What car stereo is perfect for iPhone?

[Fallguy]

I really want to get the MEX-BT5700U from Sony. It's only just come out in the USA for about $300 although it can be found for less - I think I'm going to import it to the UK.

I dont think any units bought from the U.S. will work in the UK . Something about the frequencies being odd numbers here and even numbers there .
Google it .

 

[holyindian]

Nice thread, i am planning to buy a decent car stereo within a couple of weeks.

Seems lots have been said and done on this thread.
Just to sum up to one model... Please guide me...
I am looking for a car stereo.. that can be used with Infiniti G37.
There shud be options or shud support to change the song track and other iphone audio controls on the audio unit.
Decent sound quality. EQ, etc.

 

[McBeats]

nice one I'm about to get a new car stereo myself... since I'm on a small budget, I believe I'll try the Sony CDX-640UI for $150 or the 630UI from last yr, only $99. both of em works with iphone 3g tooboth

 

[POX]

I buy this alpine 103BT.

It allows phonebook access from head-unit and ipod navigation throw the rear cable, doesn´t support AD2P but this feature is only to show to our friends. 🙂

 

[QuarterSwede]

I dont think any units bought from the U.S. will work in the UK . Something about the frequencies being odd numbers here and even numbers there .
Google it .

It'll work in the UK you just won't be able to tune in on the radio as that's what you're referring to. US radio channels are odd (ex. 98.5) and UK are even (ex. 98.6).

Nice thread, i am planning to buy a decent car stereo within a couple of weeks.

Seems lots have been said and done on this thread.
Just to sum up to one model... Please guide me...
I am looking for a car stereo.. that can be used with Infiniti G37.
There shud be options or shud support to change the song track and other iphone audio controls on the audio unit.
Decent sound quality. EQ, etc.

Do yourself a favor and go to Crutchfield.com. Not only do their filters help narrow down your options (especially "what fits in my car") but they also offer free wiring harnesses so you don't have to splice cables and they give you a sheet of instructions on how to install the head unit in your particular car.

I've bought all my car speakers and head units from them. I can't recommend them enough.

 

[ssimkins]

I bought this last year.

I was looking for a good head unit for my vehicle and found a double din pioneer unit that I really liked, FH-P8000BT. It has has both bluetooth a2dp and usb ipod control so it should play well with the iphone. Price is about $250. I ordered it today so I will report back on how well it works with the iphone 3GS.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/In-Dash/CD-Players/Pioneer/FH-P8000BT

I bought this stereo last year and have had issues with the compatibility with the iPhone 3G and the 3GS. Since Apple has updated the phones to 3.0 the Bluetooth phone capabilities are unusable. It always sound like your underwater. Two different phones sound this way.

Also, the deck randomly every now and then will reset the iPhone. This also has happened with two different phones. I am so fed up with this thing, I am looking for a deck to replace it. I feal it was a complete waste of money. I gave Pioneer a support ticket but have not heard from them at all (It has been over a month).

 

[ArrowSmith]

Maybe Apple should use some of their cash hoard to create a new, innovative car stereo pre-designed with optimal iProduct integration.

 

[Fofer]

If you haven't realized already, that's not a bug. The five second pause you hear is the Bluetooth Audio kicking in since Apple doesn't give users an option to disable AD2P on the iPhone.

For what it's worth, if you jailbreak, and install "Bluetooth Profile Selector" you can disable AD2P:

Totally worth jailbreaking, for this and so many other reasons. And it couldn't be simpler nowadays...

 

[strike1555]

I bought this stereo last year and have had issues with the compatibility with the iPhone 3G and the 3GS. Since Apple has updated the phones to 3.0 the Bluetooth phone capabilities are unusable. It always sound like your underwater. Two different phones sound this way.

Also, the deck randomly every now and then will reset the iPhone. This also has happened with two different phones. I am so fed up with this thing, I am looking for a deck to replace it. I feal it was a complete waste of money. I gave Pioneer a support ticket but have not heard from them at all (It has been over a month).

I have not had a single one of those problems with either my 3G or 3GS (running the latest firmware) with this unit.

 

[cristianx]

check this out: PARROT

 

[tootiny]

woohoo!!

Just installed a Pioneer DEH-P3100UB to replace a Sony Xplod unit that has failed for the second time in 4 years (and only had an AUX in port). The Pioneer has a USB port in addition to the aux, and I can verify that the USB charges my iPhone 3GS and the sound is terrific.

I soldered all the connections too. Looks great and sounds great!

I'm so happy to get also get rid of the Kensington LiquidAUX charger/aux combo I was using. It sounded muddy and always had this annoying whine in the background. The Pioneer has absolutely zero background noise (which I attribute solely to my soldering skills!)

I can't believe Best Buy wanted $50 for a geek squad install plus additional money for all the VW-specific accessories to make it fit. Crutchfield sold me the head unit for $20 less than best buy and its included instructions were more than adequate. Saved myself around $90 🙂

Hey,

I recently installed a Pioneer DEH-P3100UB as well. At first everything worked perfectly(playing and charging iPhone 3GS), however now(a week or two later) the charging seems to be having issues. I am using an iPhone 3GS on firmware 3.1.2 and most the time it will give me the error that the accessory doesn't support charging, other times it will charge for a very short time (seconds) and then stop charging. All other features still work perfectly. I can't remember if i was using a different firmware (if I was it would of been 3.1) on the iPhone when it was working perfectly but that pretty much the only thing I can think of that might of changed. Any one have any ideas as to what my problem might be? I haven't been able to find any help online, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[ngenerator]

Sorry for the slight necro, but it's better than opening up a new thread 🙂

I know things change and become obsolete almost monthly, but I'm so excited today! I just squeeked in and bought the last refurb Kenwood KDC-MP642U from Crutchfield.
I can't wait for it to be delivered (which should be Friday)! I've been stuck w/ my stock CD player for over a year since it was jacked last January. It looks like I'll be able to control the iPod and iPhone either through the head unit or just on the iPod/Phone itself. Charging was also a main reason why I went with this one, but it seems like most new receivers do offer this option nowadays.

 

[dannnyh]

I've just had a Sony MEX-BT3700u fitted. £159.99
Works great with my 3G. Audio through Bluetooth works from the iPod, Navigon Sat Nav & Sky Sports. Very happy with it. 🙂

 

[striker1]

I've just had a Sony MEX-BT3700u fitted. £159.99
Works great with my 3G. Audio through Bluetooth works from the iPod, Navigon Sat Nav & Sky Sports. Very happy with it. 🙂

I have the same and it worked great with my 3GS. I recently updated to iOS4.0 and now usb does not recognize the 3GS. It keeps showing "ipod not supported" or "ipod read". I contacted sony and they said i'ld call them but i don't think iOS4.0 is compatible with this. It is now useless for me. anyone else having same issue?

 

[mitsitsad]

I have had the Pioneer DEH-P6000UB since the original iphone came out and it works perfect with all iphones I have had - even allows you to switch to iphone control so you can use pandora through USB, my favorite choice

I know Alpine makes one that allows you to view song, artist, etc through the had unit when using pandora - pretty cool

 

[djgcue]

iP4 works perfect with the Kenwood DNX-9960

 

[WhoDatWayne]

I have had the Pioneer DEH-P6000UB since the original iphone came out and it works perfect with all iphones I have had - even allows you to switch to iphone control so you can use pandora through USB, my favorite choice

I know Alpine makes one that allows you to view song, artist, etc through the had unit when using pandora - pretty cool

Good to hear. Are you using the bluetooth adapter with the P6000? I have been thinking about the DEH-P6200BT.

 

[wingnut8]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

I have this. No complaints.

http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/ixa-w404

 

[e.m.]

iP4 works perfect with the Kenwood DNX-9960

I'm thinking of getting that head unit.

Over at the Kenwood forums, the mod there was saying you have to start the firmware upgrade process on a PC (download the zip on a pc, copy to a USB flash drive on a PC, etc). He says it'll brick the HU if you do this process with a Mac. Have you found this to be true? I just find it hard to believe because all we're using the computer for is to download the file, unzip it, and copy the contents to a USB flash drive.

 

[BulletToothTony]

cheap, ugly while closed but very very useful and... oh yeah CHEAP!

http://www.amazon.com/Dual-XML8110-amplifier-Full-DIN-dash/dp/B003FDV7II/ref=pd_cp_e_2







MY REVIEW

 

[ntrigue]

I've always been an Alpine fan. The last time I looked (about 6 months ago) they had models specifically made for the iPod. Those models don't have any ability to play CDs. They also make dual purpose models too. Both have a high speed cable that connects to their Ai-Net and have the ability to control your iPod from the HU iirc. Might be worth a look.

The W404 from Alpine even shows your video on a 3-inch screen.

http://www.amazon.com/ALPINE-IXAW404-DIGITAL-MEDIA-STATION/dp/B002C0P37G

 

[agaurav]

I have the same and it worked great with my 3GS. I recently updated to iOS4.0 and now usb does not recognize the 3GS. It keeps showing "ipod not supported" or "ipod read". I contacted sony and they said i'ld call them but i don't think iOS4.0 is compatible with this. It is now useless for me. anyone else having same issue?

Hi, I am facing the same problem. I found this thread searching for anyone with the same problem. I have had the Sony MEX-BT3700U for 8 months now and it worked fine with my iPhone 32 GB 3GB until I upgraded the firmware to iOS 4.0 and now the USB audio plays for 5 seconds and then shuts off. I have to use Bluetooth and that is a pain. No one is talking about and I have sent an email to Sony Style but no response yet.

 

[kdawg]

DON"T buy the pioneer Appradio

I purchased the Pioneer Appradio. It's total garbage. I contacted pioneer and they actually had a rep call me back about my issues. However, he made it quite clear that my problems would not be addressed and that they would not be spending "that kind of money" to resolve the valid issues I had with the product. - If you want my entire review, go to Amazon and read the review. It's too lengthy to type up here.

I told the rep from Pioneer that bluetooth was terrible and that I should have the option to run the phone through the 30 pin connecter since it is plugged in anyways. The Pioneer rep said, bluetooth is what it was, and that they would never allow me to plug in the phone. I spent $399 for terrible bluetooth?

The pioneer rep said that the Appradio was nothing more than an FM tuner with a port for a backup camera and a touch screen. (he was trying to blame the falts of their product on the iphone) However, this means that this product is a ripoff if they are charging $399 for an FM Tuner and a touch interface.

They geniuses at pioneer also tried to blame their products FAIL on Apples API's however when I had previously connected my iphone to my trucks radio, it knew when the vehicle was turned off, and the iphone would stop playing the musing. Pioneer has not figured this out. So when you turn your vehicle off, the ipod/iphone continues silently pumping music, so you are never where you left off. (Plus I bet this has a draw on battery).

But the Appradio is so buggy that nothing is really consistent. Sometimes when I reconnect the unit (After being out of my car for 3-5 min), it has no idea where you left off and so you have to restart the iphone/ipod.

There are a ton of other problems with this product. I was going to keep it in hopes that they would update the devices firmware and the AppRadio app. However the rep from Pioneer told me that they would not spend the resources to address the lengthy list of issues I have with a product that is still in BETA

DON"T BUY

 

[braddk]

don't buy app radio

I purchased the Pioneer Appradio. It's total garbage. I contacted pioneer and they actually had a rep call me back about my issues. However, he made it quite clear that my problems would not be addressed and that they would not be spending "that kind of money" to resolve the valid issues I had with the product. - If you want my entire review, go to Amazon and read the review. It's too lengthy to type up here.

I told the rep from Pioneer that bluetooth was terrible and that I should have the option to run the phone through the 30 pin connecter since it is plugged in anyways. The Pioneer rep said, bluetooth is what it was, and that they would never allow me to plug in the phone. I spent $399 for terrible bluetooth?

The pioneer rep said that the Appradio was nothing more than an FM tuner with a port for a backup camera and a touch screen. (he was trying to blame the falts of their product on the iphone) However, this means that this product is a ripoff if they are charging $399 for an FM Tuner and a touch interface.

They geniuses at pioneer also tried to blame their products FAIL on Apples API's however when I had previously connected my iphone to my trucks radio, it knew when the vehicle was turned off, and the iphone would stop playing the musing. Pioneer has not figured this out. So when you turn your vehicle off, the ipod/iphone continues silently pumping music, so you are never where you left off. (Plus I bet this has a draw on battery).

But the Appradio is so buggy that nothing is really consistent. Sometimes when I reconnect the unit (After being out of my car for 3-5 min), it has no idea where you left off and so you have to restart the iphone/ipod.

There are a ton of other problems with this product. I was going to keep it in hopes that they would update the devices firmware and the AppRadio app. However the rep from Pioneer told me that they would not spend the resources to address the lengthy list of issues I have with a product that is still in BETA

DON"T BUY

thanks for this. I was 1 day from buying it

btw pandora doesn't work in europe and the scrolling of songs docent work either I found out

It is in beta but its a great start I think Ill wait for the upgrade I think

 

[Poob Bubes]

Yeah, I was all hyped about the AppRadio when it was released... until I started reading the reviews. I purchased the AVH-P3300BT instead and it rocks! Got it for $350.