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There are certain things that it’s best look for the purchase of an automobile, when stereo today. Probably the fairly standard selections that have been accepted in recent months as the technology has proven to be cheaper and cheaper. Features once out of reach to the masses are now expected in the back head unit. It should, what you look for in a car stereo today

radio function? – This goes without saying that should really have a stereo radio, and also go a fair amount presets along with it. DAB is often a bit of a relic forgotten today in view of the automotive audio, you will still find some of the tuner buyer that you pay but you lot for a feature that is not needed do. RDS, TA, PTY all expected these days, no matter at what price the main unit is your view. A control unit with these functions can be a like a car without wheels, it will not take place

CD -. Today comes with a CD radio in the category of items from any

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There are certain things you should look for when buying a car stereo these days. The most very basic options that should be accepted have gone up in recent months as technology has become cheaper and cheaper.  Features once out of reach to the masses are now expected in even the most back head unit. So, what should you look for in a car stereo these days?

Radio Function – This goes without saying that a stereo should have radio and also a nice amount presets to go along with it. DAB is a bit of a forgotten relic these days when it comes to in car audio, there are still some tuners out the consumers that want one but you will be paying a lot for a feature that is unneeded.  RDS, TA, PTY are all expected nowadays no matter what price the head unit is your looking at. A head unit without these features is a like a car without wheels, it won’t happen.

CD – Nowadays CD goes with radio in the category of items expected from any car stereo.  We have moved on a little from the 1980’s when CD was the new thing, we now want MP3 CD’s containing hundreds of songs. MP3 capabilities are a key feature to look for nowadays; if a car stereo does not have this feature then it really is a poor unit.

Connectivity – In this market connectivity is the most important and biggest selling feature. Whether the stereo can connect to an MP3 player, iPod or portable HDD is very important to today’s end user.  Digital Media is to the 21st century what T.V was to the 20th. In order to achieve total connectivity and integration you are going to be looking to spend upwards of £100, some products like the Beat 275 for example offer excellent value but do not offer the iPod which is a huge feature.  7/10 people have an iPod with 95% of that figure driving. This just shows the huge potential out there for iPod connectivity and why it is so important nowadays for products to support it.

Ports and Slots – The physical connection on a head unit are more important than how fancy the unit looks or what software it is programmed with. The bare minimum nowadays is to have at least 1 RCA Pre-out, and Aux in and a USB slot. All of these can be seen on items costing less than £50. You would also want to be looking for iPod docks, SD slots and CD changer ports. The more slots and ports on the head unit the more broad the connection options are, if you are looking to build a serious audio system you would need a few RCA Pre-outs, a dedicated sub-out, iPod dock, USB  and CDC port in order to be able connect everything a pro audio install requires.  For these kind of levels i would recommend looking at the £200+ products, the cheaper items like the Sony CDX can run basic audio but for real power you need to pay. In this market cheap car stereos do the business but can’t really cut it when you try to build big powered systems.

Bluetooth – This could have been covered under connectivity but it is about the biggest feature available right now. Bluetooth is a huge business nowadays as more and more people are becoming conscious of the legal consequences of using mobile phones whilst driving. A good quality head unit will have this feature built in and will eliminate the need to have a separate Bluetooth kit saving you £££’s.  Bluetooth is slowly filtering down the market and is now available for less than £100.

When it comes to car stereos the old saying of “you get what you pay for” is mostly true, there are the odd exception like the Beat 275 for example, but this is rare. In this market there is a stereo suited to everyone’s needs so look at all options and you will find a unit with every feature you need at a price that suites.

Related Sony Car Stereo Articles

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Question by zallruben: How to connect Ipod to Sony Car Stereo?
I bought a sony stereo that has a usb slot. so i connected my ipod and it said no usb support. can someone tell me what to do thanks
the sony stereo has a usb lot and when i connect it it says no usb support

Best answer:

Answer by trevorbilz
unfortunaltly you cant just use your usb connection with sony decks. you have to buy the sony ipod adapter… your other optin is to get a Y-Audio cable and conenct your ipod to the line in input.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

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Question by Sam: Does Sony make a good car stereo?
I bought my boyfriend a new sony car stereo only to find out that he doesnt like sony. I just want to know if he is being silly and sony really does sound good.

Best answer:

Answer by Morey000
He’s being perhaps a little silly… but it’s a style thing, and other companies have higher end names. You can’t really hear much of a difference between the sound quality, but brand names are important to people. Also- the user interfaces are different between different vendors- and perhaps he just doesn’t like the way the buttons are organized (that’s valid).

Speakers, on the other hand, sound very different between brands.

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Audiovox CNP2000UC XM Radio Direct 2 Add-on Car Stereo Receiver With Mini-Tuner

Buyer Beware

The picture of the kit shows the interface cable included. It is not included.

Whats more, if your Clarion radio has a xm dongle hanging from the back, all

you need is the xm mini tuner and the antenna. Thats it. The protocol interface

module is not used (I couldnt program it anyway, radio CX 400 not in list).

Other than these few snags, Im pleased with the xm and radio equipment.

BuyingAudiovox CNP2000UC XM Radio Direct 2 Add-on Car Stereo Receiver With Mini-Tuner

Come on, you can do a better job.

Ok, so this is the product that I needed and it fit like it was supposed to. I get my XM through my stereo. Problems are just how horrible the instructions are. I believe that they needed to do a much better job. The programing is a hassle, but just follow the instructions the other reviewer left below and you will get through it. You do need to know how to use a computer a little, but if your installing this yourself, I think you should be able to follow those instructions.

The other thing missing from the instructions is that the yellow and black wires coming out of the required adapter cable need to be hooked up to power and ground (I’m using Audiovox Car CNPALP1 Alpine Adapter Cable for NP2000UC). Nowhere in either instruction manual does it even mention these wires! I had to do internet searches to make sure that this was the problem when it didn’t turn on (since I didn’t hook these wires up to anything).

So, if this is the product you NEED, then it does work and you will get your XM if all is done properly. Just don’t expect to rely on the instructions provided by Audiovox! They need to fix their manuals before selling the product!

CheapAudiovox CNP2000UC XM Radio Direct 2 Add-on Car Stereo Receiver With Mini-Tuner

Worked great for first 3 weeks

I got this receiver to use with a new Sony satellite-ready AM/FM/CD deck (CDXGT630UI) I bought to replace a factory stereo. The CNPSON1 XM radio adapter (also bought on Amazon) is also required to use this XM radio with that deck.

Since I bought the deck at BestBuy, I had them install this XM radio and the adapter along with the deck, and I couldn’t be happier. I switch the deck’s source to “XM” and I’m able to browse the XM channels and set up 3 banks of XM channel presets. The CNP2000UC has performed flawlessly with no issues during the month since the install.

Since the adapter and XM receiver are installed behind the dash, there are no cigarette lighter plug-ins for the XM radio and no unsightly wires hanging about, as I had previously with an XM “Roady2″ add-on. This was definitely a worthwhile purchase – one I’m happy to recommend to anyone who wants a clean XM radio install and enhanced ease of use.

** UPDATE ** The XM receiver worked great for 22 days after it was professionally installed then, as I was driving down the interstate, the radio’s audio was abruptly replaced by a loud hum. If I switch channels, I can still see on my Sony CD deck’s display the song that should be playing on that XM channel. So, the XM receiver is at least still receiving a signal. I contacted Audiovox support and they said that I should try re-flashing (reprogramming) the radio which, of course, means pulling the deck and the XMDirect2 radio out of the dash. Audiovox support said that this *might* fix the problem but, then again, it might not. In other words, the radio might work for a while again and then go dead – again. Meanwhile, I’ll have to pay BestBuy to remove/re-install at least once and, most likely, a second time.

Audiovox Support said that, if re-flashing the unit doesn’t fix the problem, I should contact them to arrange a return. Of course, doing so doesn’t inspire any confidence that I won’t have the same problem with the replacement unit. My advice to a buyer: stick with an outboard, portable XM unit. The wires from your cigarette lighter adapter and XM antenna may be an ugly necessity for a portable XM unit but at least you won’t have to pay an installer multiple times to install/replace defective merchandise. Boo, Audiovox – boo!

CheapestAudiovox CNP2000UC XM Radio Direct 2 Add-on Car Stereo Receiver With Mini-Tuner

How to program the CPN2000UC

Ok here is the real way to make this work,

1. Down load the XM direct software from [...]

2. Plug in your CNP2000UC (the XM adapter thing), your computer should prompt you to install software.
– Choose the second option that says “Install from a list or specific location (advanced)” and press Next
– Click the box that says “Include this location in the search” and browse or type in the path “C:\Program Files\XM Direct 2″ and press next
– That should get you the the XM Universal Board v3 programing that you need.

3. Now the hard part DON’T use the instructions that pop up when you click on the short cut that gets installed on your desk top. Instead go to my computer > C: > Program Files > XM Direct 2 > usbprog
Use the “usbprog” to program your unit.

4. You may have to use the Direct File Select option if the list of car stereo models is to long to show on the screen, if you do the path you will need is: my computer > C: > Program Files > XM Direct 2 > HEADUNITS > YourBrand > YourModel

Once the blue bar runs across the bottom of the usbprog window then your unit is programed! To double check click the PIA Model Read Verification button it should show the current date and time as the latest programing time.

If you find this useful I would copy and past these instructons, I have reprogrammed mine 3 times and it looks like that is the average yearly work this item requires.

Enjoy and happy trails

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