It certainly does look like a nice deck and the reviews seem pretty hot. But it looks like its discontinued. Boo.

I suppose someone will have it somewhere ...

Im not sure what one thing has to do with the other though. Perhaps I am missing something but the quality of the radio doesnt necessarily reflect the quality of the car. Even if you buy the crappiest car on the planet .. if you are swapping out everything audio, what difference does the car make? Sure, car acoustics play a role but is it really that significant?

Generally, from what I have noticed, most (not all) stock radios tend to be sub-par. That goes for subcompact cars to a bit more luxurious cars. A buddy of mine bought a Lexsus GS recently with the "premium sound system" and it was merely .. meh. Sure, it sounded better than stock but it certainly wasnt worth the costly upgrade. At least, in my opinion.

My previous vehicle was a 2000 Mazda Tribute. Stock radio was horrrrrrrrid. The truck was great. Lasted 10 years and had VERY few issues with it (other than wear and tear parts, the only thing that I ever had to fix was the tensioner, water pump, and alternator - not bad for 10 years and 207K). But, I swaped out the stock deck and even with the stock speakers, it sounded much better. Once the stock speakers were swapped out, it sounded pretty sweet.

So, based on my past experiences, spending $500 on an upgraded deck and some decent speakers on a regular car seams a lot more sensible than spending $1500 on a "premium audio package" on a more expensive car that I dont need or want.

I find decent value in many factory radios. If you were looking at a Ford with the Sync deck it has features that work better than most aftermarket decks like USB input, Bluetooth, Voice command, built in hard drive, multiCD in-dash, etc. Dodge gives you a lot of these features too. I am sure others do too but these are the ones I am more familiar with.

IMO many people are way farther ahead by spending the money from the aftermarket radio on better speakers or an amplifier for them.

That really wasn't my point though.

My point was that I think the Cobalt is a crappy platform for a good audio system. I slso believe you can buy a better car for the same money, both audio wise and overall. I do like the body lines of the 2dr Cobalt though, aside from the terrible round taillights.

These are just my opinions though.

No to the Cobalt IMO. I'm really happy with my 2010 Mazda3

Yes to the KW-XR810 though. Just installed one in my minivan. Great features! Double-DIN makes for a much more stock appearance too.

Really? This comment surprises me a little. I always thought the deck was more important than the speakers. Ideally, they go hand in hand (ie. awesome speakers can only play whatever crap the radio spits out and an awesome radio is limited by the crappy speakers). But, all things being equal, I thought the deck would be more important than the speakers. Interesting

In my personal case, upgraded speakers wont solve my bluetooth/Iphone control by the deck issue, but it is definitely worth thinking about. I had no idea about the speaker thing.

Yay?


It does look like a pretty sweet radio. Thank you for the thumbs up.

Sooo we all know the good brands of radios so there is no need to list them again. My question is, for those of you who might know some of the radios/companies that may not be as well known/popular.

For example:

h**p://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_26104_Absolute+DMR-760BT.html

h**p://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22567_Power+Acoustik+PTID-7002NRB.html

h**p://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_25280_Planet+Audio+P9735B.html


These brands (Absolute, Power Acoustik, Planet Audio) dont seem to be very well known, especially to someone like me who isnt all that into the audio scene. Im not *really* looking into a deck of this style but my question is more akin to reliability and such. Are the products from companies such as these any good? Reviews on them are pretty scarce.

Just curious to know what you all think.

The Eclipse CD5030 is all over Ebay.

Those brands aren't popular because they are . No need to sugar coat it. IF they work, it won't be for long. The SINGLE benefit they have is almost no self respecting theif will steal them, aside from maybe a noob crackhead...

Buy a major brand.


The speakers are more important than the deck for two reasons. First off, the speaker has the hardest job in the system - to take that signal and make it into something we can understand. Not easy. Second, the range in speaker quality is ginormous while the 'SQ' of most headunits are probably all within 85-90% of the bell curve. Spending even moderate money on speakers will get you a sonic gain while you have to spend mega to get any (if any) real benefit out of a high end deck over a common $199 model. Features rather than sound are what tend to drive deck pricing.