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Title: Car Audio Post by: pauld on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 11:46:14 Right, just got a new motor and the radio's terrible, especially on AM. Trying to listen to 1st half of Germany-Italy on way home last night was like a bloody seance - indistinct voices behind a fog of crackle. So, I'm thinking of just ripping the thing out and getting a new DAB headunit, with MP3 CD support, natch. Thing is I know sod all about car audio so at the moment, I'm inclined to toddle on down to Halfords and lash out 200 quid on the Sony (includes DAB aerial and fitting apparently) but it occurred to me a wiser strategy would be to consult the experts on here first. So, any recommendations? Bear in mind, I have more chance of growing a womb than I do of fitting it myself so that plus DAB aerial needs to be factored into costs etc.
Title: Car Audio Post by: Batch on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 12:06:08 I have reservations about how well DAB works in a car going from region to region and in signal blackpots. I guess it would be OK round town though.
I'm not speaking from experience mind. Might all be fine. Title: Car Audio Post by: sonic youth on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 12:22:47 it's pretty easy to fit it yourself, but i couldn't figure it out.
bloke in halfords fitted mine on the spot for free, i got my stereo there and thought i'd fit it myself though. Title: Car Audio Post by: pauld on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 12:34:33 Quote from: "Batch" I have reservations about how well DAB works in a car going from region to region and in signal blackpots. I guess it would be OK round town though. I'm not speaking from experience mind. Might all be fine. I've got a portable (ie walkman stylee) DAB radio and that actually works pretty well in the car, even without the proper aerial. You get some blackspots but it certainly works better than a portable FM/AM radio does in the car. Retunes OK going between regions as well generally. Admittedly tho I am taking a punt that the DAB aerial is going to improve the blackspot/region hop issues as it would be annoying to shell out and end up with something no better than my portable DAB Title: Car Audio Post by: genf_stfc on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 13:31:00 If it was possible, next thing I would get would just be an FM radio with a line-in so you could plug an mp3 player (or anything else for that matter) into it through the headphone cable. or alternatively one of those little FM transmitters that cost a tenner seem pretty good. Advantage being that you don't have to mess about with CDs and the expensive thing is the bit you plug in and can carry around with you to stop scratters chucking a brick through your window to nick it.
Title: Car Audio Post by: oxford_fan on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 14:01:17 DO NOT GO TO HALFORDS
if you can't fit it yourself, go to your local car audio centre, they'll know much much more than the retards at Halfords and won't rip you off or misadvise you. these 2 sites are tops: http://www.caraudiodirect.com/ http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/home.html Title: Car Audio Post by: pauld on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 14:12:44 Quote from: "genf_stfc" If it was possible, next thing I would get would just be an FM radio with a line-in so you could plug an mp3 player (or anything else for that matter) into it through the headphone cable. I kind of had that - got one of those adapter things you plug into a cassette player that has a headphone cable coming out you can plug into MP3 player, DAB radio etc. However, my new motor's got a CD player and no cassette so that's out, and it doesn't solve the rubbish aerial problem. Title: Re: Car Audio Post by: Panda Paws on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 15:44:32 Quote from: "pauld" Right, just got a new motor and the radio's terrible, especially on AM. Trying to listen to 1st half of Germany-Italy on way home last night was like a bloody seance - indistinct voices behind a fog of crackle. So, I'm thinking of just ripping the thing out and getting a new DAB headunit, with MP3 CD support, natch. Thing is I know sod all about car audio so at the moment, I'm inclined to toddle on down to Halfords and lash out 200 quid on the Sony (includes DAB aerial and fitting apparently) but it occurred to me a wiser strategy would be to consult the experts on here first. So, any recommendations? Bear in mind, I have more chance of growing a womb than I do of fitting it myself so that plus DAB aerial needs to be factored into costs etc. Hiya Paul I've got one of the Blaupunkt DAB Woodstock units in my car, and I'm very, very happy with it. It cost about £200, and I bunged in an extra £100 for a powered aerial on the roof of the car to aid with reception. Like you, the main reason I picked one up was to listen to Radio 5 with some semblance of quality. Also, you can get Talk Sport on it .. v handy. Reception of the multiplexes is pretty decent. I've hardly ever lost the BBC and Digital One (the one with the nationals on it) ... when I have I've been in the middle of nowhere like in Devon & Cornwall. Local multiplexes are pretty decent. I can get Radio Wiltshire all the way back to the edge of Bristol when I drive home. If you want, I can give you a look at the next home game if you can wait until August ... Title: Car Audio Post by: DMR on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 16:55:48 Halfords did a perfectly good job on mine OF and gave me the adapter thing I needed (13 quid) for free.
Title: Car Audio Post by: oxford_fan on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 17:29:31 Quote from: "dave_m_russell" Halfords did a perfectly good job on mine OF and gave me the adapter thing I needed (13 quid) for free. fair enough, they were a bunch of dribbling mongoloids when i needed some help with mine.they did give me some money when i complained, so fairplay for that but i've not been back since. now i'd much rather give my money to the motorists discount centre or an indipendent stereo shop. Title: Re: Car Audio Post by: pauld on Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 17:56:12 Quote from: "Chris K" Quote from: "pauld" Right, just got a new motor and the radio's terrible, especially on AM. Trying to listen to 1st half of Germany-Italy on way home last night was like a bloody seance - indistinct voices behind a fog of crackle. So, I'm thinking of just ripping the thing out and getting a new DAB headunit, with MP3 CD support, natch. Thing is I know sod all about car audio so at the moment, I'm inclined to toddle on down to Halfords and lash out 200 quid on the Sony (includes DAB aerial and fitting apparently) but it occurred to me a wiser strategy would be to consult the experts on here first. So, any recommendations? Bear in mind, I have more chance of growing a womb than I do of fitting it myself so that plus DAB aerial needs to be factored into costs etc. Hiya Paul I've got one of the Blaupunkt DAB Woodstock units in my car, and I'm very, very happy with it. It cost about £200, and I bunged in an extra £100 for a powered aerial on the roof of the car to aid with reception. Now, you're just tempting me to blow my budget ... :D Quote If you want, I can give you a look at the next home game if you can wait until August ... I don't think either my patience or my cash will last till then (I'll have spent it on something stupid like food for the kids if I wait till August), but if I'm still faffing about in a flurry of indecision then I'll take you up on that. Alternately, if I've got one by then and it's not a Blaupunkt, we could have a DAB-off in the car park! Erm, maybe not then .... Title: Car Audio Post by: Panda Paws on Thursday, July 6, 2006, 08:26:43 Hehe ... now that would be a sight. "No, MY Five Live sounds better!"
These ones are supposed to be good: http://www.caraudiodiscount.com/acatalog/blaupunkt_dab_digital_radio.html I have this one: http://www.blaupunkt.com/uk/7641705310_main.asp ... Which is v good. Title: Car Audio Post by: pauld on Thursday, July 6, 2006, 08:38:31 Oooh, get thee behind me Chris K. Like the look of the 54, don't like the price tag, but .... tempted .... tempted. On a related note, which is better glass-mount or roof-mount aerial? And what's the difference? (Yes, I really am this clueless)
Title: Car Audio Post by: Danjackson10 on Thursday, July 6, 2006, 08:53:42 glass mount attaches to your windscreen usually behind the mirror! roof mount goes on your roof, both do the same job!
Title: Car Audio Post by: pauld on Thursday, July 6, 2006, 10:01:37 Cheers, so just a question of the mounting then? No difference in performance (which is what I was wondering)? Makes sense - glass mount on the glass, roof-mount on the roof. :oops:
Title: Car Audio Post by: Panda Paws on Thursday, July 6, 2006, 12:33:55 Quote from: "Danjackson10" glass mount attaches to your windscreen usually behind the mirror! roof mount goes on your roof, both do the same job! Well - they do. But ... The glass mount will invariably get a worse reception than the roof mount. The glass mount is lower for one, and the roof mount will earth off the car frame which will make sure the reception is better. I've also heard reports of the glass mounts coming off at high speed if they aren't attached properly. Title: Car Audio Post by: Panda Paws on Thursday, July 6, 2006, 12:34:44 Erm, just realised I don't mean earth 'cos cars don't earth ...
Ummm ... being attached to the frame does help the reception, though. Honest. Title: Car Audio Post by: pauld on Thursday, July 13, 2006, 10:49:59 *BUMP*
DAB-off it is, then. Got my new Sony DAB/MP3 installed yesterday and it's pretty good. Rock-solid to and from work (which was my main requirement) and even going to the game last night in darkest rural Gloucestershire which I reckoned would be a fairly tough test, it only dropped out a couple of times for a few seconds while traversing the valleys at the edge of Nailsworth. To be fair I couldn't get any mobile reception there either and I'm pretty sure no devices invented later than 1955 work in those bits - the locals pile them up at the edge of town and use them to burn witches with, which is what all the smoke wafting over the pitch last night was about. |