The Best of All Possible Worlds

[bluecrab]

For months now, I have been copying books-on-CD to CD-R/W so that my wife can listen to them in her 2004 Subaru, which had a factory stereo. These books on CD average about 9 or 10 discs, so no matter how you do it, copying them is on the tedious side. (I mainly was using an Aiwa standalone CD recorder that will copy to CD-R/W, but at only 2x.) I also have to make any music CDs she wanted for her car, although these I can do at 4x on CD-R, or sometimes via iTunes.

Then, just two days ago, the CD player in the Subaru failed. It would load but would not play a CD. Replacing it quickly was important, as CD playing ability was needed by this weekend! We considered a newer factory stereo from Subaru that would play MP3 CDs - after all, I could fit all of an audiobook on one mp3 CD, using iTunes. Subaru, helpfully as it turned out, wanted a lot of money for a unit that would play MP3 CDs. Forget it.

What then? How about a nice inexpensive head unit - Clarion, Kenwood, Pioneer, whatever - that would play MP3 CDs? Well, maybe. I'd still have to fool around with iTunes, with MP3 CDs, with stuff I'd rather just not have to deal with. Somewhere in my basement, I knew, sat my previous car MD head unit - a nice Clarion RMX465D. Sure, the thing didn't have LP (great for audiobooks on MD), but you could still double the time by using mono, and for listening to a book read, that would be fine. My wife seemed agreeable to the idea.

It took a couple of hours, almost, of poking around, but I did find the RMX465D. Yesterday, the local car stereo guy installed it in the Subaru and by last night, a tutorial on how to use it was being given by me. It looks great in the Subaru, sounds terrific and we are now an all-MD family, at least for car audio. I am already putting books onto MD for her. I am, in fact, a bit jealous, because the Clarion's tuner is better than the one in my Sony CA680X, although the Sony has LP - important for me.

The Clarion can be seen here:

http://www.minidisc.org/part_Clarion_RMX-465D.html

My wife reported that the car stereo guy "seemed surprised" that she would want the MD unit instead of the somewhat overpriced Kenwood he wanted to sell her, but he still did a fine job of installation, just as he did when I needed my Sony reinstalled and a speaker repaired. This guy is the owner of the shop and has been so for over 20 years. He told my wife that at one time he had three full-time installers working for him, but that business is far less good now and that he mainly does all the work himself. Seems a shame. I know there are a lot of new cars that come with integrated audio units, so you don't really have all the after-market options you once did. In fact, when I bought my Ford Escape in 2006, one of the reasons I bought it was that you could easily pull the stereo and out in an after-market.

Edited August 12, 2009 by bluecrab

[sfbp]

Not in the least to try and cap your story - well done - but I ended up with Sony headunits (1 installed and one for backup when/if it fails in a few years) because I could do three things:

1. Listen to MD on my MDLP changer (these are still available quite easily in Japan, and last time I checked in the UK too)

2. Listen to Atrac3+ and MP3 and WMA and AAC on the single CD player. This gives about 25 hours at the speed you care about (Hi-LP or LP4) for talking books.

3. Plug in a Sony XT-XM1 satellite radio (it goes under the seat with the changer and connects directly to it in pass through mode - "daisy chain" on the same cabling that the changer uses) and for $15 a month listen to some really quite decent channels on XM Radio (sorry for the commercial content here).

I did do all the work of installing it myself but I have time on my hands at present, and it was mostly chasing around getting this or that bit. If you look at the install instructions for the head unit (here), you will see the general idea of how it is laid out. Really the hardest part was getting something that fit the Sony headunit into my Detroit-made car, and there are kits. This of course is the information that the installers charge you for

I am seriously wondering about a site for XM/Sirius addicts too - but as the company is in danger of becoming extinct despite many Fords, VW and other makes having Sat radio out of the factory, I think that might be rather a moot point. I would be most interested to hear from fellow users about any of the above equipment.

Anyway, back to the Off-Topic on topic Bruce...... nice to hear.

Stephen

[bluecrab]

Not in the least to try and cap your story....

Not at all. In fact, your response has reminded me that I should keep an eye out for another CA680X on ebay, in case mine fails. I guess on the off chance that a Clarion RMX465D ever appears on ebay, I ought look out for that one, too. Your CDX-GT510 looks much like the CA680X, not all that surprising given they're both of Sony's Xplod series.

I actually have installed a few CS, CD, and MD head units, and they have always worked. But they've never looked or fitted quite as nice as what the local guy did. That's just me, I s'pose.

Now, my current major beef with car MD head units is that few (any???) of them have Type S Atrac. That and, oh yeah, you cannot buy a new one any more! :-(

[sfbp]

Not at all. In fact, your response has reminded me that I should keep an eye out for another CA680X on ebay, in case mine fails. I guess on the off chance that a Clarion RMX465D ever appears on ebay, I ought look out for that one, too. Your CDX-GT510 looks much like the CA680X, not all that surprising given they're both of Sony's Xplod series.

However although I cannot find the CA680X, I think it dates from a period before Sony threw in Unilink "for free". Most of the newer models have it. For $50 (second hand, or $90 new from Dakmart here on ebay) you can have your pick. Unilink is sooo nice because now any addon from Sony "just works".

I actually have installed a few CS, CD, and MD head units, and they have always worked. But they've never looked or fitted quite as nice as what the local guy did. That's just me, I s'pose.

Now, my current major beef with car MD head units is that few (any???) of them have Type S Atrac. That and, oh yeah, you cannot buy a new one any more! :-(

I never noticed the lack of Type-S. It sounds pretty decent, the most I ever had to do was tweak the treble and bass (-3 and +3 respectively). However as I keep pumping again and again, Atrac3+ (no need for a HiMD unit, SonicStage does it all) sounds amazing on a CD.

Cheers