Elegant Clarion Head Unit - Buy Before They Go!

[bigblue]

Last year, tired of my cd facia flap flopping down, I put in a Clarion CZ102EA, which looks and sounds great for a relatively modest cost, can play MP3 disks and (vitally) has a media port on the front for phone or iPod input. I wanted an elegant-looking head unit but with an AMBER display to suit the interior, and found these to be non-existent, except this one. You will struggle to find even this Clarion unit now, although there are currently some on eBay here: https://goo.gl/Yj6mHU.

It really does work well in the car visually, and the sound quality is much better than the original - if you do go for this you will also need the right connection and steering wheel control cables from InCarTec here: https://goo.gl/CI71AY and here: https://goo.gl/KgDjA8. Your CD multichanger will be obsolete, but the benefits of digital media definitely outweigh this sacrifice. If you just want to upgrade to something simple and modern without ruining the ambiance, this is perfect, but you need to act fast as they are now out of production.

Andrew

[Yam]

Agreed...elegant, nice looking head unit, but most single din units now have colour adjustment, so you can tailor it to your interior lighting dash.
You really want USB for me now....not just Aux in.

[bigblue]

Yes, good point about the colour adjustment if you can find a unit that doesn't look too brash.

[Sheraton]

looks nice - and tuned to the "correct" station


Paul.

[podge]

After much searching,as Andrew said,these units in amber are even rarer than V8 Tourers now! I found a mint( removed from works van)one on E bay for £19.00 but with a red dispay.So,after a phone call to the service department of Clarion,they had a dig around and found me a secondhand front fascia (they are detachable) in amber for resonable price I stripped them both apart and fitted the amber led mother board to the new red fascia...bingo! I have the above unit with an amber display.Now,anyone want a red one!!Thanks again to Andrew for finding this,I wanted an amber dispay radio that had a subtle looking fascia :-)

[clf]

Originally Posted by podge

After much searching,as Andrew said,these units in amber are even rarer than V8 Tourers now! I found a mint( removed from works van)one on E bay for £19.00 but with a red dispay.So,after a phone call to the service department of Clarion,they had a dig around and found me a secondhand front fascia (they are detachable) in amber for resonable price I stripped them both apart and fitted the amber led mother board to the new red fascia...bingo! I have the above unit with an amber display.Now,anyone want a red one!!Thanks again to Andrew for finding this,I wanted an amber dispay radio that had a subtle looking fascia :-)

Are the fascias not interchangeable? I once bought three Panasonic stereos for various cars in our family a few years ago, all different coloured illumination. Their model number simply denoted the colour display, but the fascias were interchangeable

[podge]

Yes,they are but the one I bought from eBay is absolutely mint,the Clarion sourced one is scuffed slightly.So I now have a mint fascia the right colour and a spare in red,I swopped
over the whole board that included the amber leds.They are tiny surface mount ones,my original plan was to buy a set and solder them on but this was easier and more chance of working.It seems the amber ones are very difficult to find,there are plenty of other colours out there.