So i was out at wallyworld the other night and picked myself up a new headunit. To be more specific it is a Dual XDMAR6720. After going through the headache of getting wiring harnesses and what not i got it all hooked up. I started to program my radio stations and what not. They are almost completely clear when stopped, but when moving all just go to total crap. I do have the antenna plugged in and doubled checked it. I even ran a ground to the fuse box with some 18 guage. Now for the factory harness there were two separate harnesses but also a single black wire with a orange strip, i left this un hooked and capped it, as i dont know what it goes to? I thought aftermarket headunits were suppose to be better, after all the frickin money i just invested in this thing? Does anybody have any thoughts on what the problem could be before i return the thing and put my old factory headunit, which was very reliable back in?

 

No offense intended here at all, but Dual is not such good quality. They are a cheap-made, very low quality deck and I am not surprised the radio has problems. I would say return the Dual unit to Walmart and get a better quality deck. You could exchange it at Walmart for a much better quality Pioneer, Sony or even a JVC. Any of those will be better than Dual, in my opinion anyway. If you listen to the radio a lot, Pioneer may be the best choice. They have had a good reputation for the best AM and FM reception for a very long time now.

The black wire with the orange stripe is the chassis ground for the factory radio. Try grounding it to the case of the new Dual deck or connect it to the ground wire in the deck's wire harness. It may or may not make a difference.

Also check down in the passenger's kick panel and take a look at the junction connectors there on the antenna coaxial cable. Be sure you did not accidentally pull it loose when you did the installation. If the Dual deck has a "Local Tuning" feature be sure it is off and you are using the "Distant Tuning" on the radio.

Jimmy

 

thank you jimmy, im ready to load the thing up and say see ya to the thing. what had drawn me to it was the hd radio and the xm but of course the both are sold separate. also i noticed it was a bit laggy.

 

Agreed. Both my buddys have dual units and they were both bought within a week of each other and magically they started not to respond within 2 or 3 weeks of each other. I've had my sony for 3 years now and I love it. It is sirius capable but honestly by the time you buy the kit for them you are better off to buy the portable kit not to mention they most of the time offer more features than the head units can do. I have the sirius sportster 5 and I can rewind a hr of music,set memos to remind me when my favorite song comes on,severe weather alerts,sport score updates when im not on that channel. I also use it in the garage too and its nice to be able to transfer from the truck to the garage when ever I want. Ive had it for 4 years and love the damn thing!

 

im thinking the same as for i dont need built in xm radio because the fact that the separate unit you can buy to connect has a better display. so after work tomorrow, ill swap out this headunit and trade it in for a new one. hopefully i have better luck with the next one. so you guys are saying sony poineer and jvc are pretty reliable headunits?

 

Sony and Pioneer are good decks, I guess JVC is too but I have never owned a JVC. The problem is it can get expensive to buy the separate tuner module and antenna kits to add satellite radio to some decks. Some stores also have a problem keeping the parts in stock for satellite radio too.

You said you don't want built in satellite radio but one way to go would be to use an Alpine CDE-124SXM deck. It comes with a Sirius XM tuner and antenna kit already in the box. Best Buy has it on sale this week for $199.00. That might cost less and be more reliable and less trouble than adding a separate XM radio runer and display. You can check it out and read reviews here:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500CDE1...24sxm&skipvs=T

Crutchfield sells the same deck and Sirius kit for $229.00. It costs more than the Best Buy sale price but it also comes with a free $30.00 Satellite XM radio Visa gift card. I think you have to send the info online to get the gift card after you activate the XM radio service.

You can also go on www.retailmenot.com and do a search for "Crutchfield Coupon" and get a discount code for $20.00 off any order over $100.00. It would save you a total of $50.00 to buy the deck from Crutchfield, plus Crutchfield also gives you the dash installation kit and wire harness for your truck for free. That will save you another $30.00 to $40.00 too. If you get a deck at Best Buy or Walmart or any other store, you have to buy the parts separately.

Eithr way, Alpine makes a good quality deck, they always have. The FM tuner should do fine and the sound quality is excellent. Just keep in mind the 124 SXM only has one set of preamp outputs so it is kind of limited if you plan on expanding your system. The deck has good output power by itself but if you want even more power/volume you can buy a part that Alpine calls the Power Pack, it really is just a 40 watt per channel 4 channel amp but it does a good job. If your truck has the factory Infinity amplified system, you would probably not need to buy the Alpine Power Pack. The one preamp output on the deck can be changed to a sub output and the deck has sub controls built in if you decide to add a sub later on.

I think the 124 SXM would be a great way to add the satellite radio to your truck. I tend to preach Crutchfield a lot, but they usually do have the best prices and their Customer Service is great if you need help or have a problem. They have a very good technical help desk too. Crutchfield has always treated me right.

Just my 2 cents.

Jimmy

 

You can get a sirius/xm unit with the car kit for 50-140.00(price depends on model). You sometimes cant even get head unit kit for around that price.

 

thank you for all the info guys i dont need nothing fancy, i still have plenty of other problems on this truck still . Ill just browse around at walmart and pick up another deck and see what happens ill try going sony.

 

just picked up a sony cdx-gt65uiw, took it around the block and no noticable static thats a good step. the thing is pretty fancy too lol.

 

Same model as mine only newer. You shouldnt have any problems with it.