Factory subwoofer bit the dust awhile back, dealership said it would take $500 just to yank it out and replace it, so I figured I would go with something more state of the art.
Note I play nothing but songs off of my Sony portable MP3 player, plugged into the aux jack. Having a CD deck, with MP3 capability, would be a bonus, as would Sirius functionality (I got a nice taste of that last summer at a place I stayed at). Doesn’t have to have a huge amount of watts. So things to be aware of, things to look for?
look for the features you want, and be aware of the features you want. they’re all pretty much the same. some have shitty user interfaces, others are only merely crappy.
no head unit has more power than any other head unit. they all pick from an expansive library of 4-channel power ICs which are more or less interchangeable. they’re all capable of about 14 watts clean x 4 channels.
in short, get the one which has the features you want. that’s all that matters.
cite: I’ve worked for both Alpine and Sony, and for two automotive OEMs.
If you’re going to go with the aux jack, try and find one that has a rear jack - that way, you can route a lead from the back of the unit to somewhere convenient (eg the centre console) and you don’t have leads draped all over the dash.
Alternatively, my head unit has a USB port (I think that’s fairly common these days), which I plug a tiny USB stick into (something like this) - it’s small enough that you can’t really see it sticking out, and has the advantage that you can change tracks right from the head unit.
As jz78817 said, they’re all pretty much the same, so find one that you like the look of that has the features you need.
I’m going to suggest that you get one with a front jack for this reason: 3.5 mm cords fail, and taking the stereo out of the dash to replace it is a pain in the ass.
Bluetooth takes care of the appearance issue, but you need a mp3 player with Bluetooth.
So, how does replacing the indash unit repair your subwoofer?
Not being snarky, just saying you’re still going to fix the subwoofer.
Also, you will get a better sound form your MP3 player if you can use an interface that does not rely on the headphones port on your MP3 player. For example on an iPod, using the data port conection to terminate in a USB or RCA level connection to the head unit will give you a wider range of sound. Many, if not most, MP3 players send “ear bud” range to the headphone jack.
Whole hog replacement, speakers too. As I said, I saw no reason to let the dealership just swap in one of their factory subs for a large overpay when I could overhaul the entire thing for not much more than the $500 in question.
[Note-I will kill myself first before I go anywhere near an Apple product.]
