desertheat
10+ year member
CarAudio.com Veteran
Hey guys! About a month ago I started looking for a decent h/u for my girlfriends daily driver gas milage car "a 87 toyota corolla fx16 gts" I was looking for a deck that would play MP3's for her and that would look decent and not tacky for a super budget price. I took a long look at ebay and good old crutchfield. I found this deck at audiosavings which sells on ebay. Price was $104.95 + a rip off $19.95 shipping for a grand total of $129.85 which in all reality is really not bad for an mp3 deck! The seller got it to me in quick fashion but the only thing that ticked me off with them is they shipped me a Canadian version so my warranty is only good in Canada! I will be taking this up with a letter to them this week, will update ya if they fix this issue in part 2 of the review.
In the past I have used JVC decks on and off. Also used to sell them as our budget line. Never had a problem with them and customers liked them so I said what the heck, it is cheap so I will give it a chance. I know JVC does not have a real hold on the car audio world with brands such as alpine, eclipse, pioneer ect... but hey! I need somthing new, and super cheap!
Now for the review portion. It will be written in two sections. The first section will include my impressions out of the box. Mainly first impressions and specs. The second portion will include real world testing after I have been able to use it for about a week. I am no writer so please excuse spelling errors or gramatical errors!
First impressions: Looked ok in the photo, not to cheesy and it has a nice anolog knob which I favor. The feature which cought my eye the most besides being able to play mp3's is the SEL "select" button in the middle of the knob. This tells me offhand that this deck probably has easy menu's to go through and select unlike allot of decks these days. One look at the manual confirmed that with a press of the button you can select menu's and turn the knob to scroll through things, awsome! This means the girl is not going to be nagging me non stop to help her do this or that to the deck.
Features: For tuning the sound It has some built in eq features, best of all it has old school bass and treble controls which I like on a cheaper unit combined with a good old LOUD button weee!
Looking over the deck I see a set of rca's for an external amp. Bonus! I did not expect a named brand deck of this price to have them and best of all they are 2.5V before clipping! Not bad. Would be nice to add a small sub in her car combined with a small amp just for a tad of bass.
Opened the manual and went to the spec page, everything looks awsome except the frequency responce of the built in amp rated at 19wrms. I am dissapointed because it states a responce from 40-20khz. 40hz??? come on guys that is pretty lame even for a cheapy deck. I have seen allot of 25hz or 30-20khz but 40 is beyond me. I will know how much this plays a factor when it is installed. In this particular install it will probably not make a difference because in the little toyota it has 4t 4" front speakers and 5.25" rears. I have upgraded the turd oem speakers to 4t pio's and 5.25" kickers.
Looks and build quality: I have seen some pretty cheap decks in my day, loose face plates... bottons that feel like they are going to fall off, cans that do not hold the deck tight ect... you get the point. Well I was really really sarcastic when taking the deck out and putting on the faceplate, thinking that for what I paid this thing is going to be a peice of crap because you get what ya pay for. WOW I WAS SUPRISED! The build quality is first rate! everything fits super tight. Buttons feel great and well made, the knob turns with little pulses in and feels really nice. Overall I am IMPRESSED with how well this deck is made for the very low price. Even has a nice little remote control that is made quite well.
All in all so far I really like this deck. I think for a budget deck it is really nice and looks great. Features are awsome except the crappy frequency responce. As of right now I give this deck the following rating. This rating may change in the future when part 2 of this review is written.
9 / 10 SKIRTS UP! Great little cheap deck!
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In the past I have used JVC decks on and off. Also used to sell them as our budget line. Never had a problem with them and customers liked them so I said what the heck, it is cheap so I will give it a chance. I know JVC does not have a real hold on the car audio world with brands such as alpine, eclipse, pioneer ect... but hey! I need somthing new, and super cheap!
Now for the review portion. It will be written in two sections. The first section will include my impressions out of the box. Mainly first impressions and specs. The second portion will include real world testing after I have been able to use it for about a week. I am no writer so please excuse spelling errors or gramatical errors!
First impressions: Looked ok in the photo, not to cheesy and it has a nice anolog knob which I favor. The feature which cought my eye the most besides being able to play mp3's is the SEL "select" button in the middle of the knob. This tells me offhand that this deck probably has easy menu's to go through and select unlike allot of decks these days. One look at the manual confirmed that with a press of the button you can select menu's and turn the knob to scroll through things, awsome! This means the girl is not going to be nagging me non stop to help her do this or that to the deck.
Features: For tuning the sound It has some built in eq features, best of all it has old school bass and treble controls which I like on a cheaper unit combined with a good old LOUD button weee!
Looking over the deck I see a set of rca's for an external amp. Bonus! I did not expect a named brand deck of this price to have them and best of all they are 2.5V before clipping! Not bad. Would be nice to add a small sub in her car combined with a small amp just for a tad of bass.
Opened the manual and went to the spec page, everything looks awsome except the frequency responce of the built in amp rated at 19wrms. I am dissapointed because it states a responce from 40-20khz. 40hz??? come on guys that is pretty lame even for a cheapy deck. I have seen allot of 25hz or 30-20khz but 40 is beyond me. I will know how much this plays a factor when it is installed. In this particular install it will probably not make a difference because in the little toyota it has 4t 4" front speakers and 5.25" rears. I have upgraded the turd oem speakers to 4t pio's and 5.25" kickers.
Looks and build quality: I have seen some pretty cheap decks in my day, loose face plates... bottons that feel like they are going to fall off, cans that do not hold the deck tight ect... you get the point. Well I was really really sarcastic when taking the deck out and putting on the faceplate, thinking that for what I paid this thing is going to be a peice of crap because you get what ya pay for. WOW I WAS SUPRISED! The build quality is first rate! everything fits super tight. Buttons feel great and well made, the knob turns with little pulses in and feels really nice. Overall I am IMPRESSED with how well this deck is made for the very low price. Even has a nice little remote control that is made quite well.
All in all so far I really like this deck. I think for a budget deck it is really nice and looks great. Features are awsome except the crappy frequency responce. As of right now I give this deck the following rating. This rating may change in the future when part 2 of this review is written.
9 / 10 SKIRTS UP! Great little cheap deck!
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