What is everyone's opinion the the OEM Infinity Head Unit?

It's made by Becker, who I'm informed supply head units to Mercedes and Porsche. And I know it has plenty of power output. But I've changed my unit due to the one fitted to my car having faulty buttons, which meant I couldn't turn off the traffic announcments amonst other things, but other than that it worked ok. The problem I found was that the sound quality was quite poor. Very muddy sounding bass. The thing is, the one thing I would say was weak about the vehicle package as a whole was the sound system. Yet journalists tend to rate the sound system as "powerful" and leave it at that.

The Clarion head unit I've fitted to my car has a far superior sound quality, the bass is solid and crisp, and not at all muddy like the OEM unit. The treble is fantastic too. This is on MP3s which are not the best quality MP3s I have to admit. I tend to stick with 128kbps when ripping my CDs. I've played one standard CD so far on the new unit, and the sound quality is even better. It's mystifying to me why car manufacturers skimp on the sound systems on occassion. The best system I've had in any of my cars was the Bose system in my Audi A6 Avant. But even that was fairly simple in that it played CDs and had a radio, nothing fancy. There was a lot more car interior space to fill with sound though, and the 7 speakers did a good job of that.

I don't know what the American market is like, but here in the UK, manufacturers and journalists alike rave on about the fact that a car has an iPod connector... which more often than not turns out to be simply a stereo jack port... wow a stereo jack... modern tech at it's best! It's amusing that cars are so stuffed full of safety equipment that boggles the mind, but when it comes to technology that's been around for years on PCs and portable music players they are years and years behind.

Rant over. The point of the thread was to find out if others found the OEM sound system to be a bit dissapointing?

 

Disappointing is an understatment. Many have changed it out. See this thread for a very simple upgrade even to your new rig:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ead.php?t=9938

 

Annoying to use. Looks cheap. Finicky buttons. ***** showing wear.

Still sounds nice, but there's plenty of room for improvement.

 

Sux. Will be changing it very soon. I want a head unit that works with my iPhone, integrates well with the console, sounds good, and doesn't cost zillions. Anyone know one?

 

Two words - IT SUCKS

Initially when I got my Crossfire I thought it was ok for a factory unit, but after swapping in a plug-n-play Blaupunkt, the sound is now quite amazing given it still has the stock speakers and factory Infinity amp. Now it has lots of detail and seperation, no distortion, and I'm able to turn it up far louder then the stock deck.

I'm really glad I didn't waste my time and money trying to upgrade the stock stereo to the factory NAV unit now.

 

The OEM unit was less than adequate for me. There was no way to properly connect auxiliary devices. I quickly swapped it out for something that would. Now I have:

• AM
• FM
• HD Radio
• XM
• Blue Tooth Audio
• USB
• Integrated iPod
• Blue Tooth hands-free Phone
• CD
• 3.5mm input (for everything else)
• additional powered sub woofer
• four additional rear 2-way speakers
• built-in EQ

The crossover tip fixed the doors speaker muddiness.

It's a whole different car. I'll be deaf by 60

 

This is interesting, because as I said previously a lot of journalists have referred to the stereo system positively, and to other areas of the car, like the quality of the interior negatively. I think they have got it wrong, and simply looked at the interior as old fashioned, which to me doesn't necessarily mean poor quality, it just means it's not ultra fashionable (no bad thing in my eyes), and it seems as though they switched the stereo on and thought "wow, that's loud... therefore it's great". When we all know that to live with the interior is actually good quality, perhaps the silver centre console could've been improved, and the stereo is in fact pants!

 

It may suck, but it is the best stock stereo of any car I have ever owned. Not saying much.

 

If you compare it to most stock systems then yes, I agree it's not bad at all. BUT had they done a couple of small design improvements it could have been so much better. Running full bass to the door speakers is a huge disappointment. With a digital amp, why not add a digital crossover so you can dump the bass to the subs where it belongs, and then run midrange and treble to the doors? If the deck was cleaner, had MP3 and BT, it would have been WAY better, but I realize that when these came out those were (at least for the auto industry) new technologies.

The good news is that the Infinity speakers and amp are actually darn good, so by putting the bass blockers (caps) on the door speakers, and upgrading the head you can get great sound with a minimal investment in time and expense (depending on the head you purchase of course).

 

i have an 08 limited changed my head unit within 2 month of ownership and around 1500 miles on the car lol. stock is junk only bass and treble adjustment. come on pos cars come with a 3 band adjustable this needs decent eq options.

no mp3 or even possibility of keeping the stock unit.

 

Unit serves the purpose - what I can't get over is how sensitive the CD player is - go over a tar strip and the CD jumps just like an old record player - would like to have the Bluetooth contection, I am not much on i-pods or mp3's - but I am getting there - CD just take up too much room.

 

I got $360 for spare unit that I had, so in that respect I like 'em just fine. As for sound and function, not so much. But it looks like it belongs on the car, unlike most aftermarket HU's.

 

This head unit was reviewed as the best to use with USB and Ipods... I bought it but haven't had time to install it. I will throw it in next Thursday and tell you how it performs. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130P600...6000UB&tp=5684

BTW, Does anyone know if a Base has the slots that the subs are put in on Limiteds?

 

Yep, they do.

 

Sweet, thanks for the info.

 

i think that will play WAV files on a thumb drive. i have a few Pioneer DEH-4000UB's that do. i don't deal with lossy files any more.

as for the stock radio...don't mind the sound but the navigation sucks.