Hi,

I have a '99 TL. I'm sick and tired of the time it takes for the head unit to read a CD backup (I keep all my originals next to the CD player at home) and that it wont read my MP3 discs.

What is a good replacement, I am looking for:

1. Nothing flashy. Should be pretty sober and should blend in with the rest of the dash.

2. Easy install. I'll be doing it myself.

Should be under $250 retail. Let me know what you think.

 

Just stay with a good brand such as Alpine, Eclipse and Clarion, then you should be fine.

 

rvl123 if you replace stock headunit it is very tricky. The factory Blose headunit is a very strange shape and you cannot just take it out and install a new headunit, unless you are very very experienced in car audio installations bring it to a certified professional installer. You actually will need a new brezzel to be custom built to fit the opening that the Blose headunit is going to leave or either new headunit won't fit or will look awful. Also each Blose speaker has an amp running to it and a new headunit will destroy the stock speakers. You need to do you whole thing or just stick with what you got. I have a 99 tl also and know exactly what I am talking about, I have been there. A custom bezzel will run you 200.00 easy and installation about 50.00. So there is your 250.00 already. I recommend saving some cash and getting an alpine cda-9807 off electronicgiant.com, ikesound.com or ebay, less than 250.00 on any of these sites and retails for about 350.00, very nice cd player, looks sharp in any vehicle, also for speakers the stock Blose speakers are very shallow 6 1/2" fullrange paper cone pieces of crap! You'll need to get 5 1/4" or 6 1/2" coaxials with a neodymium magnet(shallow mounting depth with equal power of speakers with much larger magnets). For this application I would recommend Kenwood Excelon 6 1/2" they fit with a little help from a spacer and are very clear and can take some good abuse. Remember though if you change headunits you will also lose the Blose sub in the back which doesn't do much anyway. For this systems if you purchase products off ebay from a reputable seller you are looking at about 400-450 for headunit and 2 speaker sets and 300-350 for total install, totalling 700-800 all together which is pretty cheap for a good base to a system. Good luck!

 

Or you can buy the Metra kit for around $20, that'll do the trick.

 

What's a good place to get this. Some pics would be nice too.

With the correct harness, can't I bypass the stock amp and send the head unit's signal to the speakers? What does the Bose headunit output (i.e. RCA or straight speaker cable)?

Thanks!,

rvl123