Anyone know of an aesthetically nice car radio?

[Fidalgo911S]

Seriously. I have been looking a lot at old and new car radios. The old ones, the OE types, look great but really aren't good radios. Becker pinstripe models are the best looking but not worth the price IMHO. The new Becker Mexico is very cool but $1500? Come on, really?

The new car stereos....who is designing this stuff? Do they know anything about proportion and style or is this a race to make one's dash look like a cheap UFO? Complete with purple lights and curved asymmetric buttons. At least that's how I see it. No offense to anyone.

So does anyone know of a nice looking car stereo that won't cost a bundle? An AM/FM radio is what I'm after, the rest is fluff. Any year and manufacturer. Thanks.

[Pazuzu]

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=070XC4100&tp=5684

Dial styling, but with good internal electronics (well, better than a 40 year old Becker) and a front aux input for your stylish Ipod or non-Apple media replacement. Cheapest thing Crutchfield still carries.

[Eric Coffey]

McIntosh MX406:

[Pazuzu]

That one looked interesting, until I checked out the price!!! Holy fazoly (I just made that up)!

[Fidalgo911S]

Yes that does look nice. And expensive.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Becker Mexico


Becker Mexico 2

[MattKellett]

I installed a Porsche/Becker CDR 210.

They're often on ebay for $150-$200 or you can buy a serviced unit from SW Stereo.

It's a clean design, although no way to plug in ipod. If that's something you need then you would have to get the newer CDR 220. If you have a pre 993 911, you would need to get the display modified which SW Stereo can do.

Matt

[VINMAN]

That McIntosh is sweet! But I can buy another car for that price.

Its tough to find a head unit without disco lights and plasma screens on them. I guess the designers are catering to the "bling" crowd. The Alpines I have in my 944 and my Ram are fairly subduded, and also one of the few out there that come in black and not silver or neon.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

We put a Clarion in the 993. Great sound through lousy speakers. FB275BTB or the earlier model. The unit is clean, AM/FM/SD Chip (this is up to 2GB of MP3 music) and you can easily plug in a separate audio source. And it is bluetooth so you can talk handsfree in the car. Of course, the lovely music from the horizontally opposed 6 in our 993 precludes the use of this option...

http://www.clarion.com/us/en/products/2008/audio/source_units/bluetooth_sd/index.html

[Porsche-O-Phile]

A lot of the earlier/older Blaupunkt units are nice. There are a couple out now that are reasonably simple/classic/uncluttered looking on the market (forget the exact models though).

Most of the stuff today is crap - way too busy and "blingy". I hate that. Less is more when it comes to car stuff.

[Fidalgo911S]

Great leads. Thanks guys.

[porsche4life]

This is what I have in the 944 and it sounds amazing. Its not super blingy and it has lots of features for 199
Just blends in as evidenced by this picture.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

We put a Clarion in the 993. Great sound through lousy speakers. FB275BTB or the earlier model.

Wow... That is nice and a lot of features for the price... too bad I already put a JVC in my dash. The JVC sounds great, has HD, and isn't too flashy but doesn't have bluetooth or an SD slot. (edit: IT COSTS THAT SAME AS THE JVC) It was a little cheaper but I would pay the extra $50 for the extra features on the Clarion.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=105KDHDR30&tp=5684

[Fidalgo911S]

Thanks to the leads from this thread, I ordered the Blaupunkt Bahamas MP46



It has a nice list of features plus cost less than $100 shipped from Amazon. It has a well balanced look and not too many buttons. I especially like the large selection of background colors. What I don't like is the dog bone shape in chrome.

While the McIntosh, Becker Mexico and Becker Grand Prix 7990 were beautiful, I didn't want to spend that much for an occasional use radio.

Thanks again!

[FastCarFan]

When I bought my 911 a previous owner had installed a very "blingy" radio. So I put this one in. It is not very expensive.



The funny thing is, I rarely listen to the radio in the car, but I couldn't stand looking at the blingy one.

[legion]

I've always wanted to put the Panasonic CQ-TX550D in a car myself...

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by FastCarFan

When I bought my 911 a previous owner had installed a very "blingy" radio. So I put this one in. It is not very expensive.

That's what came with my car, and it is a nice radio...I would have suggested it, but I thought the OP wanted even MORE basic than that

I'm actually planning on removing the RPD-435 and putting in the cheapo dial one I linked, because I don't need that much radio.

Anyone who wnats cheap, basic, non-blingy radios...go to AutoZone, and look at their in house brands (or Checker, or Pepboys, or whomever). They all (at least 5 years ago) sold a few very cheap, very basic in house style radios that were not bling, and would never cause someone to break into your car They gave you AM and FM and maybe CD and possibly 20 watts per channel if you were lucky, but they were inconspicuous and $30.