Radio/ Head Unit/ Speaker Chat & Upgrades Accord Coupe 2.0 3.0 V6

[Laird_Scooby]

This is one thread where pictures are NOT required.......

 

 

:lol: :lol:

[hughezee]

homophobic, I'm telling you I’m not afraid of my house

[BN Coupe]

Geoff, you said I could ask silly questions, so here goes.  The Coupe I bought from Tezzer has the original radio-cassette unit back in it and I'm not inclined to replace it because of the hassle involved.  Are any of those cassette adaptor things that you can plug an MP3 player into any use, or is the sound rubbish?  It doesn't have to be brilliant.  I don't really want to have to go back 15 years and record stuff onto tapes to play in the car.

[hughezee]

Those cassette adapter/ converter thing's wont sound brilliant to be honest and Its not to much hassle to replace the Cassette radio for CD unit however I look at things differently to most people so if your not liking the idea your most welcome to pay me a visit and I would fit your chosen radio for FREE the other alternative is a FM transmitter modulator unit?

[Cryistic]

Spend some money on a decent Sony unit, cheap ones sound awful.

 

Even then they still sound passable at best, if the head unit has already been out once it may just pull out then all you need is an adapter harness from honda plugs to the relevant ISO harness on the new stereo.

 

Ive been considering a Clarion FZ102E as a replacement for the standard Clarion Honda unit as it's a decent plain looking MP3 unit that could pass as a period head unit.

 

[Mazda Man]

As Stu says, those adapter thingys really are useless and I too wouldn't want to revert back to cassette tapes, not these days, as the sound quality is no match for MP3 files, CD's etc.  As Ritchie says above, get a decent unit and don't bother with unbranded/unknown units for £19.99.  I've got a Pioneer in my coupe and the Clarion above looks coolio.  As Stu (the coupe and sound expert) is kindly offering to install it too, personally, I'd get something decent and pop over to Stu's, sure he would like to see you plus he can advise regarding wiring harness for the loom.

 

One final point, a lot of after-market stereos can fry your multiplexer unit, this is the unit that controls the voltage to the instruments etc. and these can cost a few £££'s.  Better to be safe than sorry and get it fitted properly by Stu rather than have a go yourself.  Stu fitted my stereo and it's sounds great and no problems.

 

I remember the days I fitting them with black tape and touching the speaker wires to the connectors to make sure they worked. 

[hughezee]

Sorry to go off topic a little here folks but since this post started off as a reply to proper audio thread thought it was worth mentioning mp3's are not brilliant quality wav files (Waveform Audio File Format) are the best in my book

[BN Coupe]

That's a very generous offer, Stu.  Whereabouts are you?

 

My reason for starting this thread is that Tezzer put the original Honda radio/cassette back in the car before I bought it, and said that replacing the unit is a big job because of the dash, not the electrical connections.  It's not the end of the world, because I won't be using the car much, but I'd thought about getting a Pioneer radio/CD with USB input.  So far I'm impressed with the sound from the radio, though not much can match the system in my Lexus LS400.

 

Didn't realise there's that much difference between MP3s and WAVs, though I know WAVs are much bigger files.

[Laird_Scooby]

Thought i'd chuck my two penn'orth in Andrew - i've used an el-cheapo (£1.25) cassette adaptor connected to a portable CD player in the past with reasonable results. When i say "reasonable", it was in a works van and it was the only way of getting CDs to play in it.

 

Bear in mind that in the back of the van there was a collection of tools, spares etc and the cheap, cr@ppy speakers fitted at the factory weren't much good to start with, a reasonable result was the best i could hope for.

 

If you really don't want to change the head unit then this would be one of only two viable options for you, the other being as Stu mentioned, an FM-modulator/transmitter unit. The two different types i've seen are slightly different in how they work. One is an actual transmitter and transmits your music at an "oddball" frequency that you should be able to pick up on FM without interfering with your other preset stations with no physical connection to the audio system in your car. The other works in a similar way but has a less strong signal output so it intercepts the aerial cable in your car (with plugs and sockets so is easily reversed to standard) and transmits your modulated music on another "oddball" frequency.

 

Obviously all these methods are a compromise, it might be useful as a stop gap while you find something more permanent. If you want to stay with the original look, perhaps find a genuine Honda-branded CD changer (mounted in the boot, linked to and controlled by the head unit) and compatible head unit. Alternatively go down the route  previously suggested of a completely different head unit.

[BN Coupe]

Thanks for all that, Dave.  The car still has the original CD changer in the boot, and it seems to be working.  I might try the FM transmitter thing first, just to see how good the sound is/isn't.  Then look at other options.

[hughezee]

Just for reference I am located in Burton upon Trent if anybody needs assistance with their coupe

[Laird_Scooby]

Thanks for all that, Dave.  The car still has the original CD changer in the boot, and it seems to be working.  I might try the FM transmitter thing first, just to see how good the sound is/isn't.  Then look at other options.

 

 

Personally i'd stick with the OE set up if it's working Andy. I know you can fit more songs on an MP3 player but at what cost? Quality usually! Kind of defeats the object of the exercise in my book. The set ups in my cars aren't necessarily the best they could be but most are OE (except the speakers - they rot out in 800s!) but i still get good sound out of them and they "look right". Sure i could go and blow £3-400 on a new, all singing, all dancing, 500 megawatt per channel head unit that also makes the tea (and coffee!) but it just wouldn't look right. To that end, it would be pointless.

 

Bottom line is though, it's your money, your car, your stereo system, your ears and eyes and it's up to you. With most cars i would say not having the OE stereo wouldn't devalue it (in some cases it would add a few quid as it would save time ripping out the Mickey Mouse sound system) but in something like the Accord coupe, not having the OE sound system could be worth a few quid off the value.

 

I know many insurers these days are often refusing to pay out on accident damaged vehicles if there is no stereo at all in it as virtually every car from the mid-80s has had a stereo of some description. I can see them thinking up ways similar to this to avoid paying out on a classic/borderline classic if the OE stereo isn't present unless of course they have been advised of its abscence/replacement with a different unit in which case they may well devalue the car.

[BN Coupe]

Cheers for that Dave.  For the amount I'm going to use the car, and the number of times I'll want to play my own music rather than listen to the radio, I'm inclined to leave the Honda unit in and try one of those FM transmitter things.  Only problem might be lack of space - there's not much room between the cigarette lighter or separate power socket and the gearlever and handbrake.  Does anyone know whether it makes any difference to sound quality if you plug in an MP3 player via the headphone socket rather than the USB connection?

 

The car had a wash and mini-polish today and, despite the knocks and scrapes, looks great.  It'll be getting new front tyres soon, and they're not as expensive as I'd thought.

 

I'll get some photos on here when I get a chance.

[Laird_Scooby]

Sounds like a good plan to me!

[Laird_Scooby]

Had an email today from a supplier i've bought something from in the past and this little gadget was in their advertising blurb :

 

http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/en/product/372223/?WT.mc_id=newsletter-uk_kw-37_20150908_372223&utm_source=newsletter-uk&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=kw-37_20150908&utm_content=372223#emptylink

 

Might be useful for you?

[Mazda Man]

Another place to look is Cash Converters.  I know....but have a trawl through the Electronics>In Car section and there are loads of these FM transmitters, mainly brand new. for peanuts!!  Worth a look. 

[Laird_Scooby]

Good thinking Geoff!!! It's just reminded me of somewhere similar - CeX.

 

https://uk.webuy.com/search/index.php?stext=fm+transmitter&section=

 

Although much of their stuff is second hand, it still comes with a 12 month warranty and they honour it as well.

 

I bought a Lapdock for my old Atrix phone and it came with the wrong charger. I therefore bought the correct one, forwarded a copy of the receipt and got a cheque back for the price of the charger.

 

I wasn't able to test the incorrect charger they originally provided as it was for something alien to my gadgets (think it was Apple something or Sony-Ericsson rings a bell) but they didn't ask for it back either.

[BN Coupe]

My owner's manual explains that my car has one of three radios - A, B or C - fitted.  But mine (see photo) is none of these - it must be a D!  What I want to know is: how can I switch off the Seek function so that I can tune to 'nothing' rather than a channel?  I need to do this in order to use the FM transmitter I've bought to play MP3s with.  At the moment when you press the up or down Tuning buttons it goes straight to the next channel.

[hughezee]

That sounds a bit frustrating m8y, silly question but have you tried pressing the search button twice, basically when its searching try pressing either forward or back arrow as this will usually stop it searching automatically allowing you to scroll through manually, suppose it doesn't help the TDK aerial amplifiers are in the boot either

[Laird_Scooby]

If pressing the tune buttons twice quickly doesn't get it into manual tuning mode, try pressing and holding the button - that often works on things like Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Kenwood etc so there's a good chance it will work on yours. Once in manual tuning mode, you can hold the button for fast tuning then tap it for fine tuning. If it continues to behave like i think it might, after a few seconds of no tuning it reverts to auto tune mode.

[BN Coupe]

Thanks - I'll press lots of buttons later and see what happens.

Forgot to say that the CD changer in the boot still appears to work but nothing happens when you press the CD button on the head unit.  Terry (previous owner) said he never used it, and I'm guessing he disconnected it when he put a CD player in (he put the original unit back in before I bought the car).

 

[BN Coupe]

No, nothing happens when you press the CD button.  But the CD changer in the boot releases the cartridge and takes it back with discs in.

[Laird_Scooby]

Sounds suspiciously like the data and/or audio cable(s) (sometimes there is a combined cable) are disconnected from the CD changer, either at the head unit, the changer or both. It's obviously getting power to spit the cartridge out and suck it in but obviously not the signal to play the discs.

[BN Coupe]

Agreed.  I reckon when Terry put the original unit back in he didn't reconnect the cable to the CD changer.  I'd rather play MP3s anyway - you can get hours of music on a USB stick - but this depends on being able to tune the radio to 'nothing'.

[Mazda Man]

Agreed.  I reckon when Terry put the original unit back in he didn't reconnect the cable to the CD changer.  I'd rather play MP3s anyway - you can get hours of music on a USB stick - but this depends on being able to tune the radio to 'nothing'.

Yep agreed.  My Pioneer has a USB input so I can save hours of tracks onto it, plug it in and away you go.  Rather than faff about with FM transmitters etc I would change the unit, they're cheap enough these days.