car radio for my new pickup?

[garyeanderson]

So - the salt and sand are off the road and the RMV opened on Wednesday after a 2 day shutdown due to the corona thing. I got my NEW to me 1996 F350 extended cab on the road now. I  started to play with the radio (Dual BT) and seems to be missing the LF channel and the faceplate display is a blinding blue at night, Its very distracting, especially the rolling billboard display that wont stop. When I put the clock feature on the screen it cycles between time and rolling display. What a piece of trash.  I was thinking of replacing the unit with something, but being clueless and old I just thought I would ask what new radio units folks here liked. I did a search and found a "10 best", from this I have figured that I have a 1 DIN unit but I really don't understand much else of what was written. All of the units seem to have a volume knob and a bunch of small buttons (with even smaller letters) that may or may not do what you think they might. The nail in the coffin was set when I tried out the blue tooth phone hook up (we got a new hands free law at the beginning of March). The ring volume nearly blew me away and when I answered my brother in law couldn't hear me so I had to pull over and shut the truck off to talk. Maybe some have been through this and have a bit to offer on this subject.

 

Thanks Gary

[JL Sargent]

4 hours ago, garyeanderson said:

seems to be missing the LF channel

 

Try this. My right front channel disappears sometimes. I figured out that if I play music at a pretty high volume for a bit it will "wake" back up if you will. After sitting for a week or two, it will fall back off and not work again. repeat the loud music trick and it always will wake back up. Worth a try anyway.

 

 

[jason str]

Been out of the car audio for some time now but the better Blaupunkt and Alpine head units were pretty bulletproof.

 

 

[billybob]

1 hour ago, JL Sargent said:

 

Try this. My right front channel disappears sometimes. I figured out that if I play music at a pretty high volume for a bit it will "wake" back up if you will. After sitting for a week or two, it will fall back off and not work again. repeat the loud music trick and it always will wake back up. Worth a try anyway.

 

5 hours ago, garyeanderson said:

So - the salt and sand are off the road and the RMV opened on Wednesday after a 2 day shutdown due to the corona thing. I got my NEW to me 1996 F350 extended cab on the road now. I  started to play with the radio (Dual BT) and seems to be missing the LF channel and the faceplate display is a blinding blue at night, Its very distracting, especially the rolling billboard display that wont stop. When I put the clock feature on the screen it cycles between time and rolling display. What a piece of trash.  I was thinking of replacing the unit with something, but being clueless and old I just thought I would ask what new radio units folks here liked. I did a search and found a "10 best", from this I have figured that I have a 1 DIN unit but I really don't understand much else of what was written. All of the units seem to have a volume knob and a bunch of small buttons (with even smaller letters) that may or may not do what you think they might. The nail in the coffin was set when I tried out the blue tooth phone hook up (we got a new hands free law at the beginning of March). The ring volume nearly blew me away and when I answered my brother in law couldn't hear me so I had to pull over and shut the truck off to talk. Maybe some have been through this and have a bit to offer on this subject.

 

Thanks Gary

 

Sometime a little tap works. If can get to it just remove the connector and spray light contact cleaner or even WD to spade also... enjoy

[garyeanderson]

17 hours ago, billybob said:

Sometime a little tap works. If can get to it just remove the connector and spray light contact cleaner or even WD to spade also... enjoy

 

For now I am going to rig a cardboard flap to cover the display, hopefully I can get the rest to work to my  standards

  Thanks it all for  the suggestions.  

[billybob]

20 minutes ago, garyeanderson said:

 

For now I am going to rig a cardboard flap to cover the display, hopefully I can get the rest to work to my  standards

  Thanks it all for  the suggestions.  

Yes man, no distracting blue lights.

Whatever works for you.

Yes some aftermarket radios have alot to be desired. Its almost like the radio is all about itself and not about the listener. Some put tape over their check engine lights, etc 

[garyeanderson]

Just trying them for size - need to hook them up and listen

 

 

they just seem to disappear 

[japosey]

I would definitely replace the headunit with good quality brand that has 3 pairs of RCA outputs to add amplifier front, rear and subwoofer.  I recommend staying with the better quality manufacturers - Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, JVC.  Dual and Blaupunkt are both inexpensive budget brands now.  If I were you, I would get on Crutchfield and compare the models of those brands and decide that way.  

[dtel]

4 hours ago, garyeanderson said:

Just trying them for size - need to hook them up and listen

They will sound really good. 

Had a pair of Hersey's in the back of a old style Jeep Cherokee for about a year. Really like it but we finally took them out because they did take up a good bit of space and I was a little worried that if we were in an accident they would fly forward.

I disconnected the wires from the rear speakers and extended them to reach the Heresy's, worked better than expected. 

[garyeanderson]

17 hours ago, dtel said:

They will sound really good. 

Had a pair of Hersey's in the back of a old style Jeep Cherokee for about a year. Really like it but we finally took them out because they did take up a good bit of space and I was a little worried that if we were in an accident they would fly forward.

I disconnected the wires from the rear speakers and extended them to reach the Heresy's, worked better than expected. 

 

I kind of figured that someone had been here before, Its been almost 45 years since I had a pair of JBL L19 speakers in the back seat of 1969 Fury and they did sound good back in the day.