Looking into car audio options

I got my new vehicle about a month ago , an 07 Ford Escape. It currently has a factory deck, from what I gather from my owners manual its the second tier stereo system. AM/FM, six CD magazine, mp3 and a plumbed in connection for Sat radio.

Its so five years ago for a stereo.

I was looking interestedly at the new sync unit from Ford, but for the moment it does not seem available for retrofitting to older vehicles. I am not looking for a system that plays at 11 , just a clean sound that will at most top out at 5 or 6 (arbitrary loud volume rating).

If specific details need to be provided, amount of speakers or something like that , I would have to check, as I am not sure exactly what this thing comes with.

What I want

AM/FM with bluetooth , so I can keep the music on the iphone. Anything to do with hands free operation of the phone I can do without. The unit might come with a CD player , but I dont need it.

So whats out there in audio land.

Declan

And I thought I was styling because the car I bought last November had a cassette instead of an 8-track! :stuck_out_tongue:

If you keep all your music on an iphone, then you need a system with an ipod connector. As for recommendations, I got nothing. The B&W system in my car isn’t available as an after market option.

There are about a billion aftermarket head units out there that will do what you are looking for. A couple of quick questions:
Is the stock unit a single or double DIN? (this relates to the size. Double is bigger).
Do you want to retain the satellite radio capability? If so, is it Sirius or XM? Do you have a current subscription?
Do you want to control your iPhone music from the head unit or from the iPod itself?
3G iPhone or older model?
Do you know if the system you have is one with external amplifiers, like a Bose?
What is thje speaker configuration you have?
What kind of music do you listen to?
How much do you want to spend? :slight_smile:

Could you explain what a DIN is so I can check my owners manual.

For the others, I can do without the sat radio

control thru the head unit

Mostly dance, but not boom boom volume

between 100 and 1k dollars installed

Declan

We can give you recommendations all day long but after-market car audio components are extremely common and usually not even that expensive. There should be a small car audio shop near you that has helpful staff that can help you pick out something that has the features you want at a reasonable price. You probably just need a decent head-unit with a built in amp from a reputable manufacturer. There are bunches of those around although lots of them are marketed towards the younger crowd and have lots of ‘Bling’ and some people don’t like that so you need to see it in person.

You might want to consider replacing the factory speakers as well while you are at it. That won’t add that much money and they can add a lot to the sound quality. Stay away from car manufacturer replacement units when you can. They tend to be wildly overpriced and not as good as some as some of the aftermarket components. You can get a whole lot of aftermarket stereo installed for $1000. You probably don’t need to spend that much. The components shouldn’t cost more than $500 tops and installation less than $100 and that is being generous.

You can also look at a Big Box store like Best Buy but the employees there may not be as experienced but what you want sounds pretty mainstream anyway. It isn’t that hard to install a car stereo.

Try something like this:
http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_500CDA9886/Alpine-CDA-9886.html?tp=5684

http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_065SC85/Boston-Acoustics-SC85.html?o=m&tp=105

Plus install should run you about $1100-ish. If you can do without the Bluetooth, you can save $150.