Buying a car stereo form Amazon

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BigMal

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# 138350 31-Dec-2013 10:17

Does anyone know if car stereos purchased from Amazon US work ok in NZ?

I'm looking at this model http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-FH-X700BT-In-Dash-Receiver-Bluetooth/dp/B0091UW7F6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388438194&sr=8-1&keywords=FH-X700BT

Would all the plugs match ok? Would the FM tuner be compatible?

I intend to put it in a 2008 mazda atenza.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

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Vocus

# 959493 31-Dec-2013 10:55

You'll want a harness kit, but otherwise it should be OK. I think the FM frequencies are the same, someone else may be able to confirm.

Wade

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# 959501 31-Dec-2013 11:19

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No the frequency step is different, some units might be able to switch steps or else it requires a band expander

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

# 959502 31-Dec-2013 11:19

One thing though - have you figured out how it will physically fit? If the stereo is built into the dash you'll need a fitting kit as well...

BigMal

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# 959505 31-Dec-2013 11:23

Thanks for the advice. The car has built in nav but it's in japanese. The nav is double din so I assumed (maybe naively) that any double din stereo would fit?

Maybe I should just buy local......it's just so much more expensive....

gehenna

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# 959508 31-Dec-2013 11:27

Looks like the harness kit is one of the "users frequently buy this as well as this" options on the page anyway, so I'd just go with what people have previously bought as a combo with this head unit.

Also noticed if you are looking at specific cables it comes up at the top with a bunch of drop downs so you can select your car year/make/model to see if the cable will fit. That's clever Amazon!

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

# 959517 31-Dec-2013 11:45

Wade: No the frequency step is different, some units might be able to switch steps or else it requires a band expander

Looks like this will be a problem for FM reception, so keep that in mind... in the US they only step by 200Khz where we have stations in between where it can tune to. Doesn't seem to be any way to change it as it's a US/Canada only modem headunit. The local equivalent looks to be around $300NZD

jpoc

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# 959551 31-Dec-2013 12:39

Wade: No the frequency step is different, some units might be able to switch steps or else it requires a band expander

What he said.

US FM radio transmission frequencies all end in odd decimal digits. 88.1MHz, 88.3MHz etc.

Ours do not.

As wade said, some radios have selectable frequency steps and some also have manual tuning that ignores the steps but this is not the case for all radios so beware of that.

Also, the same applies to am bands.

mclean

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# 959567 31-Dec-2013 13:25

The one on Amazon (FH-X700BT) is a US model and doesn't allow you to change the tuning steps from the 200 kHz US standard. The local equivalent (FH-X755BT) lets you program both the FM and MW steps to suit the NZ frequencies. I think a band expander simply down-shifts the frequency but doesn't change the steps, so it's no use in this case.

McLean

paulspain

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# 959586 31-Dec-2013 14:26

For review purposes I sourced a similar (but single DIN) JVC head unit from US and found there was a setting that allowed me to switch to FM settings that suited NZ. You'd want to check the manual as this might not be the case with Pioneer.

Paul Spain
Founder: Gorilla Technology, NZ Tech Podcast, Cloud Labs, UFB.org.nz

ajobbins

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# 959653 31-Dec-2013 16:58

If you can afford to spend a bit more, have a look at some of the double DIN Android based units available.

Twitter: ajobbins

Gilco2

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# 959655 31-Dec-2013 17:08

not sure about now but many moons ago I toured USA by Greyhound bus and while there bought a good quality car stereo to bring back. This was 1991. Didnt work too well as the channel spacings were different than here.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

BigMal

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# 959720 31-Dec-2013 21:08

ajobbins: If you can afford to spend a bit more, have a look at some of the double DIN Android based units available.

Yeah to be honest I was researching replacing the head unit with a Nexus 7. Looks like it would fit perfectly, I could load all my music onto it, O could tether and use pandora and google maps. It would be cheap too! However I don;t have the skills to wire it up.

Are the other android units any good? Any recommendations?

tieke

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# 959798 1-Jan-2014 09:45

I replaced the japanese-language unit in my hiace with this one from dealextreme. Pretty impressed - it's a cheap win-ce based unit (the android ones were hundreds more) but does a good job - touchscreen, NZ radio frequencies supported, bluetooth phone integration, iPrimo GPS works well on it, plays videos etc. Obviously that one came with a Toyota loom, but the cheap chinese headunits are definitely worth a look.

mclean

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# 959851 1-Jan-2014 11:57

The first real android-based IVI system from a mainstream manufacturer is the Clarion AX1, just released. If this thing takes off and the price comes down it'll change everything for in-car PC's/navigation.

McLean

ilovemusic

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# 959852 1-Jan-2014 12:11

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dunno why you'd bother with a cheapo/no-name car stereo.

99.9% of them are crap.

poor build. poor compatibility, poor performance.

but they are cheep !

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