ALDI CD/MP3/USB/SD Car Stereo £49.99 22/12/05

tomt

Finally got mine installed last night (no radio at the moment as I need another adaptor for the aerial), and here are my observations:
- Cd mode works fine, although when you skip a track, you lose the first second of audio (a very slight 'fade-in' but you definitely lose a second), but this doesn't happen if you just let it go to the next track when the one you listen to finishes.
- USB Plug: when you plug in the USB cable to the front of the player, it sometimes powers off if you push too hard (it's close to the 'remove cover' button). Quick fix is to pop in USB cable before putting the front of the unit on.
- iPod: I've got the iPod that was released before the video iPod (4th Gen I think) and it works! Albeit quirky - you cannot select music from the iPod, it shows the same screen as when you hook it up to iTunes ('Do not disconnect'). Folders and songs are selectable from the stereo itself, but is a bit funny due to the strange folder names that music is stored in. It's kinda frustrating because if you have alot of music and podcasts on there, it makes it a pain to navigate/search. I'm going to fiddle with it more to see if I can work it faster.
- USB: I tried my USB Freecom 60GB Hard Drive and it didn't work, although it is USB powered. I'm thinking my other one with separate power supply should work OK, but I haven't got a car plug for it to hand.

Gonna try MP3 CD, SD card and radio soon and will report any quirks/problems/praise!

gromituk

Very useful observations, tomt. I expected as much from the iPod though - that's the trouble with going for a proprietary product, unfortunately.

biblejohn

Well, fitted one of these in my mates hyundai last week. Didnt take more than about 15mins. Luckily the previous owner had already fitted a non-standard stereo, and so there was a hyundai-iso adapter already there.

We gave the radio a good testing and my verdict is that its not bad value for money. It certainly played everything we put in it, you can play mp3`s from within directorys and browse files, folders, directories etc.. It locked onto radio stations quickly with a really strong signal, and the sound quality was certainly as good as most other stereos ive heard.

Only negative point was that 2 days later, it decided to suddenly loose all its radio presets - repeatedly. So, we got another one from aldi and that did the same. So, both of them went back and we fitted a jvc stereo in instead.

Anyone else experienced this problem?

gromituk

See earlier in the thread about permanent and switched supplies being swapped over - are you sure they are the right way round?

johnk

Had one installed and tried Radio and MP3 CD, they all work fine. One thing worth noting is that you cannot have non-standard encoded chars in your MP3 titles etc. Otherwise, it gives an error (code 8?).
The problem I am having is that I am fitting it to a Honda Civic 95 (same as Rover 416). The player is deeper than the factory fitted one so extrude a bit. I thought all car radios are of the same size?

Sabrina

Hmmmm. I bought one of these on Xmas Eve as I've been dying to upgrade my car radio for ages. I still haven't got round to fitting it into my (old style) Nissan Micra, and from what I'm reading it's going to cost me extra not only to fit (since I have no idea, I have to take it somewhere), but to buy extra bits and pieces I'm a little worried considering all the snags being reported and wondering if I should take it back instead of spending money fixing it only to have to take it back at the end becuase it's being silly!

Any advice?

Lipsticklady

i have the same problem......with the disappearing radio channels. Dont think i can bring mine back though as a)its fitted b)the usb lead has been stolen c)i threw out the box!

biblejohn

gromituk wrote:

See earlier in the thread about permanent and switched supplies being swapped over - are you sure they are the right way round?

I thought someone would say that, but why would the JVC work fine perminantly, and yet the aldi one would loose its settings at random. Surely if the switched feed was wrong, then as soon as you turned the ign off it would loose its settings each time?

biblejohn

Sabrina wrote:

Hmmmm. I bought one of these on Xmas Eve as I've been dying to upgrade my car radio for ages. I still haven't got round to fitting it into my (old style) Nissan Micra, and from what I'm reading it's going to cost me extra not only to fit (since I have no idea, I have to take it somewhere), but to buy extra bits and pieces I'm a little worried considering all the snags being reported and wondering if I should take it back instead of spending money fixing it only to have to take it back at the end becuase it's being silly!

Any advice?

Personally id take it back. For an extra 30quid you can buy a more reliable brand name one with the same sort of features. If your nissan doesnt have an ISO connector and you have to pay someone to fit the stereo you are looking at as much as the radio cost to get it wired up & fitted.

johnk wrote:

Had one installed and tried Radio and MP3 CD, they all work fine. One thing worth noting is that you cannot have non-standard encoded chars in your MP3 titles etc. Otherwise, it gives an error (code 8?).
The problem I am having is that I am fitting it to a Honda Civic 95 (same as Rover 416). The player is deeper than the factory fitted one so extrude a bit. I thought all car radios are of the same size?

All the ones ive seen are. Are you sure that the wires at the back arnt getting caught up somewhere, or stopping the radio going back far enough?

tomt

good point biblejohn - my cables were getting in the way with the harness adaptor that I had to use. Luckily there was just enough room to *jam* the cables to the rear left and rear right of the cabity! Just enough room to fit it in.