quality as i'm getting at the moment + no cd's + the usb drive only supports up to 16gb (I know thats a lot of songs but it's not all my songs.... haha)

thank you though

anybody else wanna play before I bite the bullet on a pioneer unit i've found........

[HaydEn]

Not in a MK3, but you get an idea.



$99 Jaycar unit (SD, USB, AUX, but no CD's

Shallow mount (its tiny)
1 rca set out
Lights up green too.

That's the one I'm talking about.

You got ripped off there heaps cheaper now

[ryana89]

hm, well they certainly tick all the boxes.... but i'd hate for it to give me the same sound quality as i'm getting at the moment + no cd's + the usb drive only supports up to 16gb (I know thats a lot of songs but it's not all my songs.... haha)

I was actually looking at a pioneer too, then I found this
I assumed poor speakers = bad sound?

That's the one I'm talking about.

You got ripped off there heaps cheaper now

Fun of living in a regional area :/
Still, cheaper than all those tarty headunits that you can buy at most auto stores.

[Domel]

Pioneer now makes head units where you can adjust the display colour to suit your taste:

DEH-3450UB Car stereo with Front USB and Aux-in, iPod/iPhone Direct Control, Custom RGB/Multi-colour Display and Buttons (2012) - Pioneer Car Stereo - Digital Media Receiver

Pioneer DEH-3450UB Car CD MP3 Tuner - ($149.85)RYDA Car Audio

I have the previous model of this head unit in my car and it is top quality.

[Ben J]

I was actually looking at a pioneer too, then I found this
I assumed poor speakers = bad sound?

I find the headunit makes a MASSIVE difference in sound quality, the oem mk3 ones were pretty awful. Run off an amp with a HPF to block the bass to them, the stock mk3 speakers actually sound pretty damn good in my opinion. I've been running stock speakers amped for a couple years now, had planned on upgrading them when I bought my sound system but ran out of funds. I eventually blew the stock tweeters and so put in some new ~$100 (which i realise is pretty cheap and nasty relatively) speakers in and they sounded like ass compared to the mk3 ones, so I sold them to a friend, bought some jaycar tweeters and put the stock speakers back in the doors. I'll upgrade them one day when I can afford a nice set, but until then, I'll keep running the stock ones, for what they are they're actually pretty good in my opinion.



My headunit at the moment glows green, but it looks far from oem. I'm not a fan of it's appearance, but it does everything else I want An older pioneer one probably is the way to go, they make some really nice headunits

[ffoff]

I've got a pioneer unit which charges my iphone and all. Allows you to select music from the iphone not the head unit itself which is awesome. It lights up blue, but its got a feature that blacks out the head unit after 5 seconds. The absolute best at night having music playing but no annoying lights blinding you!

[shooitt]

I always tried to preserve the OEM look when I owned a couple of Volvos and an 89 Chrysler New Yorker. No one likes a shiny silver head unit in a boxy brick.
One of the Volvos had a Clarion (can kinda see it in this pic):

FZ709

One had a pioneer (which I can't find any photos of) ...if I find a pic I will post.

And the Chrysler had a Clarion too:

CZ309A

Just some more ideas

[MattyT]

I've got a clarion DXZ776USB myself. It's far from an OEM look, but it is black and you can set the illumination to whatever you want out of 728 colours. At the time, it was one of the few headunits that had the combo. Always seems to be hard to find.

Since we seem to be getting a little off-topic here, the sound from my stereo is ****. No bass at all. Ive got Alpine Type-X splits an an old skool Alpine 2-ch amp. It SHOULD sound awesome, but it doesnt. I know nothing about car audio so I've never tried to improve upon it, save for fiddling a bit in menus.

[Ben J]

The mk3s are pretty nicely set up for audio, a basic subwoofer should improve things a lot, and then take the bass out of the speakers and the sound wont distort before your ears start hurting

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