Need advice re car stereos
On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:30:11 +0000, Ajanta wrote:
: There are a few car stereos that incorporate the AM/FM/Cassette/CD, but
: they are kind of expensive. Can you ditch the Cassette, or do you have a
: large variety?
I do have a cassette collection but also, at $2 each rather than $10-15 pr
cd's, tend to buy cassettes when traveling overseas, to experiment with
music that seems interesting but not a sure bet.
Thank you for your detailed advice. My car is 1998 Camry LE 6-cylinder
4-door sedan. The in-dash cassette receiver is branded "Toyota" and is
working just fine. There is free pocket below it. The cd changer in the
trunk has some other name ("Eclipse"? I'll have to look). I want to get
rid of it because it tends to get bumped by luggage and sometimes won't
play unless I stop the car, open the trunk, and reset it.
So ideally, I would just want a cd player that would go into the free
pocket and connect to the cassette receiver. I don't really want a new
AM/FM/Cassette/CD unit, I am just prepared to consider it if it is the
only solution.
Whoa! Eclipse is Good Stuff! Maybe I'll throw you a few bucks for it!
I'd move it to under the driver's seat, myself. Since it is an Eclipse,
unless there is a direct connection to your radio (meaning you have a
Fujitsu Radio...) then does it tune into the radio, or is there a button
on the radio to allow control of the changer from the stock radio?
This is interesting...
The only place you're going to find a direct-connect CD changer is from
Toyota, or from a junkyard or e-Bay. I'd like to see this setup so I could
tell what is needed! A lot of the stock Toyota radios through the 80's and
into the 90's had a DIN connector on the back of them to plug in other
accessories such as a CD deck or an Equalizer. But, even though DIN
'means' STANDARDIZED, it is not possible to tell if one manufacturer's
pinout matches another's pin-in! If you can get a look at the back of the
radio and see if there is a DIN connector that is plugged into a socket,
then you may be able to get something that will work.
I can't remember how Fujitsu marks their units. At one time, even though
the radio said TOYOTA on it, there was also another little mark on the
faceplate that defines the MFG; a small Capital N with a lightening
bolt for National (Panasonic), or what kind of looked like the GE (General
Electric) 'meatball' with the word "TEN" across it for Fujitsu. (See, I DO
remember!) If one of these marks is on there, it will help even further;
I'm willing to bet since it is an Eclipse changer then it's probably a
Fujitsu head unit...
If you find something, let me know!
There is another way to tell...the National branded radios had REALLY good
FM reception (almost TOO good! Stations splashed over each other) while
the FM section on the Fujitsu's wasn't as good, but the tape section
sounded GREAT! (but that's a generalization...)
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