Just had the regular weekend e-mail newsletter from respected online retailer BigPockets with details of an unusual ICE product that might interest forum members.
Apart from RDS, EON and TA/TP, the H&B CA-5555 also features a USB pen drive socket (for MP3), Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card card reader slot (MP3), is compatible with Audio CD and CD-R/RW disks and delivers up to 4 x 45W.
Price is £89.99. See:
tinyurl.com/8amsz
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Sold out...would have been poss pressie for daughter for Xmas.
No means of connecting phone (Bluetooth?) :-)
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I actually bought and fitted one of these for someone last month. A very nice unit. H&B are a French company I believe (although the unit is made in the Far East). I bought it from Pixmania.com (it cost about £82 inc. delivery IIRC). Ebuyer also sell them. Its well made for the money, better than the cheaper 'major brand' units.
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I cannot see it sounding anywhere near as good as a unit from a proper car audio manufacturer.
At least I hope not, otherwise my unit with an RRP of £400 would have been a bit of a waste of time!
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>>from a proper car audio manufacturer.>>
Then it might surprise you to know that the biggest car audio manufacturer in the world is a world famous car maker.
You'll know it as Ford.
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Ford don't manufacture their audio units. Visteon www.visteon.com make the units.
"Opel, Saab and Fiat form the European element of Visteon's General Motors account; the CBG being led by James M. Bustamante. Further offices are also located close to the OEM facilities.
The following Customer Business Groups are based at Visteon's Kerpen HQ:
* German CBG (BMW, DaimlerChrysler and the Volkswagen Group)
* Opel, Saab and Fiat CBG
* Ford of Europe CBG (also located in Basildon, UK)
* European Aftermarket CBG
The Ford of Europe CBG is based in two locations: Kerpen and Basildon.
Away from Kerpen, two further CBGs serve the needs of, firstly, the Premier Automotive Group consisting of Jaguar, LandRover, Volvo and Aston Martin (based in Coventry, UK) headed by Huw Davies, and secondly, the French OEMs of PSA Peugeot Citroën and Renault-Nissan (located in Paris, France) under the leadership of Joël Coque."
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Stuff your MP3. For decent sound I'll have any ICE that offers twin 24-bit Burr-Brown DACs and a preout.
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Yup, I bet you can really appreciate the difference with the rotary hoe banging around in the back of the L200 and the cart springs creaking 10 to the dozen ;)
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Yup, I bet you can really appreciate the difference with the rotary hoe banging around in the back of the L200 and the cart springs creaking 10 to the dozen ;)
Nope, Mr$ has got a frankly appalling cheap kenwood number, connected by string to some yoghurt pots that are jokingly referred to as speakers.
In the Alfa however, it's a different matter. The tweeters are the weak point in there, as the standard midrange/bass unit in the front doors is actually pretty good.
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I'm obviously a little out of date - it seems Visteon was a spin off from the Ford Motor Company in 2000.
But I do recall that whenever on a new Ford launch and there was a new ICE system available, Ford always made a big play of the fact that it was the largest ICE manufacturer. It was something that originally surprised us, until remembering the Ford Motor Company's huge worldwide manufacturing base.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Visteon in the past maybe but lots of current Fords (in the UK) use Sony kit. My Mondeo 2004MY has an in-dash Sony 6-disc changer with Aux-in for MP3 player in the glove box.
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I cannot see it sounding anywhere near as good as a unit from a proper car audio manufacturer. At least I hope not, otherwise my unit with an RRP of £400 would have been a bit of a waste of time!
Well, it sounded better than the Sony MP3/CD unit I removed. I have no axe to grind though - not my car and not my choice of stereo.
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I still have the 300 quid Sony Minidisc player I bought 3 years ago in my car. Mainly because stubbornness prevents me from admitting that buying into minidisc in a big way was a mistake. Dammit. And my family bought Betamax, too.
MD's do have advantages though, you can get a few hours on each one with LP, and they're practically indestructable unless you leave them in sunlight.
Even better, this Sony head unit will take an iPod link, and even show the track names. :-)
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I'm very tempted by this because my previously excellent two-year-old Sony is getting temperamental: it forgets settings at random* and the front panel doesn't always make contact properly.
The B&H can be found at ebuyer.com at £78.49, pixmania.com at £77, and savastore.com at £76.48. The customer reviews on these sites are almost all favourable, although one or two people say they have had problems with USB pen drives. Those hoping to get USB hard drives to work seem a little optimistic to me. Even if the USB port is no good for its intended purpose, it could presumably be used for charging a mobile phone or MP3 player.
Anyone looking for a budget player that also does MP3s may also be interested in www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/dresden.asp . This lacks the card reader but is at least a recognised brand. Blaupunkt do make players with card readers but they cost a lot more.
MP3 is ideal for car listening: you can get a huge amount of music on a single disc without the need for a CD changer. The loss in quality caused by the MP3 compression is unlikely to be noticeable in what is inevitably a less than ideal listening environment
* Yes, I realise this could be evidence of a loose wire or incorrect installation.
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