Okay ... some pics. I rolled it back out the garage during a break in the snow.

People said they wanted to see my "setup", but at the end of the day, it's just a new head unit plus an aerial. Anyway, here are some pics. Note the buttons on the left hand side don't have the tacky red characters as seen on the image I posted at the top of the thread.





Looking at it again this morning, I not so sure about the look of this aerial. I think the fitter could have done a neater job sticking this on. May speak to them later this week.



Definitely think the V-Tec Amber (orange) is better than these three ...

 

It was the aerial that really intrigued and that I wanted to see most, and I have to say that seeing your picture has somewhat put me off it.

Cheers for posting the pic though.

 

I don't think he used a blade or piece of plastic to squeeze out the little air bubbles when he stuck it on. I think if it was done more carefully it would be nigh on invisible.

 

Just got myself the identical setup to this (inspired by this thread ) and I must say I'm well pleased.

I guess my fitter did a slightly better job on the aerial as it's very discrete.

The dash controls work great, emailed Countdown and a week later had the interface.

I've had it a couple of weeks now and so far no problems

All in all, have to say I'm well happy, recommended

S

PS Does anyone know if you can eject CD's from the Honda HU without power...left my Chemical Bros CD in there by mistake

 

Thinking back now, I know what happened with my aerial. They put the car in their workshop to do it and I guess the light can't have been great so when he stuck the aerial to the inside of the screen, he couldn't see he was leaving loads of little bubbles. That and he probably didn't clean the inside of the glass properly first.

Glad your happy with yours ... time I went back to Soundmaster to get them to have another go with the aerial

PS Incidentally, what make of aerial did your place use? My current one is a JVC, but the guy has offered to replace that FOC with a Grundig one, which he claims are better.

PPS Have you noticed the CH button on the dash does different things in MMC/SD playback depending on what mode (Browse, Info etc.) the head unit is in and whether Mix is on or not? I mostly keep mine in "Mix MMC" mode so it shuffles from all the directories on the card.

 

I think it's a Blaupunkt one. Seems fine, although it doesn't work is on my drive, annoying as I wanted to set it up there!

S

 

Took the car back to Soundmaster and got them to fit a neater (Grundig, I believe) in-screen DAB aerial. Very unobtrusive IMHO, and you really don't notice it, certainly not when you're driving. Good reception too ...





(Pics for WRumbled's benefit )

 

That does look a lot neater.

Where have they ran the wire? Dash-out job?

 

But do you still have the same choice of commercial radio stations and the muppets on Radio 1? Think I'd rather spend the cash on an amp etc to beef up MP3 playback

EDIT: Fair dues, the HU isn't that expensive - does it play MP3 burnt CDs as well?

EDIT AGAIN: yes it does

 

In answer to Craig and WRumbled's questions ...

The HU plays CD's, MP3 CD's and has a slot for MMC/SD cards so I play most of my tunes from 1Gb SD cards. Neat and easy to store, plus a doddle to sync with my PC.

The Woodstock has DAB, MW, LW, and FM, so can get pretty much anything that's broadcast. Certainly all BBC stations are available via DAB, and things like 6 Music and Radio 7 are only available on DAB. I listen to good old Five Live mostly, and DAB beats MW anytime.

As for the aerial wiring, it runs round/under the screen surround and then under the dash to the HU. Dash wasn't touched (as far as I know) and no wires visible at all. Although I could have replaced the stock bee sting aerial with a dual DAB/FM job, the dealer told me that running the cable to/from the new aerial on an S is a bit of a bitch, and I was happy with the lower cost of an in-screen aerial anyway.

As I think I posted in another thread, I'm a "function over form" man when it comes to ICE. I wanted the range of capabilities rather than get too hung up on quality. That said, I'm perfectly happy with the sound quality of both the DAB tuner and my MP3 playback. Loud and clear enough for me ...