HI all,

Looking for a new stereo for my Honda Civic 2003, but no idea where to start really. Happy to buy second hand, budget of around £50 ideally.

Main reason for wanting a new stereo is for an aux cable, bluetooth connect (for music) would be nice but not essential. Improved music quality would be great (although guessing the stock speakers aren’t much good anyway).

Not fussed about extra faff like reading out text messages, app control, remote control, colour screen etc. Want single DIN.

I’ll be hopefully fitting it myself, removing the old stereo doesn’t look too bad, and guess I need one of these;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONDA-CIVIC-SILVER-STEREO-FITTING-KIT-FASCIA-FACIA-PLATE-ISO-ADAPTOR-LEAD-/350895245309?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3AHonda%7CCars+Year%3A2003&hash=item51b2fc87fd

Any recommendations?

Ta,
Duane.

Oh also, with a bluetooth stereo, when you do in-car calls, does it just use the mic on the phone, or does the stereo itself normally have a mic?

Oh and to work with both Apple and Android phones

Can’t recommend a specific unit with bluetooth but I’ve bought from these people in the past and they were very helpful…

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/

At £50 the sound quality will be much of a muchness between all the major brands (Kenwood, JVC, Pioneer etc).

I got one of these and have been very pleased with it (no bluetooth though)…

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/head-units/cd-players/kenwood-kdc-161ur

Thanks. How much of a correlation is there between money spent and sound quality, with standard speakers? (Potentially looking to upgrade somepoint in the future).

Would it be pointless to spend twice the money – would there be a noticeable quality difference, if still on stock speakers?

Good Android compatability still seems to be pretty rare- I went with a similiar Kenwood to that one but with android connectivity, the sound is good but the android app is pretty flaky and didn’t work at all with one of my phones. Or rather it worked as a music player but refused to integrate with the stereo.

I’ve got tin ears after too much heavy metal and motorbikes but ime cars are pretty terrible listening rooms anyway- road noise, engine noise, funny metal shapes. I’m sure in a top end, well insulated, new car it gets to be more important but for me brilliant sound quality would be wasted in the car. I guess it depends also on how good the speakers are- mine are decent, the ones in my old car were pish.

Cheers. With bluetooth can you not just connect like you would to any other bluetooth speaker, and just play music directly through whatever (Spotify etc)? Why the need for an app? Or is that for calls etc?

With the kenwoods, you can control the music from the oe car stalk and from the head unit, rather than having to fanny around with the phone to change tracks. Or at least, that’s the idea.

would there be a noticeable quality difference, if still on stock speakers?

I’d rather spend the extra £50 on some better front speakers. But this does depend on the original car. Mine was an old Octavia and the stock speakers were rubbish. But we’ve had Fords in the past and their audio systems have always seemed pretty good.

I’d get the headunit first and then see how it sounds. That Kenwood has loads of scope to tune the sound. Bass, Mid Level, Treble – then a load of equalization I’ve never touched!

In my experience, speakers will make the biggest difference in sound quality. Just splashed out a monumental £30 for two front door speakers in mine and the improvement is massive! (6.5″ Alpine SXE if you’re interested. I put them in my last car too). But of course, as said, that depends very much on the quality of the original speakers. An aftermarket headunit will often be more powerful than the stock one, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for a great difference in sound quality on stock speakers.

If I were buying again, I’d look for something easy to use. Mine has no preset buttons for radio stations, meaning I have to go into the menu to change station..! Not ideal when you’re driving.

I’m looking for something similar to replace the god awful stock stereo in my Golf. So far the best thing I’ve found is an Alpine UTE something. It doesn’t have a cd player but doesn’t bother me as I want to get rid of all that clutter in my car. It plays music via bluetooth (will do voice calls with an external mic as well), aux in, ipod in/control and usb in. Planning on getting one with a 64gb flash drive and having all my music in the car at all times! Depends how good it is at navigating music on the usb though, a cheap ipod may be better.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Got my eye on a Pioneer BT head unit. Trying to figure out if/what wiring adapter I will need for the loom and aerial – any ideas?

The fascia I linked in my first post comes with an adapter, would that be the correct one?

Ta,
Duane.

I once removed a door card to see what was up with a speaker and found it to be soaked with water. I went out and bought some for around £60, fitted the first one and it sounded so poor when firing the balance from left to right. Not sure if it was a good comparison but the guy in the shop agreed and I asked if I could return them. He was fine about it. Someone said that they need to settle in but I wasn’t willing to take the risk. Would going on a civic forum – ICE/audio section not be the best bet to suss out which speakers are known to be compatible with the original head unit?

I got a pair of Pioneer DEH-4500BT units for both cars last year.

Work really well and I’m sure you’ll get one in your budget or its successor. Great handsfree functions and sound is pretty good. Was an absolute ball-ache to get in my E46 Touring; I had to remove most of the dash to get it in-definitely worth getting to pro to do it as it cost me a lot of skin on my knuckles!!

Mike – just bought a Pioneer 4600BT (predecessor to the 4500) about 30 seconds ago off ebay!

Good work!