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Wishes: simply that this unit had a 12.5khz treble control/boost button. Don't expect it to compete with power amplifiers, but to put it simply, I've still never needed to turn the thing all the way up, even for freeway driving.Tuner: A bit weak here, though it hasn't bothered me enough to care. As others have mentioned, it's an added bonus knowing that nobody other than a complete moron would attempt to smash & grab a $29 cassette car stereo. A bass boost button (which I actually like, because it is subtle and DOESN'T overdo the boost).
The audio-in jack on the front of the unit is the main reason I bought this, as I don't bother with CD's anymore, and just wanted something simple & cheap that I could plug my smartphone/mp3 player into.thankfully this is where the best fidelity of the unit lies. I can't say anything about long-term quality, as I only bought it a few weeks ago, but so far I've been quite happy with it, and would recommend it to anyone else looking for a decent low-priced car stereo. My breakdown of things:Audio quality: As others have noted here, the sound quality on this is better than what you'd expect for a unit this low-priced. I found the high-end to be slightly soft, but nothing too bad. I haven't listened to the radio enough enough to say if it has lost stations around town or not, but I can say that the visual mechanical tuner display is rather small, and with a lot of tuner travel per turn.Ease of use, features, and connectors: This thing is stupid-simple to use. A 3.5mm audio-in jack for mp3 players and the like.
Overall, this is a great deal for the money. Cassette player with an eject/FF button. A female antenna connector. RCA jack connectors should you wish to use to a power amp. When adjusting things while driving, you don't even need to look at it. Wires for 2 speakers. The bass response is pretty good.
This thing couldn't be simpler to hook up; a wire each for: power, ground, remote turn-on. An AM/FM button. The FM radio frequency response is weaker in the treble department than the input, but it doesn't bother me much.radio isn't really worth bothering with where I live anyway, other than public radio/college stations.Power output: Not bad for the price. 2 potentiometers - One for volume, the other a split-shaft for tuning/balance control w/center detent.
It does the job and I cant really tell yet if the sound quality is good because I have yet to get new speakers in my car, which I need. This product came in good time and it is what I thought it was going to be.
I don't think big power amps hooked to this cassette player would be a good match or the best way to get the most bang for your buck.I tried to play a cassette this morning (brrr, about 5 degrees above zero and my car sits outside all night) and it played slow and with lots of wow and flutter. As compared to my Bose home system or the killer audio system in my Altima it gets a dismal 1 or 2. Music is predictably of low quality but wow and flutter is tolerable - more on that below. My wife likes the idea that it didn't cheapen or trash up the way the console looks.In summary - for listening to audio books it is just the ticket for me. I added this cassette player to my car as a separate system simply to play audio books on cassette.
You will NOT enjoy loud music with bass you can feel - but most buyers will understand that you get what you pay for. I do have to turn my cheap Creative Labs Zen Stone all the way up and then it just does match the volume of cassettes. I rated it a 4 or 5 "for the money". But for the money it works and looks fine. (Bear in mind that many cassette players will not play at all at such low temperatures). That is to be expected and is sort of typical for many cassette players.The install was easy and it looks great in my dash just below my factory installed CD player.
This player will not win any awards for high fidelity, however the sound is clean up to about half volume and then some distortion can be heard. Still, it works fine without annoying buzzes or line noise. It sits nice and flush just like the heater controls and the CD player in my center console. I hooked in a set of modest speakers with 4" woofer and a tweeter and I can hear the audio books clearly over the road noise at about half volume. However, after the car (and cassette player) warmed up for only 5 minutes it started playing at correct speed and flutter went away quickly too. Likewise, it has power antenna control and pre-amp output on RCA plugs but I did not use either for my install.
The bass boost doesn't seem to make any difference so I leave it off.The 1/8" input to hook in an MP3 players is a nice bonus though. I didn't hook up the radio antenna so I have no info on reception but I suspect it would be fair to poor on the analog (dial) tuner.
I'm also routing it to two 12's in the rear that produce uncompromising clarity through all modes of input with my 1200W amp. The Dual XC4100 IN DASH AM/FM Cassette Receiver with auxiliary port proved to be exactly what my 1994 Chevy Blazer's dash board was missing. My only gripe is the price of an in-dash kit for my car literally cost me more than the device itself. The bass boost button functions flawlessly. The old Double-Din OEM receiver went out and this item replaced it without too much trouble. I got rid of all the electrical fittings and opted to just solder all the speaker wires together.
I'm sure I wont need the audio cassette player, but the ipod plug will come in handy. Just installed it into my 1970 VW Beetle. Cant beat that price if you just want a simple radio that takes care of business. I paid $20 for this radio. Fits perfectly and sounds great. I'm getting MUCH better reception than I ever had on my previous radio, which had probably been in the car since 1980.
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