JPTL

Several years ago, I decided to replace the stock CD-1. Not wanting a bling, Star-Wars looking unit smack in the middle of my GT's dash, I looked for something that would look appropriate. Quality and sound were actually secondary.
My Blaupunkt Honolulu has the orange display that matches the digital dash display, and the design compliments the 928 interior, IMO...

..but the quality and sound aren't impressive.



I'd love to find a good used Nakamichi CD400.

I really like the basic, clean design and the orange display is a nice match. I've heard nothing but praise over the quality and sound of these units.



The Becker Indianapolis looks great,

..but I don't need NAV and certainly don't want to pay for it.



I'd like something that resembles this design. Something that puts out decent power/sound without the need for an amp. Bluetooth would be a real bonus.
Any ideas?

Jroman

blaupunkt toronto 420 bt

ROG100

Plenty of new Nak's on Ebay - just fitted one and the quality is amaxing - paid about $300.

Kevin in Atlanta

Becker CDR-220.

Tom in Austin

Good to hear, I'm going Nak for my car and have heard lots of positive remarks on the sound quality.

RKD in OKC

NAK looked and sounded great in my GT...



Had high hopes for Han's carputer solution for my GTS.

JPTL

I gather that finding a classic black faceplate w/out chrome ***** and blue/red led accents - with an orange (or changeable) display is going to limit me to older units like the Nak. and the Becker.
I like the design of the Blau Toronto that you mention Jim, but I'm not sold on their quality, and that one looks like it's only in bright white.
For the $300+ price, it would be nice to have Bluetooth. I use it all the time in our DD for streaming music from my Droid, and dealing with calls hands-free. Particularly nice when driving a stick...

I really do like the look of that Nak...

Jroman

Sean did an great job installing mine and IMO...it looks as good as any I've seen. I did research for a few months and at $145 and free shipping seemed like my best choice given I have headers and don't have mufflers and wouldn't hear the difference with a $300+ unit anyways... iPod hookup in the glove box for charging, 32gb memory stick for all my tunes plugs right in front of the deck... Can even stream music if you have a capable phone.

Alan

I wanted a thoroughly updated modern head unit with good digital audio sources and good enough sound quality - however I also wanted it to look OK in a 928.

So many now have silly bling (animated) displays, metallic bits added for no purpose and over complicated interfaces. I also totally dislike digital volume buttons.

I do like this with my added modification of a 928 ****.. Does have a built in 4 Ch amp, iPod control, Music via SD Card, USB Drive, Bluetooth audio and a great hands free phone. Internet access via modem or phone and location based services via internet and on board GPS (these require the internet connection though).

I like that its simple & fairly clean, not too busy - may not be to all tastes I know - but I do think it is in keeping with the simple functional concept of the 928. For me the stock Parrot **** didn't look right and wasn't very ergonomic. The reworked **** is an add on - it comes off to revert to totally stock condition.

Alan

longleader

If the head unit does not have Pandora its dead to me....

JPTL

I'm a serious Pandora listener as well..
Alan, that looks fantastic. I know it's a one-off with your ****-mod. What's the unit?

Alan

Its a Parrot Asteroid Classic - doesn't have a native Pandora app (though I imagine they are working on it...) However f you have Pandora on your iPhone you can playback & control it from the Asteroid.

BTW - while the **** mod is not very obvious - its not that hard to do either. Tools may be an issue, I shortened a fan blower **** with a (not an easy tool to find in the USA), I guess a belt sander would be an ~equivalent (but mightily overkill), a palm sander with aggressive grit might also work.

I also used the small power file to remove much of the inside of the **** too, however a carving tool/Xacto knife might also suffice (I used one for some final fine tuning and it worked well). I then used a nylon bushing to support the inside of the **** ring. Then you need a ring of a slick plastic (like an overhead slide projector foil sheet) cut to a circle to fit inside the parrot ****'s ring (friction relief). For the inner button I used the inside logo center of a dash reset switch (I have lots of stuff like this to experiment with) - with the bottom rubber support ring on the **** carved away - it allows the button push mode. Then to support the logo button in place you need a tall rigid slick nylon ring of the right dimension. I used the ring parts of a nylon cable clamp - with the tabs trimmed off.

Thats it - the **** is basically just a tight friction fit.

Alan

kevinlieb

The Pandora option on the Alpine units anyway doesn't work with Android.

I have a CDR-210 for sale if anyone wants it. It can be adapted for iPod input but it is very expensive to do so. Looks like this:

WyattsRide

+928

I couldn't be happier with my CDR-220. No Blue-Tooth but you can get an I-pod adapter for it. (I don't have that yet) I think it sounds great too!

JPTL

You can't get much more stock looking than that CDR-220. Is it self-powered or does it need an amp? I'm not concerned about iPod control interface. Does the CDR have an Aux input?
Is the display as yellow as it looks in your pic, Rick?
Why are you selling it, Kevin?