1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
20+ years ago when I got into the Saab world I was quite pleased with the high end Clarion stereos that Saabs came equipped with. Ten years later the CD players stopped working, the lighted backgrounds started failing, and internal issues started to render the units obsolete....not to mention the ceasing of production of cassettes and eventually CDs. As much as I was a purist with my cars, I loved quality music enough to finally replace the antiquated stereos as they aged out. Don't get me wrong, I tried replacing the originals with "known-to-be-good" used factory Clarion units I had pulled over the years of Saab parts hoarding, but eventually I exhausted that supply as well. I finally put a great system in my '94 vert. I was dedicated to NOT cutting up the car to do it, and I succeeded. Bought a new Clarion Single din slide out 7" screen with Satellite, GPS, on board video, bluetooth, etc. Cost approx. $600 for the head unit. Put two Alpine amps, (one for six interior channels, one mono for base box) discreetly in the trunk. Set up quality speakers throughout. 800 watts of power, all the buzzers and whistles in the head unit. I love it. Car sounds great. It pairs up with my Bluetooth ipod with 8000 of my favorite songs on it as soon as I sit in the car. I can play music videos to keep my passengers amused while rocking it with the six speakers. Wonderful! I'd never go back. Now I see that the new "greed-breed" of Saab "collectors" are selling the old Clarion head and cd/eq units on Ebay for insane money! $500-$1000.00!! I don't get it. Those stereos were decent maybe 15-20 years ago, but against today's electronics technology, they're the equivalent of an AM radio with an under dash "FM convertor"!....and people are buying them! What gives? I understand being a purist....but when it comes to music do you really want to listen to a crappy antique just to have a radio that looks correct sitting in your dash? Seems a bit nutty...especially at the price the greed-breed is asking. I've been seeing this for about a month now on the auction site. Just needed to vent/inquire to the Saab faithful here and see what thoughts you may have on this. Curious. That's it, off my soapbox. Have a great Sunday! Cheers Bob
posted by 67.189.140...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.