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Thu Apr 22, 2021 5:50 pm

l'm on the hunt for a car stereo for my vanagon.
MP3, SIRUS, etc etc, NOT ONE THAT PLAYS CD's.
it needs to be shallow in depth front to back, as there's going to be an air conditioning system behind it.
a normal regular car stereo WILL NOT FIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what are my options, l've had a bit of a google and can only find a system from BOSS, which looks like tat.

if possible something under $150.

Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:11 pm

Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:36 pm

markswagen wrote: l'm on the hunt for a car stereo for my vanagon.
MP3, SIRUS, etc etc, NOT ONE THAT PLAYS CD's.
it needs to be shallow in depth front to back, as there's going to be an air conditioning system behind it.
a normal regular car stereo WILL NOT FIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what are my options, l've had a bit of a google and can only find a system from BOSS, which looks like tat.

if possible something under $150.

You are looking for a "media receiver".

Check this the f*ck out...... :D

Here is a review of one.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBEk9VPsix4

And here it is .....$19.99

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blaupunkt-AM-FM-Bluetooth-Media-Receiver-Toronto/836526302

If you scroll down....in that Walmart add...there are NUMEROUS other brands very similar and cheap as well.

MP3's are not a problem for most of these. Blue tooth phone...not a problem. Sirius may be hard to do....but just buy a small Sirius unit with a box that goes behind teh dash and plugs into aux and you are done.
Ray

Fri Apr 23, 2021 8:47 am

Use this headunit and you control everything from your phone. This will allow you to remote mount it in an available location.

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Receivers/SPH-10BT

Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:08 am

Yep....lots of "shallow" digital media receiver head unit options out there. While I am not big on "control from the phone" options....there are as many or more of those I hear about than others.

Another option that is "in between" that skinny Blaupunkt and a full size stereo are these.

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Receivers/MVH-S310BT

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Receivers/MVH-S522BS

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Receivers/MVH-S322BT

These are exactly half the depth of a normal stereo...about 3".

If you go to the Kenwood page...scroll down to Digital media receivers and you will see in the quick view that most are listed as "short chassis". About half are 3"-15/16".

https://www.kenwood.com/usa/car/receiver/

The Kenwood stuff is really nice. I like the ergonomics of Pioneer better but I found many Kenwoods that have the right range of electronic bells and whistles from sound space tuning to 13 band equalizers, bluetooth, phone, sirius ready, every input/output you could want and smart phone ready.

You should dig on Sony, JVC and others websites ....first just looking at "digital media receiver"...and then checking specs for dimensions.

Some fairly simple, somewhat old school look but competent stereos that have some "relatively shallow" units....are the VDO/Continental stereos.

https://www.vdo.com/special-vehicles/audio-products/audio-products/

Two of these have 114mm (4.5" depth)....full sized stereos with CD's being about 185mm (7.3").

Ray

Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:44 am

I use a pioneer s6220bs, it has a CD player, but there is a version without the cds that is low profile. I think it was one of the ones that was already listed, I am extremely happy with it so far. Provides very clean pre outs to my amps. I would recommend getting at least a small amp especially when using cheaper brands, Pioneer generally has good internal amps, Sony is known for having really good built in amps, but nothing will ever beat external.

Fri Apr 23, 2021 12:07 pm

raygreenwood wrote: Yep....lots of "shallow" digital media receiver head unit options out there. While I am not big on "control from the phone" options....there are as many or more of those I hear about than others.

Another option that is "in between" that skinny Blaupunkt and a full size stereo are these.

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Receivers/MVH-S310BT

Warning...we have that unit. The display is *only* in blue and the labels are really really small. My 68 year old eyes have real trouble reading them in in daylight.

Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:41 pm

OB Bus wrote: raygreenwood wrote: Yep....lots of "shallow" digital media receiver head unit options out there. While I am not big on "control from the phone" options....there are as many or more of those I hear about than others.

Another option that is "in between" that skinny Blaupunkt and a full size stereo are these.

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Receivers/MVH-S310BT

Warning...we have that unit. The display is *only* in blue and the labels are really really small. My 68 year old eyes have real trouble reading them in in daylight.

Yep...some are like that. There are others....some in other brands.... with vario-color and larger or less cluttered controls.

The details of each unit are why ai shopped for at least two years for the unit i bought....and it won't even probably be installed for another 1.5 years.

I wanted a range of capability and connectivity.....had to have BT cell phone controls, killer connectivity from 3mm to usb to sd card to blue tooth to HD radio to XM......and have very clean sound at the output.....7 band eq minimum......removeable face.....and yes....I want CD capability alomg with ability for FLAC files......and variable display color.....and it had to have at least the controls I use the most in the right places. Single DIN

Yes....have to give up some things here and there to get more of what is important.

I had to make a freaking spread sheet with the must haves across the top column. Looked at,about 125 head units.

My budget was about $250. I went through the same process for speakers. There will be 10 in the mix. I have one more pair to buy. I am down to the sound controller now.....amps will be last.

Glad someone pointed out the issues you did with that unit. It may not be an issue for others. The sad part is that there are not really places/stores where you can look at a wide range of stereos anymore in person. Ray

Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:49 pm

raygreenwood wrote: The sad part is that there are not really places/stores where you can look at a wide range of stereos anymore in person. Ray

Yeah, not like the good ol' days...

Fri Apr 23, 2021 6:13 pm

KTPhil wrote: raygreenwood wrote: The sad part is that there are not really places/stores where you can look at a wide range of stereos anymore in person. Ray

Yeah, not like the good ol' days...

Yep....Best buy is the closest thing to any car stereo display at all....but nothing like it was.

At one time....Service Merchandise....and for sure...Fry's was a killer range for car stereo shopping.

The online guys....at one time Sonic Electronics was massive. And Crutchfield used to be quite massive for car stereo. Still pretty nice.

Ray

Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:09 am

flebay, banggood. amazen ,lots of stuff to choose from.

Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:03 pm

mark tucker wrote: flebay, banggood. amazen ,lots of stuff to choose from.

Sure....but you cannot look at it or see it in person.....like you could in the brick and mortar stores back in teh day.

There as never been a shortage of catalog/mail order car audio stores. But unless they listed LOTS of specs, measurements and pictures.....it was kind of hard to really shop for a nice system. Ray

Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:26 pm

markswagen wrote: l'm on the hunt for a car stereo for my vanagon.
MP3, SIRUS, etc etc, NOT ONE THAT PLAYS CD's.
it needs to be shallow in depth front to back, as there's going to be an air conditioning system behind it.
a normal regular car stereo WILL NOT FIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what are my options, l've had a bit of a google and can only find a system from BOSS, which looks like tat.

if possible something under $150.

Add Bluetooth to your existing radio. Cost me about 7 bucks.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=751456

Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:13 pm

AirHead1966 wrote: markswagen wrote: l'm on the hunt for a car stereo for my vanagon.
MP3, SIRUS, etc etc, NOT ONE THAT PLAYS CD's.
it needs to be shallow in depth front to back, as there's going to be an air conditioning system behind it.
a normal regular car stereo WILL NOT FIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what are my options, l've had a bit of a google and can only find a system from BOSS, which looks like tat.

if possible something under $150.

Add Bluetooth to your existing radio. Cost me about 7 bucks.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=751456

I am so glad to see someone mentioning this....but not for the same reasons! :lol: It is one of my few pet peeves.

There is no excuse for all of these A-holes driving around in the fast lane with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the phone yakking.
If you have virtually any car with even a semi-modern stereo....or even an ancient Sapphire .......you can put in good workable Bluetooth ....for dirt cheap.....and.....they can also be used for linking your music through your stereo :D :lol:

The problem with the second one....and as I mentioned earlier in this thread....sure you can link to your I-phone or Android and play all of your files via Bluetooth through any OLD head unit.....but the quality of sound is limited by the head unit, watts and speakers.

So sure...you can go wireless for dirt cheap....but the sound may be very basic....depending on what you are feeding files to.

Check some of these out....so many more out there as well.

https://bestgamingpro.com/bluetooth-module-for-cars/

Ray