Alright so I started out two days ago looking for a simple head unit to replace the stock radio in my 2005 Toyota Tacoma. Little did I know how difficult it would be to locate what I wanted. I had a few requirements that I thought wouldn't be that difficult.
1) Wanted rear auxilary input (RCA or mini stereo)
2) Wanted decent USB or memory card support
3) Later wanted satellite tuner add-on support
(more on this below)
So I started out looking and realized how monumentally difficult it is to find a head unit with simple RCA or mini jack auxilary in the rear. Suuuure a lot of them advertise auxilary in but FEW actually use standard connections. Most EVERY manufacturer wants to upsell you some funky adapter so that you can use their proprietary connector for all type of external sources. I settled on a really inexpensive ($115 from cardomain.com) Clarion - the DB365USB. It had all that and at the time I really didn't care about satellite radio support as I have a nice standalone Xact tuner. (incidentally I got it from ebay and someone is still paying for it so I'm getting service for free so that's an added incentive to keep using this tuner) However the Clarion has extremely limited USB file support limiting you to a maximum of 255 files/folders. So I got to looking some more and finally discovered the best receiver I can find that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and has every feature I want and nothing I dont. The JVC KD-AR770 ($169.00). It has built in RCA auxilary inputs, great USB file support (2500 files/250 folders), and supports Sirius tuners controlled thru the head unit. I may want to clean up the inside of my truck someday and I can get rid of my standalone tuner and go head unit control when I want to. Not only that but I can then use the auxilary input for a mp3 player or laptop. I also plan on using an external hard drive on that USB connection and carrying around a TON of music if I want.
So anyways - I thought I would tell yall of my experience and thought someone else might be looking for similar features. By the way the JVC KD-AR870 has the same great features but is $30 more for esentially a better screen with more colors and a glorified EQ.
Quick Q: What is "an arm and a leg" to you? Why do you care about USB support? Why not just get an iPod? I also assumed (apparently incorrectly) that most HU's had their AUX input in the back
Well for me an arm and a leg is over $200 for head unit. There's plenty of nice head units for $199 and under.
Yea very few actually have a useable (w/o an adapter) aux input.
Get an ipod....Well no. I REFUSE to own anything Apple. Much less an iPod that most people have simply because they want to be part of the crowd. I hate ipods.
Get an ipod....Well no. I REFUSE to own anything Apple. Much less an iPod that most people have simply because they want to be part of the crowd. I hate ipods.
+1
I'm with ya on that one. I've thought about an ipod (as in "gee, wouldn't it be nice to carry all my music with me all time and stop burning CDs?"). But I refuse to pay $300 or more for a player that i'm gonna have to hack or mess with 3rd party software if I ever hope to get my files back off it. Also, I will NEVER buy into the itunes bullshit. If I pay for something (unless it explicitly says I'm renting it) I want to do whatever I want to do with it. I "rent" movies, games, etc knowing full well they go back to the store. I will ever "buy" music that could cease playing simply because the company controling the license went under, changed the setup or any other stupid thing. I use mp3's because I know I can play them on almost anything. And the day I see devices stopping support is the day I start double checking my older equipment that does support it.
I just hate the whole ipod+itunes system. And the same goes for Zune. Looks like a nice player, but if I had bought into their "plays-for-sure" scheme I'd be fucked since this new player isn't compatible. I feel sorry for anyone that invested money in it. lol
Yes, I KNOW there are ways around apples DRM and lack of software to recover songs, videos and pics off an ipod. The point is I shouldn't have to do that. When I want music, I want to hit play and hear it. Not screw around with anything else. In the mean time I deal with mp3 filled CD's. 2gig thumb drive would be a nice option too.
__________________
^sig by me!
Toytec 3" lift & AAL, 285/75r16 Kumho Road Venture
DTRL, Fog Light, locker, & diff breather mods, Bestop Supertop, Hi-Lift mount, hood struts, reinforced tailgate, BHLM, ABS kill switch, bed lights, rock lights
Last edited by PiercedTiger; 11-17-2006 at 12:05 PM.
Funny, as soon as I saw your post heading I was going to tell you about JVC.
I am using an older JVC and have a JVC 12 pack CD. I was looking at the AR770 because I wanted USB, Aux In and to be able to use my old external CD.
The only limit I've noticed with the AR770 is the USB is limited to 2 GB. Still pretty good though.
__________________ Current truck...
2008 Tundra TRD Off-Road DC 4x4
Previous truck...
2005 Tacoma SR5 DC 4x4
there are lots of other portable MP3 players out there that can integrate into after market head units. just b/c it is a portable mp3 player doesn't mean it's an ipod. They are awesome as a side point, but you have other options with mp3 players. you will find a lot of other HU's that are compatible with mp3 players rather than a USB support-especially in the sub $200 range.
I'm with ya on that one. I've thought about an ipod (as in "gee, wouldn't it be nice to carry all my music with me all time and stop burning CDs?"). But I refuse to pay $300 or more for a player that i'm gonna have to hack or mess with 3rd party software if I ever hope to get my files back off it. Also, I will NEVER buy into the itunes bullshit. If I pay for something (unless it explicitly says I'm renting it) I want to do whatever I want to do with it. I "rent" movies, games, etc knowing full well they go back to the store. I will ever "buy" music that could cease playing simply because the company controling the license went under, changed the setup or any other stupid thing. I use mp3's because I know I can play them on almost anything. And the day I see devices stopping support is the day I start double checking my older equipment that does support it.
I just hate the whole ipod+itunes system. And the same goes for Zune. Looks like a nice player, but if I had bought into their "plays-for-sure" scheme I'd be fucked since this new player isn't compatible. I feel sorry for anyone that invested money in it. lol
Yes, I KNOW there are ways around apples DRM and lack of software to recover songs, videos and pics off an ipod. The point is I shouldn't have to do that. When I want music, I want to hit play and hear it. Not screw around with anything else. In the mean time I deal with mp3 filled CD's. 2gig thumb drive would be a nice option too.
AMEN. Preach on brotha. I just was too lazy to say it but that sums it up.
there are lots of other portable MP3 players out there that can integrate into after market head units. just b/c it is a portable mp3 player doesn't mean it's an ipod. They are awesome as a side point, but you have other options with mp3 players. you will find a lot of other HU's that are compatible with mp3 players rather than a USB support-especially in the sub $200 range.
Do you know any of those offhand? The most compatible I've seen for non-ipod players is an aux-in RCA or headphone jack. That's it. No control off the player, no song information, etc. If that's what you're going to get from a HU, then it might as well use an RF transmitter or other adapter. (I'm doing that for now simply because I got an adapter for free from a friend and it works for the time being) At least with a USB port on the HU you have 1 interface to deal with for control, and no extra player to charge/control/put somewhere. Idealy I'd like a HD based player so I could load up everything, but I'll probably just end up building a PC into the truck somewhere.
It would be great if someone came out with an mp3 player with all the accessories and support of the ipod, without all the limitations built in. Somehow I don't see that happening soon.
__________________
^sig by me!
Toytec 3" lift & AAL, 285/75r16 Kumho Road Venture
DTRL, Fog Light, locker, & diff breather mods, Bestop Supertop, Hi-Lift mount, hood struts, reinforced tailgate, BHLM, ABS kill switch, bed lights, rock lights
Funny, as soon as I saw your post heading I was going to tell you about JVC.
I am using an older JVC and have a JVC 12 pack CD. I was looking at the AR770 because I wanted USB, Aux In and to be able to use my old external CD.
The only limit I've noticed with the AR770 is the USB is limited to 2 GB. Still pretty good though.
From what I've read in several reviews people are having luck with 4GB flash drives. One guy even got it to work with his 100GB mp3 player. As long as the device has UMS compatability you should be OK.
Those are reviews for the 870, which is the same unit as the 770 albeit with an upgraded display and EQ. There is a SH-1000 unit also which is badass that even includes a SD card slot. Nice but out of my price range. Actually I think now I'm going to go ahead and spring for the 870 over the 770 since the display is so much nicer and it can be ORANGE to match my '05's intereior. And it's only $30 difference so what the heck.
AMEN. Preach on brotha. I just was too lazy to say it but that sums it up.
It just pisses me off seeing music "sold" online for damn near the same cost as a CD if you divide the cost by the number of tracks. Why does it cost the same? No physical materials involved, no shipping, no manufacturing costs. Storage and bandwidth are probably covered by a small fraction of the sales so the rest is profit. If I don't spend $15 for a cd I can make for $0.50 with 15 tracks on it (so that's ~$1 per track with taxes) WHY would I pay $0.99 for the same thing online, minus the extras (cover art, booklet, physical media)?
And really, all Apple has to do is release iTunes 10.5 or whatever with some minor change and suddenly your huge library of music doesn't work. Some other company was selling music online and went out of business. I can't remember who, but another company stepped in to take over the licensing role so people could still play their music. What happens when THAT compan has had enough? Kiss your music good bye. Hell, even MS has different version of their audio format that aren't compatible.
The whole thing that stops me from even trying an iPod is this:
Say I buy an iPod. Say somehow I can afford to fill up an 80 gig model at 99cents/track. how much money did I flush down the toliet when a new iTunes comes out or new iPod and neither work with the version I have? Or the damn thing breaks but apple won't let me back my music up to my PC or external hard drive? You could easily lose $1,000's dropping the ipod in a puddle or if someone stole it. At least my 50gigs of mp3's are all backed up online, and on 2 hard drives. So forgive me if I pass on the whole iPod idea.
__________________
^sig by me!
Toytec 3" lift & AAL, 285/75r16 Kumho Road Venture
DTRL, Fog Light, locker, & diff breather mods, Bestop Supertop, Hi-Lift mount, hood struts, reinforced tailgate, BHLM, ABS kill switch, bed lights, rock lights
Not to get off topic...if there was one to begin with...
But music downloaded from the itunes store can be registered on up to 5 different computers. Also if it's on the ipod then it's on the computer so even if you drop, burn, drown your ipod you always have a copy on the computer that can be transfered to an ipod an unlimited amount of times.
I like using apple products but I am no way an apple "fan boy". But to me saying I don't want one because everyone else has one is just silly. If toyota was the best selling vehicle brand in the world would you not buy a toyota?
I find that apple makes quality products that work the way one would expect a comupter or music player to work.
Not to get off topic...if there was one to begin with...
But music downloaded from the itunes store can be registered on up to 5 different computers. Also if it's on the ipod then it's on the computer so even if you drop, burn, drown your ipod you always have a copy on the computer that can be transfered to an ipod an unlimited amount of times.
thanks for the info. Last I knew it was either on your PC or your iPod. Not both. 5 computers helps too I suppose. Unless you're like many people that upgrade every few years. Any idea if swapping the old hard drive with itunes music into a new one works? Or does it check hardware like Windows activation? (hell if it's like that you could run out of the 5 pc limit just by upgrading parts a few times)
I guess the problem would be if you have an 80gig ipod, and an 80 gig or lower PC. If you delete anything off the pc figuring it's "on the ipod now" you have to jump through hoops to get it back off. I'm assuming you still can't sync you ipod to multiple computers, and download your library to that other computer from the ipod?
I rather like my mp3tunes.com locker. Unlimited storage, sync to unlimited number of PCs, online streaming without downloading or installing anything, and it's only $40/year. ($20 this year with a coupon code I got! )
I also like just plugging the device in, going to Explorer, and copy selected files over. I don't like using iTunes, WMP, or any other proprietary app to do that. Leaves too many chances for them to limit what I can do.
To stay somewhat on topic, a HU that could support a USB hard drive would be great! Plug it in, put in the glove box. A USB port on the back would be even better I think. Run the cable to the glove box or center console to plug in the drive. No wires in the way, no plug to get in the way or let a thief know you have more in there. Do they make something like that?
__________________
^sig by me!
Toytec 3" lift & AAL, 285/75r16 Kumho Road Venture
DTRL, Fog Light, locker, & diff breather mods, Bestop Supertop, Hi-Lift mount, hood struts, reinforced tailgate, BHLM, ABS kill switch, bed lights, rock lights
To stay somewhat on topic, a HU that could support a USB hard drive would be great! Plug it in, put in the glove box. A USB port on the back would be even better I think. Run the cable to the glove box or center console to plug in the drive. No wires in the way, no plug to get in the way or let a thief know you have more in there. Do they make something like that?
Yes and no. I'm planning on plugging a 2.5" (laptop) hard drive into an inexpensive external USB 2.0 enclosure. The enclosures are VERY cheap $10 - $15 and a 20GB 2.5" HDD can be had for about $30. So you can esentially have 20GB mobile drive for about $40 or so. However, some head units have strange file limitations when reading from USB devices. But if it supports UMS (universal mass storage) then you should be good. The Clarion I mentioned earlier clearly states it only supports 255 files total, so it has some 8-bit limited file support reading mechanism. The JVC units seem to be a lot friendlier in that respect from what I've read. The one guy's review (on the Beach Audio site I mentioned earlier) says he was able to get his 100GB mp3 player to read just fine over USB. That's just a UMS connection over USB to his mp3 player and should be the same type of connection as using the 2.5" laptop drive with USB enclosure scheme I mentioned. Incidentally thumb drives are just UMS devices also.
Kenwood 501 and 701 double units have what you are looking for but not in price. I have the 501 and I'm very happy with it.
I'd like to see a picture of it installed if you could. Yea those Kenwood units were fascinating. I thought the double DIN units sure would look good in a double DIN dash unit in my truck. But yea they're in the $300+ range - very nice though.
The AutoGuide.com network consists of the largest network of enthusiast-owned enthusiast-operated automotive communities.
AutoGuide.com provides the latest car reviews, auto show coverage, new car prices, and automotive news. The AutoGuide network operates more than 100 automotive forums where our users consult peers for shopping information and advice, and share opinions as a community.
ToyotaNation.com is an independent Toyota/Lexus enthusiast website. ToyotaNation.com is not sponsored by or in any way affiliated with Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. The Toyota, Lexus and Scion names and logos are trademarks owned by Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
And it's only $30 difference so what the heck.
)
Linear Mode
