Best OEM sound system for 850 sedan?

[IVIUSTANG]

Here's a nice conservative looking double DIN, I like it! http://cgi.ebay.ca/Eclipse-CD1200G-Doub ... 439d0fdb2b

This Panasonic is also pretty plain: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Panasonic-CQ-5800U-D ... 45f0bcb11d

Those are my top choices.

- Jesse

[kcodyjr]

Those don't look too bad. I've never heard of Eclipse (been awhile) and I wouldn't normally think of Panasonic as a mobile brand. Plus, those two particular models don't have variable coloring on the lights, and therefore would advertise their presence more at night...

Key is "nice" aftermarket; I'm not saying those aren't, I'm saying that I don't really know if they are or not; if there aren't premium electronics behind those delightfully simple faces, they would lack advantage over OEM.

I also saw this one, more featureful and has variable color lights to complete the visual blend, but maybe a bit of a theft magnet still...

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_164 ... -503-.html

I also looked at some touchscreens. The full touch models would indeed look good in that dash, but all touchscreens are incompatible with sight-unseen operation...


Thanks for all the tips and opinions everyone, always a good read here. Keep 'em coming.


- Kevin

[kcodyjr]

I'll be damned.

As a temporary measure, I just swapped the SC-815 into the wagon and the SC-710 into the GLT. This turned out to be a win-win.

I haven't heard the SC-815 front-left cutout since, and I'm wondering if it was just a weak connection at the back of the radio. Mind this is in the wagon now, so I was sitting in the parking lot listening to it, not going anywhere. The first bump could make a liar of me. For now, it sounds better than ever. The bass curve that was detrimental in the sedan sounded much better in the wagon, with and without the sliders centered.

I managed to hear some classical and more heavily vocal stuff while I was reprogramming the presets in the SC-710. The funky bass curve is entirely gone, and it sounds best with the sliders all at center. Of course, it sounds scratchy like cheap factory radios do, but it's a well balanced cheap fm radio, and more importantly its lights all work.

So, we can now see where the buttons are and the safety concern is solved. Time bought; we're no longer under pressure to upgrade quickly. That only makes the choice more difficult...

Given the balance issue is solved, and my wife really wants a useful CD player, the SC-901 really isn't the right choice, if what I've read is true and the cartridge system is guaranteed to die eventually.

Unless someone can tell me for sure the SC-811, or another SC-815, can be had without the bass curve hard-set for the wagon, it would seem aftermarket is the only sensible choice. Rubyvette, I may well still make that offer for beers and swap-ins to find out; a flat-tuned SC-815 would be the choice, and then I can bellyache over which factory amp to add.

If I'm going aftermarket it's down to two units.

Although the Eclipse CD1200G is a very near OEM look and a dirt simple control interface, they had to spoil it with that glitzed-up blue LCD panel. That's nearly a dealkiller except it's so darn cheap, and does have front and rear RCA outputs for mating to an R-type 4x50 underseat amp using custom harness. But, that darn blue panel...

Then there's the Kenwood DPX503. Visually, the extra chrome is less of an eyesore than the Eclipse's LCD, though I still worry about it being a theft magnet. The interface is a little more complex but it seems to have the all-important preset and "Seek" functions easily accessible.

I'm leaning toward the Kenwood, initially as a plain dash module, then adding the HD-radio and Bluetooth modules, and eventually an external amp. I've done this enough times to know that however good it sounds, offloading the amplification moves EM harshness away from the more sensitive signal processing circuitry. The only question is, factory R-type amp, or a Pioneer GM-D9500F, most likely under the seat.

Maybe a poll: would I go to hell for putting aftermarket audio into this car...


- Kevin

[Ozark Lee]

would I go to hell for putting aftermarket audio into this car...

Naah,

Not unless it looks like the animated Mexican whore house Blaupunkt that I put in my daughter's Porsche.

...Lee

[maggieo]

The face plates on the radios are either black (from an 850) or dark gray (fom an S70 or V70). No difference in the units. If you're anywhere near Worcester I've got a couple radios with new bulbs that I'll give you a good deal on. I can also show you what speakers I used to upgrade my system with that fit in the factory locations.

Any chance you still have a radio for an 850? Just came into an 850 Wagon, 1997. The radio turns on fine, but then randomly the volume goes up - way up - on it's own. Any other ideas to fix are welcome. I realize this post is very old.

[maggieo]

I think we may have fixed this - but blowing some air and cleaning the contacts.. Sorry if I posted too soon.. Now I need to go read about a/c problems!!!!

[j-dawg]

That nagging voice that's telling you to go aftermarket is smart. You should listen to it.

I struggled with this for the same reason, and then I just did it. The thing is ace, even though it was an entry-level unit four years ago. I don't think I paid more than $150 for the entire setup, and I'll go ahead and brag about my phone mount and charger setup, with which I am pretty pleased.

As for the looks...there is no solution. Any remotely affordable head unit looks violently gauche. Maybe I lowered my standards. Maybe the compromise seems worth it. I don't know, man. But like I said, I weighed this decision before, kept the receipts, and ended up sticking with it. I've been driving my Miata with just a tape deck and AM/FM radio, and I've decided that the '90s sucked.

EDIT: I just responded to a five-year-old post.

[kcodyjr]

EDIT: I just responded to a five-year-old post.

Five and a half years later, your response got read.

In the end, I wound up buying a JVC unit with programmable light colors, a minimum of chrome, and built-in Bluetooth. I think I spent around $250 on it. Although it didn't look factory, it did manage to avoid looking gauche. I wound up driving the dash tweets off the head unit, the doors off a 4x40 factory amp mounted behind the radio, and I drove the factory rear deck speakers as subwoofers using a trunk mount 2x100 Pioneer amp. It served well, and absolutely rocked, for years. I highly recommend this configuration in an 854.

Unfortunately, that car is in the boneyard now. After sitting awhile, it refused to re-start, and by then I had the 2012 C70, so an 850 GLT LPT wasn't interesting enough to chase down an electrical gremlin... in retrospect, I do regret letting that car go, but keeping it would have meant having it towed 120 miles including two ferry trips.

[abscate]

Marked for follow up in 2026

Carry-on.

[amblerman]

EDIT: I just responded to a five-year-old post.

in retrospect, I do regret letting that car go, but keeping it would have meant having it towed 120 miles including two ferry trips.

I want to know where the car was that would have required two ferry trips!