E30 Zone

I never seem to see Blaupunkt kit recommended in here, but I like all the MP3/bluetooth options you can get on some of them. Is Blaupunkt uncool for some reason?

i think there are just brands that are better these days

blaupunkt was a cracking bit of kit back in the day and now its still highly rated however it dont get the press or pushing lke the other brands and has now become a argos special

always thought blaupunkt was hot kit, didnt know any different, saying that never had a car with a blaupunkt head unit

High end stuff is good.. but Alpine or Pioneer mate!!!

I've had a couple of Blaupunkt head units over the last few years and I had quality issues. The detachable fronts all started having connection issues so it kept going off whilst driving. Not impressed at all. Also I've found that there are so many other brands out there that they all do the same job, often better and cheaper.

Having said that I have not bought the really top end stuff so that could be better but after a few bad experiences I will be staying away personally.

I use Nakamichi stuff, mainly because it works, is simple, and it makes things sound the same as they do in the studio [1] - I've not found an Alpine or Pioneer head unit yet that can challenge the ol' Nak for clarity.

[1] I work a recording studio and use the car as a quick 'reference' sound booth for stuff before the final mix. Other than the head unit, there's nothing special in the car because it's meant to sound like Joe Average's motor. Alpines always seem to be very bass-heavy, Pioneers seem to be more top endy. The Nakamichi seems to have a nicer balance.

Best car stereo I've heard is the Linn stuff in the Vanquish.

Nakamichi is not exactly budget or easy to get hold of either!! Heard nothing but good things, mind.

The one I use cost me £200 off ebay from some nutter in Leeds. Was still in the box, sealed.

"Never heard of Nakeemichi, got this as a present. Want a Kenwood so I'm selling".

Clicked BIN got into the car and drove to Leeds there and then... was worth it.

The one I use cost me £200 off ebay from some nutter in Leeds. Was still in the box, sealed.

"Never heard of Nakeemichi, got this as a present. Want a Kenwood so I'm selling".

Clicked BIN got into the car and drove to Leeds there and then... was worth it.

Ha ha, that's quality! Fair play to getting a good deal. I sold one to Pacerpete a while back but wish I'd kept it, came in my iS from the previous owner but was put off as I thought it was old and basic. D'oh!

Blaupunkts certainly used to be quality kit, I used to have a couple of '80s units such as the Melbourne and was impressed with the reliability, but some of their newer stuff appears to be a bit cheap and flimsy. I currently have a Blaupunkt from a Renault and it's made in Portugal

Portugal love the blaupunk gear there pimp my ride is sponsored by blaupunk

I'm an Alpine man but have had other brands but never a Nak. That is what i'll be after next.

My Alpine pull out tape head unit circa 1989 is of exceptional build quality, much better than my current top end spec Alpine cd head unit circa 2006.

i love my pioneer headunit (was £300 when i bought it but only cost me something like £60 ) but in my experience i would side with pioneer and alpine on stereos. I bought my dad an alpine stereo for his e34 and thats pretty good! When i worked at halfords we didnt sell alot of blaupunkts (most probably because of advertising as already said) but i think i only ever seen two brought back for repair (and one wasn't even bought from halfords ).

Love blaupunkt TBH

Fair enough then. I'm still slightly lusting after one of These mainly because I'm a total geek and want my phone to integrate with my stereo and if it can stream audio over bluetooth as well then even better. I have the cheaper version (MP57) in my Fiat Coupe and I've been impressed with it although I'd admit that on the standard speakers (from 1994) it could do with a bit more power than the onboard amp sometimes. I guess that isn't a rare thing.

My new touring has horrible speakers and some grim DIY wiring. It only has the front speakers (even though the rear pods are in place, the wires are cut) and no tweeters. At the moment it is just grim for sound so I'm stuck on Radio 4
I'm not an ICE freak, but I'm resigned to the fact that I need new wiring, tweeter pods, and 4 new standard sized speakers (or at least, speakers that will fit in the standard locations without any hacking about). Ideally I'd fit a small sub in the boot, which I'd have to switch off when the dogs are kipping!

Does anyone have any advice on components? I just want something that sounds a bit more modern than my current setup which is worse than it was when it left the factory! It doesn't need to win SPL competitions but has to beat that glorious 6 pot roar when I'm on the phone ;)

Bought a Nakamichi for a Merc I had, fantastic bit of kit. Unparalleled sound quality and no blingy lights. Subtle, restrained and does the job...the ultimate opposite of council!

When I bought my E30 it had a Panasonic CD player which while being reasonably good wasn't really up to scratch for use as a semi-decent car listening booth for the stuff we do in the studio. It had a decent amount of punch to the sound, but the overall sound quality was slightly muddy and the separation between channels wasn't up to much.

The back to back difference between the Panasonic (which wasn't a cheap one, although it's not a recent model) and my Nakamichi is spectacular, even through whatever speakers were in when I bought the car.

One of my favoured 'reference' tracks for testing stereo stuff is 'Money for Nothing' by Dire Straits as it's not compressed to death like a lot of less well recorded stuff. Played through the Panasonic (all controls set to 'flat', loudness and all the other bull5hit set to 'off') it appeared to be slightly compressed with a lot of bass emphasis and a very steady overall volume level, Sting's intro vocal was at roughly the same level as the drums when they kick in - that's not how it should sound.. On the Nak Sting's vocal was a lot clearer and the sound delivery is a whole lot less forced, a lot more natural sounding, and the separation on the first drum bit a world more noticeable - on the Nak you could make out exactly where every sound is coming from even through the original speakers.

It's an added bonus that the Nak doesn't look council, as another poster pointed out.

Here are a couple of pics of said Nak.





Unfortunately, this Nakamichi is only one of the lower end jobs, so it doesn't have a few of the features you may expect. No phone mute, no dimmer, no remote, no ipod input, no CD changer control, and it only has one colour scheme for the lighting. On the plus side, it looks very subtle and they've obviously spent the money on making it sound right instead of adding tons of useless gadgets and gizmos. As I can't stand the useless flashy lights that seem to be compulsory with a lot of new stereos, it suits me fine.

Blaupunkt - headunits anit to bad , speakers are fairly good and good vaule , Subs are useless cant take anywere near there rated rms power.