rojacobs1

I recently had the head unit changed out for a new Alpine unit. The OEM unit was dead and I was tired of the silence (just got this car a week ago).
I did not know and the salesman did not tell me, that the Alpine is only capable of blue illumination. Looks like crap at night with the yellow/orange dash lights.
He's going to make good and swap out the Alpine for another brand.
The only brand I found where the illumination is customizable, and therefore has a really good shot at matching the dash lights, is Kenwood.
I've never been a big fan. I put one in my Grand Cherokee last year and had problems with it.
So, for you with after market units, what brands do you have and does the illumination match up pretty well with your dash lights?

YoungPong

I went with Pioneer, exact same color as the OEM radio and in my opinion better quality than Alpine.

FATHERTIME

What model Pioneer did you install? I also have a Kenwood and the color bugs me too.

rojacobs1

I would like to know too. I have a Pioneer in my Jeep I put in last year and it only has 5 color options. None of them come close to the dash colors.

FATHERTIME

How does your Alpine sound? What speakers do you have? are you using the Bose amp?

rojacobs1

It sounds really good. Bypassed the the Bose amp. Using the stock speakers.
I've had Alpine's before and been happy with them. I'm hoping whatever I replace it with sounds just as good.

FATHERTIME

Did you run all new wires to bypass the amp or is there an adaptor for that?

rojacobs1

I didn't do the work myself. The dealer I bought it from promised everything in the car worked. When the stereo quit right off and I found out the disc changer didn't work, he covered the cost of putting in a new head unit. I went to a local car audio shop who has been there forever. The guy I talked to had done many SL's. Very knowledgeable.
But, to answer your question, he had to run new wires. A lot of labor cost.

Bigbore

I went with a Kenwood about two years ago which has worked great so far. It has the adjustable colors so it's fairly close to the color of the gauges. The wiring harness adapter I used made it a simple swap. Mine is a 94 withe Bose. Use the adapter for 95 and up if yours is a Bose as well. Some will tell you it won't work (hello Crutchfield), but they're wrong. I used the Metra 70-1786.

rojacobs1

Thanks for all the input. I've been checking out units on line. It looks like Kenwood illumination color is close. Pioneer's new units have customizable colors(advertised 210,000 colors), practically guaranteeing a spot on match. The car is going in on Tuesday for the swap. He recommends Kenwood over Pioneer. So, I'll have to decide.

FATHERTIME

Do you know the model Kenwood that's being recommended?

rojacobs1

It's all a matter of price. I don't need the top of the line. Middle of the road is fine as long as it has Bluetooth. I don't need Sirius, Pandora, etc. The Alpine unit I had put in was about $130. I'll spend that or maybe $150 for the new unit. You really don't need to spend anymore than that. The speakers are going on 20 years old, so you don't have to spend a lot on modern technology to make them sound good.

rojacobs1

Yesterday I had the new unit put in and I went with.... another Alpine. Model number CDE-154BT. It cost me another $75 but after taking a lot of time thinking about it, that's what I decided. Reasons being - if I put a Pioneer or a Kenwood in, I would have been charged $50 in labor to swap out the harness,etc, and, I would be getting a lesser quality unit.
The Alpine is a better unit than the one I had and does actually sound better (contrary to my previous comment about 20 year old speakers). So the real difference is only $25.
The unit was on sale for $219 and they gave me another $15 off of that. This is more than I would typically pay for a stereo, but, I plan to keep this car for a long time.
And yeah, it does give you a crap load of illumination options, so the color is pretty close, which was the goal all along.