Buying head unit in USA

Ernie Ball · May 8, 2005, 11:49

Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere (it's a hard thing to do a search on) but:

I travel to the US frequently. I know that their radio stations use different frequencies (and frequency intervals) than those here.

If I bought a head unit there, would it be switchable for European use? Seems like it'd be easy for the manufacturers to do and would save them having to have market-specific production runs.

I'm looking at Alpine 4x60 head units and they are so much less expensive over there.

GSB · May 8, 2005, 11:55

Alpines use different model codes and features for different markets. Example, Units bought here are "DAB Ready", units in the states are XM ready. As far as I am aware, the radio settings are not switchable.

Some Blaupunkt Units are though, IIRC...

aaronjb · May 8, 2005, 21:20

Quote from: "GSB"Some Blaupunkt Units are though, IIRC...

As are some Kenwoods, allegedly, though I've never tried..

SteveJ · May 8, 2005, 21:48

IIRC the frequency step difference only applies to the AM(aka MW) bands where the UK uses 9kHz steps and the US uses 10kHz steps. So for most users in the UK this would not have any impact on the operation of the HU.

FM is in steps of 100kHz for all countries (although some tuners support 50kHz steps)

GSB · May 8, 2005, 22:22

Quote from: "SteveJ"IIRC the frequency step difference only applies to the AM(aka MW) bands where the UK uses 9kHz steps and the US uses 10kHz steps. So for most users in the UK this would not have any impact on the operation of the HU.

FM is in steps of 100kHz for all countries (although some tuners support 50kHz steps)

Dont know if the after market units are the same, but all the hire cars I've had in the states had radios that scanned through odd frequencies only. i.e 97.9, 100.1, 100.3, 100.5 etc... You wouldnt be able to tune to stations on even numbers, like 98.8 or 100.0...

Anonymous · May 8, 2005, 23:03

My brother bought a Sony 7500 hu from a company over the internet from the states and his works perfectly.

Anonymous · May 8, 2005, 23:23

I have a Rockford Fosgate head unit. RF 8250Ti. It's actually made by Denon and has 20 bit DACS inside.

The increments for radio do transfer over to the FM and I can only get Radio 1 on my machine. That's okay by me though.

The sheer quality of the CD playback is the bit for me though through CD as it's got more quality components inside than many top end home cinema amplifiers today.

I wouldn't buy a standard Alpine from across the pond. Only the high end gear that is no longer found on this side of the pond would tempt me to buy US product.

Anonymous · May 9, 2005, 07:37

Quote from: "Ernie Ball"Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere (it's a hard thing to do a search on) but:

I travel to the US frequently. I know that their radio stations use different frequencies (and frequency intervals) than those here.

If I bought a head unit there, would it be switchable for European use? Seems like it'd be easy for the manufacturers to do and would save them having to have market-specific production runs.

I'm looking at Alpine 4x60 head units and they are so much less expensive over there.

Bit of a topic drift, but you are not the Ernie Ball of guitar and various guitar make fame are you? s:wink: :wink: s:wink: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: Or has the name come from that?

Just wondered........sorry. Back on topic now.........

Ernie Ball · May 9, 2005, 10:08

Quote from: "John Woodward"Bit of a topic drift, but you are not the Ernie Ball of guitar and various guitar make fame are you? s:wink: :wink: s:wink: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: Or has the name come from that?

Sorry to disappoint: the name came from that. I always thought it was a cool name. s:)

s:)