[s-cars] aftermarket head units

[JC]

Auld Topic, there's lotsa info around (didn't this just come up a month or
so ago?)

The appropriate wiring "kit" (little plug/harness deal) from any car stereo
joint work fine. You'll also of course need the weird EuroGerman antenna
adapter.

The one TRICK you need to know about are having GROUND LOOP ISOLATORS to
prevent loud pops and nastiness as the Bose system does something
non-standard with grounds. You put these between the line-out of your head
unit and the line-in to the car. You need two of them (front/rear) and then
to do creative stuffing in the center console to get the wiring harness and
isolators rats nest to snuggle in nicely.  Once you do that the audio will
work perfectly fine.

Here's a random eBay listing to show you the idea. There are audiophool
versions for a bazillion bucks and this cheap crap for $4. Select
appropriately to your level of faith and conviction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tsunami-FL-GL400-RCA-Ground-Loop-Isolator-Noise-Filter-/
260661399671?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb0a15077#ht_1842wt_1139

For a 95.5 you also need a cosmetic plate to cover up the extra width on
either side. I have the plastic one all the car stereo joints have which
works but is a bit cheap so I have thought about doing a ricey CF panel or
better maybe an aluminum panel painted black.

Anyway I am running an Alpine and frankly I'd never do it again. It is only
OK. iPod integration is just OK. Panel/interface kind of sucks, lots of
non-intuitive "WTF why did they do it that way instead of this other
way?!?!" things. Featurenality sucks (no RDS - aka no text from FM radio
stations). You can add features like RDS and HD Radio or Satellite or
bluetooth but each one is a megabucks module box with more wires that have
to stuff behind the dash so basically nobody ever does it. The unit is
supposed to be firmware upgradeable but basically Alpine never actually DOES
firmware updates so while they could improve iPhone compatibility and menu
functions, they just don't bother assuming I guess you will just buy a new
unit instead.

Mine is from only a few years ago but still on the old firewire-style
charging standard (basically it was semi-obsolete even when a brand new
model) so to use contemporary iPods and iPhones I have to use a little
adapter that charges the right port.

etc.  Alpine used to be good stuff but frankly now they have lost the plot
and I doubt I'll every buy again.  Wish I"d tried an Eclipse or Blau or
Becker or something else frankly...


> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Wylie Bean
> Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2010 10:04 PM
> To: Phil Mische; s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com; S-CAR list
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] aftermarket head units
>
> Phil,
>
> I've been looking @ head units lately too. My stock Audi/BOSE
> is pretty toasty. Searching Crutchfield.com yields many
> options, some CD units, others strictly electronic units...


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