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 :What could be wrong with this?
Well, first of all, I bought this changer because I wanted mp3 playback and didn't feel like changing my head unit. With that said, take everything here as face value.
I bought this changer for a total of $170, including the shipping/handling and the two wiring harnesses to keep from splicing into my factory wiring. It took me about 2 hours, including listening to music between hook-up and hiding wires to check to make sure it worked. No problem there, seeing as how it hooked up just like it described.
After hiding the wires, I took it on a test drive to check all the problems everyone was having. The first test, bumpy roads, and it passed. The second, changing CD’s it passed, yes it takes 20 seconds to change songs in shuffle, but, I can live with that. Third, I tried mp3 cds, to combat everyone else's problems, and it passed that, too.
As far as the mp3 problem, I don't see what everyone else is complaining about. I used Memorex silver CD-R's, 52X compatible, and burned each discs in less than 5 minutes. The discs didn't skip once.
And, as far as the sound quality...it isn't as bad as everyone says. Sure, there is a slight drop-out in bass and high end, and the DBass doesn't do much help, but it is worth having the 10 discs in the trunk.
This is a good piece of equipment for anyone wanting a changer but not wanting to change their factory equipment.
Pros: Plays mp3s, easy to use, hardly any moving parts
Cons: Slow load times
 :Good changer at the right price
I've had this unit for just over a year and it worked well until it started getting flaky and finally quit; just after the 1 year warranty expired of course. It would only light up junk on the wired remote and not play, just shut down. I will admit that the player is mounted on the floor in the back of my Ranger pickup, and was loose for quite a while.
I decided I had nothing to lose, so I opened it up to find 3 obvious loose solder joints on one of the main transistors. 30 seconds later, it works great again.
So, my recommendation is that if you get a good one, and pay the right price, and don't beat it to death, it works well and sounds great even if it has to share a frequency (all taken up in the L.A. California area).
A previous review mentioned MP3's only working on CD/RW. That is not correct. I use only CR-R and they are fine.
As for the price, I found it on sale at Fry's for $99
Pros: Sounds great, even on factory speakers and doubled up frequency
Cons: Not very rugged or had poor quality control at manufacture.
 :Reads CD-R's fine
I had no trouble installing or playing this unit, although I still haven't completely checked out all functions of the remote, etc. So far no skips or anything and very enjoyable.
:The unit came with complete
The unit came with complete hardware and instructions. It has rich features to include many FM modulator frequencies and 5 levels. If one could adjust the FM pre-emphasis/de-emphasis setting that would have been nice, since I'm using the unit in a European car. Left unadjusted, this causes slightly subdued highs in the music, but still sounds quite good with increased treble. Sound quality varies widely with different encoded MP3 tracks. It’s best to play many files and some factory CDs before making judgements. Most people will find the FM interface to have negligible effects on the sound, when a good source track is played. Some instances of degraded sound quality may be due to source track problems, or a less optimal FM antenna connection. I rated the sound quality down to 4 only because of no FM pre-emphasis control. Still, the unit is a great value, and I only wish it had a wireless display instead of a wired one. The wireless remote works well. Well worth the price.
:Plays fine in maxima
A friend of mine got this changer first and I was a little sceptical about it after reading reviews on the net. My friend didn't have skipping problems and I decided to give the changer a try as well. I got the changer 3 weeks ago and it works as advertised. I didn't notice any skipping even though I didn't use any special "music grade" CD/R’s. I used regular cheapest CD/R’s I could find, free after rebates. I have 48x CDRW drive and slowest it can record is 8x. After reading all these reviews I recorded at slowest speed I could (8 xs) and didn't notice any skipping despite roads being pretty bumpy at winter time. Just in case if mounting contributes to skipping, I mounted my changer horizontally in the trunk. I have Nissan Maxima with BOSE sound system and think that head unit CD player sounds a little better then the changer. It is not the sound quality issue. I think sound from the CD player gets optimized to sound better with BOSE. Changer has just standard sound output. Changer has D-bass feature which is supposed to boost low and high frequencies to enhance the sound. I found D-bass to distort sound when used and it is better to keep it disabled. I wish Sony would have bass and treble controls on the changer. Changer uses antenna cable to connect to the head unit and sends signal over RF. FM radio stations have to clip their signals to comply with FCC regulations. Changer doesn't need to do that because it injects signal directly in the antenna cable, it is not broadcasting anything. Sound is very decent and no distortion noticeable.
Few words about remotes:
On the wired remote back light is very bright and there is no adjustment. I wish Sony would use dot matrix LCD to display music titles in full and have all the controls on the wired remote as well. Wired remote has limited controls and I have to use it in conjunction with the wireless control.
I think it is important where you buy the charger. You might not get quality product on eBay or at discount no name internet places. Stick with big guys. I got mine from Crutchfield and got 2 necessary antenna adapters from them for free.
:Does exactly what...
This unit does exactly what is supposed to do. Unfortunately because it utilizes your FM signal, the quality of the sound is compromised quite a bit. All together it's a good unit if you're not too picky about sound fidelity.
 
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