[RETRO]

Advice needed

I'm after a new MP3 player and really fancy this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39763&item=5728435043&rd=1

I know that some of the imported radios will not work on our FM frequency.

How can you tell ???

Or do you guys know of a cheap UK source ???

Ta

Retro [^]

 

[GeordieLife]

Looks good. Wouldn't mind one of those as a Xmas gift for my bro.

Anyone got one?

 

[MikeTDI]

My experiance with Sony headunits is they are all show and no sound quality. Not been a fan of them to be honest.

 

[Tom R32]

It has to come from the US - not sure if US units are the same? Would you have to pay duty when it arrives? I got stung when I bought a phone from Honk kong - had to pay ?40 more to the posty when it arrived! Even if its marked as "gift" you can still get stung for tax.

 

[RETRO]

Looks like no tax will be added as they have stated that on the auction.

Still no reply from them to confirm if the radio will work.

I'll keep looking .....

 

[robo-toda]

Typically,the problems with imported radios are as follows:

Japanese radios have a very low FM band,typically finishing at about 95Khz,ie towards the bottom of the uk reception range.This can be corrected with a converter,but these are difficult to get hold of.

Radios from the US typically have very awkward tuning steps,approaching double that of european ones,what i mean by that,is that they go in 0.2 khz jumps,rather than our usual 0.1.This makes it difficult if the station that you want to listen to,is on,say 98.1 Khz,as the nearest tuning steps are 98.2 or 98.0 khz.

Does that make anything clearer?

 

[Shaq]

Quote: posted by RETRO on 08/11/2004 12:40:14

Looks like no tax will be added as they have stated that on the auction.

Still no reply from them to confirm if the radio will work.

I'll keep looking .....

Its not the seller that adds the tax on its the UK Customs and Excise as your importing goods from outside the EU.

They don't pick up on them all though - thankfully

C

 

[GeordieLife]

In the eBay ad they've said that they'll reimburse any tax costs Shaq, on production of a tax reciept. Whether they will or not...

 

[DDX]

I find Sony headunits great with the Golf's standard speakers. I had two before I installed Navi and they were both easy to use with good SQ - they also look great in the VW's dash. I still have both of them for sale as well as a Sony CD Changer so PM me if you're interested.

 

[RETRO]

Thanks for the replys

robo-toda - You know your stuff ... (I think I'll stick with UK versions and pay the extra cash)

Shaq - Looks like this ebayer is lucky and never gets stung.

But I still don't think its worth the risk

(Oh and have you sent my lights off today ?? [])

GeordieLife - Good point .... But I dont think I'm going to bother

DDX - You have a PM

Take it easy guys

Retro [^]

 

[gfunk]

theres a really nice mp3 head unit + changer on ebay - real cheap! and it looks stunning in a golf! same blue and reds! and matches the ali trim!

cant think whose it is

(see sig and webpage http://www.gpq62.dial.pipex.com/forsale.html)

 

[RETRO]

Haharharhra ...... Hmmmmm I wonder ....

 

[Tim B]

The guys above are right about the Jap/Chinese radio frequencies being a lower band than ours and yes, converters are a simple remedy to this problem (all grey importers of jap cars use hundreds of them all the time as they do this mod to all shoguns/skylines/hondas etc that arrive in this country every day)

American radios work on the same frequency as ours so work great. The only problem with American radios is that they dont actually have RDS/TA and EON systems (the thingy that tells you on the screen what the radio station name is and finds the same staion for better reception and traffic announcements etc)

The reason being is that American radio stations do not have the technology to broadcast their name etc so the radios do not have the relavent software on them for this.

If you can live without RDS etc then these USA head units are often very good value.

 

[RETRO]

Tim

Thanks for your input .... much appreciated !

Oh and BTW ... your Diesel powered Reaper sounds very very tasty

Any pics ?

 

[Tim B]

Thanks very much for your kind comments Retro!

The car is taking shape now not too bad, my friends complain as well that I never have any pics of my car to send to them when I complete another mod! I will post some pics of the car soon when I get round to taking any! I dont think I have any recent pics of the car at all.

I will get my camera out and give the car a wash this weeked when its light and im not at work!

 

[RETRO]

Nice one .... looking forward to them already !

 

[TSM]

One way to tell, expecialy on the Sony units.

I see it on all units that are sold from the USA.

XM Ready

If you see this stay away (remeber they may pick up on this)

Just stay away from anything sold from the USA.

 

[RETRO]

Thanks for the info []

So if it says XM ready then don't bother ....

I'll make sure that Santa buys it from the UK.

Anybody know of a better place than .... www.mcs-direct.co.uk ??

Retro [^]

 

[TSM]

www.caraudiosecurity.com

 

[BORA_TOM]

or try www.caraudiodirect.co.uk some specials at the moment and CADvent starts tomorrow!