Car Stereo/Audio

[cprice12]

So I did away with XM radio a couple months ago and I wanted to stream internet radio (Pandora, Shoutcast, Google Play, etc.) through my car stereo from my Droid2...but my factory stereo didn't have an AUX port or bluetooth.
So, I decided to replace the factory stereo in my Jeep.

I wasn't wanting to spend a lot of money for a high end stereo, I just wanted a port to stream music.
I came across this one on Cruthfield:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDX50BT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... ml?tp=5684

It's a digital media receiver (no cd player), but I rarely use cd's anymore.
I've used Crutchfield before when I replaced the factory stereo in my previous car, and I was a huge fan of their website and how easy they make choosing a stereo that fits your car, along with conversion kits, instructions, etc...plus their prices are decent.

I received it today and just finished installing it.
It's pretty kick ass...and only $115 for everything (receiver & conversion kit).
2-USB ports, Bluetooth (phone & streaming), Aux port.
It has a feature that once when you turn the car on, it automatically connects to your phone via bluetooth and all you have to do is press one button on the receiver and it starts streaming Pandora just like that.
Very cool...works great.
Love, love, love the bluetooth in the car. No wires.

It's pretty customizable too. You can even choose from like 26 different colors for the displays, and even mix and match or have it cycle through and fade in and out.
So it's blue & yellow during Blues season, and Red & white during Cardinals season.

It's also nice to stream 590 KFNS now, since their reception on the Illinois side is total crap half of the time...and at night, forget about it. I can actually listen to 590 without tons of static now.

JVC bumped up the usb ports to 1amp, so you can keep your phone charged while you use it in the car. Some usb ports on car stereos can't keep up with the usage and fail to keep the phone charged.

I know some of you guys probably have much better setups, LCD touch screens & whatnot, but I was just very impressed with this one, especially at this price...and it looks slick. I wasn't expecting to get something this nice at this price.

So yeah, if anyone is looking for a car stereo for around $100...I recommend this one. Very nice.

Oh...and crutchfield.com rocks.

I'll take a pic & post it...once I clean my car out.

[dmiles2186]

I've got a Droid X2 and the battery life on it is pretty sketchy. Doing something like this with Bluetooth, does that suck the crap out of your battery? I was just curious. I would love to do something like this.

[cprice12]

I've got a Droid X2 and the battery life on it is pretty sketchy. Doing something like this with Bluetooth, does that suck the crap out of your battery? I was just curious. I would love to do something like this.

Bluetooth uses battery, like anything else. But if you are in your car, you can keep it charged on the cig lighter.
I bought the extended battery for my Rezound. I never really have battery issues. I could go two full days on one charge.

The screen brightness is what eats the most battery on all phones. It's ridiculous. Indoors, I never need full brightness so I turn it down a bit when inside, but outdoors it's nice to have the brightness turned up a bit so you can see the screen in the sun.
So I have a widget on my home screen that toggles screen brightness so I can quickly brighten it up if I need to.

There are also apps you can install to automatically control functions like that, based on time of day.
I use Timeriffic. Works great. Automatically adjusts screen brightness, ringer, vibrate, wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc...based on the time of day.

Having my phone automatically turn the ringer off and set the screen to low brightness at 7:45pm is great for when I'm putting my 1 year old to bed at 8pm. I'm giving him his bottle and I know my phone isn't going to ring, plus, when he's done and he's asleep in my arms (I like to rock him for 5-10 minutes after he finishes his bottle), I can whip out my phone and check email/sports scores/etc., and the brightness is already down so it won't light up the room.

It's features such as that as to why I love Android.

[_Gassoff]

I heard you get terrible bass via Bluetooth. Everything is all treble-ly. Is that true?

[cprice12]

I heard you get terrible bass via Bluetooth. Everything is all treble-ly. Is that true?

I'm not a "thumping bass" kind of guy, but I think the audio quality is just fine. But wouldn't that depend mostly on the quality of your stereo and speakers? And even the output of your device (phone, ipod, etc)?

I guess I could see what is better, the bluetooth connection or the aux cable. I use bluetooth 99% of the time. I tried out aux a couple times, but got tired of the wire real quick. I didn't recall any difference in bass.

I listen to "The Tech Guy" podcast quite often via bluetooth, and I feel the base is quite good on that.

I'll say this about my setup. I love it. I have no complaints about the audio quality...but then again, I'm no audiophile.
Maybe if you're extremely picky, you may notice a difference...no idea.
If I think about it, I'll try to compare it to the aux cable and let you know if I hear a difference in bass.