Are there any good/recommended aftermarket stereos?
 

I'm placing my order for an FR-S and on the fence about getting Bespoke (I really dont like the look of the base unit...), but I dont have an iphone, so I lose a lot of the functionality. I do like the look of the bespoke, but am wondering if there are any other decent units out there that will fit in an FR-S?

*edit*
Functionality with android would be a great bonus (I have a galaxy s3)

I chose a http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PU...rs/AVH-P4400BH. It works good with my Droid, and works with my wife's iphone even better.

I picked it up at Fry's locally for about $450.

I'll check into that one. Has decent reviews on amazon..

Alpine has an amasing track record for not breaking. Pioneer is pretty good, except make sure it's grounded before you do ANYTHING. I don't pay much attention to the features if it doesn't have active crossovers and time alignment though, good luck with your search.

I use http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PU...on/AVIC-X940BT
and i love it. 580 on amazon.

I was looking for GPS in a unit personally, and a physical spin knob, so this fits me.

If you like to put your music on an SD card/USB stick... stay AWAY from Kenwood.

If you like Android, and want it on your head unit, then check out my thread in this forum ;)

I had a Pioneer x930BT and it was an ok all around unit. I wasn't a huge fan of the interface though.

I actually use an old school ipod nano for music. So a unit that works easily with that would be nice. But I never intend on getting an iphone so bespoke is useless to me.

Well the android HU and the x940/x930 would do a decent job either way. The android head unit comes with the ipod cable, the pioneer charges extra (50$?) for it.

I just installed a Pioneer DEH-80PRS. It's a single din for the audiophile guys who prioritize sound processing over other features. It has full 3-way active crossover, time alignment and auto EQ, and has three separate Burr-Brown DAC's, one for each set of channels. 3 sets of 5v preouts, too. It also has built in bluetooth, Pandora control, SD card slot, two USB jacks, and two AUX imputs, one 3.5mm on the front and one RCA on the back. The iPod and USB control is nice and fast, really responsive, and the iPod connection is full digital so it uses the BB DACs instead of the iPod's. The face buttons and screen can be matched separately to any color you want. I love it so far, the SQ is spectacular. I had an older Alpine CDA-9887 in my last car and loved it (the iPod controls were clunky but it sounded great, a little brighter than the Pioneer). Alpine seems to be getting out of the high end SQ game. So far I definitely like the sound of the DEH-80PRS better, but its a different car so its apples and oranges.

Can you post pics installed? I'm thinking about getting one of these myself just haven't seen a single din dash kit i like.

Yes I definitely will this weekend since I'm planning to do the rest of my install and will have the head unit out. I made a custom dash trim kit from a carbon fiber panel and .050" aluminum sheet, it wasn't difficult but it looks great. I could provide some loose instruction for anyone else looking to do something similar, as it could be made from nearly any flat material.

What would be sublime, would be a set of two or three 52mm gauges in the flat area, but I think it's a bit too narrow. Or, it would be a greaet spot to mount a, electronic boost controller or something, if one was so inclined...

Thanks i know a few people looking for single din kits you may be able to make some cash if you wanted to build a few of them. Looking forward to the pics.

@wheelhaus, I'd love to get my hands on a prs80, but my 9887 is still going strong. Do you hear any advantage with the 80? Any thoughts on the auto TA and EQ?

Sorry for thread jacking.

I haven't done the more advanced 80PRS tuning yet so I can't comment on that quite yet, but the menu navigation is a definite upgrade. The volume dial doubles as "enter" and there's a nice big "back" button, (and strangely enough, no "pause" button on the face). When you get distracted and the menu you were using auto-disappears, it goes back to the place you were at instead of making you navigate through everything again. The face buttons are all laser-cut backlit, so no silk screen "ink" to wear away like the 9887's buttons had.

I miss the parametric EQ of the 9887, it made fine tuning those odd frequencies a little easier. I wish it had more than 5 bands, but that's where Alpine's "Imprint" comes in (which I never purchased or tried, and heard a lot of mixed reviews). The 80PRS's 16-band graphic EQ is pretty sufficient, but just a little less accurate. I've heard good things about Pioneer's auto EQ, not only that it actually works really well, but also that it uses nearly 500 bands to EQ the sound. I'm amazed they have that feature built in instead of another stupid add-on module like Alpine likes to do.

the only two features of the 80PRS I'm a little disappointed with is the screen brightness/contrast is a little lacking in the daylight, the rocker switch behind the volume dial is a bit sloppy, and the removable face will sort of squish a bit when you push the buttoms firmly. It feels a little cheap on the surface, but it's solid otherwise.

I also forgot to mention, it has a voltmeter readout and mp3 bitrate on the screen. That's pretty awesome.