Boss Radio is back

[michael hagerty]

...at least according to Crutchfield, which tossed this into my Facebook ads this morning:

"I had never purchased a Boss radio before, but needed a radio for an older car and wanted CarPlay but didn't want to spend a lot of money. I have to tell you that I was very impressed with this radio, it looks, feels and performs like a radio I would have spent significantly more money on." — Jude, Crutchfield merchandising director

BOSS Audio BE62CP

Digital multimedia receiver (does not play discs)

www.crutchfield.com

I'm tempted to ask how well it reproduces tympanis, but they wouldn't get the joke...

 

[Kelly A]

But does it have 'great pipes' and can flawlessly talk-up to the post or vocals every song?

 

[michael hagerty]

But does it have 'great pipes' and can flawlessly talk-up to the post or vocals every song?

Every Boss Radio comes with:

• 30 songs
• A seven-second talk limit
• News at 20 minutes before the hour
• Double goldens
• Angry “hotline” calls for format violations
• *Johnny Mann Singers sold separately*

 

[davideduardo]

Every Boss Radio comes with:

• 30 songs
• A seven-second talk limit
• News at 20 minutes before the hour
• Double goldens
• Angry “hotline” calls for format violations
• *Johnny Mann Singers sold separately*

And disciplinary memos saying your have "the Bakersfield sound".

 

[michael hagerty]

And disciplinary memos saying your have "the Bakersfield sound".

“For an extra $199.95, get the profane and abusive Ron Jacobs custom model.”

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Also included Boss Radio's 93 KHJ American Samoa. It's not the original boss radio in Los Angeles but it's lived on much longer on American Samoa as a Hot AC/CHR station.

93KHJ - South Seas Broadcasting

www.southseasbroadcasting.com

93KHJ Archives - South Seas Broadcasting

www.southseasbroadcasting.com

History - South Seas Broadcasting

The idea for KHJ Radio came about in 1994 when Larry Fuss (now President of South Seas Broadcasting, Inc., the parent company of 93KHJ) was looking out the window of his radio station in Mississippi following a big ice storm. The streets were littered with […]

www.southseasbroadcasting.com

 

[davideduardo]

“For an extra $199.95, get the profane and abusive Ron Jacobs custom model.”

I worked with Ron at Tom Round's successor to Watermark and I second that emotion.

 

[Ed Nielson]

I wonder if it comes in regional flavors. WXLO/99X for New York, WRKO 680 for Boston, etc...

 

[boombox4]

What does it do that a phone won't? AM-FM? OK, but in your car, there usually already is that option built into the dash soundsystem.

 

[michael hagerty]

What does it do that a phone won't? AM-FM? OK, but in your car, there usually already is that option built into the dash soundsystem.

Looks to me like it's intended as a replacement for the in-dash unit in an older car. It's Apple CarPlay compatible, so you're not fumbling with your phone for controls, and it's Bluetooth-capable, so if the car doesn't have that, or even USB ports, you're skipping the mini-cable-into-AUX-jack thing.

Plus---it has two accessible USB jacks on the faceplate, so you can ditch the coiled cord from the phone into the 12V (cigarette lighter) outlet, and an input for a rear-facing camera (which is now required on all new cars).

It would be an upgrade for my wife's 2013 Versa, which does have USB and Bluetooth, but not Apple CarPlay. Hers has nav, but it's very tiny and not terribly detailed---Apple Maps or Google Maps (CarPlay supports both) would be a major improvement. Hers also has a backup camera, but with horrifically bad resolution.






My wife wouldn't want it (the car doesn't get that much use---it's coming up on 11 years old, with only 54,000 miles on it), but for someone buying a car like that used, who wanted updated functionality, for $169.99---assuming it's good (and Crutchfield usually doesn't sell junk)---not bad.

 

[alok]

Will it work in Canada, across the river from Detroit, where THE BIG 8 was?

 

[anotherguyTN]

Boss is a cheaper brand of car stereo that is sold at Walmart, but what they have available at Crutchfield may be better, and like you said it may be OK for an older car depending on what you want.

For me most factory car audio systems are OK now as long as they have Bluetooth and USB ports. But sometimes I still wish I could get a CD or cassette player.

 

[alok]

I was thinking, I'll wait for the HOT HITS model to come out before I consider buying.
It'll tune faster and be louder.

 

[michael hagerty]

For me most factory car audio systems are OK now as long as they have Bluetooth and USB ports. But sometimes I still wish I could get a CD or cassette player.

I think most people here know that I also review cars for (part of) a living---been doing that since 1997.

The evolution in car audio systems has been remarkable. When I started, the complaint was that manufacturers were deliberately making oddly-shaped and sized head units to make switching to aftermarket solutions difficult if not impossible. At that time, it essentially meant you were trapped with inferior quality----even the best available OEM systems weren't all that good.

Today, I agree with you. I'm driving 104 new cars a year and I only find maybe one or two that I couldn't be happy with if I owned the car.

 

[Robert Douglas]

Michael, PLEASE recommend a few cars that have an AM radio with decent bandwidth. My late model Mazda literally filters the "s" out of music vocals and some talk shows! The old 2000 Camry still sounds great.

 

[michael hagerty]

Michael, PLEASE recommend a few cars that have an AM radio with decent bandwidth. My late model Mazda literally filters the "s" out of music vocals and some talk shows! The old 2000 Camry still sounds great.

I haven’t heard a decent-bandwidth OEM AM receiver in at least ten years.

 

[michael hagerty]

As a side note, there has to have been another name they could have used for this product:

bluMe HD

Enjoy a limitless universe of high-definition digital music through your existing Hi-Fi audio system. Stream the highest quality Bluetooth audio.

theauris.com

 

[cc333]

Michael, PLEASE recommend a few cars that have an AM radio with decent bandwidth. My late model Mazda literally filters the "s" out of music vocals and some talk shows! The old 2000 Camry still sounds great.

I agree. It would be nice to have a modern car stereo that has a decent AM section with a reasonable bandwidth (even make it selectable via switch). This is too much to ask of most OEMs, but surely some specialty aftermarket brand could market something (after all, if all radios are are fancy touchscreens with software-configurable DSPs, it should cost almost nothing to tweak the settings slightly to improve the overall sound).

c

 

[Kelly A]

I agree. It would be nice to have a modern car stereo that has a decent AM section with a reasonable bandwidth (even make it selectable via switch). This is too much to ask of most OEMs, but surely some specialty aftermarket brand could market something (after all, if all radios are are fancy touchscreens with software-configurable DSPs, it should cost almost nothing to tweak the settings slightly to improve the overall sound).

c

Why, to hear the limited frequency response of voice?

 

[michael hagerty]

it should cost almost nothing to tweak the settings slightly to improve the overall sound).

c

The trouble with "almost nothing" is always the "almost" part.

They sell about 3 million aftermarket units these days---so let's imagine one company's got a 25% market share. That's 750,000 units.

Even if the fix was only a buck a unit, that's three-quarters of a million dollars for a solution almost no one is asking for.