MP3 Car Stereo - Lidl's Today - Word of Warning

[DarthPistachio]

To anyone who was temped or has bought the MP3 car stereo that was on Lidl's special deals this morning.

Firstly - no worries you haven't been ripped off - the stereo is in fact quite a nice piece of kit - but there are TWO very special things to bear in mind before you fit this.

Although you are provided with metal keys to enable you to remove the stereo from the dash DIN bracket, you will note if you inspect it carefully that there are absolutely no slots for you to pass these keys through on the base front plate in order to do this!

In short if you install the stereo and slide it into place - you're effectively screwed - you won't be able to get it back out again.

Prepare yourself by doing the same as myself.


Take the front panel off by removing the 3 screws securing it on and carefully prise it off the retaining lug on the one side - be careful there is a ribbon connector that is hard soldered to the front panel and a Board inside the stereo body.
Carefully drill holes corresponding to where you would need slots or using a blowtorch heat up a thin piece of stainless wire or such and melt through some holes where required.
With a set of needle files finish off the holes with a file until you have a slot large enough to accommodate the widest part of the key near the base where it has the thumb grip.
Then reassemble and carry on with fitting it to the car.
HOWEVER - before you put this puppy into the slot for the first time - fit the removable panel with all cables connected and test to see whether the unit actually remembers stored radio stations and other settings when you turn on or off and when you remove and re-install the panel.

If it doesn't then the Constant DC voltage and Ignition voltage wires are cocked up on your vehicles ISO plug fitting (at least as far as THIS stereo is concerned) by far the easiest way to rectify this is to cut the wires and swap them over using a small connector block (least hassle)

there ya go - you have been warned - spread the word to any other buyers you may know!

[Northernspark]

If it doesn't then the Constant DC voltage and Ignition voltage wires are cocked up on your vehicles ISO plug fitting (at least as far as THIS stereo is concerned) by far the easiest way to rectify this is to cut the wires and swap them over using a small connector block (least hassle)

Not cocked up, some maufacturers have the permanent and switched live in different terminals.

Halfords are selling JVC MP3 units for less than a ton, easily fitted without dicking around drilling holes in a brand new unit.

Steve

[DarthPistachio]

Lidl's unit - £50 Quid - 20 mins work teeny bit of hassle - in my book 20 minutes and a bit of hassle is worth a £50 quid saving... ;)

[Rob M]

You probably get free three year warranty on the Lidl one too! Aldi's also great for electronics, all their gear comes with three year warranty, and they quibble much less than ****ing Comet do, that's for sure!

[Northernspark]

I have a little bit of expieriance with ICE, say 15 years or so, if you think a 50 quid car stereo from aldi will be any good................................... :rolleyes:

Steve

[Rob M]

I've had one in my car for two years mate, and it is good! It may not be as good as some Blaupunkt, Pioneer or Alpine stuff, but as my car only cost me £550 I'm not going to be spending hundreds on car stereo anyway, am I?

It's got loads of features like RDS, EON, all that stuff, the FM reception is as good as my old JVC car stereo which was good quality and cost four times what this one did, this one plays CDs and reliably plays cds full of MP3s without any skipping or glitching at all. Through six medium quality speakers it sounds just fine to me, my car's really not quiet enough for me to appreciate high-end kit anyway. So what if this stereo of mine isn't loud enough to vibrate the innards of all the pedestrians on the pavement... I think people that like to play 'music' that loud are mostly chav scum anyway, and I'm just not interested in doing that!

So if you think your fifteen years of experience with ICE entitles you to roll your eyes at me, feel free... :rolleyes: Frankly I don't give a flying **** what you think of my £50 car stereo, so there! For the money, it is very good indeed as far as I'm concerned. :rolleyes:

[ferretmanabu]

Thanks for the heads up mate.

Is this the one:

http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20061130.p.MP3_Car_Stereo_With_Remote_Control. ar3

I'll head down to Lidl and get one myself tomorrow if they have any left. I'm not really into the "designer" makes. As long as it works, I'm happy.

[magumba]

Kenwood really should have stuck to what they knew best...food mixers

A+++ for aldi and lidl ICE gear..cheap,cheerful and superbly functional:D

[Northernspark]

I've had one in my car for two years mate, and it is good! It may not be as good as some Blaupunkt, Pioneer or Alpine stuff, but as my car only cost me £550 I'm not going to be spending hundreds on car stereo anyway, am I?

It's got loads of features like RDS, EON, all that stuff, the FM reception is as good as my old JVC car stereo which was good quality and cost four times what this one did, this one plays CDs and reliably plays cds full of MP3s without any skipping or glitching at all. Through six medium quality speakers it sounds just fine to me, my car's really not quiet enough for me to appreciate high-end kit anyway. So what if this stereo of mine isn't loud enough to vibrate the innards of all the pedestrians on the pavement... I think people that like to play 'music' that loud are mostly chav scum anyway, and I'm just not interested in doing that!

So if you think your fifteen years of experience with ICE entitles you to roll your eyes at me, feel free... :rolleyes: Frankly I don't give a flying **** what you think of my £50 car stereo, so there! For the money, it is very good indeed as far as I'm concerned. :rolleyes:


Feel better now?

Steve

[pigeonbasher1]

can tou offer any help please, every time i open a email, then go back to a site, like bbs etc, my pc dissconnects from the internet, cheers pb/1

[Tom_S]

the units that halfords sell that are under a hundred quid that do mp3 line ins or play mp3 discs are as followed:

sony Gt100 - £69
sony Gt200 - £99
Jvc kdg162 - £69
jvc kdg421 or 422 - £99
sendai cd688 - £49
sendai cd788 - £69

do yourself a favour and dont buy any cd players from supermarkets, theyre all rip offs, get a decent make that youve heard of and specializes in audio ;) .

regards

tom

[Rob M]

"Feel better now?

Steve"

I feel fine thanks mate, I know that stereo of mine is a good deal, if you want to waste hundreds of pounds on 'ICE' as you call it, feel free... I don't, this Aldi stereo is fine, it has worked reliably and well, doing everything I want for nigh on two and a half years now.

Why bother coming on this thread just to roll your eyes and have a dig at kit that other people are obviously pleased with? Have you actually had any experience of these stereos, or are you one of those people who thinks "It must be better, it cost twice as much!"

As for not buying audio gear from supermarkets... I would bet that the vast majority of this gear is made in China now, in factories that probably don't belong to Sony, JVC etc., and then just badge engineered. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, my unit is more powerful than the old JVC unit, and has been utterly reliable for a couple of years so far, so I'm quite happy and satisfied that it is good... For the money, it's very good! In any case, if it did pack in tomorrow, it came with a three year warranty so I could still get it sorted, my JVC only came with one year's.

I have had trouble with a radio/cassette/cd stereo that I got from Lidl for my kitchen. It was two years plus old, but I rang up the number on the manual (didn't even have the receipt) and they sent out a courier at their expense to collect it, then rang me when it was fixed to arrange for a courier to deliver the fixed unit back. Do you get service like that from Argos or Halfords? Thought not. When I compare this with the trouble and hassle that Comet put me to over a **** VCR (supposedly a high quality Aiwa, so much for buying a quality brand) they sold me, I would sooner buy from Aldi or Lidl any time!

[magumba]

a decent make i've heard of ??????



''sendai cd688 - £49
sendai cd788 - £69 ''

why????

[Northernspark]

Have you actually had any experience of these stereos, or are you one of those people who thinks "It must be better, it cost twice as much!"

Yes I have, my sister bought one and it never worked from the word go, after three attemps at getting one that worked I was still not impressed by the build quality and the quality of the sound output, after two months she took it back and got a refund.

Steve

[Gaz812uk]

the units that halfords sell that are under a hundred quid that do mp3 line ins or play mp3 discs are as followed:

sony Gt100 - £69
sony Gt200 - £99
Jvc kdg162 - £69
jvc kdg421 or 422 - £99
sendai cd688 - £49
sendai cd788 - £69

do yourself a favour and dont buy any cd players from supermarkets, theyre all rip offs, get a decent make that youve heard of and specializes in audio ;)


.

regards

tom

who?

damn i never thought id see the audio snobs on here.. lol
theres nothing wrong with supermarket audio, alot of the time its made in the same factory as "better known brands" (like sendai?) :confused:
how is a Hellfrauds £50 unit better than a Lidl £50 unit?
im really impressed how people can test and evaluate audio equipment without ever picking them up...:rolleyes:

[Rob M]

"my sister bought one and it never worked from the word go, after three attemps at getting one that worked I was still not impressed "

Well, I bought one, and so did my mate Micheal at the same time (same model as mine), neither of us have had a peep of trouble out of ours...

[sniper stu]

Went out today and got myself one..I have to say i took out a Clarion cd player out of the GOLF GTIand have just fitted the lidl mp3 player.And im very impressed with it i spent £350 on the clarion and is a very nice stereo,But for £49.99 its just as good if not better cos it plays mp3.I would just like to say thanks for this thread and im over the moon with my new stereo oh and its remote control(non of the ones in halfords for that price are):p

[DarthPistachio]

oh crikey - opened a hornets nest here eh?

I'm always surprised when someone insinuates that they are better qualified - more experienced than someone they know absolutely nothing about! LOL

I do acknowledge your possible 15 Years of ICE experience - but I have about 20 Years ICE experience (admittedly NOT professional) and I'm a qualified electronic technician too - does that put your mind a little bit more at ease? ;)

Simple fact of the matter is the Lidl unit is excellent value for the money - when I stripped it down I was quite impressed with the build quality actually - and I have seen some utter TAT over the years when you look inside.

As for Hellfrauds (I like that!) there not many cheap units on their shelves that have a SD slot AND a USB slot AND can handle folders on the media AND have a remote control AND - (you get the idea) - I know - I looked. even Flea Buy doesn't have anything comparable THAT cheap.

YES - there is some god awful crap out there I agree but generally nowadays there isn't as much of a need to be as fussy as we were when I were a lad - (crikey now I'm feeling old;)) - most of the stuff out there regardless of the brand name is pretty damned good nowadays specially as the cheap labour plants the other side of the world have now pretty much caught up manufacturing wise.

And as has already been mentioned Lidl's after sales support and no questions asked replacement or refunding simply has to be praised compared to the rip off merchants on the "general" high street, who only want your money and their commission on the bloody after sales insurance policies!

The only problem with the unit is a design flaw - someone forgot to include the piece for the Key slot in the mould for the plastic cover - that's all - it's a small price to pay to surgically alter it with 20 minutes work to get the ability to remove it when you need to - like I Did when I had to swap the power leads over ;) (it's probably already been rectified at the factory now - but who cares - it's just a precautionary measure to save a lot of hassle in the future come removal time.

Go get a unit - make the slots - fit it and use the 50 nicker you just saved to buy another one if you like - or for anything else you may fancy ;)

On the subject of re branding _ I just got myself a 42" plasma and I opted for an LG - why? I looked at the Pioneer one - had a good look - shone a torch in the back and saw LG on the back of the panel! Maybe not all Pioneers use LG panels - or maybe they do - this one certainly did. And I'm not paying 1000 more for a small shiny piece of plastic that says Pioneer.....

[Northernspark]

Well as long as you lads are happy..................................

Steve

[Tom_S]

who?

damn i never thought id see the audio snobs on here.. lol
theres nothing wrong with supermarket audio, alot of the time its made in the same factory as "better known brands" (like sendai?) :confused:
how is a Hellfrauds £50 unit better than a Lidl £50 unit?
im really impressed how people can test and evaluate audio equipment without ever picking them up...:rolleyes:


for several reasons:-

-sold plenty, had hardly any back
-good qulaity
-smart looking
-hardly break the bank
-good after sales service

also the fact that its removable too mate :D

regards

tom