new radio

[schneider252]

I gota a couple quick ones....

the dealer says that the radio is broke and all we need it a new one...

now see the time/date/temp/ect LCD dosnt work eiather is that connected to the radio? If so then i bet its just the radio and it needs to be replaced

What is the best i can get for an E30? Not to much plz but not too cheap

[CiscoKid]

how much do you want to pay? if u dont want to pay too much... Just go to ebay or bestbuy or someting almost any headunit will fit.

[schneider252]

hmm 100 bucks?

[CiscoKid]

you can go to bestbuy and pick up one foraobut tht much... nbot the best of quality, but its a radio with a CD player. Just make sure it come s with a built in amp. You will also need to buy a wiring harness for aobut $20

[jllphan]

If you have a bestbuy around, you should be able to buy a Kenwood or Panasonic for under $100.00. I sell the Kenwood KDC-122 for about $79.99 and a Panasonic CQDP103 for about the same. They are good for the money. I would not recomend anything else at that price, trust me I have a stock room full of shit to prove it!

[Scarface]

Don't settle for a cheap radio, why pay 100 bucks for something that might last 1-2 years? Go ahead and spend at least 199 and get an Eclipse unit that comes with a 3 year warranty if installed by an authorized dealer, comes with 1 year theft protection(if someone steals it within a year, Eclipse will replace it for free), and it has the built in ESN feauture where you can program a "key cd" so that if somone steal the unit it locks up and they must have your key cd to unlock the unit.Who else offers all of that!?!? Just to let you know what kind of quality Eclipse is, the company Eclipse is owned by Fujitsu Ten who also happens to own Toyota and Denso....So that tells you you are getting some good quality...If you want, go ahead and spend 100 on a cheaper unit to get you by, but then a year to two down the road when its 1 year warranty is up and it goes out, you will just have to go back and re-spend another 100 at least!

Hope I can help!

[Scarface]

BTW, I sell Clarion, Pioneer, Sony, JVC as well, and when I explain the advantages the Eclipse units have over the other brands, the customer almost never goes for anything else unless its some young kid who doesn't care about sound quality and just wants the fancy colors and graphics...I also almost never have any Eclipse units come back in for warranty or repair, I have about 2 Clarions a month, and maybe a couple Sony's every couple months...The next best brand I sell is probably Pioneer...The only 4 I would recommend would be 1)Eclipse, 2)Nakamichi 3)Alpine, and 4)Pioneer....I am not knocking anything else, just telling you what I have experience with and what has worked well for my customers!

[schneider252]

thanks man! good advice, you know your shit!! i'll deffenetly look into that when i purchace one, do u sell them over a website by chance??

btw is the LED screen with the temp,time,date,ect connected to the radio?? Cause that dosnt work eather but im guessing its all connected.

[Scarface]

Originally posted by schneider252@Apr 24 2004, 09:07 PM
thanks man! good advice, you know your shit!! i'll deffenetly look into that when i purchace one, do u sell them over a website by chance??

btw is the LED screen with the temp,time,date,ect connected to the radio?? Cause that dosnt work eather but im guessing its all connected.

Unfortunately, I cannot sell you Eclipse products over the phone or internet because of dealer territorial restrictions, that is called trans-shipping. However I can refer you to their site and you can find the closest authorized dealer and let them help you. As far as the clock/date etc, I am not very familiar with the E30 model so I cannot help you in that area...

Here is the website you need to go to--Eclipse website

[schneider252]

how hard is it to put a new radio in yourself?

[Scarface]

I haven't done an E30 but if it is anything like the E36, once the factory radio is out, all you have to do is wire up the aftermarket harness you buy for your bmw, (best kits harness part# bha8590), metra will have some letters then the same numbers 8590 not sure exactly...The bmw harness you buy plugs into your factory harness, and the wire colors coming off the one you bought match the colors on the back of your radio, all you have to do is match them up....Fairly simple!

[jllphan]

Actually the Metra part# is 70-8590, and don't forget your trusty antenna adaptor!

Hey scarface, has eclipse gotten any better with their skipping issue? i know they consistently lost the ball bearing test by Car Audio magazine, and i swore i would never own another one when mine would insesently skip due to my subwoofers at the time.

The thing sounded great, but man that skipping thing just pissed me off!!!

[Scarface]

Originally posted by jllphan@Apr 25 2004, 10:13 PM
Actually the Metra part# is 70-8590, and don't forget your trusty antenna adaptor!

Hey scarface, has eclipse gotten any better with their skipping issue? i know they consistently lost the ball bearing test by Car Audio magazine, and i swore i would never own another one when mine would insesently skip due to my subwoofers at the time.

The thing sounded great, but man that skipping thing just pissed me off!!!

I have been selling Eclipse for 3 years now since we picked them up and haven't had any problems so far, I haven't heard that problem yet, I will have to ask my rep tomorrow and see what he says. One of our guys is doing 156dB with 2 L7 15's in a tahoe and had the Eclipse cd8053 and hasn't skipped to my knowledge, but I will do some research!

[jllphan]

My first Eclipse head unit was purchased in 1996, so they have had some time to clear up this issue. After reading my post, i kinda sounded like an ass, that wasn't my intention. I wasn't trying to insult a product i'm sure you love. They do indeed have the best theft deterent program of any aftermarket HU company. It just cheesed me off that i spent 400 bucks on a head unit that skipped when i tried to jam!!

[Scarface]

Originally posted by jllphan@Apr 26 2004, 05:28 PM
My first Eclipse head unit was purchased in 1996, so they have had some time to clear up this issue. After reading my post, i kinda sounded like an ass, that wasn't my intention. I wasn't trying to insult a product i'm sure you love. They do indeed have the best theft deterent program of any aftermarket HU company. It just cheesed me off that i spent 400 bucks on a head unit that skipped when i tried to jam!!

hey bro no offense taken here, everyone here is entitles to his/her opinion! Yeah I am sure they have cleared that problem up since '96...I remember around '97 one of my friends had an Eclipse in his s10 and something kept messing up on it and he finally just punched the shit out of it! No warranty there! Anyway yes since then they have come a long way and now are one of the best on the market. All we can do is give this guy good advice and let him do some research and make a decision...As long as he goes with something good he will be happy!