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Car Cd Player

C

chrisalcorn

Guest
Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the tuner that perform best in a vehicle. I just swapped out a Pioneer Supertuner for a unit made by JVC and I find the JVC to be much better in sensitivity on AM and FM but not as good on the selectivity. The JVC also doesn't picket fence near as bad or blend to mono as quickly. Pioneer seems to not be what they used to be. I still have one in my other car that performs the same as the one I removed so I'm thinking of purchasing a JVC for the other car as well. What about Kenwood, Alpine, Sony?????
 
The family has three vehicles. That means we have a Kenwood, Sony, and Clarion. Forget Clarion. The Sony and the Kenwood are about equal but I would have to give the radio perfomance edge to the Kenwood. But then the Kenwood is a couple of years newer and is an HD.
 
Of all the radios and cars I've had, the best tuner by far I've owned (and still do) is the old Blaupunkt CR127 Savannah. Its a cassette unit, but the tuner in it is incredible. It is very sensitive and the AM tuner works better than anything out there currently. That thing is 25 years old and will pull nearly any signal out of the sky no matter how faint.

There is an NOS one on e-pay right now for $39.00.
 
As it stands, I must use the "already-in" 2010 Kia Soul FM/AM/CD....I'd say it's the best built-in radio I have had.

However, my vote would likely go to the Clarion unit I had (cassette) in my 1982 Honda Wagon. Sensitive! I mentioned earlier hearing French on an "even" frequency, 95.0, around 1989 in north FL. (Was told it was likely Martinique.) On the AM side, I once bagged 990 Winnipeg from my workplace in Miami.

Sadly I was not heavy into the hobby (FM anyway) like I am today.

cd
 
The only last two aftermarket head units I used were Pioneers equipped with the Supertuner IIID. Recently I have only used the factory installed unit in my 2008 Civic because the sensitivity on its AM is great and FM is as selective as the IIID. I don't know if Pioneer still used the IIID's or not. If not, I will look elsewhere whever I need a new head unit. I noticed an increasing number of new vehicles are using touch-screen stuff that requires drivers to take their eyes off the road to look at the screen. (Doesn't sound safe) I don't how that can be replaced by an aftermarket car stereos.
 
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the factory installed CD player on my
2008 Hyundai has an outstanding AM receiver. Best I have had since the 70's I think.

Is AM radio big in Korea?
 
billding said:
Re: Car Cd player.... What does any of this have to do with cd playing? Gotta admit... I"m kinda confused.
Click to expand...

I was, too, at first....but the thread was put in the column "DX and Reception". I posted earlier, and I figured that these were basically reviews of car radio reception. Almost all car radios now have CD in it, so...... <shrug>

cd
 
ddsparxx said:
I noticed an increasing number of new vehicles are using touch-screen stuff that requires drivers to take their eyes off the road to look at the screen. (Doesn't sound safe) I don't how that can be replaced by an aftermarket car stereos.
Click to expand...

I've seen that trend as well. I'd probably just build a small box to house an older head unit, and then work it into the speakers, or hide a couple speakers somewhere else if I wanted to replace or go back to a conventional unit. Something clean and hidden.
 
My Pioneer ST-IIID DEH-1100MP has done really well for me. Got it for $109 I think. It's a champ on FM, pulling in everything from Winnipeg to Florida-Georgia to California. And it's really good on AM too: I just have to make sure that nothing's plugged into the AUX port.
 
chrisalcorn said:
Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the tuner that perform best in a vehicle. I just swapped out a Pioneer Supertuner for a unit made by JVC and I find the JVC to be much better in sensitivity on AM and FM but not as good on the selectivity. The JVC also doesn't picket fence near as bad or blend to mono as quickly. Pioneer seems to not be what they used to be. I still have one in my other car that performs the same as the one I removed so I'm thinking of purchasing a JVC for the other car as well. What about Kenwood, Alpine, Sony?????
Click to expand...

There is a line of "Supertuner 3" units from Pioneer that are junk. I had one for a while and noticed it was not near as good as an old Supertuner 3 I had been using. I think they went for cheap and sacrificed performance.

What you really want is a "Supertuner 3D" - the D makes all the difference, and another poster on here has one and it is sensitive. I put in a "3D" instead of the "3" and the difference was night and day. 3D contains the adaptive IF, too, that boosts sensitivity on weak stations to a level I did not think possible. I think the most sensitive and selective setting must lower the IF bandwidth to the width required for FM mono, because the noise level is almost non-existent and incredible 250 to 300 mile stuff starts coming in.

Of course all bets are off if you don't have a whip antenna on the vehicle. Antennas in windshields or rear of the car are terrible - it was a bad idea in the 70's and still is a bad idea.
 
Did anybody had any experience with Alpine units? The Alpines I once played with at a store seemed to lack the FM selectivity of the Supertuner IIID.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
chrisalcorn said:
Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the tuner that perform best in a vehicle. I just swapped out a Pioneer Supertuner for a unit made by JVC and I find the JVC to be much better in sensitivity on AM and FM but not as good on the selectivity. The JVC also doesn't picket fence near as bad or blend to mono as quickly. Pioneer seems to not be what they used to be. I still have one in my other car that performs the same as the one I removed so I'm thinking of purchasing a JVC for the other car as well. What about Kenwood, Alpine, Sony?????
Click to expand...

There is a line of "Supertuner 3" units from Pioneer that are junk. I had one for a while and noticed it was not near as good as an old Supertuner 3 I had been using. I think they went for cheap and sacrificed performance.

What you really want is a "Supertuner 3D" - the D makes all the difference, and another poster on here has one and it is sensitive. I put in a "3D" instead of the "3" and the difference was night and day. 3D contains the adaptive IF, too, that boosts sensitivity on weak stations to a level I did not think possible. I think the most sensitive and selective setting must lower the IF bandwidth to the width required for FM mono, because the noise level is almost non-existent and incredible 250 to 300 mile stuff starts coming in.

Of course all bets are off if you don't have a whip antenna on the vehicle. Antennas in windshields or rear of the car are terrible - it was a bad idea in the 70's and still is a bad idea.
Click to expand...

Yeah, mine is a IIID, and it does really well. It sits in an '02 Ford Focus with the factory whip antenna pointed opposite the direction of driving, which seems to not affect Es reception. And, of course, I usually receive Tr signals best that are in the opposite direction from where the car is pointing. For example, driving to Lubbock, Texas, Midland-Odessa (~70 miles) are prevalent for most of the drive until I enter the Lubbock stations' service area.
 
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