Are car stereos car-specific?

[Alan Paterson]

I was thinking about replacing my ten year old Golf's factory-fitted Sony,
and went to checkout ebay, only to discover that almost all of the units
listed there are referenced by car model. Do they all have different
fittings or something? I would've assumed that they're all much of a
muchness - wrong?

Thanks for any help.

[In-Car Express]

On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 12:54:42 +0000 (UTC), "Alan Paterson"

Post by Alan Paterson
I was thinking about replacing my ten year old Golf's factory-fitted Sony,
and went to checkout ebay, only to discover that almost all of the units
listed there are referenced by car model. Do they all have different
fittings or something? I would've assumed that they're all much of a
muchness - wrong?

A lot of cars have specific units, but most can be adapted - and your
Golf will have a standard DIN aperture. As long as no-one's chopped it
about, the car should have standard ISO connectors too, so any
aftermarket unit will plug straight in.

As a purely personal comment, I'd probably suggest avoiding eBay where
head units are concerned. Barely a day goes by where we don't hear a
sob story from someone who's been stitched up buying something that
way. You really have to ask why half the stuff listed is on there. If
you've bought a new head unit, it's logical to keep the original unit
to swap back when you sell the car. With that being the case, I'd
question whether the reliability of anything original equipment on
there can be trusted, and new stock has a lot of pitfalls too. Most
common are:

No warranty - a lot of stuff doesn't come with a genuine warranty,
despite the claims or reputation of the seller. If there's no mention
of VAT on the listing, they're probably not a legitimate business, so
any chance of a genuine warranty is slim. Car audio manufacturers
don't often tend to open accounts for companies with turnover below
the VAT threshold, and certainly don't give the sort of discounts that
allow them to compete with big online stores.

Import units - US and Japanese stuff isn't generally worth touching.
Tuners won't step correctly, have the right sensitivity or may be
lacking RDS.

We also get countless pleas for help from people who've bought a piece
of equipment from, for example, one model of BMW which they want to
fit to a different BMW. ebayers regularly claim that all that is
needed is "an adaptor", but neglect to mention the fact that this
"adaptor" somehow miraculously makes two incompatible pieces of
equipment work together - and also doesn't exist.

Half the stuff on there also sells for more than genuine bona fide
online stores sell it for anyway - it's laughable, some of us here
have bought stock at our staff pricing, used it for a while, then
replaced it and sold it via ebay for more than we sell stuff online
for anyway!

Jon

[Colin Stamp]

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 12:46:27 +0000 (UTC), In-Car Express

Post by In-Car Express
On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 12:54:42 +0000 (UTC), "Alan Paterson"

Post by Alan Paterson
I was thinking about replacing my ten year old Golf's factory-fitted Sony,
and went to checkout ebay, only to discover that almost all of the units
listed there are referenced by car model. Do they all have different
fittings or something? I would've assumed that they're all much of a
muchness - wrong?

A lot of cars have specific units, but most can be adapted - and your
Golf will have a standard DIN aperture. As long as no-one's chopped it
about, the car should have standard ISO connectors too, so any
aftermarket unit will plug straight in.
As a purely personal comment, I'd probably suggest avoiding eBay where
head units are concerned. Barely a day goes by where we don't hear a
sob story from someone who's been stitched up buying something that
way. You really have to ask why half the stuff listed is on there. If
you've bought a new head unit, it's logical to keep the original unit
to swap back when you sell the car. With that being the case, I'd
question whether the reliability of anything original equipment on
there can be trusted, and new stock has a lot of pitfalls too. Most
No warranty - a lot of stuff doesn't come with a genuine warranty,
despite the claims or reputation of the seller. If there's no mention
of VAT on the listing, they're probably not a legitimate business, so
any chance of a genuine warranty is slim. Car audio manufacturers
don't often tend to open accounts for companies with turnover below
the VAT threshold, and certainly don't give the sort of discounts that
allow them to compete with big online stores.
Import units - US and Japanese stuff isn't generally worth touching.
Tuners won't step correctly, have the right sensitivity or may be
lacking RDS.
We also get countless pleas for help from people who've bought a piece
of equipment from, for example, one model of BMW which they want to
fit to a different BMW. ebayers regularly claim that all that is
needed is "an adaptor", but neglect to mention the fact that this
"adaptor" somehow miraculously makes two incompatible pieces of
equipment work together - and also doesn't exist.
Half the stuff on there also sells for more than genuine bona fide
online stores sell it for anyway - it's laughable, some of us here
have bought stock at our staff pricing, used it for a while, then
replaced it and sold it via ebay for more than we sell stuff online
for anyway!
Jon

Pah. You would have to go and say that just when I'm waiting to see if
the Omnifi I've bought on eBay is going to turn up from the US!

Cheers,

Colin.

[Alan Paterson]

Hi Jon

Many thanks for your very helpful response. I'm sure you're right, but 'er
indores would go ballistic if I bought the kind of thing I'd like brand new.
My best option, I reckon, is to ebay *very* carefully (which can be done, if
you're careful, diligent and not in any tearing hurry). But I do take on
board what you say, and when I end up in tears, I'll only have myself to
blame! Thanks again.

Alan
PS 'Why's it listed there?' Target would be ones where the answer is: 'geek
seeks upgrade'.

Post by In-Car Express
On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 12:54:42 +0000 (UTC), "Alan Paterson"

Post by Alan Paterson
I was thinking about replacing my ten year old Golf's factory-fitted Sony,
and went to checkout ebay, only to discover that almost all of the units
listed there are referenced by car model. Do they all have different
fittings or something? I would've assumed that they're all much of a
muchness - wrong?

A lot of cars have specific units, but most can be adapted - and your
Golf will have a standard DIN aperture. As long as no-one's chopped it
about, the car should have standard ISO connectors too, so any
aftermarket unit will plug straight in.
As a purely personal comment, I'd probably suggest avoiding eBay where
head units are concerned. Barely a day goes by where we don't hear a
sob story from someone who's been stitched up buying something that
way. You really have to ask why half the stuff listed is on there. If
you've bought a new head unit, it's logical to keep the original unit
to swap back when you sell the car. With that being the case, I'd
question whether the reliability of anything original equipment on
there can be trusted, and new stock has a lot of pitfalls too. Most
No warranty - a lot of stuff doesn't come with a genuine warranty,
despite the claims or reputation of the seller. If there's no mention
of VAT on the listing, they're probably not a legitimate business, so
any chance of a genuine warranty is slim. Car audio manufacturers
don't often tend to open accounts for companies with turnover below
the VAT threshold, and certainly don't give the sort of discounts that
allow them to compete with big online stores.
Import units - US and Japanese stuff isn't generally worth touching.
Tuners won't step correctly, have the right sensitivity or may be
lacking RDS.
We also get countless pleas for help from people who've bought a piece
of equipment from, for example, one model of BMW which they want to
fit to a different BMW. ebayers regularly claim that all that is
needed is "an adaptor", but neglect to mention the fact that this
"adaptor" somehow miraculously makes two incompatible pieces of
equipment work together - and also doesn't exist.
Half the stuff on there also sells for more than genuine bona fide
online stores sell it for anyway - it's laughable, some of us here
have bought stock at our staff pricing, used it for a while, then
replaced it and sold it via ebay for more than we sell stuff online
for anyway!
Jon
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