So after only a month of owning the car, I went ahead and ripped out the stock unit. There is no doubt that my new system blows away the stock setup in terms of sound quality. Plus, it gave me XM without the $500 Honda antenna. Still...

The other day I rode in a AP2 with a stock stereo and sort of missed it. The look flows so well with the car, it looks more like a sports car stereo. The driverside controls are nice, and the cheesy sound almost seems fitting for such a raw car.

Not to say I'm ever going back, but am I the only one who ever feels this way?

 

I'm pretty sure you could have retained your driver-side controls by using Modifry's DCI gizmo, which work on many Pioneer HUs. You may even be able to retrofit one to get that functionality back.

Were you not able to mount your component speakers behind the stock grilles?

 

Um no. Listening to the stock stereo makes my want to poke my ears out with a fireplace poker.

 

There is absolutely no difference in ease of use between my current stereo and the stock POS. Keeping the side controls keeps everything as stock as can be.

 

uhh no i dont have modifrys dci yet and i still dont miss that stock POS

why couldnt the S come with bose? i mean then maybe i woulda kept it

 

I have only upgraded speakers with no amp. It is far better then being completely stock. Now, Its not the worse in stock forum though, So I could handle it atleast, if I had to.

I can not wait to upgrade the cd player and get the DCI. But, The stock headunit will work for me for a while longer...Or until I put my carpc in and make the dci work with that.

 

I feel similarly sometimes. The stock stereo flows so much better with the interior than my Alpine. It does feel a tad cheesy at times. Thank God for the radio cover.

 

CRAZY!!! DEFINITELY!!!

 

the cover helps

 

i think i just like the idea of a stock looking HU so i'm thinking about trading in my alpine 9857 for a nakamichi cd-400



looks almost stock