xcelr8

iTrader: (2)

HUGE quality sound improvement over stock. 6 CDs indash. WITH an ipod input in the back, and some units have it in front.

defrag010

iTrader: (2)

I don't mean to come at you in any way, but I come from the world of iasca and you would get laughed out of the building if anyone at an event heard you say everything you have in this thread so far. I can see that you're not a dumbass, but you are making some hella blanket statements that are not true.

99% of the everyday people who don't use the highest end gear or have dedicated SQ systems in their cars will not be able to tell the difference in sound between a regular Sony Xplod deck or a Clarion deck or even a precious Alpine deck. The weak link is always the speaker setup. 99% of your everyday street systems don't have the quality of drivers or the level of install to create an audible difference between a true high end head unit or a regular one. We're talking about preout only decks, digital outputs, copper chassis, and balanced signals, etc. It takes a world class system to take advantage of those burr browns, copper chassis, and multiple 24bit dac's in the true high end headunits, so what makes anyone think that a 1bit Clarion deck running some average speakers through its internal amplifier is going to "sound worse" than if it were an alpine deck? The mere fact that the head unit's internal amplifier is the power source for the speakers totally discredits any opinion on someone's crappy sounding deck comparison. It's all crap until you get to the true high end decks, then when you get there it's all fantastic. Brand names mean nothing, there is no hierarchy of car audio brands... only price ranges. Everything that's in the same price range, no matter what brand, is all the same stuff.

FYI: Clarion owned McIntosh from 1990 until 2003, so you can guess who built Clarion's ProAudio line of decks for a very long time.. and McIntosh is about as high end as it gets

A few examples of proven high end head units from so called "worse" companies than alpine, to show that brand name means nothing:
-Clarion DRX-9255
-Clarion HX-D10 and D1
-Sony C90/C910
-Pioneer P1R/P9

Now, alpine is "the best" ? Hardly, there are many other decks that are better than anything alpine has made in the last 15 years.
-Denon Z1
-nak CD700
-Mcintosh mx406
-Denford 8250

Sure, alpine has their old flagship decks like the 7949 and more of the old 79xx series, and kenwood also has their excelon line, I could go on and on... but I'm not.

I forgot to address the sound quality of the compressed mp3 from the ipod vs. the lossless 24bit sound that comes from a cd. I'm sorry, but while it might be convenient to have an ipod because it doesn't skip, a cd will always produce better sound than an ipod. A preference for an ipod over a cd is also takes away any credibility from the person who is making comparisons on the sound quality of different 125$ head units..

The points I'm trying to get across are that there is no "Best" and "worst" brands in audio. Every company has both entry level decks and also badass high end decks. Just because the OEM ford head units were made by Clarion does not mean they are automatically going to sound bad and break.

pnyboy27

wow..this is some pretty intense stuff goin on here..haha..goin all out on this..haha

but btw..i LIKE it..haha..its a very clean head unit..way better looking than the oem one. plus i LOVE the fact that it has the in-dash 6-CD rather than going all the way to the trunk just to swap out some cds..if i didnt have my carpc in my setup, i probably would opt for that upgrade because of how oem-looking it is..i just LOVE how oem it looks

as for steering wheel..very good job..and clean! i like your tasteful and simple mods you have. good job and keep it up!


edit: and oh yea..i like the way how you made it look as if it were stick by using the shift boot! very clean!

2jzlex

iTrader: (3)

Dude that looks reallly good. It's out of new model mustangs right? Did you use the harness/connector off of that unit and then cut and spliced into the Lexus harness?

xcelr8

iTrader: (2)

Thanks guys.


I basically did this. I bought something called a "reverse harness" which plugged into main plug in back of HU. from there, I attached "pin" connectors from radio Shack (so I could easily disconnect if I wanted to) to the OEM harness.

If you take this to the next level, PM me so I can guide you. You will want to buy the blue leds (or any color you want...) you will need to trim the AC duct just a tad (or you will have the comnsole bezel slightly raised). You might also need to tap the ACC wire for the power antenna. The reverse harness came with the antenna wire, but oddly, it did not work.

xcelr8

iTrader: (2)

Oh....yes, this is from newer Mustangs. I believe 2004 - 2006...maybe newer years too, but I can't say for sure.

xcelr8

iTrader: (2)

Just checked...works up to 2008

blacice83

dam this is a serious mod. i am in desperate need of a cd player in my 300. The radio sucks so bad that i ride with it off more then 50% of the time,lol. Im kinda wanting to get me a good Alpine after i do all my engine work but i can definitely use this setup for the time being. Hook your brother's up with the DIY,lol.