"Carl 1 Lucky Texan" wrote in message news:MOF7g.73964$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com... : Body Roll wrote: : > Btw the stock headunit in the Outback Sport is very good. It does not : > play MP3s : > but the ergonomics is very good: one knob for volume and another for : > going between : > the tracks/stations. I just learned to convert my mp3s back to wav's : > and play that. : > Too bad it does not play mp3s and wavs off DVD+-R media, but with the : > exception : > of a few JVC units I don't think many units can do this yet. : > So in terms of functionality the stock unit sucks, but in terms of ease : > to use : > and convenient access to various functionality it's awesome. Who makes : > it? : >
: : If it's the same 6 CD unit as in my WRX wagon, the ONLY good thing about : it is those 2 knobs. It and the speakers (atrocious) are high on my list : of future upgrades. The unit cannot do shuffle play among the stack : (only on the loaded CD) and will not 'remember' shuffle play when turned : off. And no front iPod/aux input - dunno about rear aux. Not quite loud : enough either - but the stock speakers couldn't handle any more power : anyway. : The antenna is in the window, so any tint needs to be ceramic ($$$) if : you want to keep good AM reception. : It works, but that's the best you can say about it. : : Carl : : : -- : to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net)
Carl.
I have the same unit and I am pretty happy with the sound. I had a 2002 OBS with the standard single CD player and stock speakers and when test driving the 2006 OBS SE I took along two CDs to test the sound system. I purposefully chose one CD that had a lot of range to it, especially more highs than in most songs, while the other was a loud rocker, with great banging, crashing type of percussion. Both CDs sounded great, as have others that I have played since I purchased the car. Andrea Bocelli sounds awesome with that stereo too. He is my first real attempt at listening to opera. His singing impressed me the couple of times I heard him sing during the winter Olympics, so I went out and purchased one of his CDs.
I usually keep the unit filled with 6 CDs and on occasion I will have to adjust the bass. treble, and/or mid-range from one CD to another, but not too often. This is my first 6 CD changer and I had to put a small post-it note pad in the glove box because I could never remember who I put in which slot! (Old age sucks and now I'v learned that my natural mother has rather advancing Alzheimer's disease, so I should probably buy stock in the post-it note company soom. Anyway, whenever I change the lineup I write a new list and stick the post it note just to the right of the unit. I guess I a bit disappointed that the random feature works for only one CD at a time, as you mentioned. Other than that, I really enjoy the stereo. In the old car, if I played a CD for an hour or so, the discs would get so hot that I often felt that there was a real chance of some damage (AKA warping or a big meltdown). I brought this up to several people at the dealership and was told that was just the way it was with that unit. The new stereo does not cook my CDs at all, yahoo!
About the window tinting...I had mine done with regular film and have not noticed any degradation in reception. I live in Montana and often drive in rural, remote areas, including canyons and/or mountanous areas and seem to have better reception than I had with the 2002 OBS. The only bad news about having the antenna in the rear window, I now have nowhere to hang my Marine Corps antenna ball. :-(
I should add that I rolled the 2002 OBS on a narrow rural road late in January, with the first roll occuring on the asphalt and the second roll being in the ditch, leaving me up in the air, as the car finally landed - passenger side on the ground. The back passenger window flew in as the car first began to roll and I had visions of it coming forward and cutting my face or neck, especially the jugular vein and then me bleeding to death, alone at night in the middle of nowhere in Montana, but the tinting that was added before I took delivery of the car kept the glass intact and when it fell to the floor in the back seat, it stayed there. My car was very nasty looking from the accident - crushed almost anywhere possible. I even broke a wheel! (In case anyone is wondering, the limit was 60 MPH and I was under that.) The windshield pillar in front of me, along with the windshield, was bent inwards by several inches as was the roof area above my head, but I survived without even a bruise. When I went with the insurance agent to the rural car dealer where my car had been towed and saw the car in the daylight and up close for the first time after the accident, I would have guessed had it not been MY accident that there would have been great damage to the occupants, maybe even death. But the only problem I encountered was having that "fiberglass feeling" on my forearms from the tiny shards of glass that came toward me as the windshield was cracking into probably hundreds of pieces. The windshield remained intact, but with it broken up as it was, I guess there had to be some glass pieces that were freed. When I see the photos of my car, I am oh so thankful I was in a Subaru. Another thing about it being a Subaru was the amount of money I got back on the car. I was told that if it had been a Ford or Chevy, I would not have gotten anywhere near what I got back from them.
Stacey.