Stereo Upgrade for the Troopy ?

Hi Michael and Merry Christmas & New Year.

I have recently upgraded the player in my Troopy. There are any number of radio/players available and you don't need to spend a lot of money for a good system, but safer to select established brands. They all produce much the same performance and you pay more for increased features, which you may not need or want. In my case I replaced the existing Sanyo with a new Sanyo which had simpler controls.

If you are still using the original Toyota speakers behind the dash then just replacing them with better speakers in enclosures will give you very enhanced sound. Simply mount them somewhere convenient.Mine are mounted just behind the head on the roll bar.

Check also that the antenna is OK. That may also benefit from an upgrade.

Take a stroll into a Car Sound dealer and talk to them for loads of info. But beware that you are not talked into whizz-bang 500 watt systems with powered sub-woofers etc. unless that is what you really want. If you do, please don't camp near me! LOL

Remember that if you are into outback travel very few of the aftermarket stereo radios can pull radio stations in like the original fitment Toyota ones.

We recently purchased a used 08 GXL Troopy (because it's the 5 seater version, have 2 kids to lug around with us still :D)
Anyhow stock sound system seemed ok until we found out it wouldn't play cd's or mp3's etc...just radio.
Hubby replaced it with an Eclipse brand. In the past we've stuck with the well known brands like Kenwood, Clarion etc.
When he brought the Eclipse apart from the fact that it was on sale at the time, the reason he was recommended to go that way is because it would just plug straight in..same connections as the Toyota one or something.
Must have been ok because Hubby seems to have installed it himself no problems (installed 2 extra speakers as wel).
I like it because finally we've got a sound system that can take music on a USB stick (or from an iPod) goodbye cd's! It's also got bluetooth phone connectivity thingy which DH likes as he drives a lot. Took a bit to figure out how to adjust the base though....well I couldn't figure it out but he did in the end!

Michael A

I put a Kenwood, into the Patrol some 3 years back, and it was a really good radio.
Was a top of range one worth $500, but Autobarn had marked it down to $190, so I bought it.

On AM band, we were listening to broadcasts, and news, on the Canning., mind you we also had an Ipod as well
I do not recon you can get better than that for remote pick up.

just make sure that what ever you get, make it a quality brand, with AM and you will be kickiing RRRrr's
Cheers
Bucky

Michael,
We have 95 troopy and I mounted a pair of Sony speakers in the shelf that I made to run across the top of the windscreen. We find these work well though you have to be concious of the strong magnets when putting things on the shelf! Even though they are boxed with plywood the pull is there.

We find the shelf very useful for storing those many small things you want handy. Glasses, binoculars, sun hats etc. The speakers were an after thought as I decided I did not want to have them in the doors which was my original intention since they would be ruined in a deep river crossing.

cheers

Hi,
have look at this link. It is a multimedia unit, about $600 that includes a rear camera, Ipod cable, USB outlet, GPS, CD, Bluetooth and lots more.
The site is review by people who have bought it and installation hints etc.

I have one in my Prado, but there are face plate versions for a range of vehicles. It has a Toyota logo on bootup, so looks OME.

You can email the guy in Melbourne (from his Ebay address) to ask any questions not answered in the Reviews. Good follow up service and advice too.

I am using existing speakers as the amp in the Unit is powerful.

DIG Options Multimedia Unit

Usual disclaimers; just a happy customer.

Thanks for your replies everyone. plenty of food for thought to sort through before our next trip.

Michael A

Gday Michael,
I got tired of the poor quality of the Pioneers and Sonys I've had. And I wanted something that didn't have unreadable microscopic buttons.

So I went for a double DIN touchscreen unit - its 100 times better to work than any of the single DIN units. And it has AM/FM radio, reversing camera, DVD/CD player, IPOD input, USB input, SD card input, Bluetooth for the phone with stored directory, etc etc

I fitted it 2 weeks ago, so can't comment on reliability but so far: radio esp AM works very well; Sound quality is better than the pioneer; Reversing camera switches on when reverse is selected - perfect; USB music works fine; haven't got around to trying the rest yet.

But this unit only cost $200 delivered. If I wanted to spend $362 I could have got GPS as well. Do a search on EBAY for XTRONS to see what's out there, but with the big screen, you can read it all and touch screen is so simple. I didn't get the GPS function because I like my Tomtom.

Here's a photo:
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Cheers
Phil

Just be aware that many of the so-called "better brands" are actually made in the same factories as a lot of the cheapies these days anyway. Also, if you are driving out bush a lot, rather than a CD player, a SD card slot is more useful. A couple of reasons for this are:
Dust/dirt in car CD players not only kills the unit but can damage CD's.
CDs can jump and give errors when playing from bumpy roads. Expensive CD players have buffering to counter this to some degree.
CDs get damaged from dust etc being in the vehicle anyway.
You can fit approx 300 songs on a 2GB SD card. I usually travel with a small wallet that hold 6 SD cards and that's about 150Hrs of music on 2GB cards.
My unit doesn't like the newer higher density SD cards, so I'm stuck with using 2GB cards, but they are still easily available and you can even pick them up from places like HN's or Domayne for under $5 each. I paid about $100 for my unit too, and it puts out enough grunt for general use (just about makes ya ears bleed with the oils at full stick across the desert). As far as sound quality, well you did say it was going in a Troopy (mines in a troopy too btw) so any you beaut super sound you'll get from a $600 or more unit will be pretty much wasted unless you fit heaps of sound deadening, go around the vehicle and eliminate any vibrations or rattles that will resonate, and put a set of $1000 speakers to match. Just my opinion though.