zexen

so my mom's allowing me to get a cd player some time soon. i really won't mind if i get the metra kit. as long as it holds up, i don't mind if it doesn't match. my entire interior is black, so it really doesn't matter much about the texture. it'll blend in.

but on to the reciever. i was looking at the Sony Xplod CDX-M800. a new model.
i don't have much to spend and i had originally talked to my mom about the M630 (previously priced at $329.99), so this is the same price as the one i previously wanted to get.
my mom is paying for this, and it would most likely be professionally installed. (i still can't get through the air vent, so i'm giving up on doing it myself)

i'd like some opinions on this cd reciever. thanks guys.

oh yeah one more thing. my radio antenna is going hay-wire.
when i turn on the radio, the antenna goes up about 3/4 the way, and then it motor keeps turning, but the antenna mast won't go all the way up. and after it gets stuck there, i have to go outside and push it down for it to retract. anyone have a clue as to how to fix this? or just get a new one for like $20?

lexblaze

from my personal experience sony xploid is a cheap product. You would expect more from sony but there xploid products are not that great.

zexen

well i have two friends with xplod cd player. the M610 and the M730. they've worked fine in their cars for quite a few years. i don't really see much wrong with them. but if you wanna suggest somethin else, go right ahead. i would prefer motorized face plate rather than the non-motorized flip-down face. removable or non-removable doesn't really matter. i'm not gonna take it off if it is removable anyways.

juan01

I have the Metra kit, it ain't too bad.

About your antenna, mine broke or the people who installed must have missed some wiring, it doesn't go up and down anymore. It really doesn't matter though, I still get good reception on all fm/am channels. The car looks fugly with the antenna up anyway imo.

NVICTIS

I would suggest almost anything fujitsuten makes (eclipse, nakamichi etc...) but they aren't as stylish as some radios. I also like a few of the higher end alpine, pioneer, and kenwood radios. I don't really care for sony car audio, it seems to be a cheaper product than the others mentioned and doesn't look as good either. The only sony radio I have seen that is good is the one with the color animations on it, but for the money you may as well get a tv instead.

zexen

well comparing the xplod cd player i plan to get to the alpine and pioneer in my price range, the xplod has the best wattage at 23.2 watts. the alpine one only has 23 watts, and the pioneer has only 22 watts.

anything else y`all consider audio-wise? i wanted something with a motorized face as well as somethin dark, so it's not too conspicuous in my completely black interior.

Luc

You are talking about a range of only 1.2 watts between the headunits, which will not be noticeable to your ears. Don't judge just by the numbers, because you'll never win. A motorized face is "cool", but just think of all the moving parts that make that move, it will wear out eventually, probably right after the warranty is over. Unfortunately, about 1/2 of all the better quality units all have motorized faceplates.

Kyle Harty

iTrader: (17)

Sony's XPlod stuff is less than great, emphasizing flashy looks over actual performance; it's too bad, they used to make some awesome stuff. A comparably priced Alpine, Eclipse, Nakamichi, Clarion, Pioneer, Kenwood, or others would be a better investment. I give you alot of credit for looking at the RMS power numbers rather than the peak power they usually advertise, but I'll agree that a couple watts shouldn't make or break your decision.

For a basic setup like you're looking at, I'd suggest taking a look at Alpine; they generally look good and have a good amount of features for tweaking the sound. I'm sure others that have been mentioned are pretty comparable; it comes down to personal taste. Some like the Nakamichi's are more basic players with excellent SQ for a more complex and complete system so they probably wouldn't be ideal for your needs. I'd try to stay away from the Sony XPlod though

zexen

well now i'm deciding between the Sony and this Alpine.

the Alpine does look nice. but my entire interior is completely black and i'm afraid it might be too obvious, since i have no tint. the last thing i want to happen is for my cd player to be stolen. i park it in a garage, and i'm not really afraid of it at school. it's mainly other places late at night. that's my only concern. the RMS values are all about the same, and the Alpine does have a lot of nice tweaking stuff, but what do y'all think about the chance of either being stolen. i think they're pretty much even chances, but the alpine might have a higher chance of being seen at night.

just wanna see what y'all think of this alpine too. it's cheaper, and it has the MP3 capability.

thanks again for the replies, guys.

Nabeel

I have a Sony Xplod in my Audi. It's decent, but I wouldn't reccommend it to others. Basically, my complaints are the same as those voiced already- lots of flash, not much substance. The unit was already there when I purschased the car used, so i didn't really have a choice. If I were to do it my way, I would have gone for Nakamichi or Alpine for sure.

njes300

I have a Kenwood , Its decent .

embelo

http://store.autotoys.com/

i went there and searched for Lexus ES300 and found a pretty nice mounting unit....i don't know if it's the same metra harness people talk about, but the face doesn't look textured.

what's cool about this one is that you can have that little pocket thing underneath the radio (i personally don't like the pictures i see of the DIN sized stereo inside the HUGE lexus opening....i think the pocket thingy looks good).

https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...t=1&thecat=998

that's the same harness thingy in a GS, very close to what it'd be in the ES.

As for the stereo....I like the sony MP70 (or if you have the $$, go for the newer MP80). a good friend of mine has it in his car and it's incredible. the G-protection thing never skips....i'm pretty sure you could drive your Lex off a cliff and crash into the canyon and the thing wouldn't skip. The mp3 playing capability is incredible too.....like for those times you are on long drives so you don't have to change CD's every half hour or so, just load up 150 or so songs on a disk and be good for a while. the tray is sweet too, pretty impressive. the sound quality is nice, especially if you have some nice speaks in. and just in case you wanna be fancy, the thing is XM-ready, so in the future you can go to XM and you don't have to buy a seperate adapter (like you would for a sirius satelite reciever).

hope this helps.....