Car audio hu recs? Used ok, must be under $150 preferably under $100

[Voixdelion]

I was considering replacing the Kenwood in my car with something a bit more hip > specifically that plays mp3, wma files off a burned disc in the cd   as it is precisely the one feature I wish it had.  However I will consider it a step backwards to give up the other things I have become accustomed to  such as aux input jack for the things that I forget to burn and have on some other portable device  like my trusty Razr V3xx.

 I don't care about buying older tech stuff as it usually serves me well as long as it was good quality to begin with  (I got a fabulous Sherwood receiver that was quite well acclaimed as one of the first to offer both dts and dolby decoding for some $35 bucks on ebay.  Its F******AWESOME and cost upwards of 1500 back when it was new and I don't have any tech that needs anything more advanced at this point.  (I am resisting the HDMI revolution until I have the money to do it properly - Meanwhile I am content as long as things sound pretty.)

I had hoped to have a winner with my lucky snipe on an unnoticed pioneer deh (some odd number that only showed up in uk pages) but even when the seller actually shipped a deh 4700  instead along with a set of 4 brand new (supposedly pretty awful sounding) Boss speakers all for less than 32 bucks,  I never even got to try it out past initially turning it on since some moronic jackass stole it out of my car while I was shopping for plants at home depot.  (Idiot probably thought the speakers said BOSE because he didn't get enough education to understand its RUDE to steal cheap electronics from a 16 year old car with a mangled hood and bondo on 1/3 of the quarterpanels not to mention in all likelihood not particularly profitable... I wasn't even sure it worked because my car battery was pretty toasted when I had tried it out so I don't know if it had a blown channel or if my car was to blame for the barely audible volume.  The thing that is hardest for me to replace is the damn speaker cover which is an oem honda part that doesn't appear to be sold anywhere that I had happened to place in the box with the speakers that I hadn't hooked up - also he took the quick connector for my wiring harness-  what a jackass...)

Anyway  I had only gotten it because it was so low cost I couldn't bear to pass it up but was loathe to part with my Kenwood which had treated me so well (22 bucks on ebay!) and lucky for me now I don't have to, but I was tempted so much by that mp3 disc idea I thought I'd poke around for another deal.  I would like it to have all of the following :

1) am/fm tuner
2) cd player (  if I burn a tune on a plastic thing that fits in the slot, I want it to play regardless of cda, wma, mp3, aac format - dvd audio is a bonus but not a requirement)
3) minimum 3 band eq - preferably more
4) aux input jack  (rear ok, front preferred)  
5) removable face for security
6) addtnl rca pre-outs
7) Good sound
Un-ugly or awkward display
9) Single DIN size

10) able to be powered by my less than top notch car battery  if that is possibly an issue

beyond these things, I don't really care.  Anybody know of stuff that was a good product in the eyes of consumers and critics and audiophiles?  (I listen to a lot of a cappella  vocal stuff, which suffers greatly on murky sounding stereos and is surprisingly enlightening when rendered properly.)  

I think I will avoid Sony unless there is a singular product that is worth my reconsideration, and would prefer a brand noted for quality equipment.  And again, its fine if the product was a best buy in Consumer Reports 5 or 6 years ago as long as it does those above things well - Id rather have excellent quality in used item than a brand new cheapie shiny box with whistles and bells.    (But if it needs a remote to function properly its a deal breaker  as I will definitely lose something like that eventually.)


ANy thoughts?

[Voixdelion]

which model?

[EverythingIBM]

Someone in my area is giving away a free cassette car deck module. I find cassettes work better with cars 'cause they read a lot better when going through bumps or high amounts of speed.
Will the HDMI gimmicks ever end? MP3 and other lossy audio formats are just disgusting. If you want the best audio quality as far as cars go, I'd suggest to stick with music CD-ROMs. Also, car speakers are so disappointing, too much bass, not enough treble to hear the high frequencies. Although the Ford Probe GTs had pretty nice speakers! The new Ford mustangs, definitely NOT. They suck.

[Soarer]

Too much bass?!

I had one of these in my boot (aka trunk!) back in the 80s... a Fender bass guitar speaker with four 12 inch drivers... it worked surprisingly well, even with only a small amp!!

I didn't have any headunit at all, just a Walkman :-)

[Voixdelion]

Wow - you guys are of NO help at all...  mebbe I'll stick with the kenwood (as long as chad lets me use his extra bazooka toob! - it just hasn't sounded right since his blew and he took it back...He got it replaced but we haven't bothered installing the other one in my car yet.)  Still I just like being able to access stuff on disc without having my entire collection in the car (as then there would be no room for passengers! )

[Oqsy]

I like Blaupunkt a lot.

[phillip]

http://www.amazon.com/JVC-KD-HDR60-Receiver-iTunes-Tagging/dp/B0035KDK72/ref=pd_cp_e_1

[keyb_gr]

You know what's hardest to find in an aftermarket car radio these days? A real top-notch tuner. The less expensive ones tend to light up like a Christmas tree, too. It's gotta look impressive and have a long feature list, apparently.

Look at the design and try making sure that it is at least halfway usable while driving. Anything "touch"y = fuhgettaboutit.

I'd see what can be had on the used market. Preferably with original docs and all that jazz to minimize the risk of stolen goods.

[keyb_gr]

Yeah, the Sansa Clip currently shipping has a much worse tuner than the previous generation.

That's a whole 'nother story. A Clip(+) isn't a HU.

But yeah, not a big fan of the RDA5802E so far (older Clip+ samples and Clips used the Si4702). Most of all deemphasis seems way off, audio sounds too sharp even in 50µs land. I wonder how that ever passed QC. Then again, with these Chinese companies (RDA Micro is one) you just never know...

Sony DAPs are quite unusable for audiophiles on this side of the pond. They have output impedances so high (commonly 40+ ohms) that the frequency response of almost anything with BA drivers is messed up considerably to badly, and output levels are too low for many of the usual suspects among open headphones.

EDIT: Yay, post #2222.