My tape player doesn't seem to be working. One day I put a tape in and it just came out all muffled, it wasn't even a gradual thing. Also the backlight behing the station presets quit working. I didn't really want to buy a new stereo, I like my little tape player. Plus I checked out some models at Best Buy and they're just so tacky, I just like a nice clean OEM look. What about Audiovox? They supposedly make OEM units. Do they make any for a '93 Aero? I used to have this old Blaupunkt "Miami" model, I wish I still had it.

Matt

 

For what its worth, replace it! Is this the stock unit? If so, it isn't worth getting fixed.

Do yourself a favor and get a new unit. Personally, I like the Alpine's. S/N ratio is superb!

 

reever's right, forget the stock unit, just go aftermarket. Tons of choices. Go to Crutchfield's website, and browse their stuff. Kenwood and Pioneer make some nice stuff, and some of it has that 'factory' look to it. You can still get cassette units, but the CD units are much more plentiful.

Alpine makes good stuff, too. Audiovox is probably more low end than those guys. For the money, go for one of the better brands, you'll like the sound quality a whole lot more.

 

Just replace it, you'll be much happier. However, don't bother trying to use the exsisting speaker wires, just re-wire it, it is much simpler in the long run.

 

being really cheap, and stubborn, i did a junk yard search on line a couple yrs ago and got an oem radio out of another ford aerostar for about 20 bucks. it went right it. also the light in the dial can be replaced. small screws on the sides hold front face on, it comes off to reveal one small bulb, you can find it at autozone, or radioshack, or auto parts places. i took it with me to insure a match.....
but everything the guys have said is true, now on vacation we plug in an adaptor to play cd's. i wish i would have switched back then, but i had the same concerns, many cd players look like they should be on the space shuttle....but thats progress ... i now would vote for a new one!! but do we have to replace those speaker wires?? i shoulda done that this summer when i redid the carpet and insulated the panels..oh well maybe this spring if its still running just my 2cents worth rick

 

I was thinking a fairly simple fix would be a cd changer under the seat. I wonder if there is a way to connect it to the existing radio. Also gotta have a power amp. Definately replace those cheesy dash speakers with a couple of good mids or two ways then find a spot in back for two bass type speakers and no subs. I hate'em. Subs are good for hip hop or soundtracks neither of which will be getting any use in my van. That would be a great sounding setup and fairly simple. Probably easier and not much more expensive to replace the existing "stereo" with a decent cd player. I'm amazed that people still use cassette decks. I'm as old school as the next guy but cassettes are stone age when it comes to audio. That's like super 8 movies compared to dvd's lol. Some may think that my setup might a little overboard but I love music and a vehicle can be such a killer sound chamber. I remember reading an article once about a pretty big time famous musician that said, first chance he got when he got a good studio track he liked he'd jump in his car and give it a play. He said if it sounded great in his car he knew he had something. One other thing, nowadays with close living quarters few people get to listen to music cranked up loud as they like it so the car is a great place for that and there's nothing sonically more frustrating than to crank up the stereo in the ride and get cheeze and distortion. The Aerostar has a fairly large interior space to fill so you need plenty of power and some speakers that can handle it. The suggestion of changing speaker wire is an excellent one too. I do sympathize with the fellow that likes the oem look of the factory unit. It is a clean look and the unit is nothing to put your nose up at. Lot of engineering goes into that little audio system. Yes I probably am going overboard in this post but man there is nothing like a killer stereo that rocks. The aerostar is a great ride and when you add a worthy sound system to it the difference to me is huge.

 

Myself I went with a Piineer cassette deck with a CD exchanger under the passenger seat. Best of both worlds. Repaced the 4" dash and the 6x9's in the middle of the van with good Sony's. Then in a custem box added 2 12" sub's, running a 550watt Rocford amp for the mid's and hi's and a 400 watt amp for the sud's. The great sound chamber of the van is fantastic. Also replaced all the wiring in the speakers and deck. Sub's can be good for other than Hip- Hop on a finely tuned system. I'm old enough to know better, over 50 years old, but still like very loud.

 

I agree with Bertha. I did pretty much the same. Replaced all the speakers, added 2 amps with a sub, cd changer & sirius sat. Sounds awesome! IMO tThe sub is necessary to round out the bottom end of the music. I am also over 40, but still like it loud & full.

Also, a note on Sirius: When I got it, the salesman told me I would rarely use my cd changer anymore, and he was right! If you are considering a cd changer,
& thinking about sat radio, get it (sat radio) first & you may discover that you won't need a changer after all. Just my 2 cents.

 

I went the cheap route (I like cheap, cheap is good) and put a Pioneer cassette unit in the dash. Kept the stock front speakers, wired the head unit into the factory harness for front speakers and power, antenna, lights.

Put Jensen 3-way 6 X 9 speakers in the stock locations, and wired them separately through a 200 watt amp, mounted under the driver's seat. Sounds good to my ears. I wanted to do it as easily as possible, with minimal mods and disassembly.

For CDs, I use a Philips walkman-type MP3 CD player, using a cassette adapter. That way, I don't have to carry a boatload of CDs with me. Get about 10 hrs out of one MP3 CD. I've ripped all my CDs onto my hard drive, and I can mix and match all the files for different CDs for road trips.

 

Circuit City now has a $60 MP3/CD deck. I'll be getting one of those pretty soon to replace the Kenwood cassette in there now. The tape deck works but you have to take the tape out with pliers, the eject mechanism lifts the tape off the playing head but doesn't shoot it out of the deck.

 

Be careful with the cheaper in-dash CD players. I had a low end Jensen and it didn't like some kinds of CD-R audio CDs. The burn speed didn't seem to make much difference, I tried a few at slower burn speeds just to see if it would read them.

I ended up going back to a cassette deck with adapter, since I already had one.

 

I am hoping to soon install a new cd/mp3 deck but I am wondering, if I do that will my rear controls still work? I want my daughter to still be able to change channels if she chooses so I don't have to do it for her. Any thoughts?

 

i had mine professionally installed, and the only thing that works is the volume control in the back. the back can't change channels, and if you turn the stereo all the way down from the front, you can't listen to it on the headphones, kinda sucks i think

 

I have priced out a whole system for my Aerostar ($190 Dash CD/MP3 player, dash, mid, and tailgate speakers) and it was only $350 with $50 cash back for going with multiple Sony products. And Crutchfield also has 2, 12" subs already mounted in a custom box for only $150!!

But, I would still like to go to Circuit City or somewhere like that and get the professional instillation because I know jack-crap about stereo systems...