car stereo help ( really strange question about mw)

**gandalf72** · 6th November 2005

Hope this is right place to ask this (cant quite believe I am asking this as it is so bizzarre)

I just bought new stereo for car from halfords apparently half price at �200.

Original stereo was a bog standard one on basic corsa envoy (2000 style old body style).

Now it could get mw with no issue, halfords fitted stereo and they are blaming ariel booster for this pioneer �200 notes stereo not being able to tune into mw or lw. Says I need to get this arial booster at �14 in order for stereo to get mw.

Now I no I can be very niave at times but how can a baisc stereo unit get mw and lw and a alleged �400 unit at half price not?

Am I wrong here? I think model of stereo I got was pioneer DEH-P7700MP strange thing is web says it only has �100 of it in store says its half price? So I think I may have been didled twice

I am thinking maybe he did not conect a wire in the mw/lw part and is trying to hoodwink me

someone in the know help me out here please????

Thanks in advance

**urbsy** · 6th November 2005

The corsa has a wire for the aeriel booster that needs to be connected.
The wiring diagram will be on your old unit, I think its white/red.

urbsy

**MIKE M** · 6th November 2005

Signal seperators/boosters are not needed on this vehicle, if fm is ok then you have a weak tuner mw lw stations are becoming harder to recivein most arears and a sensitive tuner is required

If you have an amped aerial the amp is common for failing disconnecting the power supply may help

God I hate the uneducated dickheads in Halfrauds

**MIKE M** · 6th November 2005

Originally Posted by urbsy

The corsa has a wire for the aeriel booster that needs to be connected.
The wiring diagram will be on your old unit, I think its white/red.

urbsy

Urbsy you type quicker than me

If its a new pioneer unit should be on iso and aerial con is pre-wired, plus in jobby with +batt and ign swap

**chubblies** · 6th November 2005

Originally Posted by MIKE M

mw lw stations are becoming harder to recivein most arears and a sensitive tuner is required

God I hate the uneducated dickheads in Halfrauds

Acyually, LW is one of the widest ranging bands, requiring a low sensitivity tuner to receive, FM is one of the poorest, hence you needing to re-tune if you are listening to radio1 around different towns, because of its poor power/range.

@Gandalf If you can tune FM, I would think it has a problem, as it should pick up MW/LW no problem, have a look here for more info...

**gandalf72** · 7th November 2005

What is happening to make it a bit more clearer is that I can get fm with no hassle what so ever. Problem is that when you go to mw or lw it just wont tune in to any station at all.

Thanks for all reply's so far. I am not car tech minded so thats why I got halfords to do it thinking they would have no issues in doing it just cant believe an allegd �400 pound stereo at half price cant do mw without a booster. I am thinking Mike maybe your in right direction but not knowing how to do anything about it i am kinda lost m8 lol

Thanks for everyones help though

**blocker** · 7th November 2005

Is This The Silver Faced Double Screen Pioneer ?? If So I Have Not Found One That Works On Lw. I Have Had 3 Customers With The Same Set And Problem !

**gandalf72** · 10th November 2005

yes it is a siler with green and a display on it. I managed to get the stereo out but now cant get the aerial cable back in not enough cable length seems like you have to do something in order to get to it so currently i dont have fm now lol just my luck

**gandalf72** · 12th November 2005

Well I ended up taking the stereo back to halfords today to see what they could do for me and by god they are a joke.

Manager of store fitted the aeral booster for me and then made the excuse that he was getting bearly a reception for the mw but to "take it away and try it for a few days and then phone in" I asked if it did not work then could I take it back and get another one never got a reply from him on that glasgow breahead store. Anyway took it out of there and went as far as ikea and still no reception at all on mw.

Took it back and managed to get an exchange ended up going for alpine cda-9847r and that was same price �200 but not knocked down in sale and the difference in quality is night n day between them the alpine unit is streets ahead of pioneer.

So if anyone is making a choice between the 2 sets dont even think about the pioneer people its not worth the hassle.

Oh and the alpine unit did not need the aereal booster thing either which was another bonus saving �14 notes.

Thanks to everyone though that tried to help much appreciated.

**Sanj[UK]** · 12th November 2005

the double screen pioneers are on sale because they are shite

**matt1chelski** · 12th November 2005

Im looking at getting a headunit, been told pioneer are pretty good, theres one for �200 down from �400 in halfords i was looking at.

**gandalf72** · 12th November 2005

Matt, that is the one I went for its advertised in store at half price but on website it has it down by only �100. Even with areal booster on it the stereo would not pick up mw or lw and by that I mean it could identify channels but you only heard noise no actual speach or music. Deffo stear clear of it.

I would recommend the alpine one I got plus it has a ipod device that you can hang off the stereo. I dont have an ipod but the sound quality is amazing and that is just using bog standard speakers and wiring that came as default in the corsa so I would imagine with better speakers and cabling sound would be improved again.

Thee was a kenwood at �240 I noticed but I was taken with sound quality and that is at low volume becomes more crisp and more noticable at higher volumes.

I am no expert in music by a long stretch just wanted to treat myself after going through a pro longed bad streak of luck this year needed a pick me up so this was what I chose and after making no changes to defaults was blown away with sound quality. Listed to stereo for about 1hr today roughly brilliant.

One thing you can do if you dont like the colour of the buttons is change them in the menu from blue to green or amber or red which is quite nifty. Not really explored it further but I get feeling I wont be disapointed with this system.

The pioneer one I think your just paying extra for the lcd display which dont get me wrong is cool but on sound output and quality alpine blows pioneer right out of water m8, I know there are people who slag alpine off due to facia being boring but I would rather have boring facia and amazing sound anyday of the week.

One other thing to point out about the pioneer is that I was woried in the way the facia came on and off as it is on the left hand side cogs that it uses to connect and you have to force the face in on right hand side first so it may be easy for cog damage at a later date wear and tear or acidental put in wrong way I did not find it easy first 5 days of use with it puting it on and off.

One other plus was it did not need any messing around with areal boosters worked straight out of box with fm/mw/lw where pioneer could only get me fm.

Hope this is of help to you m8 and anyone else thinking of getting new stereo