New Headunit Time!

xcessive · 13 Jan 2006 at 20:22

Hi

As you may remember in a previous thread my current headunit has died.
It died a couple of days ago so my brother is letting me borrow £150 to buy a new one.
There's only 1 problem though, as i havent had a headunit in the car for a week it is driving me mental so i will have to go to Halfords to buy one.
Halfords is the nearest car audio place to me and as im desperate to buy one there is no choice.
I know i could find the same headunit cheaper elsewhere but i dont care.

Anyway...
I've got £150 to spend.
The headunit MUST be able to play MP3 cd's as well as allow me to plug my amp into it.
It also must be a face off one and look quite nice!
I would also prefer it to have aux in as well so i can plug in my iPod - this isnt a necessity but it would be nice.
There are 3 headunits off the Halfords website that i like the look of and seem pretty good, they are:

JVC KD-SH9102
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&productId=196391&categoryId=31445&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=31445&crumb=31265-31371-31445&varient=&CarSelectorCatalogId=

JVC KD-LH811
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&productId=174046&categoryId=31445&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=31445&crumb=31265-31371-31445&varient=&CarSelectorCatalogId=

Sony CDXGT300SI
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&productId=232751&categoryId=31445&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=31445&crumb=31265-31371-31445&varient=&CarSelectorCatalogId=

I havent managed to look over the stats properly yet but i'm leaning more towards the JVC KD-LH811.

If there are any other headunits on the Halfords website that are good (and under £150) i wouldnt mind considering them.

Also, would i need any wiring adaptors? If i so i'll need to budget for that as well so may have to spend less on a headunit.
At the moment my car has an ISO adaptor.

xcessive · 13 Jan 2006 at 20:52

Nickg said:
anyway, why not get a decent headunit

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/pro...d=4015&cadid=1cb13f1d8b40dc725222d3a876a63a85

150 on the nose inc free shipping. great unit, colours changeable from Green LED to RED, looks the nuts.

organic OEL screen, etc etc...

What does that headunit offer that the ones i've singled out above dont?
I will definitely be buying tomorrow as my brother has given me £150 cash.
Halfords is my only option as it's the only store near me that has a decent selection of headunits at a fair price.

xcessive · 13 Jan 2006 at 21:07

I know Halfords can be more expensive than online stores but they have a sale on JVC units and the 2 i have selected look good as well as have decent specs.

I just need you guys to tell me which JVC one to get. Iv'e heard bad things about Sony headunits, just gimmiky.

xcessive · 13 Jan 2006 at 21:14

Just checked out online and Halfords is the cheapest for the JVC KD-LH811 headunit.
i think im going to buy it tomorrow

xcessive · 13 Jan 2006 at 21:17

andi said:
JVC aren't much better in your budget really.

Are there no small car audio places near you? There's quite a few near here..

No other places really

xcessive · 13 Jan 2006 at 22:09

unclelonghair said:
Can recommend JVC - sound and build quality are very good.

I've just taken a 909 out of my car as I'm selling it next week, and it's painful having to go back to the factory fit unit

I had one of the original Kenwood MP3 headunits before that, and the navigation through folders on the JVC was much easier. Not sure how it compares to Sony though.

The 909 was the top of the range JVC head unit when I bought it, and cost £350. It had good reviews, but I mainly picked it because of the look - it is a perfect match for Mark IV Golf's, Bora's and all the other VW's with blue illumination and red buttons - but as soon as it was installed I knew I had made the right decision, as not only did it look great, it also sounded great. The 7 band equaliser on the JVC's is not at all gimmicky - it allows you to match the sound to the response of your speakers, and the ability to disable the internal amp helped keep the temperatures down as I added amps.

The 9102 basically the new version of the 909's little brother, with no front aux input and a smaller display, but should give a similar sound quality. It has a rear line-in so you could hard wire in the cables to connect an iPod.

You can download the manuals for them from here if you want to check out the specs - from a brief glance it would appear you can't disable the internal amp on the 811, which may be an issue if you want to add external amps.

If it was me I would just go for whichever JVC suits the look of your car best.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for a detailed reply.
By the way, i will be connecting my amp to the headunit but i never had a problem with my Sony headunit and that didnt have an option to disable the internal amp.
My amp will only be powering my sub.

Also, do the JVC headunits use ISO connetion in the back or do they use their own adaptor like Alpine do? If they do require an extra adaptor is it included in the box?

Thanks

xcessive · 15 Jan 2006 at 22:02

In the end i went for the JVC KD-LH811
Bought it from Halfords, was the cheapest price around.
Some online places sold it for around £145-150 but once you add on P+P it goes over my budget.

xcessive · 15 Jan 2006 at 22:53

djbenjo said:
So you completely ignored everyone in this thread then

lol kind of.
I did spend a lot of time reading around JVC units because they were very cheap on the Halfords website.
The one i bought gets good reviews, was well prices so i bought it.
The Pioneer ones in my budget looked very horrible despite being one of the best.
Alpine units in my budget seemed to be bottom of the range ones and i would have wanted a motorised and one with glide touch.

xcessive · 15 Jan 2006 at 22:54

lmfy2k said:
have you installed it yet mate? whats it like?

Not yet, having problems with wiring it in!
I bought a new ISO loom with the unit but still it wouldnt work.
I've got a feeling the fuse in the car has gone or maybe a dodgy earth somewhere.

xcessive · 17 Jan 2006 at 21:14

Morba said:
dont halfords do free fitting on head units most of the time?
get them to do it

Yep got them to do it today.
The bloke that fitted it for me was a nice guy and he even connected my amp to the headunit (wires were already behind dash board just needed to be connected to back of headunit.
I'm happy with the service and they even gave me some fluffy dice as i had to wait around 10mins because the job before me was taking longer than scheduled!

To be honest i dont know why people slate Halfords. I admit some of their stuff is overpriced and some of the numpty's behind the counter may act as if they know everything but for a store that is nationwide and sells everything you need for your car it's not bad.

LOL - just looked at the price of the headunit online and they've put it up to £200.

xcessive · 17 Jan 2006 at 22:09

djbenjo said:
I slate Halfords because I can often not believe how much of an utter mess they make when doing a simple task such as fitting a cd player. Most people couldn't make a mess of it if they tried - don't know how they do it tbh.

Several of my friends have worked at Halfords and openly admitted thrashing customers cars about in the service yard.

Of my mates got his headunit fitted by them about 6 months ago and they fitted it fine. I got mine fitted today and it was fitted fine. Only took about 15mins in total.
I was a little shocked when he said he said he moved my car round to the main car park. I thought they weren't insured to drive customers cars.