Hi,

As some of you know, Mitsubishi just entered the Canada market a few months ago, and I finally purchased one last month.

Now, I have saved up enough $$ to change the stock CD receiver in my sedan. I am looking for a CD/MP3 receiver and decided to ask all of you for recommendation.

I cannot afford to spend anything more $500 Cdn ( roughly $300 US ) installed. I cannot afford to upgrade my factory speakers
at the moment, so the speakers must be able to handle the new receiver. A detachable face or some other security features is a must. If possible, I would love to get one of those receivers w/
one of those cool displays ( eg: dolpin dancing, race car racing around a track, etc ... ).

I would also like to get one that is XM-ready, but my friend say that it would be really hard to get one at my budget. Is this true ?

This is the 1st time I am getting a MP3 receiver ( Wait a minute, this is also my 1st car, so it makes perfect sense ) so what kind of features should I be looking for or avoid when shopping for a CD / MP3 receiver. Any particular brand that makes CD/MP3
receiver extremely well ? ... A friend told me to go with Alpine.
Any particular brand of CD/MP3 receiver that I should avoid ?

Any assistance in this " upgrade " would be much appreciated !

Thanks,

---
NewLancerOZ
2003 Mitsubishi Lancer OZ Rally Edition

 

I am a huge blaupunk fan due to them having some really high quality decks. check out their stats and other brands at crutchfield.com

The best blaupunk mp3 deck is like 400US

 

do the speakers before the head unit!!!

best I've seen is a Kenwood model for 249.99 from Crutchfield of all places with a signal noise ratio of 105db. Pretty damn good. Next best choice is Alpine low end V-drive series for 399.99 with 105db ratio and their sound shaping system.

 

I have a Sony head unit. It plays regular audio CDs and Mp3 CDs. I like it very much, just don't get a CD stuck in there. It was a pain to remove the CD.

 

One of my friend has a JVC (XXX-909) and hes really happy with it. Another friends has a Kenwood (XXX-619) and hes happy with it also. between the 2, id pick the kenwood, even though the JVC is a higher end deck. Personally, I'm a big Pioneer fan. Take into consideration how fast discs and tracks load then you select them as well as the simplicity of changing directories. you might wanna go to several stores with a MP3 CD filled with music that you listen to and test out the loading time and ease of use. return and let us know what deck you got. g'luck!!

 

If you are spending 300 dollars, definetly do the speakers first, the stock ones hold the stock head unit back, so that way when you get a new h.u. the stock speakers are gone. (they'd blow up or be really quiet with a new h.u.)

 

Yeah I heard this too. A lot of people I know say that upgrading the speakers first is a better idea.

I'm thinking if I ever had a car that I would like enough to upgrade the audio, I'd go with Alpine, thought I'd listen to other people's advice since I don't know too much in the terms of brands.

The one piece of advice I can give though is to avoid Jensen. My step-bro put one in his Crown Vic, and it scratches the crap outta his (:cough: MINE!! :cough: ) CDs.

Good luck with your work man.

 

i have a panasonic MP3 cd player. Cost 300, not installed. It looks really cool too. blue lights. you dont need to replace the speakers, i still have the factory speakers and they sound good even with the volume all the way up.

 

If you have a fairly powerful head unit that has no function problems (like not playing ) then speakers generally are the way to go first. You're more likely to run to the limit of the stock speakers than stock head unit in most modern cars.

 

my stock speakers are cool but i got them all hooked up to an amp so no bass goes to them.

 

Don't go with sony it sucks, Kenwood is ok, Pioneer is tight, Alpine is awsome I have went with alpine since I was 16 and I would choose no other. Check Panasonic i think they are good. I say save up your money first. and maybe shop around ebay to find a cheap nice brand that satisfy you

 

I have the alpine 7897, it is the best deck i or anyone of my friends has ever had, it is pricey though, the MSRP is 600, but i got it for 500, and im sure you can find it for even less, but it was well worth it, and the features are great, id go with that if i wanted a really good deck.

 

I have to add in two cents here owning JVC's premiere mp3 head. I own the SH-99 (digifine 2.1). It is a very nice head and right now pricing mid 250s. The best features are 3 sets of 4v preouts AND the ability to turn off the internal amp, which if you ever plan on using an external multi channel amp is a very very good thing. As for features it is great except for one thing that I will complain about. It only reads IDv1 tags, other than that I have had great success with the head. Reads all my mp3 discs and reads them well.

 

also with the JVC digifine 2.1 mp3 model it gives you a true 3 band parametric EQ that is customizable. will work very well to tuning those beautiful paper cones into sounding good enough for a while at least.