Sony 6650 DAB Car CD / MP3 and everything else !

darrenjuggins · December 11, 2005, 00:52

Hi Guys / Girls,

Just wanted to share with you how happy I am with my latest purchase.

I managed to get a cracking deal, The Sony 6650, is one of the first of the reasonably price DAB units and I've got to say - wow, what a cracking sound from the DAB.

I managed to get a converter for £35, which allows you to use the telescopic ariel of the 2, whilst still being able to get FM.

The sound, is excellent, CD quality sound from the Radio, whilst having much more choice, including the likes of Virgin and 5 live, in stereo instead of going in and out on MW.

anyway, I was chuffed, fitting went well, after I learnt how to get it to tune into the DAB stations.

So anyone, wanting DAB, MP3, CD and or IPOD input via Phono - seriously have a look at this deck.

After my 11 % egg discount it came in at about £190, delivered ! Bargin !

Cheers

Darren J

red_leicester · March 23, 2006, 16:18

Darren,
Where did you get your aerial converter from ?

And how is the Sony going ? - looks a good unit, so thinking of getting one like it myself.

Cheers Jez

darrenjuggins · March 23, 2006, 21:04

Hi Jez,

http://www.carelectronicsltd.co.uk/

Here's the place took me long enough to find the web site, great bunch of people.

The converter is £35, well thats what I paid, it's basically a little black box which splits the ariel to the FM feed and the DAB feed.

Works really well, sometime you loose DAB, but the player has a handy, FM link / DAB Link, which will switch back and forth as the single becomes weak or picks up.

I've noticed that they have come down to about the price I paid now, which was about £190 around 4 months ago, think I got mine from curry's with 10 % Egg Money Discount.

The remote card that comes with it, is really useless, so buy the Stalk, it should cost you about £20 - £30 depending on dealer and haggling.

Comments on the deck, very good, DAB performance is good and is certainly an improvement over FM, the Bass is more defined and voices are clearer, it's a much more open sound, compared to FM.

CD / MP3 performance is good, and over my previous unit the BBE extending software, adds some of the Bass and depth back to the MP3, which is lost in compression.

Very quick pick up and the loading mechanism, with the simple slide down front is far more elegant than the full face down ones.

The unit looks far more expensive than the price tag, so all in all, it's a good unit, certainly would recommend.

Hope this helps, if you ring the above shop ask for Darren, I found him very helpful.

Cheers

Darren J[/url]

red_leicester · March 23, 2006, 21:18

Thanks for the info Darren, really useful s:)

s:)

Just one more thing... s:wink: :wink: s:wink: ... the aux socket for an MP3 player is on the rear of the unit right? What sort of socket is it ?

Ta!

Anonymous · March 23, 2006, 21:21

I paid £50 for my Sony DAB headunit. s8)

s8)

Was £400 a few years ago, but I convinced my brother to sell it to me on the cheap. Evil really, but there you go. Never got round to sorting out the aerial, so I may well pick up one of those converter thingies and get it sorted. Nice one Darren! s:D

s:D

red_leicester · March 23, 2006, 21:35

I've just found it. 2 x phono plugs in the back, yes ? Do you use the aux input Darren? Bit of a pain having the cables route round the back of the unit isn't it ?

Cheers, Jez

red_leicester · March 26, 2006, 09:32

Just a quickie... hopefully! You said you got a aerial converter for £35 that allows you to you the MR2's telescopic radio. Was it like this one

m http://www.lowcostcaraudio.co.uk/shop/A ... goryJJ/DAB m

If not, do you know the one you have ?

Thanks alot s:)

s:) Jez

darrenjuggins · March 26, 2006, 10:20

Hi Chaps - the web site indeed has the correct splitter.

As for fitting, it's a doddle and you are lucky with the MR2, there is more than enough room for all the differing wires.

The unit being DAB has the following options.

CD / FM / DAB / AUX. The Aux option, is if you wish to have a phono lead plugged in for your Ipod, it alows you to select that feed in, so even more flexibility if you need it, just get a phone to head phone socket lead, couple of quid and your on for Ipod playback, ok you don't have the controls like the Alpine, but hell if you have selected your music well, you won't need to change the song much !

Cheers

Darren J

PS the DAB sound is well worth, now £17.99 - s:oops: :oops: s:oops: I paid £35 s:oops: :oops: s:oops: thats progress ! doh !

red_leicester · March 26, 2006, 22:01

Excellent, thanks Darren.

Anonymous · March 27, 2006, 09:01

Darren,

Does the head unit come with the DAB aerial that is needed? I have tried to look on a few sites for this unit and none of them say whether or not the aerial is supplied.

I ask this as I am looking to replace the head unit in the Elise cos I can't pick up decent radio (the car is not metal, so reception is just shocking!) and when I have looked into getting a DAB unit, some say that you have to buy the aerial separate and some some say that it comes with the unit.

I am actually quite confused about this DAB thing to be honest. I just thought it was a "removal/fit new/play" job, but it just SOOOOOO isn't.......

red_leicester · March 27, 2006, 09:17

John,
On most of the websites I've seen this Sony comes with a windscreen-mounted (internal) aerial. Apparently these are OK but sometimes not up to the job, especially if the windscreen is not far from the ground ! (Time to buy a Rav4 ? s:shock: :shock: s:shock: )

If you find the Sony 6650 on the website I posted the link to, there are 3 options - no aerial supplied, FM splitter that uses the existing FM aerial in the car, or the windscreen aerial. Darren reckons (and I guess he's right) that the best option would be to use the FM aerial, in the MR2 at least, which is also the cheapest.

You can get a dedicated DAB aerial which would replace your FM aerial (I assuume you have one on the Elise?) but these are about £70 I think.

Anonymous · March 27, 2006, 17:19

Quote from: "red_leicester"John,
On most of the websites I've seen this Sony comes with a windscreen-mounted (internal) aerial. Apparently these are OK but sometimes not up to the job, especially if the windscreen is not far from the ground ! (Time to buy a Rav4 ? s:shock: :shock: s:shock: )

If you find the Sony 6650 on the website I posted the link to, there are 3 options - no aerial supplied, FM splitter that uses the existing FM aerial in the car, or the windscreen aerial. Darren reckons (and I guess he's right) that the best option would be to use the FM aerial, in the MR2 at least, which is also the cheapest.

You can get a dedicated DAB aerial which would replace your FM aerial (I assuume you have one on the Elise?) but these are about £70 I think.

Ahhh....Ok. I didn't realise that is what the splitter is for. So you CAN use your own FM aerial. For me, that would be the better option, especially as you said that the DAB aerial doesn't work too well when its not far from the ground. Thats me knackered with an Elise then!!!

Right oh, thanks for clearing that up. I might have to get one with the splitter and hope the standard FM aerial already fitted is up to the job.

Cheers

red_leicester · March 30, 2006, 09:05

Thanks for your help on the whole DAB radio thing Darren.

One last thing (hopefully!)... on the DAB aerial splitter there's the FM aerial wire, the DAB aerial wire, and a blue wire. A sticker on the splitter says "attach blue wire to remote antenna".

Does this blue lead go anywhere ?! The power aerial on the MR2 is controlled by one of the wires in the main wiring harness so I am currently assuming you don't need this blue wire from the splitter box. Is that right ?

Cheers, Jez.

darrenjuggins · March 30, 2006, 11:45

Hi,

Yes you do need to blue wire.

As the unit requires a signal for on or off radio is on or off, it acts the same as a remote lead for telling an amp to be on or off, else you would end up with a flat battery.

The blue remote is a low feed, as opposed to connecting it to a switched live!

so you just need to piggy back it off the remote lead for ariel, easy to find if you are fitting a new head unit, its the blue one on the sony kit.

Hope this helps and hasn't confused :-) :-) :-)

Cheers

Darren

red_leicester · March 30, 2006, 12:15

The bit about switched live and low feed doesn't make any sense, but I now know where to stick the wire ! s:)

s:) Thanks Darren.

darrenjuggins · March 30, 2006, 15:35

Sorry - didn't mean to be technical - read Blue wire as "active" whilst your head unit is turned on and "not active" whilst off..... (note leaving all technical references out) s8)

s8)

Cheers

Darren J

red_leicester · April 9, 2006, 19:58

Just fitted the Sony head unit and it wasn't tricky at all, thanks to the detailed fitting instructions in the Articles section and the help from Darren. s:)

s:)

If anyone is thinking up upgrading their MR2's standard double DIN stereo, then I would say DO IT!

The sound quality (CD and radio) is much better than the stock Sony (my car is 2001MY). The added choice of the DAB stations is great, and the amp in this unit sounds much much better than the standard Sony.

Couple of points:

- To swop the pre-2003 Sony unit for another Sony H/U I only needed the stereo itself and a single DIN plastic 'pocket' to fill the gap (Autoleads FP006 does the trick just fine).

- If you want to fit a DAB radio and you can't afford a Blaupunkt s:wink: :wink: s:wink: then this Sony is pretty good. You're probably better off using the splitter that I was on about earlier in the thread (Autoleads PC6536) as this will give better reception than the windscreen mounted alternative. However, the aerial will be up all the time the stereo is on, whether you're listening to CD, FM, DAB, whatever. If you want to only have the aerial up when listening to FM, you need the windscreen-mounted aerial for the DAB. These, apparently, are not that easy to fit without major dash removal.

- I did not need the "Sony to Toyota" adaptor harness (Autoleads PC2174). Probably because the H/U in the pre-03 cars is a Sony. If you are going to use, say, a JVC H/U, you will probably need the correct harness adaptor.

- If you connect a couple of RCA plugs in the back of the new H/U (for connecting an MP3 player), you have to jig it about a bit to get the H/U in. There's a black plastic box (something to do with the heater?) where the RCA plugs are. A bit of groping about with your right hand should give you enough room for the RCA plugs to fit... just!

red_leicester · April 9, 2006, 20:08

Nothing. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Chris · January 2, 2007, 15:31

Quote from: "darrenjuggins"Hi Jez,

http://www.carelectronicsltd.co.uk/

Here's the place took me long enough to find the web site, great bunch of people.

The converter is £35, well thats what I paid, it's basically a little black box which splits the ariel to the FM feed and the DAB feed.

Guessing that it was either a custom made jobbie or the bloke i just spoke to didn't know what he's on about as he said he's never heard of one and they don't sell 'em... s:? :? s:?
Looks like that autoleads one should suffice well enough though!!

red_leicester · January 2, 2007, 16:22

It has sufficed for me since I put it in s:)

s:)