I have a 2005 Mercury with a factory stereo, seems very sensitive on FM and very selective. Anyone else with experience on Ford/Mercury factory units and do you think I'd get any better reception with an aftermarket unit (was looking at JVC.. I don't like the digital Pioneer or Blaupunkt super-narrow tuners).
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Best Car Stereo for FM
- Thread starter wgliradio
- Start date
I have Blaupunkt Los Angeles MP72
which boasts FM Sensitivity of 6 dBf
which is lower then even the Supertuner IIID which boast 8 dBf Sensativity
I and testify that this radio listens well... on most trips to DFW i start hearing the fm's that aren't covered up often while i'm still in Arkansas.. often ID memphis fms and ms fms on the other side of little rock
which boasts FM Sensitivity of 6 dBf
which is lower then even the Supertuner IIID which boast 8 dBf Sensativity
I and testify that this radio listens well... on most trips to DFW i start hearing the fm's that aren't covered up often while i'm still in Arkansas.. often ID memphis fms and ms fms on the other side of little rock
I had the Blaupunkt and didn't like the high disrtortion levels you got from stations in fringe areas, almost to the point where you couldn't make out what was on... that were cleaner and very listenable on other stereos. When you turned off the DigiCeiver, the distortion would drop (at the loss of some selectivity). I also didn't like the fact that the Blau dropped back to mono awful quick.
At the time I traded it in for an Eclipse CD 3414 (which is no longer made) and I thought that radio had a better tradeoff of sensitivity/selectivity/quality. I really didn't think the Blau was as sensitive, but it was selective (at a price) when the DigiCeiver was active.
On the AM side, I also thought the built in AGC in the Blau was very overactive and was annoying to listen to when you were in the primary of a radio station and every power line would cause audio bursts as the AGC tried to correct all the time.
As for the Pioneer, a really bad sounding radio that is not very clean on FM at all.
At the time I traded it in for an Eclipse CD 3414 (which is no longer made) and I thought that radio had a better tradeoff of sensitivity/selectivity/quality. I really didn't think the Blau was as sensitive, but it was selective (at a price) when the DigiCeiver was active.
On the AM side, I also thought the built in AGC in the Blau was very overactive and was annoying to listen to when you were in the primary of a radio station and every power line would cause audio bursts as the AGC tried to correct all the time.
As for the Pioneer, a really bad sounding radio that is not very clean on FM at all.
It was the Hamburg CD70. Did not support MP3, it did have RDS.
http://www.continentalimports.com/hires_hamburg_cd70.html
I think you can turn off all digiceivers. There was a setting in the LOOONG menu tree that allowed you to do THAT as well as turn off the high blend (or make it less severe, they actually had 3 settings). I wish it would have forced the radio to remain in stereo as well.
http://www.continentalimports.com/hires_hamburg_cd70.html
I think you can turn off all digiceivers. There was a setting in the LOOONG menu tree that allowed you to do THAT as well as turn off the high blend (or make it less severe, they actually had 3 settings). I wish it would have forced the radio to remain in stereo as well.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
wgliradio said:
The Pioneer is probably the best for DX - after modification for narrow filters. The only reason the Blaupunkt probably rates better is they may be putting narrower filters in stock - Pioneer comes with two 180's and one 150 - putting 110's in the whole IF chain I can occasionally nab 300 mile DX. Driving into DFW I was getting 91.7 just past Alexandria LA, solid all the way to Shreveport. I thought it was a local until I finally heard an ID. I also have done the old KFOX 97.1 Gainesville GA in Lake City, FL. 102 Jamz Orlando in Tallahassee, a 98.3 from SC in Deland, FL - example after example of 300 mile or near 300 mile FM.
My ex had a Clarion car stereo that would cleanly pull in the 45 dBu signal of 89.3 KJMC (a Des Moines non-comm station) while sitting inside the 75 dBu contour of a first-adjacent translator on 89.1! And it wasn't just selective -- KTTB Glencoe/Minneapolis was steady on this receiver until around 50 miles south of the Iowa border...
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
wgliradio said:
Some of the III's used surface mount filters in a module surrounded by a metal cage. It was not easy, but I was able to remove the module, desolder the RF cage, and get the surface mount filters out with a hot air de-solderer. Fortunately, the spacing on the pads let me lay some discrete filters in the same locations, and there was lots of room inside the RF cage. The latest Pioneer I bought had changed back to discrete - I think because the performance of those surface mount filters was never quite as good. It took a good III and made it into a DX machine. It amazes me to this day getting occasional 300 mile FM reception.
I have a pioneer DEH-4800MP in my car, it's sometimes difficult to use the transmitter for my ipod with it, because the thing will start picking up a station over 100 miles away. I took my old JVC KD-S890, which was crap in the car, and wired it up in the house on my outdoor antenna, and have gotten some really great catches with it. But i'm actually considering replacing it with a pioneer too
Back in the 70's I had a VW bus w/ a built in AM/FM/ 8 track tape deck w/ a local/DX switch on the FM. Can't remember the brand for sure.The antenna was supposedly the correct length for FM and had a small whip on the bottom. The AM reception was fair-ave but who listened to AM when your're 25?
The reception was outstanding and consistent even with all the hills in New England. When I took the thing out to the midwest and west it got consistent 125-150 mi FM reception. I specifically remember the Denver FM's being received in Western KS. It may pale in comparison by today's standards but it was something that sticks in my memory.
And yet, I don't remember getting ANY station (during the day) while camping in the Big Bend which prompted posting a recent topic on the board.
The reception was outstanding and consistent even with all the hills in New England. When I took the thing out to the midwest and west it got consistent 125-150 mi FM reception. I specifically remember the Denver FM's being received in Western KS. It may pale in comparison by today's standards but it was something that sticks in my memory.
And yet, I don't remember getting ANY station (during the day) while camping in the Big Bend which prompted posting a recent topic on the board.
VW bought a lot of Bendix radios for their American sales. You couldn't get any better than an avionics company to make car radios.
I still have a '66 Bendix AM/FM in a Plymouth that has always been able to crack FM @ 100 miles in Chicago and vicinity.
That is, while IN Chicago, I can hear Michigan across the lake.
I still have a '66 Bendix AM/FM in a Plymouth that has always been able to crack FM @ 100 miles in Chicago and vicinity.
That is, while IN Chicago, I can hear Michigan across the lake.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
Sounds good - but my Pioneer SR-3 was starting to get Chicago stations at Kalamazoo, by the time the freeway started wrapping around Lake Michigan to the South, they were pretty solid. Same on a trip into Indiana and West to the Quad cities, spotty reception out to 150 miles, it started solidifying at 120.
T.W. Don't think my VW Bus didn't have a Bendix radio; when I bought it I ripped out the existing radio and threw in an AM/FM/8 track and installed a whip antenna that was the optimal length (?) for FM. This was in 1974 or so. I'd like to say it was a Pioneer but I know it was a "name brand" at the time. It had one of those local/dx switches that actually worked. It was techno for the time (sigh).
I have a Blau Alaska-II (RDM-168) and have no compliants whatsoever about the selectivity. There is no way to "turn off" the DigiCeiver reception (the entire IF/discriminator circuit is a DSP) although the "SHARX" option can be enabled/disabled. SHARX is what allows the DSP to "narrow the filter" in the digital domain. I don't know about the Hamburg's SHARX ability, but it is most certainly adaptive in the Alaska such that unless the signal is very weak or next to a strong adjacent, the IF bandwidth remains wide so that audio quality does not suffer. If I step to a weak station that is directly next to (0.2 MHz) a strong station, the Alaska-II sounds like mud for a couple seconds, after which SHARX takes over and effectively shoves the strong signal aside.Michael said:
Note that I have yet to hear a car receiver that can "shove aside" IBOC, including the Alaska-II. If I find a weak station next to a strong adjacent, and the strong adjacent has IBOC, the DigiCeiver/SHARX just can't do much about it. I used to get B-93.7 WBCT Grand Rapids while cruising Lake Shore Drive right past downtown Chicago, with 93.9 WLIT coming from 1700 ft. above, and B-93 coming from way across the lake. That ended when WLIT added HD Radio. Now I have to go north of Glencoe before WBCT can be heard at all.
Speaking of DX switches, one feature I always thought was a nice touch was automatic DX during searches on some older Toyota radios. Two Camrys and Three MR2's had this feature on various radio models. Hit the scan button, and once it's come full circle, the DX lights and it searches weaker stations. A nice touch.
And not DX related but a feature I wish every radio had: An old Alpine tape deck I had installed in my MR2 years ago had a strong station search/store feature. It's a common feature, I know, but this one ordered them from strongest to weakest, filling up the 6 presets! Man, that was great for finding transmitter sites! Just slide the pillar mount antenna all the way down into its slot and hit the seek/store, and whatever came in at #1 was gonna be nearby.
OK OK for DX, I gotta admit the Ford radios I've toyed with have been good... But I have been quite happy with my newest VW radio, an OEM double-din Monsoon unit. Much better than the single-din tape deck only in my previous VW.
I'm almost positive it has some DSP going on, because like the Blaupunkts mentioned earlier, tune to a first adjacent and it's muddy for a sec, then "pops" in clear... Fairly selective, more sensitive than any other radio I've played with, even on AM... The AM section sounds horrible though. Most stations sound over-modulated for some reason.
PS: For any DX'er who might have this radio, you can access a service menu and see a very nice signal meter (20-25 segments?) as well as some other info that makes no sense.... Hold down the "Mix" button until the display changes. "Mix" cycles through all the fields. Works on AM and FM!
And not DX related but a feature I wish every radio had: An old Alpine tape deck I had installed in my MR2 years ago had a strong station search/store feature. It's a common feature, I know, but this one ordered them from strongest to weakest, filling up the 6 presets! Man, that was great for finding transmitter sites! Just slide the pillar mount antenna all the way down into its slot and hit the seek/store, and whatever came in at #1 was gonna be nearby.
OK OK for DX, I gotta admit the Ford radios I've toyed with have been good... But I have been quite happy with my newest VW radio, an OEM double-din Monsoon unit. Much better than the single-din tape deck only in my previous VW.
I'm almost positive it has some DSP going on, because like the Blaupunkts mentioned earlier, tune to a first adjacent and it's muddy for a sec, then "pops" in clear... Fairly selective, more sensitive than any other radio I've played with, even on AM... The AM section sounds horrible though. Most stations sound over-modulated for some reason.
PS: For any DX'er who might have this radio, you can access a service menu and see a very nice signal meter (20-25 segments?) as well as some other info that makes no sense.... Hold down the "Mix" button until the display changes. "Mix" cycles through all the fields. Works on AM and FM!
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
A local / DX switch is something I always considered to be a disadvantage. It indicated to me that the tuner's internal AGC circuits did not have the dynamic range to compensate for all signal levels. In some radios, the sole function of the switch was to disconnect the antenna from the front end!
Stock car radios should get note here, a fair number of them are starting to use three ceramic filters, and when the narrow filter modification is done, they are really good DX radios. Unfortunately, we are in an era when whip antennas are considered unsightly and uncool, so only older cars have whip antennas. Goodnes only knows where new cars stick some pitiful substitue for a good antenna. Fortunately C Crane still sells whip antennas, as to auto parts places. You just have to hack holes in fenders and firewalls to get a decent antenna to the radio.
Stock car radios should get note here, a fair number of them are starting to use three ceramic filters, and when the narrow filter modification is done, they are really good DX radios. Unfortunately, we are in an era when whip antennas are considered unsightly and uncool, so only older cars have whip antennas. Goodnes only knows where new cars stick some pitiful substitue for a good antenna. Fortunately C Crane still sells whip antennas, as to auto parts places. You just have to hack holes in fenders and firewalls to get a decent antenna to the radio.
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