Double DIN radios

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

I was reading about making a Double DIN mount for the dash and thought it would be interesting to talk about possible Ford related radio units for that. Multiple Ford and Lincoln radios could be used for this such as 2003-2005 Aviator, Navigator or Ford Expedition 6 disc changer units or even the same vehicle version with the GPS screen as they are double DIN units. In dash GPS in a Merk!

Just a thought.

There are surely many other possible choices out there as well as after market units.

Any one done this?

As an example this 6 disc changer from an Aviator: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186250243039?e ... R8K6sae_Yw

(Not a cassette player even though mentioned.)

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

I always hated double din setups. I don't know why really. When someone buys some double din head unit I think why not get a cheaper single din excelon or premier with 5 volt outputs. Or use some of that money for better speakers. Plus I always like having the single din mounting kit that gives you the cubby. Maybe one of those stock units would look ok in a Merkur, if you got it cheap enough at pull a part or someplace. I never use the iheart radio or bluetooth functions, but I have to have the usb on the front of these somewhat newer head units. Maybe if I was only planning a simple setup with no amp or subwoofers I would use an inexpensive non-mechanical head unit. However it absolutely could not be the dual version, even if people claim they are ok, I would prefer an empty hole in the dash.

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

I showed the head unit info as a follow up to the 3D printing for a mount mention in here. I would prefer a double DIN radio in the dash to an LS in the car... If you must have one, why not a Ford design?

I removed the original radio cassette in the the late 80's due to poor sound quality when playing tape and used first a JVC and then a Denon head unit. The Denon was the best sounding tape deck for the car that I had heard at the time, of any brand. It also controlled a six disk CD changer. Those were normal size single DIN units which are easy to install without any change to the dash itself and used a Denon 5 channel power amp with a Fosgate Gavotte, JBL speakers and a Toby 10" sub in the trunk. It sounded very good at the time.

It seems that twin DIN units are common now in many vehicles and my Focus and Aviator have that, both being 6 disk changers as well as good radios.

YMMV

Cheers

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

Wow a Fosgate Gavotte and Toby subs? That's some pretty obscure car audio right there. Don't suppose you still have that stuff anymore. Right this moment there are two ten inch subwoofers (not hooked up) in the back of my xr. They were also made in Texas back in the day, company called Petras. Yesterday I started searching for mechless single din units and the MB Quart MDR2.0 popped up. That is pretty nice looking only it doesn't have the usb in the front, it is off the back.

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

I don't have the Toby sub anymore. The other stuff is still installed. I was managing an audio video store and we sponsored some cars that were in car audio sound competitions at the time. The system in the XR was tuned for good sound quality, not overall max volume.

Toby was a good guy and I always enjoyed talking with him about audio gear and speaker design. He was an excellent sound engineer and understood band pass speaker design for subwoofers very well. We were also both fans of Paul Klipsch.

MB Quart has done some good designs over the years and should be well made stuff.

Cheers

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

If you ever come across some old pics of the setup please post. Same with any Japanese spec motorbikes, such as the Kawasaki ZXR250.

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

Did I mention the 1989 ZXR250cc bike in here? I seem to think I might have...

It was a great bike indeed. Shame they never offered that here but folks here would not have liked the price as it was not cheap (nearly as much as the 400cc) and was a full blast small hot rod. The twin sold here was price driven; the four cylinder model in Japan was in a performance race with the other Big 4 makers in the home market.

If you Google them they show the three color one the most, which is a great color scheme. Mine was solid black as that was what I found used when I went looking for one. That was a great back road flyer. I really liked the twin round headlights as they were like flamethrowers on high beam. On low they were so-so as they turned one off instead of dual bulbs in both.

I would buy one of those again in a heartbeat..

45,0 hp (33,1 kW) / 16000 rpm – ZX250C1-C2, ZX250-D1

24,0 Nm (2,5 kgf*m) / 11500 rpm – ZX250C1-C2, ZX250-D1

https://youtu.be/2lLXC2CSnQE

There is really no where on one of those for any sort of radio however.


Cheers

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

I had the ex250 (kawi green) without the cool headlights or 19,000 rpm redline

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

Kawasaki are rightly famous for their engines, of any type. In the same time frame Yamaha had the 5 valve engines, Suzuki had variable valve timing in some of their engines with red painted valve covers like Ferrari and Honda was offering V-4's in 400cc up. There was also a V twin 2-stroke Suzuki 250cc with water cooling and electric start. Aprilia used that motor to race with in Europe. All Japan bikes were speed limited to 112 mph in the home market. All easily went faster when de-limited to go racing. The ZXR250 would do about 137 for racing. The others were as fast or faster in some cases.

I was cleaning out a storage cube today and found the original XR AM/FM radio cassette player. I had forgotten how ugly looking they were as a style of industrial design. I will keep it around but won't use it again, I suspect.

Cheers

[Ed Lijewski]

De gustibus non disputandum est.
Chacon a su gout.
There's no accounting for taste.

I very much like the original Merkur radio/cassette design. They remain installed in my four Merks.

I wretch on looking at many aftermarket unit designs.

YMMV

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

Yes, chacun à son goût is indeed a good way to view it. Mine was fine looking to me when it was in the dash. After it has been in a storage cube for over a decade it is looking tired. I might part with it and will think about that.

If you ever saw any of the Cary Audio home theater gear that is more in line with what I would do as that was something I had a hand in making. The Cary Concept line was also something I worked on as a style design. The V-!2 Cary Audio tube amp was another design I hand input into and really liked its' style. The chassis was Jaguar Carnival Red as standard but other colors were optional.

Clean and simple appeals to me for many things.

Cheers

[ndgeek]

I very much like the original Merkur radio/cassette design. They remain installed in my four Merks.

I had Leo Ars Bayard modify two of my stock radios to include bluetooth, to retain the factory look in my stock '87.5. Pushing the Cr button now enables the bluetooth module. Works great! That matched up with the stock amplifier and new Kicker speakers on all four corners, and it sounds pretty good. It isn't my '87 CRX Si with Kenwood/Soundstream/Vifa setup, but its pretty darn good. Gets loud! Might add a removable subwoofer at some point, but I'd need line-level inputs, which isn't ideal... The '88 will get fancy audio stuff. Haven't begun that build yet.