whats every body using.. looking for a new stereo head unit

[Bloodhound1981]

No “parking brake bypass kit” needed. You simply tie the brake wire into the ground wire. That’s all it needs.

Those days are over for any of the name brand units. For Pioneer, it is looking for you to wire it into the "positive" side of the parking brake, aka a parking brake dash light, instead of just grounding a wire. And....it wants you to engage, disengage, and engage the parking brake, before you can access a lot of menu settings (or play video while driving). Luckily, on ebay for like ten bucks you can buy a little module that you wire into the radio harness and it fools the stereo into thinking you've done this automatically.

 

[Old Guy Bill]

Amazingly my dash wasn’t butchered, so I went with the middle RetroSound unit. So far so good, Bluetooth works and it’s plenty loud enough for me.
It appears stock.

 

[edgephoto]

Everyone knows if you want the best get Kraco!

 

[Frankenchevy]

Those days are over for any of the name brand units. For Pioneer, it is looking for you to wire it into the "positive" side of the parking brake, aka a parking brake dash light, instead of just grounding a wire. And....it wants you to engage, disengage, and engage the parking brake, before you can access a lot of menu settings (or play video while driving). Luckily, on ebay for like ten bucks you can buy a little module that you wire into the radio harness and it fools the stereo into thinking you've done this automatically.

I guess it depends…my $1700 KENWOOD DNR-1008RVS that I installed last year in my older Cummins just took a ground. Same as the other 3 HUs I’ve installed in the past couple of years, none of which were off-brand or low end.

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[Edelbrock]

No “parking brake bypass kit” needed. You simply tie the brake wire into the ground wire. That’s all it needs.

Old school head units used to work that way, but modern ones don't.

They have made ways to make it harder to bypass. For example, some require you to apply / release / apply / release and then apply and leave on the parking brake to play a DVD, and if you release the brake - the DVD stops. Its so cant just ground that wire - it wont work. Some require you to cycle the ignition a few times and then do the same to parking brake. You could all of this with a system of toggle switches, or you could buy this for $10. Its just little computer chip that simulates the inputs that stereo requires from parking brake / ignition cycles, etc.

 

[bucket]

I guess it depends…my $1700 KENWOOD DNR-1008RVS that I installed last year in my older Cummins just took a ground. Same as the other 3 HUs I’ve installed in the past couple of years, none of which were off-brand or low end.

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$1700?! No thanks, I'll listen to road noise and exhaust lol.

 

[Frankenchevy]

$1700?! No thanks, I'll listen to road noise and exhaust lol.

I didn’t pay that much, just conveying that it wasn’t a cheapo head unit. Retail on the audio equipment in that truck is $9k-10k.

 

[Turbo4whl]

$1700?! No thanks, I'll listen to road noise and exhaust lol.

Little AM radio with a wrist strap hanging from the rear view mirror?

 

[83Stepper]

Did you not have Realistic out your way?

Wow, blast from the past lol. One of the best that Radio Shack had to offer! I could go on for days and days about stuff like Kraco, Jensen, Realistic, Audiovox, etc.

In the '80's everybody and the brother went with Pioneer Super Tuners. Me with a liking to be different, I've always used Kenwood since then with no complaints.

Honestly love my Kenwood head units, best that I've had and never had an issue with any of them eating my tapes or CD's skipping. Always paid a little extra when I could for the eXcelon units.

 

[1STLS1]

I saw an article where a guy used this and thought it was the way to go. I would mount the factory radio where it belongs and run this behind it with the receiver in the ash tray to stream from my phone .

Decent power and sound, modern amenities but factory looks.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-hLRijRJs2l7/p_113M5024BT/Kenwood-KAC-M5024BT.html?XVINQ=GZ0&XVVer=1D44&awcr=628041146637&awdv=c&awnw=g&awug=9191513&awkw=pla-1412229292922&awmt=&awat=pla&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm7Lm5-zTjAMVgFxHAR0mWRZpEAQYASABEgKiVfD_BwE

 

[Frankenchevy]

Here’s another example of a head unit on the other side of the spectrum price-wise. This Boss is pretty entry level at $300ish…maybe $350, I don’t recall. I just put this in the 01 excursion and wired the brake wire to the ground. This is a current model (Boss Elite BE7ACP.WXC). It’s actually pretty good for a cheapy unit…

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[idahovette]

@bucket ,Realistic and Kraco were too expensive

 

[Shorty81]

@bucket ,Realistic and Kraco were too expensive

I used to buy a lot Spark O Matic from Rinks. Good stuff for cheap. Anyone remember Rinks??

 

[vr1967]

I’ve still got a shaft, blue light Kenwood cassette radio. Thought of seeing what it would take to get usb or aux fitted to it. Dash has been hacked so unsure if I plan to go back shaft, or 1.5 din since I have a complete dash from an 89 Blazer I parted.

 

[bucket]

I used to buy a lot Spark O Matic from Rinks. Good stuff for cheap. Anyone remember Rinks??

I don't remember it, but there was one in London OH. It's a Kroger's now, and has been for as long as I can remember.

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