Hey Pat; Thanks a lot for the review. I just bought one for my range rover classic after watching your video. So the producers should thank you also :)
I honestly don't mind reviewing a good product everyone now and again. There's so much garbage out there for sale that it's nice when something well made is available.
You can solve this changing the 2 LED as i did on mine , isnt hard. Just buy 3mm - 3 volts clear led - 800-1200 mcd ( half the stocks ) Also changed all backlight to red , matching my audi´s backlightning.
btw, also thanks for pointing out the display doesn't dim, since the datasheet for this models says "Dimmable LCD display and buttons" as you can read here www.continental-automotive.com/getattachment/bf14488f-e87a-45cf-9186-4a3b9de71172/Datasheet-TR4512UBA-OR.pdf.pdf
@Pat's Car Garage Nice video. Just purchased and installed this deck into my 85 Mercedes. Just curious, are you able to hook your phone into the USB port and play music that way? I know it's not necessary since it has bluetooth, but just curious because I tried to hook my phone to it, and it acted like it was "reading" it but it never actually played any music from the phone. Thanks!
The display should, if it dims, dim when you turn on the lights. This is because you turn on the lights when it is dark and then the display dims so not to be too bright. Thanks for the review, I was curious about this unit!
It does not dim, however it's not overly bright so I haven't found it to be a problem. There is a newer version of this unit out which does indeed dim.
Nobody ever shows HOW the Bluetooth controls work. What does it show on the screen? Can you read metadata? Can you scroll through song titles? Or do I need to use my phone to do all that, and the radio only shows 'iPod' or something dumb like that?
The display shows A2DP. You can control everything from the radio though, so you can skip tracks and all that. It's possible that it only shows A2DP because my phone doesn't send the metadata though, I can't confirm that. I made a follow up video to this to answer some questions that people had, you should check it out.
I have a question, maybe someone had similar problem. Is it possible to force the radio to remember last playing track. Mine is starting from the beginning whenever i will start the engine. I woldu like to listen from the point i have stopped.
Thanks for the great vid. I’m thinking about the TR4512, but wondered how this model performs with navigation. Obviously it has no nav capabilities itself, but if I’m Bluetoothing an iPhone to it, does it read out directions for you if you’re using the Maps app on the phone. Cheers.
I think yes, as long as the the app's voice is passed through to Bluetooth then it will work (which should be the case). This is going to be dependent on the phone / app more than the radio itself.
Not easily, but VDO (which actually makes the radio) has their branded version with a blue background. VDO TR7412UB-BU. Maybe there is a way to customize it, but that probably involves opening the radio up.
I purchased this unit but don't like the chrome ring on the volume knob. Do you know if the knob just pulls off or if I'll need to get more surgical. It's on there pretty strong at the moment and don't want to break anything. Thanks!
I don't think it's easily removable like the factory radio. I would suggest you look for some nail polish in a similar color to cover the up the chrome ring. You should also scuff it up with some sand paper for the nail polish sticks well to it and lasts a long time.
Thanks for the vid - can you answer a specific question for me? When in Bluetooth audio mode, the next time the unit powers on, does it remain in Bluetooth audio mode or default to the radio while the device (re)connects? (My Blaupunkt 420bt blasts me with the radio and I hate it!)
According to official specs 8GB is the limit, I haven't tried it with more. You can stream music over bluetooth to this radio so if you have any other device it will work fine.
The metal frame comes with the radio. I suggest you watch my installation video, it's for a W202 but it should be similar for a W210 and should answer all your questions.
Damn, it's been that long already??? The radio still works really well! I bought a 2nd one for my Jeep. I think there is a new model out, but it's still tough to find in NA, so this one is still really good for people that want period correct looking radios in their cars.
@@PatsCarGarage That's good to know, thanks for the reply! Reliability was really my only worry, so I'm glad to know that's in order. About to get it for my volvo 240
Does the antenna extend even when not listening to AM/FM? Can you display song information through Bluetooth on the screen of the head unit? Thanks for the great review! I'm considering getting one of these and modding the backlighting.
Yeah the antenna always goes out when the radio is on. Honestly I wish it would only come on for am/fm but oh well... It doesn't show song information from the bluetooth, but you can navigate through songs with the radio controls.
@@PatsCarGarage Ok I guess I'll just have to learn to live with that. This old Clarion unit from before 2010 will even have he antenna only go up wen in AM/FM mode.
@@iamCairn Yeah I don't know why they haven't done that. Seems quite easy to implement, but oh well, I certainly don't think it's a deal breaker. It really is the best radio for those that want something that looks period correct and isn't excessively ricey.
@@PatsCarGarage Clarion's M508 looks really clean and simple and probably works better than this one. A close second for me. I'm going to try modding the display on this Continental so it suits older BMWs better when I receive it in the mail!
Any idea how to set the home screen to show the clock permanently? I mostly set it to the bluetooth mode which displays R2DP constantly and whenever I need to check the clock I am forced to press the DISP button and the clock shows up for about 3 seconds.. Thanks in advance!
Don't press and hold disp, that makes it go through it's settings (which is why it only appears for 3 seconds). Just press disp once, that will show the clock.
@@PatsCarGarage thanks, I tried that! It seems to give me the same response even though I only pressed DISP once the clock will still only show for about 3 seconds :/
Limited to 8GB? My 2008 Pioneer in my W123 has no such limitations. I am already using 64GB, more than halfway full. Here's hoping my Renault/Anatel AGC-1220RF that I'm installing in my W202 doesn't have any such issues.
I was just going off what the user's manual was saying, but to be fair, I don't see how having more storage capacity from an organizational standpoint would make sense. This radio is made to be super simple to use, if you wanted to support more storage, you'd have to implement some more elaborate method of navigating the folder structure of the USB in order for the user experience to not be crap. On a double-DIN that makes sense because you can just have a touch screen, but on a single-DIN? It might be a limitation but I see it as a trade-off, in exchange it's really easy to navigate the folders on the radio, you don't even have to be looking at the radio to do that. It's also possible that it's not actually limited to 8GB, the owner's manual was just copy and pasted into google translate from German, and it doesn't really make sense most of the time. I think the real limit is 999 songs, which just happens to be just about 8GB for the average song, but if you're listening to Pink Floyd then 8GB is about 3.5 songs. It's interesting, I might test that out and see.
@@PatsCarGarage Just wanted to say thanks again. Picked one of these up and just finished the install. Everything went exactly as expected thanks to you. Cheers!
Mine not: when I remove the contact, it saves all the settings ok (stations, equalizer...), but not the song that I was listening to on the USB. By default it always returns to the first song in the first folder.
Contrary to what you said at the end of the video, the U.S.A DOES have digital radio stations. It's called HD Radio or satellite radio. This radio doesn't support HD Radio by itself, but you could add it on either by connecting a 3.5 mm cable from the satellite radio output from a separate Satellite radio box to the Aux jack, or by running the output through Bluetooth. I have no use for HD radio myself. I was looking for a radio that would allow me to listen to my own MP3 files from my smartphone and this works fine.
Hi, I just installed this Continental in my 81 Mercedes and I had a quick question regarding the 2 wires that needed to be swapped. The radio that was previously installed was an aftermarket Blaupunkt cd player and it already had an after market wiring harness installed. I assumed the wires would have already been swapped on that old harness but I wasn't totally sure. I simply plugged the Continental into the old harness and everything seems to be working correctly. That is, except for one thing... The car itself needs to be on for the radio to be turned on. When I turn the car off the radio turns off as it should, but if I try to turn the radio on with the car itself off it won't turn on. When I do turn the car on, the radio does turn on and all my pre-saved radio stations are still saved so that's fine. I'm wondering if this is an indication that those 2 wires were not actually swapped. Is it okay to not swap them? If the only downside is that I can't turn on my radio unless the car is on, that doesn't really bother me. I was just wondering if by not switching those 2 wires would it cause some other sort of damage to the radio? Also, I already tried the Logic setting and it is on so it's not that. Anyway, thanks for the tutorial, it really came in handy and I love this radio so thanks!
So you are describing the exact scenario that would happen should the 2 wires be incorrectly installed. You can leave it as it is, it won't cause damage having them the wrong way around, but as you observed, it will not be turning on automatically with the car and it will not be usable with the car off.
@@PatsCarGarage Thanks for the fast reply! I actually just encountered another little issue. I just came back from my first night drive and I noticed that the big orange display lights up but not the buttons. Do you think that could be related? I could live with the radio not being able to turn on when the car is off but I can't live with the buttons not lighting up at night. Thanks!
@@johnbob8739 Sounds like another problem with the wiring. The display lights up with the radio being turned on, but the buttons light up with the interior lights. It's possible that the pin for that has been incorrectly installed as well.
@@PatsCarGarage I swapped the two wires so they are correct now and the orange illumination wire was not connected to anything so I hooked that up and now all the buttons light up and I'm all good to go. Thanks again!
I just installed this radio and have the same radio off when starting the car. I assume I have the two wires swapped as described above. Are the referenced wires the (A4) ignition and (A7) battery wires? TIA
A few questions, no worries if you don't know. Can you dim the backlight? Can you skip tracks playing via bluetooth using the radio keys? Will it power up an antenna?
Display backlight doesn't dim unfortunately (the buttons do light up and dim with the instrument cluster). About bluetooth I'll film a second video to answer some of these extra questions in the coming week. It will power up the antenna.
Sadly no. I wish the antenna trigger and the amplifier trigger were separate signals, so the antenna could be powered only when radio is selected. A lot of radios use the antenna trigger to also switch on external amplifiers, so this hack might not always work. Personally I've got a switch in the trunk that lets me switch off the antenna if needed (ostensibly such a switch could be wired somewhere near the driver).
Highs and mids are MUCH clearer. Can't comment on bass because I have an external amplifier driving 2 small subwoofers. I suspect there wouldn't be much difference though, you can't expect the built-in amplifier in a head unit to drive subwoofers. The radio sounds very good though, even at moderately high levels.
You shouldn't ever connect a head unit directly to a subwoofer anyway... an underpowered amplifier (like the in-built of a headunit) can blow a speaker. What you can do (and what I did) is get an amplifier that accepts speaker-level input, and use it to drive subwoofers.
This headunit supports 4 speakers my car has 6(one in each door and 2 behind the rear passenger seats). Can i still use this? Will it be able to power 6 speakers. Car is a 1998 w202. I think you have the same car?
It will be fine, you actually have 8 speakers, you need to count the tweeters in the dash as well. Each corner wires up to a single channel in the head unit.
@@PatsCarGarage yeah im aware of the tweeters i just didnt count them. Considering installing a sub in the phone speaker sloy in the rear firewall. Maybe i can fit an 8"
@@DanhNguyenster64 I would replace the 2 factory subs instead. Get yourself 2 6.5" subs designed for use on infinite baffle enclosures and about a 300w amplifier and you will have bass for days.
@@DanhNguyenster64 They are! Hard to hear them because the factory head unit does not have enough power to drive them properly, but they have a low-pass filter built into them so they are subwoofers indeed.
So the radio does support some steering wheel controls and has a pins for that on the back, but there is 0 documentation about how that's supposed to be set up, so the safe answer is "no".
So there is a harness and inputs for steering wheel controls, but there is zero documentation as to how it is supposed to work. I don't have steering wheel controls on my cars, so I can't help you beyond that.
Thanks for the review, been thinking of getting this for a 93 600SL. I noticed when you searched for the Bluetooth headunit, the name was actually the model of the headunit, would you be able to change the name? Perhaps to the model or number plate of the car?
Not many. Good enough for a decently loud system. Obviously not loud enough if you want permanent hearing damage, but it will go quite high without distortion so I'm happy for now.
Gotta love a no-nonsense hands on review. Well done sir from the owner of an old BMW in Quebec!
Hey Pat;
Thanks a lot for the review. I just bought one for my range rover classic after watching your video. So the producers should thank you also :)
I honestly don't mind reviewing a good product everyone now and again. There's so much garbage out there for sale that it's nice when something well made is available.
You can solve this changing the 2 LED as i did on mine , isnt hard. Just buy 3mm - 3 volts clear led - 800-1200 mcd ( half the stocks ) Also changed all backlight to red , matching my audi´s backlightning.
Might do that on my Jeep to match the green interior lighting!
swimming fish and shit like that. Love it!
Because CD is still the best quality and sounds fantastic in a well built stereo system!
Superb review! Thanks for taking the time.
btw, also thanks for pointing out the display doesn't dim, since the datasheet for this models says "Dimmable LCD display and buttons" as you can read here www.continental-automotive.com/getattachment/bf14488f-e87a-45cf-9186-4a3b9de71172/Datasheet-TR4512UBA-OR.pdf.pdf
Maybe this is the update version of the 7412?
The display on most car radios do not dim with the dash lights.
You can charge your phone with it through USB, I got a huawei p20 from 2018. No problems
Perhaps they made a new revision. Does it fast charge?
Am I right in staying you can use Bluetooth audio to play music?
yes you can!
there's a dimmable version as well: The model number is the same but has an added "D" for dimmable : TRD74.
I knew it existed at the time but I wasn't able to find one.
I think the D indicates the model is DAB enabled www.continental-aftermarket.com/media/3778/silver-radios_sellsheet_v2.pdf
The dimmable version is TRD7412UB-OR, but the D is for DAB Digital Radio.
I ordered it but it would not plug into the harness on my 99 C43 AMG
I had a Pioneer that sensed cabin noise and turned up the volume to compensate. There are ways
Most of your high end quality head units have this feature built in. Its far from a new idea!
I have a particular question! Can you adjust the EQ bands? What ways can you modify the sound coming from this head unit?
You get a bass +/- a treble +/- and some presets you can use.
@@PatsCarGarage better than nothing I guess. Haha
@Pat's Car Garage Nice video. Just purchased and installed this deck into my 85 Mercedes. Just curious, are you able to hook your phone into the USB port and play music that way? I know it's not necessary since it has bluetooth, but just curious because I tried to hook my phone to it, and it acted like it was "reading" it but it never actually played any music from the phone. Thanks!
It won't work because it's likely your phone's filesystem is incompatible with what the radio expects. Bluetooth / aux is the way to go here.
@@PatsCarGarage Thanks.
The display should, if it dims, dim when you turn on the lights. This is because you turn on the lights when it is dark and then the display dims so not to be too bright.
Thanks for the review, I was curious about this unit!
It does not dim, however it's not overly bright so I haven't found it to be a problem. There is a newer version of this unit out which does indeed dim.
@@PatsCarGarage do u know the newer version that dimm ? Thxu 🙏🏻
@@gizmotechid It's the TR4512UBA-OR. It seems to be quite new though so finding it for sale can be hard.
Terminal A6 on the current production one is listed as "illumination". FWIW
Nobody ever shows HOW the Bluetooth controls work. What does it show on the screen? Can you read metadata? Can you scroll through song titles? Or do I need to use my phone to do all that, and the radio only shows 'iPod' or something dumb like that?
The display shows A2DP. You can control everything from the radio though, so you can skip tracks and all that. It's possible that it only shows A2DP because my phone doesn't send the metadata though, I can't confirm that. I made a follow up video to this to answer some questions that people had, you should check it out.
I have a question, maybe someone had similar problem. Is it possible to force the radio to remember last playing track. Mine is starting from the beginning whenever i will start the engine. I woldu like to listen from the point i have stopped.
It's because your +12v and ignition wires are flipped. Watch my installation video to see how to set them up properly
Hey bluetooth is always ON? or you can disable and enable in radio settings??
I think bluetooth is always on. Don't remember seeing a setting to turn it off.
Thanks for the great vid. I’m thinking about the TR4512, but wondered how this model performs with navigation. Obviously it has no nav capabilities itself, but if I’m Bluetoothing an iPhone to it, does it read out directions for you if you’re using the Maps app on the phone. Cheers.
I think yes, as long as the the app's voice is passed through to Bluetooth then it will work (which should be the case). This is going to be dependent on the phone / app more than the radio itself.
thanks man, il think il buy mine, going on vacation next week with an old bmw.
Is it possible to change the illumination backlighting? Love the look of this thing but it doesn't match the green backing of my instrument cluster.
Not easily, but VDO (which actually makes the radio) has their branded version with a blue background. VDO TR7412UB-BU. Maybe there is a way to customize it, but that probably involves opening the radio up.
I purchased this unit but don't like the chrome ring on the volume knob. Do you know if the knob just pulls off or if I'll need to get more surgical. It's on there pretty strong at the moment and don't want to break anything. Thanks!
I don't think it's easily removable like the factory radio. I would suggest you look for some nail polish in a similar color to cover the up the chrome ring. You should also scuff it up with some sand paper for the nail polish sticks well to it and lasts a long time.
@@PatsCarGarage thanks for the helpful tip!
Thanks for the vid - can you answer a specific question for me? When in Bluetooth audio mode, the next time the unit powers on, does it remain in Bluetooth audio mode or default to the radio while the device (re)connects? (My Blaupunkt 420bt blasts me with the radio and I hate it!)
I'll give it a shot and film it, there are sme other questions that need answering too so I'll make a second video soon.
8 Gig? I filled my 160Gig Ipod. Unfortunately, it crapped out. Thinking of buying this unit for my old Benz. My plan is to use the Bluetooth function.
According to official specs 8GB is the limit, I haven't tried it with more. You can stream music over bluetooth to this radio so if you have any other device it will work fine.
Hello, Can you please tell me where you bought this in Germany from?I'm looking to install this into my 88 BMW 3 series.thank you for the awesome vid!
eBay!
I have connected an external microphone, but the receiver still uses the integrated microphone. what am I doing wrong?
Hi! I have a w210, where do you find the frame of the radio?
The metal frame comes with the radio. I suggest you watch my installation video, it's for a W202 but it should be similar for a W210 and should answer all your questions.
Thanks for the review! Since this video is now over 3 years old, how has it held up in the mean time?
Damn, it's been that long already??? The radio still works really well! I bought a 2nd one for my Jeep. I think there is a new model out, but it's still tough to find in NA, so this one is still really good for people that want period correct looking radios in their cars.
@@PatsCarGarage That's good to know, thanks for the reply! Reliability was really my only worry, so I'm glad to know that's in order. About to get it for my volvo 240
Does the antenna extend even when not listening to AM/FM?
Can you display song information through Bluetooth on the screen of the head unit?
Thanks for the great review! I'm considering getting one of these and modding the backlighting.
Yeah the antenna always goes out when the radio is on. Honestly I wish it would only come on for am/fm but oh well... It doesn't show song information from the bluetooth, but you can navigate through songs with the radio controls.
@@PatsCarGarage Ok I guess I'll just have to learn to live with that. This old Clarion unit from before 2010 will even have he antenna only go up wen in AM/FM mode.
@@iamCairn Yeah I don't know why they haven't done that. Seems quite easy to implement, but oh well, I certainly don't think it's a deal breaker. It really is the best radio for those that want something that looks period correct and isn't excessively ricey.
@@PatsCarGarage Clarion's M508 looks really clean and simple and probably works better than this one. A close second for me. I'm going to try modding the display on this Continental so it suits older BMWs better when I receive it in the mail!
Any idea how to set the home screen to show the clock permanently? I mostly set it to the bluetooth mode which displays R2DP constantly and whenever I need to check the clock I am forced to press the DISP button and the clock shows up for about 3 seconds..
Thanks in advance!
Don't press and hold disp, that makes it go through it's settings (which is why it only appears for 3 seconds). Just press disp once, that will show the clock.
@@PatsCarGarage thanks, I tried that! It seems to give me the same response even though I only pressed DISP once the clock will still only show for about 3 seconds :/
Limited to 8GB? My 2008 Pioneer in my W123 has no such limitations. I am already using 64GB, more than halfway full. Here's hoping my Renault/Anatel AGC-1220RF that I'm installing in my W202 doesn't have any such issues.
I was just going off what the user's manual was saying, but to be fair, I don't see how having more storage capacity from an organizational standpoint would make sense. This radio is made to be super simple to use, if you wanted to support more storage, you'd have to implement some more elaborate method of navigating the folder structure of the USB in order for the user experience to not be crap. On a double-DIN that makes sense because you can just have a touch screen, but on a single-DIN? It might be a limitation but I see it as a trade-off, in exchange it's really easy to navigate the folders on the radio, you don't even have to be looking at the radio to do that.
It's also possible that it's not actually limited to 8GB, the owner's manual was just copy and pasted into google translate from German, and it doesn't really make sense most of the time. I think the real limit is 999 songs, which just happens to be just about 8GB for the average song, but if you're listening to Pink Floyd then 8GB is about 3.5 songs.
It's interesting, I might test that out and see.
Can you adjust the bass and treble on this head unit or is it only the presets?
Yes! It even comes with a loudness option (which cuts bass when off) and a few EQ presets.
Just got this for same exact car. Love it. Any luck with the manual swap?
Hi I have both an 1999 r129 and a w124 e320 1995 is this a plug n play or do I need to cut any wires?
You'll need to swap 2 wires around as per the video.
When using mp3s via usb as your source, does it remember where you left off when you stop/start the car? Thanks for the review!
yes it does
@@PatsCarGarage Just wanted to say thanks again. Picked one of these up and just finished the install. Everything went exactly as expected thanks to you. Cheers!
Mine not: when I remove the contact, it saves all the settings ok (stations, equalizer...), but not the song that I was listening to on the USB. By default it always returns to the first song in the first folder.
Contrary to what you said at the end of the video, the U.S.A DOES have digital radio stations. It's called HD Radio or satellite radio. This radio doesn't support HD Radio by itself, but you could add it on either by connecting a 3.5 mm cable from the satellite radio output from a separate Satellite radio box to the Aux jack, or by running the output through Bluetooth. I have no use for HD radio myself. I was looking for a radio that would allow me to listen to my own MP3 files from my smartphone and this works fine.
HD radio and satellite radio are not the same things
Thanks for this Video...would request you to please make another video regarding its sound quality and sound shaping features. Thanks again.
It's a radio, not a studio. Sounds great for what it is.
@@PatsCarGarage is it better than oem?
Hi, I just installed this Continental in my 81 Mercedes and I had a quick question regarding the 2 wires that needed to be swapped. The radio that was previously installed was an aftermarket Blaupunkt cd player and it already had an after market wiring harness installed. I assumed the wires would have already been swapped on that old harness but I wasn't totally sure. I simply plugged the Continental into the old harness and everything seems to be working correctly. That is, except for one thing... The car itself needs to be on for the radio to be turned on. When I turn the car off the radio turns off as it should, but if I try to turn the radio on with the car itself off it won't turn on. When I do turn the car on, the radio does turn on and all my pre-saved radio stations are still saved so that's fine. I'm wondering if this is an indication that those 2 wires were not actually swapped. Is it okay to not swap them? If the only downside is that I can't turn on my radio unless the car is on, that doesn't really bother me. I was just wondering if by not switching those 2 wires would it cause some other sort of damage to the radio? Also, I already tried the Logic setting and it is on so it's not that. Anyway, thanks for the tutorial, it really came in handy and I love this radio so thanks!
So you are describing the exact scenario that would happen should the 2 wires be incorrectly installed. You can leave it as it is, it won't cause damage having them the wrong way around, but as you observed, it will not be turning on automatically with the car and it will not be usable with the car off.
@@PatsCarGarage Thanks for the fast reply! I actually just encountered another little issue. I just came back from my first night drive and I noticed that the big orange display lights up but not the buttons. Do you think that could be related? I could live with the radio not being able to turn on when the car is off but I can't live with the buttons not lighting up at night. Thanks!
@@johnbob8739 Sounds like another problem with the wiring. The display lights up with the radio being turned on, but the buttons light up with the interior lights. It's possible that the pin for that has been incorrectly installed as well.
@@PatsCarGarage I swapped the two wires so they are correct now and the orange illumination wire was not connected to anything so I hooked that up and now all the buttons light up and I'm all good to go. Thanks again!
I just installed this radio and have the same radio off when starting the car. I assume I have the two wires swapped as described above. Are the referenced wires the (A4) ignition and (A7) battery wires? TIA
I just got this radio and surprised to find it won’t charge my iPhone. :( Anyone able to charge an iPhone?
It's clearly written in this radio's spec's that it is not meant to charge any phone, the USB power lines do not supply enough current.
Do you need a harness or all plug and play?
Not 100% plug and play, 2 pins need to be swapped around on connector A. Check out my installation video for how to do that.
A few questions, no worries if you don't know. Can you dim the backlight? Can you skip tracks playing via bluetooth using the radio keys? Will it power up an antenna?
Display backlight doesn't dim unfortunately (the buttons do light up and dim with the instrument cluster). About bluetooth I'll film a second video to answer some of these extra questions in the coming week. It will power up the antenna.
Sadly no. I wish the antenna trigger and the amplifier trigger were separate signals, so the antenna could be powered only when radio is selected. A lot of radios use the antenna trigger to also switch on external amplifiers, so this hack might not always work. Personally I've got a switch in the trunk that lets me switch off the antenna if needed (ostensibly such a switch could be wired somewhere near the driver).
What’s does it sound like compared to the original one you replaced
Highs and mids are MUCH clearer. Can't comment on bass because I have an external amplifier driving 2 small subwoofers. I suspect there wouldn't be much difference though, you can't expect the built-in amplifier in a head unit to drive subwoofers. The radio sounds very good though, even at moderately high levels.
Can this radio be installed in a 240 Volvo?
It can be installed into anything fitting a 1-DIN slot
Is it not possible to connect a subwoofer?
You shouldn't ever connect a head unit directly to a subwoofer anyway... an underpowered amplifier (like the in-built of a headunit) can blow a speaker. What you can do (and what I did) is get an amplifier that accepts speaker-level input, and use it to drive subwoofers.
This headunit supports 4 speakers my car has 6(one in each door and 2 behind the rear passenger seats). Can i still use this? Will it be able to power 6 speakers. Car is a 1998 w202. I think you have the same car?
It will be fine, you actually have 8 speakers, you need to count the tweeters in the dash as well. Each corner wires up to a single channel in the head unit.
@@PatsCarGarage yeah im aware of the tweeters i just didnt count them. Considering installing a sub in the phone speaker sloy in the rear firewall. Maybe i can fit an 8"
@@DanhNguyenster64 I would replace the 2 factory subs instead. Get yourself 2 6.5" subs designed for use on infinite baffle enclosures and about a 300w amplifier and you will have bass for days.
@@PatsCarGarage the two speakers behind the rear headrest are subwoofers?
@@DanhNguyenster64 They are! Hard to hear them because the factory head unit does not have enough power to drive them properly, but they have a low-pass filter built into them so they are subwoofers indeed.
Hello, does tha radio works with the comand on the steering? I've got a w203 Mercedes C220 sport Coupè
So the radio does support some steering wheel controls and has a pins for that on the back, but there is 0 documentation about how that's supposed to be set up, so the safe answer is "no".
@@PatsCarGarage thank you for your kind reply!
where did you purchase it?
ebay
Does wheel steering work with this radio?
So there is a harness and inputs for steering wheel controls, but there is zero documentation as to how it is supposed to work. I don't have steering wheel controls on my cars, so I can't help you beyond that.
@@PatsCarGarage thanks for a quick response
Isn't there an illumination pin? I thought that was for dimming night/day.
The illumination pin lights up the buttons on the head unit (which it does). For a reason that is unknown to me, it doesn't also dim the display.
What website did you purchase it from
ebay
@@PatsCarGarage thanks for the reply my man it occured to me to check ebay right after I posted the comment got one for 130$
Can you display and use spotify via usb ?
No the USB is meant for files. You could pair your phone with bluetooth though and use that instead.
i bought this same radio and mine always shutsoff when the volume is above ~28. do you ever have this problem?
Never tried to go above 28...
@@PatsCarGarage haha i like that
Thanks for the review, been thinking of getting this for a 93 600SL. I noticed when you searched for the Bluetooth headunit, the name was actually the model of the headunit, would you be able to change the name? Perhaps to the model or number plate of the car?
How would that help?
How many watts
Not many. Good enough for a decently loud system. Obviously not loud enough if you want permanent hearing damage, but it will go quite high without distortion so I'm happy for now.
its pitty that there are not cinchs :(