I got this unit as a birthday present for a new car, for the price I couldnt fault it, but like anything, it does have minor flaws.
I had installed a few car stereos before so ovcourse i decided I would install mine. I estimated it would take a day, to install the unit and the matching ... Read review
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I got this unit as a birthday present for a new car, for the price I couldnt fault it, but like anything, it does have minor flaws.
I had installed a few car stereos before so ovcourse i decided I would install mine. I estimated it would take a day, to install the unit and the matching 6x9 speakers in custom boxes. It ended up taking 2 days, but it finally got there. I started reading the installation guide, I found it rather unhelpful only showing diagrams for 2 different brands of vehicles. If I didnt know what the wires were for already I would have a lot more trouble. Once Id stripped the wires of the stereo harness, I removed my old car stereo and found the bundle of wires to be dealt with. I looked up the car wiring diagram on the net, which turned out to be half right (which was expected, never trust the internet) which gave me the constant power wire, I easily guessed the accessories wire as it was the only thicker gauged wire there. green was the natural choice for the earth. After connecting the wires I tested the unit but.. nothing. No power meant a fuse problem. The fuse was not blown in the car or the stereo, so i guessed it could have been the earth. I tried connecting the earth directly to the car body. still nothing. I got out the trusty phase pencil* which showed me for certain there was no power. I checked the fuse again, and found it was too low rating for the new car stereo so I replaced it with a 7.5amp and like magic the stereo lit up like a christmas tree.
Now its all installed I can offer my opinion of the product. When its cranked up there is little distortion, crisp His and deep low end. The CD player is good, it takes a little while to read but it plays well and has never skipped from a bump or read error. The tuner has excellent reception, without a booster aerial. The auxilary input, which is my mp3 player is good as long as you have the EQ on the mp3 player off, and about 90% volume, too low will create more noise and too high will create distortion. I have the non MP3 version which cant play MP3s, so an mp3 player connected via a jack works just fine. The 3 band EQ on the unit is good as you can edit it from +10 to -10db. All the setting hold and can be stored. The only flaws I have with the unit are a fairly basic display, which is typical of a budget sony, but still a spectrum analyser would be nice. The detachable face is also a problem, easy to remove but a hassle to get back on, the golden connector is hard to line up with the spring loaded connector and takes a few minuted to put back on so I dont bother. The manual is very basic, on the outside you might think its huge but the inside reveals a few pages of english and the rest foreign. However this is a simple unit and a manual is not really needed.
Overall this is a very reliable unit which does everything you expect it to do, If you find this unit at a bargain price jump on it.
Advantages: Plays a wide range of discs - including CD R & RW - & filetypes Disadvantages: Poor radio function, poor installation guide
...a good price, and with Sony you can't really go wrong.
On opening the box, the first thing that is quickly apparent is that the instructions are hopeless. If this is your first time installing a stereo then, frankly, its a good thing the whole process is pretty easy. For starters, if you're replacing the stock stereo you will probably need the appropriate tools to remove that.
Having removed the stock stereo, you next need to fit the outer frame ... ...is pretty simple, you just slide it in and then bend down the metal bits inside with a screwdriver. It did take me a litle while to stop the frame moving around though, perhaps because these tabs are a little short.
Having done that, you plug the leads from the car into the back of the stereo, including the aerial, and then slide it back in. Finally, you attach the surround and the faceplate and away you go!
Once fitted, the player is quite intuitive ...
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Advantages: Cheap, Easy to use and does what is says on the tin Disadvantages: Can look too understated
I have the Sony head unit installed into my Peugeot 106 and have hooked up a set of pioneer fronts components and an external amplifier and it copes very well indeed. The basic spec is 4 x 50 watts output with 32 presets and the usual face off facility, also 1 pre-out for either a sub or amplifier and an auxiliary jack. Sound Quality
The head unit comes with 7 pre set equalisers and these are great when you just want to turn on your radio be it ... ...to the shops. When excessive bass or squealing high notes are not needed. The head unit is great at playing simple music from the radio. The unit is also very good when you enter the custom equaliser mode and set it up how ever you like either with a thumping bass or a very clear crisp mid/treble. These three aspects can be adjusted form -10 db to +10 db so the range on this simple head unit is quite astounding. The volume rises very well and you ...
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