replacing my becker!!

[dem maser]

i took the car to the audio shop and they told me the becker changer cant be fixed and changer are about £300 so im better off getting a new head unit, well i like the traditional looks of the becker but if i go for a new head unit which one shall i go for that still looks classy??
what do you people have?? i been told alpine look good and i can always replace it when selling with the original but i dont want to drive the car with fancy gizmos on it as it will damge the interior for me

 

[conaero]

Get a Beker with a single MP3/CD in the head unit and forget about the changer, it cr@p anyway.

I dont know if its just me, but I always intend to change the discs in the boot but never get round to it. I prefer to burn an MP3 disc with the same amount of tracks on the single disc.

 

[dem maser]

was told that becker head units are not what they used to be and that they are actually living off a reputation they had and he pushed the alpine, any opinion on that? i do want one with a bluetooth as itll mean i dont need a parrot

 

[Paul L]

was told that becker head units are not what they used to be and that they are actually living off a reputation they had and he pushed the alpine, any opinion on that? i do want one with a bluetooth as itll mean i dont need a parrot

Hi Dem,

I had an old becker unit that died on me, i then replaced it with a Becker Grand Prix which works really well.

Took out the old cd changer unit in the boot and bought the Becker Ipod lead and now use this for all the songs,

Also installed the small microphone which I was able to tuck away within the lines on the interior of the car and this gives me handsfree.

Each time I get into the car the mobile phone connects automatically and cuts i n when someone calls, simple (As the meerkats say!)

Any queries give me a shout

 

[dem maser]

i can change the changer in the boot with a lead that connects my ipod?? thats the cheapest option for me i guess but then i do want hands free, do you recommend the grand prix you have?? they costly aint they

 

[Pibbow]

Becker Silverstone changers are no longer available anywhere!

I have an indianapolis pro with satnav it is great has a single cd in the front and you can add an ipod. The problem with Ipods ( this is just my opinion) is the sound quality is not as good as CD by a country mile.

They are expensive compared to Sony,Alpine et-al.

 

[conaero]

Hi Dem,

I had an old becker unit that died on me, i then replaced it with a Becker Grand Prix which works really well.

Took out the old cd changer unit in the boot and bought the Becker Ipod lead and now use this for all the songs,

Also installed the small microphone which I was able to tuck away within the lines on the interior of the car and this gives me handsfree.

Each time I get into the car the mobile phone connects automatically and cuts i n when someone calls, simple (As the meerkats say!)

Any queries give me a shout

Got the same, and so has SimonM and a few others, its a brilliant unit, but you will struggle to find on, check out ebay.de you might have some success there. Sextons her where the cheapest price but dont think they can get them anymore, there must be a model that has superseded it.

 

[conaero]

Here is one, its the blue screen version, but does not really matter:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Becker-Grand-Pri..._Autoradios&hash=item43a1565714#ht_760wt_1078

 

[alenmatic]

Hi guys,

I have a Becker Cascade 7944 and it is great! Built in Sat Nav works very well (though not as good as a TomTom) but its a neat feature to have as it cuts in and out of the music volume and the navigation prompts come through the car's speakers. It also has bluetooth phone connection which works perfectly and I have the iPod dock cable, neatly routed to pop out from the ashtry in the front, which means when you disconnect the iPod, the cable is hidden away neatly. The iPod function lets you control it all from the head unit, showing full track display, artist name, etc, etc, including next and previous tracks, which makes it great to use when on 'random shuffle' mode.

I've always been a keen audiophile and pedantic about sound quality so have always gone for Pioneer headunits with separate amplifiers, using electronic crossovers to ensure that none of the speakers receive signals with frequencies that they are unable to handle! This Becker unit has crossover cutoff filtering built in and works as well as any head unit I've come across at doing this i.e. minimises any chance of speaker distortion even at high volumes...

I found the look of the Becker a little dated to begin with, but it has grown on me and I would highly recommend it now.

Hope that helps a bit?!

 

[ENZ525]

i took the car to the audio shop and they told me the becker changer cant be fixed and changer are about £300 so im better off getting a new head unit, well i like the traditional looks of the becker but if i go for a new head unit which one shall i go for that still looks classy??
what do you people have?? i been told alpine look good and i can always replace it when selling with the original but i dont want to drive the car with fancy gizmos on it as it will damge the interior for me

Hi Dem,
You could give these guys a try:
Advanced Electronics And Logistics
Albert House
High Street Princes End
Tipton
West Midlands
DY4 9HG
Service line number 01215226666

My QP CD changer stopped working (It is Blaupunkt, not Becker),
I took it into an audio shop, they said the same thing...cant be fixed, throw it away and get a new one!
Anyway, I did a bit of digging around, and found thes guys...turn around was 1 week, they collected and delivered
via courier, this is what they did, Repaired deck mechanism, realigned loading motor, tabs, replaced fascia and trim.
Total cost £88.13 and included a 6 month warranty. This was done back in Jan this year and has worked just fine since then.
Regards,
Enzo.

 

[dem maser]

thanx guys i have taken it all on board and i think i have decided on getting a head unit not a changer or fixing it
i want a head unit with good bluetooth and the alpine comes with a parrot one so how good is the becker bluetooth? is it good is it as bad as the blue & me i used in a punto? thats what it comes down to, if i get the changer fixed it could go wrong again

 

[dem maser]

whatever head unit i put in ill keep the original for the sale as i dont like these cars with modern head units ruin the car

 

[Pibbow]

My Becker is faultless mate blue tooth is fantastic with my blackberry.

 

[Paul L]

i can change the changer in the boot with a lead that connects my ipod?? thats the cheapest option for me i guess but then i do want hands free, do you recommend the grand prix you have?? they costly aint they

Hi Dem,

Just back on line with this thread,

The changer comes out of the boot being redundant, which gives you a bit more room (Space for an oil can)

The lead from Becker for the ipod goes from back of unit where the old changer lead went, this then goes into my glove compartment.

The cost of the Becker Grand Prix unit i cannot find the receipt, not cheap I know but the sound quality is good, the bluetooth connection very good so speaking hands-free no worries!

 

[dem maser]

sounds good paul ill look into that

 

[Garry_c]

Like Alenmatic I've just installed a Becker Cascade 7944 and I really rate it. I also added the iPod connection so with Sat Nav, Bluetooth connection to the phone and iPod its all anyone needs and all in one unit. The display can be changed to any one of 16 colours but I use the grey-green which matches well with the dash and other dials. I picked mine up new on Fleabay from Italy for about half of the UK retail price, complete with latest system software maps and discs.

 

[GhostyDog]

Like Alenmatic I've just installed a Becker Cascade 7944 and I really rate it. I also added the iPod connection so with Sat Nav, Bluetooth connection to the phone and iPod its all anyone needs and all in one unit. The display can be changed to any one of 16 colours but I use the grey-green which matches well with the dash and other dials. I picked mine up new on Fleabay from Italy for about half of the UK retail price, complete with latest system software maps and discs.

Is that a new version of this?

http://www.mybecker.com/enUK/Automotive-Cascade+Pro+7941.html

 

[Garry_c]

Quickly looking at the operation manual it appears that the 7941 is a later model than the 7944 as it takes SD3 cards and has a Mail/SMS text messaging feature in addition to the features of the 7944, might be useful if it could read out texts whilst you're driving but I wouldn't really be looking to use the car radio for email etc, my Blackberry syncs with the 7944 over Bluetooth and I use that.

 

[dem maser]

whats the sound quality of the becker unit? how bout when using bluetooth through the speakers is there any cuts or bad lines a lot?

 

[Garry_c]

I've found the sound quality to be fine, my car had the original Becker 4687 which the previous owner had replaced with a Pioneer unit, whilst functionally good (built in iPod connection) the styling was all wrong so I upgraded to the 7944. I just dropped it in with the original speakers and its good, there are lots of sound equaliser adjustments that can be made in the unit. The phone connected via bluetooth comes out of the front RHS speaker, it can be adjusted to the LHS if you prefer. As the 'day car' has been in dock this week I've used the AC everyday and taken many phone calls with no dropped connections/contact. I've asked some folks how the sound was as I've not used the phone facility much and everyone said it was perfect.