Advice Requested / Stereo Choices

Ambitious1

Ambitious1

New member
I am looking for some advice regarding the MM OEM stereo. I have had the OEM stereo since I have owned the MM. Until recently, the AM/FM radio portion no longer works. The CD portion still works fine. I would like to stay with an OEM stereo since I am not a big audio person and do not want to spend $300 to $1,000 on an aftermarket stereo if I can avoid it. (I would rather spend my money on engine, tires, etc.).

I know there are numerous threads on aftermarket choices like Kenwood and Pioneer. I have heard that the 05 Ford Escape Audiophile OEM stereo is a good replacement. Over time, will the 05 Escape OEM stereo also lose the AM/FM radio portion too?

What is everyone's experience with the Escape stereo or other OEM replacement? Thank you in advance.
 
I recently removed a aftermarket head unit out of my DD black car in favor of a 20.00 grand marquis head unit

My limited experience with the 2003 Grand Marquis unit is this

It looks just like the marauder head unit, but it's missing ONE button. That button allows 3 settings in the cabin where the audio is directed towards.

The GM drives the subwoofer and the 6 disc trunk player also works great

I'm sure it'll fail eventually, but for 20.00 I'll enjoy it

Guys here say the 6 disc escape radio sounds MUCH better!

Hope that helps
 
RubberCtyRauder said:
No known issues with escape radio. Easiest, cheapest upgrade for factory look and sounds better.
Click to expand...

I put my escape radio in a couple of years ago ... it is now, not so good. I can not use the knob on the radio to adjust the volume. If you do, it is instant full volume loud. Many times the digits that tell you what station, well half of them are missing though some times they are all there.

Now, I have heard no one else complain about one. I also bought a used one, so no real complaints from me. However, just a note, that sometimes they may still go bad.

I am currently looking for a new radio for mine, but I want the blue tooth functionality, so aftermarket for me.
 
Anyone tried one of these yet?

s-l500.jpg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/S160-Andori...259770?hash=item41b44475fa:g:e-QAAOSwqfNXneK7
 
Been eyeing that one. I first came across it here when I was looking for a replacement radio for another vehicle:

https://radio-upgrade.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=80

Honestly, it sounds great for what it is from the description. It also looks to be direct plug n play, but I could be off on that. My main considerations are (1) steering wheel controls and whether I need a separate apparatus to get them to interface, and (2) speed at which to flip through the different screens/touchscreen interface, etc. On the latter point, most other aftermarket touch screen units have been laggy when it comes to changing screens/functions, etc, and I hate that. Then again, I haven't bought an aftermarket unit in 5 years.
 
I've watched some videos of it (on other vehicles) on youtube, looks like it all works. Sterring wheel controls work right from the get-go i suppose. The only things that bugs me abut them is the startup/boot time. About 30 seconds
 
Audiophile radio, aux/sat button for aux input.

I've decided to go with the Escape audiophile radio and ordered one off ebay.

I noticed the Sat and Aux buttons on the radio and investigated. On the wiring diagram for the escape, there are 4 pins on the harness labeled low level audio in for left and right channel + and - respectively and they seem to be dedicated for the Sat function of the radio. It appears you could aux-in from a media player if you simply tied these pins to a 3.5mm female audio jack. Has anyone done this? I see $60-150 solutions online that accomplish the same thing, but they aren't as tidy as just adding an audio jack to the face of the radio...which I'm considering.
 
ByronRACE said:
I've decided to go with the Escape audiophile radio and ordered one off ebay.

I noticed the Sat and Aux buttons on the radio and investigated. On the wiring diagram for the escape, there are 4 pins on the harness labeled low level audio in for left and right channel + and - respectively and they seem to be dedicated for the Sat function of the radio. It appears you could aux-in from a media player if you simply tied these pins to a 3.5mm female audio jack. Has anyone done this? I see $60-150 solutions online that accomplish the same thing, but they aren't as tidy as just adding an audio jack to the face of the radio...which I'm considering.
Click to expand...

I have a Pioneer AVIC X940BT and I ran the audio in to a jack I installed just under the lip of the center console. I didn't want a bunch of wires hanging from the radio. I also have a iPod interface that is connected to an iPod in the glovebox.
 
fastblackmerc said:
I have a Pioneer AVIC X940BT and I ran the audio in to a jack I installed just under the lip of the center console. I didn't want a bunch of wires hanging from the radio. I also have a iPod interface that is connected to an iPod in the glovebox.
Click to expand...

Would love to see a picture or two.
 
Audiophile Radio Installed

I got my new/used audiophile 6-disc changer off ebay. Plugged right in, audio is much better than stock, tuner pulls in radio stations the other one couldn't, steering wheel controls work, dimmer works, colors, fonts, schema all looks just like it's been there all along. I'm very happy with all that.

However, upon loading CD's, the thing jammed and now it won't load nor eject CD's and I lost two of my favorites inside the unit. It's going back to the seller for a refund if I can't repair it.

I see a few youtube videos on repairing these; and they honestly look like they shouldn't work at all. Are there many reliability problems with them? Should I buy another one or take this as a lesson learned?
 
I have a 05 Ford Escape Audiophile unit now and it works great. In speaking with other members, they told me it was the way to go if you want to stay with an OEM unit. It sounds like it may just be an issue with that particular unit. Other members here may be able to shed some light as well.
 
I had replaced my OEM radio in my Marauder with the Audiophile Escape radio/ in dash CD changer 4+ years ago & had no problems with it.
 
Unit was NOT bad, keeping it.

After a ton of reading and searching online, I stumbled across someone that experienced a very weird crash when trying to feed the Audiophile unit a data CD containing MP3s. It dawned on me that this is exactly what caused mine to go crazy. He was able to get the unit to eject the CDs by rapidly pressing eject when the power plug on the back was applied. I did that, and was able to extract the CDs. Then, after much more messing around, I discovered that my NERO created CD that was in UDF format causes the audiophile to crash badly enough that the CD changer no longer works at all (it won't play, load, or eject). There's another thread on this forum that describes UDF not working (no mention of crash), and claimed that ISO format discs were required. I re-burned the .mp3 CD in ISO format on the exact same brand/batch of CD-Rs, and the unit no longer malfunctions. Everything is working as expected and I've ejected and loaded all 6 positions a number of times.

This means I have a second unit coming that I don't need. If someone wants a deal on it, let me know.
 
My stocker took a dump. I just scored an audiophile one off ebay for $100 shipped. We'll see when it comes in.

I remember getting one 5 years ago for another vehicle from a local bone yard for $60, but every place now around here wants $200+.

I want to go aftermarket and am thinking of trying the hk Honda one mentioned in this thread, in particular because I want a back up camera and semi-stock look. but my priorities are elsewhere for the car at the moment.
 
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