# plain jane looking head unit



## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

im looking to buy a new head unit with all the current bells and whistles like USB, bluetooth etc, but I want it to look like my old sony unit that's painted all matte. I don't like shiny gloss black stuff with chrome in contrasting against my clean MK3 dash. Any suggestions?

I like the features on this: Clarion-CZ500
but it looks terrible to me...


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*Clarion-FZ709*

and I like the clarion fz709, but it doesn't have a cd player! 
http://www.amazon.com/Clarion-FZ709-MP3-Receiver-Port/dp/B001OQEBZ4


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*Boss BV7965*

Kinda neat because it would give me an extra screen (alread have 7" vga touch screen...) but eh, still kinda gaudy. 

Boss BV7965


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## Bizzy G.L.X. (Apr 20, 2008)

*Kenwood Single-Din HU's*

1000% agree with you on the utter gaudiness of aftermarket HUs. 

It took me a long time to find one that color matched, was not chromed out, had a flat-black lip and had all the needed features. All research ended up with Kenwoods. 

These two seem pretty tame: 

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113MP245/Kenwood-KDC-MP245.html?c=3&tp=5684&avf=N

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113MP445U/Kenwood-KDC-MP445U.html?c=3&tp=5684&avf=N

I might actually end up going back to OE if I can figure out how to connect an iPod, 4xAlpines 2 amps and a sub to a Monsoon DD.


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## rapyoke (Jan 15, 2010)

http://www.blaupunkt.de/en/products/car-radios/

Blaupunkt makes some nice ones. Their older stuff is also very OE-looking.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*OEM*



Bizzy G.L.X. said:


> 1000% agree with you on the utter gaudiness of aftermarket HUs.
> 
> It took me a long time to find one that color matched, was not chromed out, had a flat-black lip and had all the needed features. All research ended up with Kenwoods.
> 
> ...


yeah the kenwoods aren't hideous. And that second one has the features I want, and with a quality name behind it like kenwood. However, and I guess this applies to any and all aftermarket units, but I don't multi color LEDs making my dash a Lite-Brite. If the LEDs in the kenwood are surface mount, they'd probably be easy enough to swap out for white (what I want) or green to match the mk3 interior.



> I might actually end up going back to OE if I can figure out how to connect an iPod, 4xAlpines 2 amps and a sub to a Monsoon DD.


I thought about that before, using the OEM unit. Im looking at the faceplate for my stock radio. I just had the idea to use a micro-controller or something to interface it with a kenwood or something. That would be a tall order project, but it would be cool. Then, of course, the next idea in my logical progression was to make a new facelate all together that uses portions of a chopped up OEM one to allow for a larger display LCD. Or to that end, a wholly new faceplate that takes only styling cues from the stock unit, or whatever nice quiet styling I otherwise might cook up.

well... off to the gimp workshop!


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*Valor D170*

this guy looks good to me...
Valor DV170

oops... except it isn't a head unit. still a cool device i guess


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## Bizzy G.L.X. (Apr 20, 2008)

Good on ya dude if you make your own faceplate, that would be awesome. You're right those two Kenwoods light up blue/red or blue/white. 

From reading your 2nd post in this thread, you got me leaning to Clarion's, the CX609 specifically:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020CX609/Clarion-CX609.html?c=3&tp=5684&avf=N


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

Bizzy G.L.X. said:


> Good on ya dude if you make your own faceplate, that would be awesome. You're right those two Kenwoods light up blue/red or blue/white.
> 
> From reading your 2nd post in this thread, you got me leaning to Clarion's, the CX609 specifically:
> 
> http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020CX609/Clarion-CX609.html?c=3&tp=5684&avf=N


thats a whole lot of radio! its cool that you can set the color to match your dash.


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## MYK (Nov 24, 1999)

the one thing I hate about all the new radios as well is the front USB input, i still want a rear one so I can hide the cable and ipod in the glovebox or wherever. I don't want a cable hanging out of the front of the radio while I'm driving, looks tacky to me


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*usb*

Yeah... see the front one is great for a USB flash drive, but I feel like they should have two so you can hide an ipod AND toss on a quick song or two via flash.


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## gray420 (Jul 17, 2000)

I have the Alpine CDE103bt. Bought it from crutchfield so I got all the install hardware too. Has BT, aux in, usb, ipod hookup and switchable lighting to match the guages. Also very plain looking.


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## peplsuk (May 8, 2002)

cabrlicious said:


> and I like the clarion fz709, but it doesn't have a cd player!
> http://www.amazon.com/Clarion-FZ709-MP3-Receiver-Port/dp/B001OQEBZ4


 I got this one in my MKIV GTI it looks good and flows well


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