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Retrostu

Member Since: 03 Feb 2016
Location: Kent (AKA Garden of England)
Posts: 128

Head unit DAB recommendations '55 TD5

Love my defender but my once brilliant Pioneer stereo is now not so good now 14 years old and need an upgrade at some stations it refuses to find (especially radio two sorry I'll get my coat).

I don't want to spend a kings ransom hundred pound maybe? whether it's new or secondhand just wondered if there were any recommendations where I can get a decent one for a good price and if I could convert my standard aerial into digital one as the ones that stick on the windscreen look a bit pants and as I have a heated windscreen may make matters difficult. It's more important to concentrate on what's ahead of you than what you have left behind.

This is what I keep watching to remind me why I own/keep my Defender. https://youtu.be/x4DZgOcgn1s

26th Apr 2017 1:23pm

bankz5152

Member Since: 02 Feb 2017
Location: South London/North Kent
Posts: 2166

Best bet is to walk into Halfords, I bought a cheapo Pioneer on for £35, bluetooth, 3.5mm aux, USB etc... no DAB though but an adapter is available for about £25.

26th Apr 2017 2:14pm

AJC

Member Since: 30 Nov 2015
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 1362

I have a sony DAB and it's perfect. Bluetooth as well and its a very clear kit

26th Apr 2017 2:17pm

zsd-puma

Member Since: 09 Aug 2016
Location: Kent
Posts: 2720

2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Santorini Black

Firstly i would check to see if you can get the DAB stations you want in your area.

Depending which part of Kent you're in you may not get many of them especially the local stations and the coverage is still patchy in rural areas for the rest. I decided not to bother with a DAB unit as most of the stations i listen to are only on FM.

Secondly if your existing radio isn't picking up certain FM stations now, chances are it's the aerial not the radio. I fitted one of the (adittedly expensive) Hirschman ones from 4x4 Overlander. It was like night and day compared to the old one, earthing the aerial through the ally wing on a Defender isn't easy and those retractable masts they come with suffer from the segments working loose and suffering with dirt ingress. The Hisrchman comes with an earth cable to run it back to good earth. I can now pick up French stations with ease and the clarity of sound on the UK stations in far improved, i was shocked at how much difference it made to be honest.

26th Apr 2017 3:35pm

barbel jim

Member Since: 12 Dec 2012
Location: Northants
Posts: 1423

+1 for the Aerial

Swapped my headunit thinking it was past its best....... no different

New aerial and happy days

26th Apr 2017 3:52pm

Retrostu

Member Since: 03 Feb 2016
Location: Kent (AKA Garden of England)
Posts: 128

zsd-puma wrote:
Firstly i would check to see if you can get the DAB stations you want in your area.

Depending which part of Kent you're in you may not get many of them especially the local stations and the coverage is still patchy in rural areas for the rest. I decided not to bother with a DAB unit as most of the stations i listen to are only on FM.

Secondly if your existing radio isn't picking up certain FM stations now, chances are it's the aerial not the radio. I fitted one of the (adittedly expensive) Hirschman ones from 4x4 Overlander. It was like night and day compared to the old one, earthing the aerial through the ally wing on a Defender isn't easy and those retractable masts they come with suffer from the segments working loose and suffering with dirt ingress. The Hisrchman comes with an earth cable to run it back to good earth. I can now pick up French stations with ease and the clarity of sound on the UK stations in far improved, i was shocked at how much difference it made to be honest.

Nice one I'll definitely check them out yes I do have a chrome pull up aerial but I'm quite fond of the old Skool stuff takes me back a bit.

I pick up lots of French stations being fairly close to coast but sadly I don't speak French that well to understand it. It's more important to concentrate on what's ahead of you than what you have left behind.

This is what I keep watching to remind me why I own/keep my Defender. https://youtu.be/x4DZgOcgn1s

26th Apr 2017 4:13pm

Retrostu

Member Since: 03 Feb 2016
Location: Kent (AKA Garden of England)
Posts: 128

barbel jim wrote:
+1 for the Aerial Swapped my headunit thinking it was past its best....... no different

New aerial and happy days

My next questions us how hard to remove old one, do I just pop the black trim clip centre pins through to gain access or is there another way please. It's more important to concentrate on what's ahead of you than what you have left behind.

This is what I keep watching to remind me why I own/keep my Defender. https://youtu.be/x4DZgOcgn1s

26th Apr 2017 7:38pm

zsd-puma

Member Since: 09 Aug 2016
Location: Kent
Posts: 2720

if you dont have ABS you can usually get to the aerial base from inside the engine bay. The bezel unscrews and it drops out.

The Music on FR radio is all the same.

Although it's quite amusing when they don't "beeb" out the swearwords

26th Apr 2017 9:45pm

Retrostu

Member Since: 03 Feb 2016
Location: Kent (AKA Garden of England)
Posts: 128

My wife has DAB in her corsa and I like it but it does drop out at certain locations everytime but life's all about choices so the more stations the better might even just buy a new standard aerial try that first. It's more important to concentrate on what's ahead of you than what you have left behind.

This is what I keep watching to remind me why I own/keep my Defender. https://youtu.be/x4DZgOcgn1s

26th Apr 2017 11:28pm

ChrisWoods

Member Since: 29 Dec 2016
Location: Spreyton
Posts: 164

2009 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Aintree Green

I've got a Kenwood KDC-BT73DAB. I'd recommended it. It has 3.5mm and USB on the front and a USB on the rear which I have a 32gb memory stick full of music plugged into.
It does come with the crappy windscreen aerial but I replaced that with a digital-analouge splitter which is brilliant.
The unit has FM blend which works when your listening to a digital station that is also on analogue. When the signal drops, it seamlessly blends the FM with no delay.
It has Bluetooth hands free with a separate mic which has a very long lead so can be located wherever you like.
Think it has three phono outputs on the back for amps and sub's.
Its the best single DIN head unit I could find. 2009 2.4TDCi XS Utility Wagon.

27th Apr 2017 6:41am

bankz5152

Member Since: 02 Feb 2017
Location: South London/North Kent
Posts: 2166

zsd-puma wrote:
Firstly i would check to see if you can get the DAB stations you want in your area.

Depending which part of Kent you're in you may not get many of them especially the local stations and the coverage is still patchy in rural areas for the rest. I decided not to bother with a DAB unit as most of the stations i listen to are only on FM.

Secondly if your existing radio isn't picking up certain FM stations now, chances are it's the aerial not the radio. I fitted one of the (adittedly expensive) Hirschman ones from 4x4 Overlander. It was like night and day compared to the old one, earthing the aerial through the ally wing on a Defender isn't easy and those retractable masts they come with suffer from the segments working loose and suffering with dirt ingress. The Hisrchman comes with an earth cable to run it back to good earth. I can now pick up French stations with ease and the clarity of sound on the UK stations in far improved, i was shocked at how much difference it made to be honest.

Doesnt matter too much if you can get DAB or not, eventually, likely within the next few years we will go full digital like Norway has just done.

27th Apr 2017 10:01am

zsd-puma

Member Since: 09 Aug 2016
Location: Kent
Posts: 2720

Yeah I expect we will, but they've been saying for about 10 years now that the FM signal will soon be switched off. So far DAB coverage is well short of FM which is the main reason we haven't yet switched over. DAB needs more small transmitters like 2G mobile phones needed more transmitters than 1G. So far the DAB network operators haven't got enough subscribers (the radio stations) to pay for all the extra transmitters, whereas we can listen to a slightly fuzzy FM signal DAB just cuts in and out making it unlistenable.

I decided not to bother with a DAB head unit for now as it would spend the vast majority of its time in FM mode. When FM does eventually get switched off any Head unit I bought yesterday will be outdated anyway. If I lived in London I'd probably go DAB as the coverage is much better.

Even if the country switched to DAB tomorrow, there would still be little point me buying a new head unit if I can't receive anything. It would be a waste of money, especially if the existing unit just needs a new aerial.

27th Apr 2017 10:54am

Retrostu

Member Since: 03 Feb 2016
Location: Kent (AKA Garden of England)
Posts: 128

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and now I totally get it, the kenwood model looks a good choice and also maybe running an earth to aerial will help further too

.

Also fit the splitter so I have a choice of which to listen too if I have reception is a bit of billy bonus too.

It's more important to concentrate on what's ahead of you than what you have left behind.

This is what I keep watching to remind me why I own/keep my Defender. https://youtu.be/x4DZgOcgn1s

27th Apr 2017 1:14pm

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