I got the catalog from Crutchfield in the mail today. So I went through it. That was a waste of time. A whole catalog and NOT ONE RADIO UNDER $100. Also not one manual tune radio. Why is it so dang hard to find a simple maunal tune rado. I guess this company considers it's self high end. Had some some speakers in that catalog that cost more then I paid for the whole truck. As far as I'm concerned anyone who would spend over $100 for a radio is either got to much money to burn, a fool or both. It is a thorn in my side this "Pimped out" or as I prefer screwed up (wanted to say something else but the moderator would not approve) cars. I mean WTH??. I see from the catalog that a person can blow several hundreds buck like nothing. Even if I had that kind of green to burn I would not waste it on something so trivial. I mean what was wrong with the old dial tune radios? They worked just fine. You never had to worry about loosing your memory stations. Not to mention the display never burnt out like the the digital radios. But as I said I have that bone to pick with my generation. Especialy considering it's their parents buying it. It just amazes me how many old rusted out cars are out there with top of line stereos. For what those stereos cost. And the down payment on a nice used car. It just boggles my mind why anyone would find it more important to dump unneeded money into a junker rather then to get a car that does not have 200K or more on the odometer. Why is it the junkiest cars have the most expensive stereos? The radio I had in my truck even had a mute button on it. What gives Why the hill do you need a mute button on a radio?? What is wrong with turing it off? It's not like there's a picture or something. And what's up with the DVD players in cars now? And don't give me the excuse of entertaining the kids. As a young kid the family travelled all the way to Eastern Montana and I never died of boredom. Personaly I blame TV as partly responsible for illiteracy. That and video games. Suffice it to say Crutchfield will not be getting any of my money. I have found where I can get used radios for $15. Not the manual tune I'm after but at least I can figure it out. And at least the displays actualy work.

 

Everything is a throw away nowadays, even the cars so why not the radios also...

There is no excuse for radios losing their stations nowadays either. Serial EEPROMs have been mega cheap for 20 years.

 

Wow, you can have the old stuff.
I absolutely hate turning a dial compared to pressing the seek button and letting the radio find the frequency and lock itself in.

 

Need to have good tunes when Im driving,Nice clear and crisp sounds is what I want not gargle and distortion and my stereo has a credit card size remote and I never have to touch the stereo when Im driving its a bit safer then messing with ***** and buttons when your driving.I am not one of those guy you can here coming from a mile away but I can be.Some people just enjoy music more than others its all good.

 

I kinda understand what you are saying. There is a station that has a weak signal that I can get early in the morning on my way to work in one of the other trucks, it has a tuning **** (don't know if it is a manual tuner). In the F-150 with the digital tuner, I guess the signal is too weak, it won't lock on and I can't manually tune it.

 

As I always say different strokes for different folks. I don't understand the reasoning behind having a 500 dollar car with 5000 system.

 

Totally agreed. One of the first things to get changed out when I buy a car is the radio if it dosent have a decent one in it already. I dont spend hundreds of $$ on a radio and never saw the point in doing so but I also dont want to be listening to AM stations sound when I am listening to a strong FM station. I also need a CD player.

 

Wakeup and smell the coffee, it's the 21st century. Crutchfeild has excellent prices, but jc whitney may still have some of those 59.99 stereo's with an 8 track or something. I like the factory stereo's because of the big buttons, however I do upgrade to rockford fosgate speakers, I like clean clear crip sound when I listen to the radio. If I was just listening to Paul Havey, it wouldn't matter. I'm 47, so I'm no youngster, but I do like a decent sounding stereo. I also believe you get what you pay for. I do see your point, if the radio isn't important to you, why pay the money, but it's must have some importance, or you wouldn't be looking for one. The old manual tunners went out with the 70's, but I'm sure there are still some around if you look. I believe there are some places in hennings motor news that restores them for people with old cars, might still be some in junkyards and such. Personaly, I believe you have forgotten how bad they were compared to today's systems, and once you had one for a while, you'ld be glad to get rid of it as you search through your crutchfield catolog ha ha.

 

I'm the same way when it comes to spending money on a radio for my vehicles. I simply do not see the need to spend a large amount of money on something like that. The Bronco I bought back in September has an AM/FM cassette player, which works fine, but, since all of my music is on CD's, does'nt help me much. So, I did the same thing Old Rust Bucket did, looked through Crutchfield. Found nothing there that I felt was worth spending the egg money on, so to speak. I mean, I like the Bronco, and the previous owners had taken very good care of it, but still, the thing is almost eleven years old and I don't plan to keep it around to haul me to the cemetery. I've been thinking of getting an iPod and downloading all my songs into it. They'll work off the FM band in the car, so I can keep the radio it has now, and even use it in my old F150, should the need arise.

 

I used to think that the radio was an extra and spending money on a quality one was a waste of funds.

After picking up a nice Alpine car stereo for my Ranger, I'm converted over. It really does make the music sound better. Not just hip hop rap dance bullcocky, but ALL music.

You don't have to be a 'homie to appreciate a good soundsystem.

 

the stero radios found in aerostars are great,,,,,,just a thought

 

Same with my F-550. It could use some triaxial speakers, but the stereo itself is nice and will play both CD's and cassette tapes.

 

go to a junk yard and see what you can get from a similar truck, i dont have control over losing my hearing do to old age, but im sure going to crank a good stereo, on my home pc, home audio, and vehicle, until its time to buy the farm

 

Yeah, I have probably about 600-700 into the system in my Mazda. Why? Because I like good sound quality. Obviously you don't have to spend THAT much to get a good radio and speakers, I probably went a little overboard.. but who cares?

I can sort of see your point about old cars with systems, but the great thing about a stereo system is that it can be transferred to your next vehicle, and if your lucky the speakers will fit too. I had the current system in my F150 before I traded it for the mazda. I made a new subwoofer box to fit into the back of my mazda (which turned out pretty good, i think), changed out all the 6x8 speakers, and bought the new wiring harness for the head unit.

I've been looking around for something to upgrade the bronco too, but 1) its really old and 2) i don't want to spend a bunch of money on a head unit and then have my bronco get rained on with the top off and the system get ruined.

 

I've seen stereo's in crutchfield for a round 100.00$, do you want them to give it to you or what ? A lot of guy's spend that much in beer a week, then you don't buy beer, you just rent it ha ha. It's not like your gonna take it with you when you go, you'll just spend it on something else, or leave it for someone else to spend. A pack of smokes is 5.00$, a pizza is 16.00 -20.00$, and were gonna make a big deal over a 100.00$ stereo, or whatever they cost, I got a crutchfeild catolog right here, let me check the prices. OK, here we go, page 26 of the crutchfeild holiday edition, there's a kenwood cd receiver for 79.99, a kenwood for 109.99 and a kenwood for 119.99. Page 28 has a pioneer for 99.99, page 30 has a sony xplod for79.99, these are just a few examples and there all cd stereo's. I don't understand what the problem is with crutchfield, I haven't found the free stero store yet.