<p>My car’s radio has decided to only respond to the top half of the controls. The guy at the shop said it’s not fuses. So I may have to replace my car radio, since having no radio buttons will drive me nuts eventually, and I assume repairs will cost more than replacement.</p>
<p>Any recommendations on how to go about this, or favorite units? I wouldn’t mind HD radio, I wouldn’t mind some sort of IPod/MP3 interface, but all I have to have is a CD player and radio for replacement. Many thanks!</p>
<p>H’s factory car stereo started ruining cds, so he recently had a new Kenwood HD radio/cd/mp3 player installed in the factory stereo slot. Very high tech stereo, takes some time to get used to. No station preset buttons, but can program stations, has remote control that works similar to station preset buttons. S2 loved the ipod interface on the 8 hour drive to college. All in all, a nice upgrade from original vehicle stereo.</p>
<p>Crutchfield is an excellent source of info. Excellent
Their catalogs can tell u what fits your car, how many watts, and many many other specs/features to compare units, plus pricing.
Even if u don’t buy from there, they have great info.
I have purchased nicely priced units from discountsjungle car audio and from etronics.com
both found online easily.</p>
<p>My d just got a ‘new’ used car that had an inadequate radio–only AM/FM, no cassette or CD, and she had plugged her ipod into a cassette thingy in her previous car (which was ours, now she has her own car). Anyway, she went to Best Buy the day after she got the car and bought a decent radio with AM/FM CD and ipod plug for around $80, and they installed it right then and there. The installation might have cost $10, I can’t remember for sure, but she only waited for about 20 min for it. The radio was the cheapest one that Best Buy had (it’s online too), but she’s pleased with it because the speakers in the car were very good already. And Best Buy said if she keeps the old radio, they’ll transfer it out for free at any Best Buy if she wants to keep the new radio when she gets rid of the car in the future. She was very happy with everything, and she’s a person who despises hassles but needed a good sound system as she sings opera and is always learning new music in the car.</p>
<p>thanks everyone, and thanks kpmom for the Best Buy info. My husband is a Crutchfield fan, but I haven’t figured out yet how I would get the radio from them installed. I have no desire to remove the dash, etc.!</p>
<p>S2 ordered twice fr. Crutchfield. He and DH were able to do the install but it didn’t involve taking the whole dash off. His was the kind with an Ipod plug in. I think it was an Infinity.
The first one he bought was stolen from his truck in the h.s. parking lot (His doors were locked. The thieves broke out a window). Note to self: Remember to remove faceplate of stereo if in doubt of parking lot safety.</p>
<p>DH has installed a number of replacement radio/CD units in our cars with very little trouble. You need to make sure that what you are buying is compatible with the car you own. Last replacement we did was with a Sony (Crutchfield purchase) with IPod adapter that went into a Subaru.</p>
<p>Well, what I’ve learned so far about replacement radios is both good and bad. Good - there are some nice units out there. Bad - I thought I’d get HD built in, and apparently the majority of what’s on the market is HD Ready, i.e. not built in. So I’m doing the features shuffle and now thinking I should wait until more HD radios come on the market.</p>
<p>Plus I’ve got a “double-DIN” slot and most units are single-DIN, or skinny rather than squarish. So I guess they put a blank panel to fill in the space? Sheesh!</p>