Gonna have to get a new radio/receiver, need opinions

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

I'm going to have to put a new radio in my brown truck this spring, my old one took a crap, apparently its got something broke in it. I can punch it and it will work, but been there done that before not going to do that for long. I hate cutting up my dash bezel to put a CD player in there but what else can I do. I want something really nice and I have Pioneer Premiere head units in a couple of our other trucks, I am very impressed with the abuse they will take, plus they have a MOSFET amp built into the head unit.
Right now this is the unit I am looking at;
http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_130P610BT/Pioneer-Premier-DEH-P610BT.html?tp=5684
But I want your opinions on what fits and looks best when installed into the 80-86 dash bezel. I'm thinking even with the face plate trim the single DIN radio will have gaps around it. Should I look into a double DIN unit?
If any of you have pics of aftermarket radios in the older dashes please post them up. I'd like to get an idea of what would look best here.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Guess I could get one of these.
http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_068RETRO1B/Retrosound-Model-One-Black.html?tp=5684
Anyone have any experience with those radios?

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Yea the other Premiere units I have in the other trucks have the bright blue lighted liquid crystal display, its damn near blinding at night until you get used to it. After you get used to it its not so bad. But I don't want that in my truck.

 

[1320Cummins]

I have always been a fan of Alpine. But, when it came to my dump truck I wanted cheap. So I went Best Buy and picked up a JVC (HD built in) unit on sale for $120.
http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028603&pathId=54&page=1
Retails for $150
I then went to Wal Mart and picked up a pair of Pioneer 5.25" speakers and a pair of Sony 5.25" speakers, as they only had one pair of pioneers. Much to my surprise the Sony speakers sound better and appear to be built better as well.
Most everyone that rides in the truck is pretty impressed with my very cheap stereo package. The JVC lives on a steady diet of dirt, dust, and dump truck shocks and still plays CDs like the day I installed it over a year ago.
I have always been big on the old line "you get what you pay for" but my value priced JVC has been great. I have also had Sony head units and not been so impressed with the value.

 

[swuchase1]

i can send you some pics of the unit i just put in my 1988 f-250 (chase1) and it has a tv single din bluetooth same money you were looking at. GO BIG RED fan for life. I will send some pics when i get to my office in the AM

 

[jwalterus]

I love aftermarket standard-din cd players, and I have sworn by Pioneer for years now

they are the only cd players I have ever seen pass what I laughingly refer to as "the rollover test"

Pioneers give great power, clean signal, and are reliable as all hell, I have used ONLY Pioneers since 1998

players that passed the test: DEH-24, DEH-2400F, DEH-3600


and since I know you are wondering what my "rollover test" is.....

working on a friends farm in high school, we had a 1979 F-150 4x4 with a set of roll bars in it, they raise cattle, and there are some nasty-steep coulees that were unsafe to drive up and down in any vehicle, thus the roll bars for safety since it was the "fencing pickup"
who wants to work building and repairing fence all day without any music? we put in a spare head unit and speakers I had, and we played cd's all day long

driving home, when we went up the coulee wall, the truck decided it wanted to try a sumersault, so we rolled sideways down the coulee, and the Pioneers DIDN'T SKIP!!!!

only reason we went through three Pioneers is because his uncles stole the first two to put in their trucks, as far as why I had the decks lying around, I did custom stereo installs in my own time for cheaper than the stereo shop I worked at

the ultimate setup for your truck, being a regular cab, could very well be: a Pioneer deck, a pair of Pioneer 3 way 6" speakers in the kick panels, two 3.5" Rockford Fosgate speakers in the top rear corners of the cab in fiberglass boxes, and a Kicker Solobaric L7 8" subwoofer (dual 4 ohm voice coils) mounted behind the center of the seat in a sealed box, powered by a Kicker ZX400.1 amplifier

ok, so it's not a cheap setup (it'd cost me about $500 with my discounts, about $800 off the shelf), but i's not extreme as far as price, won't kill your alternator or require a capacitor, and your ears would thank you

as far as the gap you are worried about, take out your bezel, trace the cage onto it, measure 1/4" to 1/2" outside every line, then take a flat black trim piece out of a walmart radio mounting kit and jb-weld it to the rear centering the hole, gives you a solid support for the radio, and it won't look half bad (unless you ***** your cuts)

 

[SparkandFire]

X2 on the Pioneers. In high school I used to repair decks and amps for a local car audio shop on the side. The internals on the pioneers are top-notch, the whole disc mechanisim is "caged" meaning its floated on springs and can move freely in any direction... Pioneer used to advertise this and the "gyro" effect the disc had at stabilizing the whole thing.

I've tinkered on Sonys, clarions, and just about anything else that was out there, and I can tell you NEVER buy a Sony, that's for sure. They are unbelievably cheap inside, just pulling the case off breaks the tabs that hold the boards and such together... Sony did this to make the unit "unservicable" so if they broke, you just tossed 'em (and bought another Sony deck, i'm sure!)

 

[65sixbanger]

I have never run anything other than Pioneer. I love them. The deck I have looks sweet and has three outputs in the back

 

[97idi]

i have a pioneer flip up dvd navi combo in my truck its awsome i would reccomend a pioneer unit quality is great along with customer service!

 

[65sixbanger]

Crutchfield has excelent customer service and their stuff comes with a one year warranty

 

[jim_22]

Put a classic old radio back in and then get an iPod to play through wireless FM.

 

[swuchase1]

pics of my install

here is a pic of my install sorry it more than just the unit pic was take of the dash area not stereo only

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

here is a pic of my install sorry it more than just the unit pic was take of the dash area not stereo only

Holy crap man! That thing is sweet!
Yea I'm seriously considering that radio made for classic cars because I RARELY ever use CD's I mean I can't think of a time I have used on in the last year, I'm always using my IPOD. I think having the CD player is kinda useless in my case. I'd love to have a nav computer stereo though, that would be awesome. I'm kinda torn, I've talked to several classic car buddies that have used that retrostereo receiver and love it, but these cars are babied show cars so I don't know if they will withstand the abuse a truck can put through the board or not. The Pioneer Premiere systems I know for a fact can handle it.
A system with a NAV computer in it though, that I may consider hacking the dash board up to fit. Do you have any pics of that install?

 

[swuchase1]

6 NEBRASKA IDI
I DONT HAVE PICS OF THE INSTALL IT WAS A SIMPLE INSTALL ON CUTTING JUST THE MOD-PLATE ANY STEREO PLACE HAS IT THE UNIT HAS A NAV OPTION (EXTRA) . JUST SO WE ARE SEEING THE SAME THING THE BIG SCREEN IS MY GPS UNIT (LOWRANCE BAJA 840) NOT THE TV THE SMALLER SCREEN ABOVE IS THE STEREO/TV, YOU CAN USE iPOD WITH THIS UNIT BUT NOT GREAT OFF-ROAD BUT I DONT USE THE STEREO WHEN I AM OFF-ROAD BECAUSE I AM TALKING OR LISTENING TO RACE TRUCK ANYWAY. BUT IT WAS AN EZ INSTALL NOT A LOT-O-$ ITS FUN TO WATCH VIEDOS WHEN I AM WAITING FOR TRUCK SINCE I CANT DRINK BEER AND TELL LIES...

HERE IS THE RACE TRUCK

 

[towcat]

I used to buy the "bestest" when I was younger. piad $400 for a top of the line Sony AM/FM/Casette/CDinput deck. @$400 at that time.
I've learned my lesson as I got older and lost my hearing in my left ear from driving this many years.
These days, I rob whatever deck in left behind in the junkers I get and run them until I blow it up.
here's my latest victim.....it's a JVCkds890. don't know anything about it other than it plays CDR and mp3 discs.....that's alot newer than anything I currently have;p
As far as speakers, 6.5" three way poly cones. and a self contained subwoofer. I play my music loud and speakers don't live long around me either.