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It's been some time since I changed the stereo head unit in my '87 9000T. I've been using Blaupunkt's San Jose MP41 since it came out in November of 2001. It has a couple glaring faults, but both were/are liveable, and in terms of operation, it still beat out the vast majority of other aftermarket MP3 head units. A few key features that I liked were:
1) Displays ID3 tags in a large highly legible font, supporting both upper and lowercase characters.
2) Will display ALL information in the ID3 tag automatically, and continously repeat said information. It is amazing to me how many decks will not do perform this seemingly simple function.
3) Scrolling of ID3 tag information not fitting on the screen is done smoothly and text is still readable while scrolling.
4) Will perform random within a folder, or across an entire disc having many folders (I think this ommision is now less common).
5) Using the skip forward or backward buttons will proceed to the next/previous folder if you are on the last/first track, not just the next or previous track within the current folder (duh! - thanks for nothing Clarion).
So, all that said, I finally found a deck that does all of the above and then some, doesn't look garish or too out of place in the 9000 dash, and doesn't cost a fortune, even through a reputable source like Crutchfield, the JVC KD-AR5000. It was $400, now on sale for $280, as it's last year's model. Now, Blaupunkt has a new model coming out which is superior in a couple ways, but it's not due for another two months or so, and I'm not so certain it will be better in the ways I require.
I am always hesitant to purchase things from Crutchfield without first testing them out in person, but fortunately Best Buy had the KD-AR5000's sister model on display so I could play with it extensively. It is a touch screen, which I am still getting used to, as it requires a lot more finesse than hard buttons. But, the layout is superb and very well thought out, and the display is one of the most useful I've ever seen. It doesn't have all kinds of gobblety-gook and useless readouts, everything on the screen is actually pertinent information. Being a touch screen, it has very few hard buttons, and the overall look is essentially nearly completely flat, and black, just as the original 9000 stereo. This touch screen is variable color, and can be set to something like 1,700 different colors. You can set different colors for each source, or for day and night via a timer, or even automatically depending on the voltage present on the illumination wire. This is really slick, because I can trick the deck into thinking my headlights are on/off via the position of the dash lighting dimmer. So during the day, I turn the interior lights off and the deck switches to 'day' lighting. But by far the best display feature is the ability to change the LCD from positive to negative. Many of the current head units, Blaupunkts included, have a super bright background (often blue - guess that's the fad right now) with black or white letters. This JVC allows you not only to change the color, but have the color be the letters or the background. Positive is ideal for daytime, while negative is better at night. You can set this up to change automatically with the illumination lead, as well. Finally, a deck that will do what my Kenwood KDC9000 did 10 years ago! A couple other things about the display, you can set names for all the radio stations and a limited number of CD's. You can also have the unit cycle through the preset colors (a dozen or so) every two seconds, if you like to add some color.
So, as for the performance, I have nothing but good things to report there. The radio reception is great, far better than my Blaupunkt San Jose ever was. This JVC uses a digital tuner, which by the sounds of it, is similar to Blaupunkt's Digiceiver. This doesn't receive digital radio, but rather, the functions of the radio receiver have been reduced down to an IC. Whatever, it does work very well. MP3 CD's are read very quickly, though perhaps a hair slower than my MP41 (which was lightning speed for it's day). There's hardly any pause between successive tracks or skipping between tracks or folders. The sound quality is superb, an significant increase I wasn't really expecting, given that the audio specifications between the JVC and my Blaupukt are so close. I can't speak to the built in amplifiers, I haven't used those on a head unit for probably 10+ years.
So, all in all, if you can deal with the touch screen and don't need/want extra gizmos like time alignment, RDS, digital parametric EQ's, etc, have a look at this JVC. It also comes with a two year warranty, not bad for a car deck. This isn't anything wrong with those extra features! However, I am at point where I don't want to sacrifice basic functionality, AND spend more money to get them.
I can probably snap a few pictures if anyone is interested. Right now I have a hole in the dash though, need to get another spare ash tray or storage cubby since I'm back down to one stereo in the dash. :)
Aaron Gilbert
1987 9000T 318k miles
posted by 198.22.12...
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-x8tOStKmWbo/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=257KDA5000&search=kdar5000
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