Hi all,
I'm looking to replace my 2000 i30t's Bose HU with a Sirius-compatible HU, and have a few questions. I know jack about car audio (obviously), so any help is much appreciated.
1. Can someone recommend a decent HU? All it needs to do is play CDs and be Sirius ready. It does not have to be fancy, and though I'd like it to sound good, since I'm not an audio expert, I will be happy with something that sounds no worse than the factory Bose setup (I get the feeling from reading these forums that pretty much anything will be an improvement, but I figure I should ask anyway). Oh, and it would be nice if the faceplate detached or retracted, as I work in a somewhat dodgy area of town. $200 or less would be an ideal price range for the HU alone if that's feasible.
2. Other than the HU and satellite antenna, to make this work with my factory amp and speakers all I need to buy is the PAC ROEM thingy, right?
3. Finally, anyone have a rough idea of what to expect to pay for installation? Should I buy an HU from a place like Circuit City and have them install it using the ROEM I'll have already purchased? I don't know a thing about Circuit City's capabilities, but I'm willing to give it a shot if people recommend it. (Just not Best Buy-- the Best Buy around here didn't ground the wires in my SHO's stereo properly, so I'm wary of them.)
Need recs/advice on Sirius HU
Okay, let me try again, and actually asnwer your questions .
1) I don't think there are any HU's in the $200 range that are satellite equipped. You'll find plenty that are XM or Sirius "ready", but will require and external (hideaway) tuner to receive satellite radio. All that said, I'm a fan of Pioneer and Kenwood, in that order.
2) Yes, you'll have to have one of those adpaters to use a new (non-Nis/Inf Bose) HU with your existing speakers/amps. If the speakers/amps are in good condition replacing tham all would not make much sense.
3) The labor part of the install price will probably not be too much, think anywhere from free to $100 (ouch), but the place that'll add up is the parts. I'd say between the above mentioned apater and anything else they say is "necessary" will be another $75 to $100.
Hope that helps, sorry it wasn't better news.
1) I don't think there are any HU's in the $200 range that are satellite equipped. You'll find plenty that are XM or Sirius "ready", but will require and external (hideaway) tuner to receive satellite radio. All that said, I'm a fan of Pioneer and Kenwood, in that order.
2) Yes, you'll have to have one of those adpaters to use a new (non-Nis/Inf Bose) HU with your existing speakers/amps. If the speakers/amps are in good condition replacing tham all would not make much sense.
3) The labor part of the install price will probably not be too much, think anywhere from free to $100 (ouch), but the place that'll add up is the parts. I'd say between the above mentioned apater and anything else they say is "necessary" will be another $75 to $100.
Hope that helps, sorry it wasn't better news.
Re: (Rex)
Hi Rex,
Thanks-- both your posts are very helpful. I didn't know that the aux adapter you linked to existed-- I may have to consider adding a plug and play tuner to my existing system instead of swapping out the HU as planned. I wasn't really considering the add-on tuners because I was worried about FM-modulated sound quality, but now that I know about the adapter.... this could be a good option.
Thanks-- both your posts are very helpful. I didn't know that the aux adapter you linked to existed-- I may have to consider adding a plug and play tuner to my existing system instead of swapping out the HU as planned. I wasn't really considering the add-on tuners because I was worried about FM-modulated sound quality, but now that I know about the adapter.... this could be a good option.