GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Well...I've already replaced my stock headunit once because of problems and I'm going to have to do it again because its starting to skip. Once hte warentees up I'm not gonna replace a third headunit so I started to look for aftermarket cd players.At first I searched for some that were XM Ready. Well all the ones I found were unbarably plain looking OR they cost $4 Billion. I decided then to search for just any head unit without XM Ready options. 99% of all that I found either cost the 4 billion or were still ugly. To me spending more on a single car stereo piece than you did on your whole home entertainment unit including tv, dvd, vhs, cd, receiver, speakers, and surroundsound is just stupid...(kind of sarcastic)The only two I found that fit my price range of max. $180 and appearance tastes were the Dual XD7600, the Aiwa CDC-X504MP, and JVC Arsenal. I'm sure there were a few others I could buy if I absolutely had to choose one. I mean, some of the Clarion ones cost $300 and look worse than my dad's old '70s Kenwood record player!!!Anyways the reason I'm posting this is becuase I want a new headunit and either I'm not lookin in the right spot or there is just an extremely sh*tty selection of headunits in the 2004-2005 line up...I would LOVE to get an in-dash LCD screen but I have a hard time imagining that $1500 is worth it lol. Any idea if and when those will go down in price?

Good luck on those screens going down to anything reasonable anytime soon! As for HUs, have you tried Ebay? You can get some sweet deals on some bad-@$$ HUs on Ebay. Most decent HUs are going to be out of your price range, that's just a fact of life. I paid almost $400 for my Alpine CDA-9833! It has a lot of stuff, though. If you just need a CD player, those really aren't THAT expensive. If you want WMA/MP3 you're going to pay a little more. If you want XM or Sirius, keep adding! You can get a nice Pioneer or something for about $150, but I don't know what your tastes are. You already have a setup so you should be able to install it yourself which would save you some $$ as well. Pick a brand that you like and go to their website. See if they have one you really like and then price it on the i-net. Maybe even see if you can find one on Ebay for a good price. The more you want out of it, the more it's gonna cost ya! CC and BB are about the cheapest places you are going to find a HU. Browse through theirs and maybe you will find something you like that is in your price range. Just my $0.02! Good luck and hope you find something.

I've had Kenwoods, Alpines, Sonys, JVC's, and now a Panasonic head units. Overall, I'd say I've been happiest with the JVC I had (until someone wanted it more than I did....), and the Panasonic I have, and I don't think I spent more than $200 on any of them. (except the $400 Kenwood that the insurance company bought for us) This place has a good selection, and decent prices: http://www.autotoys.comCrutchfield is another website where you can get some good info off of, but I've found their prices to be a little higher than others.

Pioneers are great. We at CC have an in-dash Jensen screen for $799 that's pretty decent.Most problems i've seen have been with Kenwoods, Panasonics, and JVCs. XM, depending on which one you go with, will cost you at least $99 for the XM Direct setup.

Pioneer DEH-P8600MP here, and LOVING it!You'd be surprised how cheap you can get head units online...Find a model you like that's *just* out of your budget, go to shopping.com, put in the model number, I bet you'll find it at an online store well within your financial constraints! I got the 8600 for around 330-ish online, was just under $500 in the stores!!!

Thanks for all your help I only need my headunit to play cds I don't need it to remotely arm cruise missles or drive air craft carriers. What is good about MP3 and WMA ones?ok, I found one. The JVC KDG800.http://buy.overstock.com/image...0.jpg

MP3s are what you DL on the internet. You can save hundreds of them to 1 CD instead of only 20 or so. It's a computer file instead of an audio file.

Oh...well, the only MP3 cd I have I already burned onto three regular cds so I don't need MP3. My computer is 6 years old anyways so downloading music is not a very popular option with it.

HiyaQuote, originally posted by Merzbow »I would LOVE to get an in-dash LCD screen but I have a hard time imagining that $1500 is worth it lol. Any idea if and when those will go down in price?I dunno when they'll go down in price but I've been keeping my eye on a Kenwood Double Din unit on Ebay and it seems to be in the$900-$1100 range. Unfortunately, this is still a bit much for me since I'll have to do a complete speak/amp/Head Unit install.Dave

Yeah to me that's WAYYYY too much for a car radio. That's like spending $400 on a pair of sunglasses...some people do it but I sure as hell wont lol. I'm happy with my $3 ebay Aviators.

Buy my radio bro. I shall hold on to it for you as well.Inder