Looking for a gorgeous CD receiver with a drop down face but don't want to take out a second mortage to get one? The Austin features a refreshing look with large, titanium finish drop down face with positive blue display and red-lit buttons. Take a look at some of the innovative features found in the Austin: 3-beam laser pick-up with 1-Bit/8X oversampling, XBASS bass boost, demo mode display with 4 types of peak meters, and auxiliary input (perfect for MP3 players, requires optional adapter).
Features
* Fold-Down Face
* Titanium Finish
* Positive Blue LCD Display
* 3-Beam Pickup
* 1-Bit/8X Oversampling Digital Filter
* XBASS Bass Enhancement Circuitry
* CD Changer Control or Optional Auxiliary Input (Requires Adapter)
* Optional Credit-Card Remote Control
CD Player Specifications
* Anti Theft: Removable Faceplate
* Preamp Outputs: 3 sets
* Preamp Output Voltage: 2 volts
* CD Changer Controls: Yes
* Remote Control: Optional
* RMS Power: 25W x 4
* Peak Power: 50W x 4
* CD Frequency Response: 20-20,000 Hz
* FM Mono Sensitivity: 9.1 dBf
* CD Sgnal-to-Noise Ratio: 96 dB
* Amp Total Harmonic Distortion: n/a
Author
DomozitoLK VIP Member
Registered: April 2004 Location: Northern California Posts: 694
Review Date: Tue June 28, 2005
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $100.00
| Rating: 7
Pros:
Big improvement over factory stereo; matching styling for MY04
Cons:
No built-in changer like factory unit; mine (used) skips occassionally with CD-Rs
I got fed up with the low power output and muffled sound of the factory stereo in the MY04 WRX. I found this 2nd hand stereo on ebay and picked it up. Looks good in the dash in conjunction with the Forester pocket. Standard ISO-mounting using factory brackets. Requires some redrilling to fit both the Forester pocket and this head unit and make them sit correctly (took some trial and error to make it so the door would open right and also play well with the pocket door above), but worth the effort.
I don\'t know if it\'s typical of this headunit, but playing CD\'s for a few minutes with the volume up starts it skipping badly (Turns out it only skips with CD-R media, not store bought CDs). There are only cooling vents on the top back edge and back sides. The brackets partially cover the sides so I had to modify them slightly to free the air holes. I also mounted the head unit on the bottom slot as top mounting chokes off the vents and it overheats even quicker.
It still overheated on the bottom so I ended up attaching a Pentium fan to the back by the cooling fins and pointing air over the top of the deck and the cooling vents. It greatly improved airflow and kept the deck cooler, and making it skip hardly at all now.
Even with the overheating issue, it\'s a pretty nice deck with a clean sound. FM/AM reception is great. The amplifier is nice, strong, and clean sounding.
EDIT July 14, 2005: It turns out it only skips with CD-R (burned CDs) music CDs and not with factory pressed CDs bought from the store. Store bought CDs play flawlessly, so it\'s not an overheating issue as much as a CD-R compatibility issue. And since I\'ve narrowed it to CD-R\'s I did some web searching about CD-R qualities. My dirt-cheap 100-spindle CDs skips like crazy in the Austin. A Sony brand silver 700min CD skipped only occasionally and was at least listenable. I need to look into more quality discs for burned music since the Blaupunkt is so sensitive to this.
The AUX input on the back is great for CD-changer or currently I have it going to female RCA jacks to run my portable DVD players sounds through to. We took the DVD player with us on a trip up and down the west coast and while waiting in line for ferrys in Washington and Cananda, we watch movies and wished we could hear the sound through the car speakers. Now we can!
The only thing I wish it had would be an EQ. My last aftermarket deck was a Sony unit and it had a built in EQ that I used a lot. That\'s a small thing though.
Besides the mounting issues, installation was a breeze using a WRX stereo wiring harness soldered to the Blaupunkt harness for Plug-n-Play action. Not wiring cutting involved here.
------------------------------ Rob Thomas
2004 Subaru Impreza WRX
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