An Old Man's new radio

[landtank]

I've been doing a lot of trips down to Florida and with the current laws on phone use and the fact that the factory radio is full of change it was time to look for something.

1st it has to be blue tooth ready for a phone with a mic

2nd it can't be some god awful disco display and needs to somewhat match the stock dash

3rd it can't cost an arm and a leg.

So basically an old man radio

What I settled on was a Sony wx-gt90bt. I got it for 129.99 + free shipping

here is a couple of installed pics

 

[landtank]

I also found a nice spot for the mic. The mic has a balljoint on it that snaps into a plate that can be mounted to your visor.

I chose to discard the visor clip and drill a hole in the roof console and glue the plate on the back side. This allows me to snap the mic to the plate and then swivel it for direction.

 

[landtank]

her's a couple of pics showing the mic's location

 

[Stuparman]

How's the call quality? I have a pioneer radio with what looks like an identical mic. Haven't had very good luck, most people can't hear me well. Mine is mounted on the steering column pointed directly at my head though.

 

[landtank]

My daughter happened to call me while I was setting up the stereo but prior to mounting the mic in it's permanent location. It was dangling from the wire. She said it sounded fine but i sounded like I was in the distance a little. But she's a sound engineer so it could be great for anyone else.

 

[JaketheSSnake]

How's the call quality? I have a pioneer radio with what looks like an identical mic. Haven't had very good luck, most people can't hear me well. Mine is mounted on the steering column pointed directly at my head though.

X2 the pioneer I have in my Buick is unusable. The outgoing call quality is garbage. Everything else about the radio is great though. I've thought about trying a different mic, but too many other things to do...

 

[Qball]

Unless they have high quality mic with noise cancelation you gonna sound like you are Ina noisy barrel. Even some of the new fancy Lexus factory mic are the same.

Personally I rather use my platonic noise canceling Bluetooth headset than any car blue tooth setup. No one knows that's in Ina car when I'm talking, ZERO background noise unless it's windy.


Let the radio do what it is good at and use a quality Bluetooth headset for calls.

 

[Kernal]

Looks good. How/where did did you run the mic cord to the radio?

 

[landtoy80]

Nice big graphics for old eyes and big knob for shaky hands.

Its amazing how inexpensive a quality car radios are now days.

 

[landtank]

Looks good. How/where did did you run the mic cord to the radio?

ran it along the top of the windshield over to the DS A pillar, down the pillar and then across to the radio.

here is

a pic of the dash opened up

 

[RacerGr8]

Nice! A previous owner put a new one in mine with buttons the size of pin heads...unusable while in motion.

 

[Ozpall]

Great, I just did mine too, I tested the calls and from my drivewayi called my wife and she heard me no problem.
Radios are cheap, mine was 94 bucks free shipping!

 

[greentruck]

Nice big graphics for old eyes and big knob for shaky hands...

x2

The very average size knob on my single DIN HU is the thing I really find frustrating about it.

And I'm getting to the point where the large print edition of anything is preferred.

 

[namsag]

@landtank: I am a complete ignorant noob but Holee Cow is all that dash removal necessary to replace the radio unit???

 

[landtank]

@landtank: I am a complete ignorant noob but Holee Cow is all that dash removal necessary to replace the radio unit???

LOL, no. I actually had a badly cracked dash pad and to replace that I had to tear down the dash to that point. The radio was a "while I'm in here" kind of thing.