audioman00
Well-Known Member
This is one of the reasons the wife and I own older cars. We both hate stock radio's.
This is a joke, correct? The good ol’ underdash housing ain’t gonna fit in 95% of the vehicles on the road today ...Well, in the end if you're handy you can fashion a two-holed faceplate (try a junkyard for a part) and wire a system completely from scratch... if you really want a 2-hole vintage setup with amp & EQ. It's what I did with first 60's car that had only one dash speaker except that I mounted the cassette player and EQ/amp under dash. Under dash is different now that there is fascia everywhere but you can still do it. Get this for under dash, two hole stereo; there are other configs for other geometries...
Yes, complete consoles are an impediment nowadays but I don't believe in whining about what can't or won't be done when there are solutions.
AGAIN, it's about tenacity and commitment if you really want it.
My newest car is a 2002 which has a standard size modular stereo head unit that can still be upgraded with aftermarket gear. I've been driving 2014-2016 used cars and none of them have that kind of a stereo anymore. Some have sophisticated touchscreen-driven systems for audio, climate control and navigation all in one.
It doesn't seem possible to do the kind of custom car audio work that some of us grew up doing. I put a head unit plus EQ/amp into the dash of my first car (a '78 Corolla Liftback).
It's not that the factory systems are so bad, but what happens when it breaks? The days of DIY car stereo repairs seem to be gone.
All my mom's sisters are Muntz .I'm guessing forget about all that new fangled, in the dash, taking your eyesView attachment 1038617 off the road, touch screen bull mess and we'll install one of these again...
Heck, I recall my ol' Muntz friggin' ROCKED the tunes!
Also the alarm system is built in there also.
There seems to be a bit of confusion here. Modern vehicles do not have radios - they have infotainment systems. In many cases, these systems perform multiple functions - Bluetooth and streaming integration with cell phones, climate controls, back-up camera, navigation, etc. The screen you see in the dash is often just the user interface.Order your next car with NO radio.
Most online car-fi retailers have a good selection of radio kits with trim to install what ever you want.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-1kJLACoWjvA/g_112200/Dash-Kits.html
Baring that, there is always the custom shop who can do anything.
My last 2 installs were complete customs with parts made inhouse.