Why are car stereos so U-G-L-Y?

[mcnicks]

I just got this one a few days ago:

I could be doing with less blue lighting but the controls are pretty simple: flick the right hand knob to the right skips to the next track. That's basically all I need.

 

[LumbermanSVO]

I took some pics with my iPhone. See the attached pics below. In order:

1. The dash showing both radios.
2. A close up of the Pioneer DEH-P880PRS.
3. Pro-Clip pass-through iPhone holder.
4. Remotes, the big one stays in the sleeper, the little one is used when driving.
5. My other radio, a Cobra 29 LTD turned up to a little over 45 watts.

 

[kellen]

That particular Alpine seems to come recommended in a lot of places. Is it really all that great?

I like it. Biggest pet peeve is it won't charge the iphone 3g. I have a connector that goes between the iphone and the ipod cable to charge it. Works fine.

Havent used the usb yet, just trying to get a cheap drive. Also have a satellite radio hooked up to it via aux in and it is perfect.

 

[Galley]

A couple of years ago I had a Sony that had a brushed chrome face. It was gorgeous.

 

[NATO]

Urgh... Aftermarket car stereos are an abomination. My car doesn't have an AUX in and I wanted to hook up my iPhone so I thought about replacing the standard Ford stereo for an aftermarket one. I must have looked at a hundred different stereos and every single one of them was uglier than sin. It's almost like they are being deliberately designed to put as many flashing lights, buttons and knobs on as physically possible.

My Ford stereo is a double height one - it has a simple LCD display, an ON/OFF knob which doubles as a volume control, 6 Radio Presets, a Forward/Back rocker switch and a menu button. That's ALL a car stereo needs.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Urgh... Aftermarket car stereos are an abomination. My car doesn't have an AUX in and I wanted to hook up my iPhone so I thought about replacing the standard Ford stereo for an aftermarket one. I must have looked at a hundred different stereos and every single one of them was uglier than sin. It's almost like they are being deliberately designed to put as many flashing lights, buttons and knobs on as physically possible.

My Ford stereo is a double height one - it has a simple LCD display, an ON/OFF knob which doubles as a volume control, 6 Radio Presets, a Forward/Back rocker switch and a menu button. That's ALL a car stereo needs.

Exactly, and for some reason, the majority of them are only half height, requiring you to have an ugly gap underneath your abomination.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Exactly, and for some reason, the majority of them are only half height, requiring you to have an ugly gap underneath your abomination.

Thy wouldn't be half height, it would be the standard DIN. The double sized ones you're thinking of as full size are actually twice the standard size or "double DIN." It's the car manufacturers who are breaking with standards not the aftermarket makers. Remember the Ford Taurus and the awful oval stereo? THAT was an abomination.

Oh and for those looking for a great place to buy a stereo (head unit is the industry term) look into crutchfield.com. They include free wiring harnesses (no wire cutting), plastic mounts (so you dont have that ugly hole) and installation guides for just about every vehicle so you don't have to buy them.

 

[Benguitar]

my kenwood sounds great, isn't very flashy, and has a usb port to read my mp3s off of a jump drive.

Nnnnniiiiiiiicccccceeeee!


My guess is that most car stereos that come default in the automobile are "low quality" standard stereos that don't do anything great. That is why new custom replacement stereos are so expensive because they're a lot better quality.


That's just my guess and I could be wrong.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Here's what I have in my car now:

Sony CDX-GT730UI

It's not the most beautiful unit but at least it's reasonably functional and it does interface very well with the 3G iPod nano (8 GB) and 4G iPod nano (16 GB) players I own.