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For my new ICE setup, I was thinking of having a USB-drive supported HU. As luck came to help, I may have a friend coming in from US so thot upon getting the HU from there. The choices that I have shortlisted are as follows (Prices are in USD including shipping and with some coupon discount thats going on there currently). Pls see the links as well::

Blau st. louis MP56 - $325 (with free 60w x 2 amp)
Blaupunkt St Louis MP56 CD receiver with MP3/WMA playback at Crutchfield.com

Alpine 9886 - $325
Alpine CDA-9886 CD receiver with MP3/WMA/AAC playback at Crutchfield.com

JVC - kd-bt1 - $270
JVC KD-BT1 CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Pio 7950 - will have to get from India (no model by this no. in US) - Rs 9000 grey

My criteria, just like any other Audio innocent, is SQ. A really good Sound quality. Though there are other factors affecting SQ, still will like to get the HU which excels in this dept. USB is there in all of the above hence thats not a factor. Here are my queries which i have tried to keep very precise:

1) Looks that Blau MP56 is giving me a good deal. Am thinking of putting 6" components in front and 6x9 co-axial at back, will the 60w x 2 amp that they are giving free, be helpful in my case??

2) In terms of SQ, where does JVC stand vis a vis the Blau and Alpine? Its good VFM as it has both BT and USB only for $270. Only concern is that am not sure of SQ.

3) And how does Pio 7950 fare compared to the rest in terms of SQ (an option which i will use in case i have to buy HU from India)?

Thats it. Thanks for your time and efforts in answering these queries.

1. Blau is good if you like radio - they have head units which have 2 RDS feature that gives a fantastic FM reception

2. JVC is good value for money

3. Alpines considering they are available with bill, warranty and *** (that's a funny acronym for after sales service :-)) are a better vfm over others with bill and warranty.

4. pl compare prices here and in US before asking someone to get them for you. if you want something exclusive then try eclipse, though if it conks you may not find it easy to repair.

5. be aware that head units from US are not always compatible to our radio which follows europe.

RDS se reception ka kya lena dena? :deadhorse

RDS is an interesting feature. But are FM stations in India offer RDS service?

stupid:

i thought it meant RDS meant radio digital service. but it means something else. sorry, no time to do homework. :-p

but here's the one.

Blaupunkt - Car Radios - DAB Tuners - Nashville DAB35

ab india kitna ready hai, that is a big qn. but i think with competition heating up, we might soon have digital broadcasts, like we now have for tv with dish tv etc.

RDS is Radio Data System service. This helps in changing the frequency automatically to the best available frequency and also gives information about the channel name.

Personally its there on my mobile phone but I haven't found it useful as yet as it keeps on changing the frequency very frequently (The RDS is on for channels like Fever 104, Hit 95, etc - Delhi) so do not know how the same will work on a HU, but you can get some idea.

oic. that's nice. so that answers b&t's qn as well. i thought data service meant some stupid scrollers like ones that come on enabled mobiles and tell you which area you are in. there should be an option to stop that changing freq... like you have for FM mono.. or stereo.

What is meant by 'changing frequency automatically to the best available'?? So, Fever 104 will sound better at 104.1 if the receiver deems so???

Delhi FM stations have RDS? This is really news to me.

Yes, there is at least one station (I forget which) that transmits RDS data, though only the station name.

Basically RDS can carry lots of data like traffic update, weather update, song name, genre etc but right now the only thing working is (I think) AF-Alternate Frequency and Station Name

For details you can read about RDS here Radio Data System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and a thread regarding the RDS availability in delhi RDS FM Stations INDIA : Asia Pacific : Regional @ Esato

Sirs....let us get bak to the models bak.

I was told that blaupunkt is good....though i have a boston series (5 years old cassette player), i shud say that it is rock solid.

The new hamburg series in balupunkt offers mobile on bluetooth, incorporated in the HU, without any additional accessories. I am not too sure as to which other vendor supports this.

^^

Woo hoo!

So RDS should start soon on some stations in Bombay too. But this Alternate Frequency thing must be service dependent, right? If they dont provide an alternate frequency, there is no question of your receiver snapping to it.

I dont really find any sincere use of RDS.

Blaupunkt HU's do have BT but surprisingly they dont support A2DP and AVRCP profiles.

JVC and Sony do have BT models with A2DP and AVRCP profiles.

I dont think that's vendor dependent..BT should work with any mobile that has bluetooth...you just need to pair your cellphone with BT module of HU...