For my putting off the purchase of a new car, and having all her house projects completed, my wonderful wife promised me a new Pioneer car stereo that would play USB Flash drives in my old Honda. The one I had, played MP3 CD’s, and worked fine. The thought of one month of country music, never hearing the same song twice, well, that just gladdened my heart, and caused a slight tingle in my brain. Plus, my son-in-law Chris loves my old unit, which is now in his car.
The shop I use is in downtown Olongapo City, and I’ve been using their services for more than ten years now. So when I drove in Max (the owner) asked what type of stereo was I getting this time? How did he know?
I told Bob awhile back, I was predictable, and I guess I am. No waiting, no fuss, I found the unit I wanted, and it was installed and pumping tunes, within an hour. The downside to it, it’s like cell phones, when you get a new one you must learn its functions all over again, as they change from model to model, even if it’s the same brand. Car stereos are the same way. What’s wrong with a little uniformity?
Max tried to show me how to work everything, with his skinny fingers flying over the control panel at twice the speed of light, and thinking I understood what he was saying. So later I read the book when I get home, and frustrate myself just for the fun of it. Two days later I had the clock set, and the music was set to play on random. Put the book down as that is all I need to know, the next time my kids take the car I get it back with everything else set and fine tuned.
My daughter came over to the house with her 5 gig flash drive and loaded up music she likes and put it into my car’s dash pocket. As they borrow it all the time as it looks better than their car. She knows, I’ll never say no. I know it might look better, but also know it’s very much safer, as I keep it well maintained, and full of gas.
Something my father said to me as a kid, I’d bring his car back with it always needing gas, He’d just smile and say, “Don’t worry about it son, my grandchildren will pay me back.” I never figured out what he meant until my car was given back to me close to empty by his grandchildren, I smiled and was thinking, “I’m paying my dad back.”
Life will always go full circle; this is something I know for sure!
- Pioneer DEH-3150UB
- Price P6,000.00 (I guess that’s a good price)
- Mosfet 50 Watts x 4 (what does that mean?)
- Pop-Up Detachable Flapdown Face (Ain’t that nice?)
- CD / CD-R / CD-RW / WMA / MP3 / WAV Playback Capability (Say what?)
- 24 station pre-sets (totally useless to me)
- EEQ (Say what again?)
- 2 RCA Pre-Outs (I’ll pretend I understand)
- Direct Sub-Drive (Isn’t that great?)
- USB Direct Connection (Front) (This I Know)
- Aux-In (Front) For Ipod (Don’t own one)
- Wireless Remote Controller (Why do you need this, unless you drive from the rear seat? The stereo is right there on the dash less than six inches in front of you.)
That’s all I know about the new unit, Okay, I’m telling a lie, all I know is how to set the clock and put it on random. I’ve never played the radio in any car while here in the R.P., and don’t even know why a radios even there. Now if the Philippines had a good Country & Western station…
Back in the 70’s and 80’s when I was working in the commercial amusement business ” Solid State Sound ” ( some form of voice and / or music ) started originating from integrated circuit and memory chips, no moving parts as in a tape deck etc. At that time I thought someday we will have real music on a chip with no moving parts. When CD’s appeared I thought that was an intermediate step towards real songs from some kind of sound chips, no moving parts. Today we have the iPods, and flash drives holding thousands of songs in them, really amazing compared to back then. It was only in the past 2 or 3 years I learned what a plug in flash drive was and I soon realized the potential it has for Music ! It seems much more applicable especially for mobile use than a CD Player.
I’d like to find a home stereo that has one, I saw one for the first time in The Philippines last year when I was there that a store was using to play music on.
P 6000 Sounds like an appropriate equivalent price to me.
Mosfet 50 Watts X 4 . there are 4 individual output channels for speakers, each having its own output amplifier stage capable of an output of 50 watts per channel. There are various ways of calculating audio amplifier output power and manufacturers many times will use a rating system that gives the higher number. Industry standard used to be the ratio-mean-square method ( RMS ) and there are other variables involved in deriving output power from an audio amplifier. Regardless of the numbers, with efficient speakers you should have all the sound you need to make the inside of your vehicle sound like a Rock Club or Disco if you want it LOL
2 RCA Pre-Outs, you can easily connect additional power amplifier (s) to power even more speakers and a sub-woofer so you can ” blow the doors off ” of your vehicle from the inside out !
Wireless Remote, Nice feature if you go out someplace for a picnic or other event and want to use your mobile sound system to provide sound or entertainment for a crowd, you can control it without having to get back into the front seat.
Now for the real test, take a drive down the main street of town, lower all windows crank up the volume and see how many looks you get !
Looks like a great set-up to me Paul, I am sure you will enjoy it.
Direct Sub-Drive: Nice option…it gives your car the ability to drive underwater…yup…no more bridge fares or bridge traffic jams or pay for car washes for you my friend…look for a sea wall & put the accelerator down (don’t be a dummy and forget to roll the windows up !!!) eat your heart out sea world !! Lemme know how it works…thinkin of getting that for my car.
Hi Bob;
When I lived in Puerto Rico, a kid in the Navy, who worked for me, had a system in his car that would rattle windows as he drove by. I asked him if at anytime he’s had that, has any young lady broke from the crowd, ran to his car and demanded he father her baby? When he looked down and shook his head no, I then asked, “Then, what’s the point?”
Thanks for the tech info, as I had no idea what it meant. But I like the clear crisp sound I receive, and since I’m lost a lot, I keep the volume low.
Brian;
Love the idea of Sub-Drive, hate the idea of re-painting my car yellow and playing Beatles music all the time. If I can’t even get Bob’s answer in the right spot…
You and my wife would get along just fine, Paul! When she buys a new gadget, she leaves the instructions safely in the box where it belongs & asks her husband how to operate the gadget. The only problem with her system is that she keeps buying the newest, coolest doo-hickey & I spend much time on the internet downloading instructions, because she never remembers where she put the box. Someday, I’m going to build something out of all of those boxes & instruction manuals (somewhere) in our basement. I’m thinking a papier-mache house, so I have somewhere to hide the next time she wants me to figure out her cellphone/computer/stereo. Btw, if it makes you feel any better, the stereo in my truck has a remote control & it’s a regular cab, no back seats. Go figure.
Mike;
Your Gravatar tells me you really don’t mind doing that for her. (lol) Bob New York said the remote is good at picnics, using you car/truck to provide the music. I looked in the box and did not find a set of jumper cables, so I’ll nix that idea. I like the idea about the boxes!
A thought on the purpose of the wireless remote wireless remote:
With all of the power these newer units are capable of; aux preamp inputs, aux sub-WOOFER input could with the right amps result in a MEGAWATT OUTPUT. That could be damaging to your personal safety and health. One can only conclude that the wireless remote is a personal safety device. Stand back 3 meters before operating.
Jade;
That was good, you had me thinking I was going to endure a lecture about tech stuff that I’d never comprehend, and then you zing me. I like that!!! (LOL) My son-in-law Chris, put this huge woofer speaker into the trunk of his car, my daughter smiled, told him it was nice, and asked, “How do we go shopping now, there’s no room in the trunk?”
When I was 21 I had a ’64 MGB with a 4-track tape player I installed, along with two 12″ speakers on 10′ cords. Plenty of volume for driving with the top down. We had a few beach parties on the shore of lake Superior, during the 1 month summer in July. Parked the car at the shore, spread the speakers on the sand, put in the tape and turned up the volume. It worked good. We always had a campfire on the beach. Can’t do that anymore up there. The next year I moved to Florida. But that was not far enough. Guess I’ve always had Philippines on my mind, even before I ever visited the first time.
Jade;
I had a1958 Bug Eyed Sprite (no stereo) in Florida (1977) the pictures are in my photos on LIP Photo Gallery. In i964 I was driving a 1951 Mercury Convertible with an am radio and reverberator I was cool, or so I thought!
Paul,
I installed a reverb unit in my first car, a ’62 Studebaker Hawk, the brand was Stereo ’67.
Going over road bumps and potholes it BOINGIONGED with an eerie presence. The stereo effect was front speaker vs rear speaker. Yes it was soo cool. I think I still have it in a box up in the attic somewhere. I should dig it out sometime. Wish I still had the Stude. Hawk though…
Looked at your Lip gallery car collection last week and saw the Bug Eyed Sprite along with the rest of them. Wish we both had them all now. One of my favorites was a ’57 Chrysler Imperial That I purchased for $75., lent it to a ‘friend’, who blew the engine, 394ci hemi, sold it to a different friends brother for $5. They now go for $70k to $200k on the various internet sites.
oops going off topic: radios. the radio the Imperial had was a tube type and had a button underneath the brake pedal (like the headlight dimmer switch – why did they have to do away with that – it worked!) to scan for changing stations, had a little motor for this function. But what a gas hog it was, terrible, even at $0.32 a gal no less!
Jade;
I used to have many other pictures of some cool rides and Bikes I once owned, but the photos disappeared thanks to my ex-wife (Bless her and may she prosper) and a streak of evil she was born with. Such as, 47 Ford Businesses Coupe, 64 Galaxy Convertible, and a 47 Knuckle Head, 500 BSA, and more. May she reign in the underworld forever!
Paul,
Yeah, me too. Exwife once cleaned up my workshop for me and threw out all of my manuals and parts guides for all of my power tools, I miss them. But no looking back, always forward and upward. (“Aim high, Olongapo” – if i remember correctly – ha ha )
Once my father took me to Link Brothers Ford in Minong Wisconsin, where he also had a window cleaning account there with them. He wanted to buy a ’67 T-Bird. We test drove it, up to over 100mph, wow I could taste it, he could too. He never used a truck to haul around his window cleaning ladders, only a car with roof racks. The T-Bird proved to be impossible to adapt to the roof racks for the ladders, even with a ‘T’ rack mounted at the trailer hitch receiver at the rear bumper. He didn’t but it. But gawd would that have been an incredible ride for us.
Jade;
My ex-wife’s house was broken into, and anything that was taken belonged to me. She really told me that. I gave her her next two child support payments in pennies, and the third in U.S. Postage Stamps, all legal tender. But my stuff was still long gong, kinda’ like she is now.
A roof rack on a 67 T-Bird, I’m happy it didn’t work. My dad had a pink (he called it coral) Rambler Station wagon to haul his work stuff, and none of his 5 sons wanted to use it, but his Oldsmobile… Another story.
A year or so after the divorce was final and 3 months after my son moved back in with his mother after the the divorce, exwife and ‘exson’ entered my house and went ‘shopping’; TV, stereo speakers, all canned food, some curtains, Christmas decorations, some tools and who knows what else went missing. No furniture to take as it was already gone. (the story on so called ‘exson’ is more complicated than to relate in this public blog, sad) Had a meeting with exwife and explained that she might feel differently if I decided to go ‘shopping’ at ‘her’ house. (formerly one of our rentals) Locks changed – problem solved. Story short – I took on all debits – her concession – no alimony! (I just didn’t want have to pay her cigarette and wine bill forever)
BTW – Daisy doesn’t drink except for a glass of wine with dinner and has never smoked – I’m blessed! She moderates me, and I love it, a few days after we met she took me in for a haircut, short, real short. I was at the time trying to cover the pink spot at my crown by growing the top long and combing back. She said nothing of that but after the haircut I realized how futile it had become. Always tuck in your shirt, wear a belt with my long slacks, shined shoes. Mind you now this was in Singapore, in RP we are a bit more relaxed. She gave me me a complete makeover. I was happy with the result. I was happy to be the person she wanted me to be. Proud to be with her as she dressed very well, carried herself well, conducted herself well, we could fit in anywhere and we surely did. Because of my respect for her I strive daily to be the best person she could want me to be. wen I arrived in Singapore I admit I was a bit scruffy, not imagining what was in store for me. A meal with a glass of wine at the Mandarin Hotel, then on Orchard Road, the rotating top/37rd floor restaurant was our favorite. She at first was hesitant to go up there, I pushed the elevator button and up we went.
Sorry for rambling but one thought led to another. Way off the thread.
I liked the pennies idea! Maybe I’ll send her a truckload, just for the fun of it.
’67 T-Bird with roof racks, well that might have been a bit odd, but dad never wanted to drive around in a truck. Mom always did make dad take off the ladders to to church on Sunday, how he hated to do that. Trucks were much different then, no thought of comfort let alone luxury.
BTW the T-Bird had a great sounding stereo radio, with 8-track. (back to thread)
Jade;
The finest thing a man can say about his lady is; “She makes me want to be a better man.” From your post you have proved that point.
I was in San Francisco on my 50th b-day, and my hair was 18-20 inchs long. I stopped at a barber shop and got a high and tight, like back in the Navy. When I got home to the P.I. my wife smiled at me and said; “We were going to talk about that, now we won’t have to.”
The rotating bar, Best Western “Compass Rose”? My wife loved the place.
Hi paul.
is that the latest from NASA? LOL!!
Dans;
I think NASA is closing this year, all the budget went to help Wass Street.
Could that have been Wall Street?
Hey paul,
I finally found a radio for my Studebaker…It even gets AM (thats all it gets) lol
Do they have satellite radio there? If I have satellite radio here, will it play there in the philippines or is it a dedicated satellite only over the US? Just curious, its ok if you don’t know.
Hudson;
Then I guess it’s OK! Truth is, I’ve never heard of it, but it could be here and no one wants us to know about it. May be someone else can answer that for Hudson? Advertising needs help here.
My 1st stereo was a 4 track then when they came out with a 8 track had to have one of those then along came the caset player and had to have one of those and then here came the cd player and after that said the hell with it all…..But the 8 track was the most fun..I found a reverb and thought that was the biggest thing going back then… now you need a big box in the back seat or trunk and a big amp and show everybody you need attention by the boom a boom a boom a kerclunk..But! I am sure if I was a kid now days have to have one of those also..so..looks like a nice out fit there a Paul..pretty simple..just remember where the stick of tunes is …and I am sure your wife will have her stick of tunes also handy just in case she has to pull rank on you and take command of that there new stereo…so she can listen to the music she likes..
Hi Dan,
My second car, a ’63 Studebaker Hawk had a 4 track tape player installed on the transmission hump when I bought it when I was 18. Thought it was kinda weird, but 6 or 8 cartridges were included like Bobby Darin’s album Rubber Ball, etc. I worked as a part time DJ at the local am top 40 radio station at that time. I soon discovered that the ‘carts’ that they used for the spot and commercial announcements were identical to the 4 track stereo carts that fit my player.
The station threw many old ones away. I recorded many new albums on their reel to reel Ampex recorders and re-spooled them on to the carts. That was a fun time. It was all mono then, but the 4 track player did a remarkable job.
Hi Paul…yes your right the old 4 track in its day was a fun little machine..that sure seems like a long time ago and I do remember the 63 Studebaker Hawk. ( now is that not strange..the 3 lower than the 6..same on your post to0000!)..I thought they were a neat car..had a friend that had a Stude bulletnose 6 banger and my self and another friend told him that it was not a race car at midnite when all the cops or cop were alseep…but he did not listen and the rods went out the side one evening…My 1st car was a $50.00 53 Ford with a Merc V-8 flat head for the power plant and 3 speed on the floor..( shifter converter ) and for a player was my 4 tract…and with my $$20.00 a week take home part time job after school and on Saturday life was fun back then….any way..things sure have changed.. those were fun days back when we were kids..8 track stereos..$0.35 cent hamburgers w/fries at the drive in with your 4 track on high…maybe we thought we were impressing the car hop? Doubt that how ever..any way…I am about a year older than you are..so I can relate well to some of the olden memories of yesterday that you mention from time to time..any way thanks for the nice post….I did not even know they made a car stereo that used a memorie stick…but do now…
Dan;
Three on the tree, to three on the floor, I hope it was a Hurst conversion. I drove some serious junk back in the 60’s but to us there was nothing cooler. Haw cool was it to sit at the DQ and throw shakes into the electric bug zapper, or fill the trunk of my 51 Merc. with friends and sneak into the Drive-In and see War of the Worlds, Ah Mr. Peabody and the Way-Back-Machine! It was a fun time, I’d do it again, and NOT know what I know now.
Ha Ha, the ’63 Hawk hauled more than a few trunk passengers into the drive-in theater in ’68, myself included! Then we discovered that we could drive into the exit road and all be in for free, but that only lasted for 3 weeks, after that they had some guy on a horse out patrolling. To save what, $4.00? That wasn’t the point, it paid for the beer!
P.S. I don’t remember a single one of the movies, funny?!!
Jade;
Who went to a Drive-in to see a movie???
One of the companies I owned was Enviro-Tech Electronics which owned a car audio store. For many years it was the largest single store outlet in the U.S. I cared nothing about fancy electronics. I wanted something simple and easy to operate. I usually did not ever exchange the factory car stereo in my car out for any of the equipment we sold. One year Alpine gave me $20,000 worth of car audio equipment (stereo, VCR, alarm, GPS, etc.) It sat in my office for one year. The next year when the Alpine men from Japan visited our location and they saw the equipment in my office they were some upset, needless to say the process began that day to install it in my vehicle. I then had to buy a portable tape player for my car so I could listen to my teaching tapes, etc. because I did not want to have to become an electronics expert to operate the new car stereo equipment.
Tom;
That is the very reason I’ve not learned anything else about my new system, except to turn on the USB and use the volume control, anything else just doesn’t matter. About your car, think of the resale value it has now.
Hello Tom
I worked for Enviro-Tech for about 8 years back in the 80s. What a great company.Also what a great man Mr Tom Martin. Would love to talk to you again sometime Tom.Hope life is treating you kind.
Jim Ferguson.
Hi Paul: One of the items my wife and I knew we had to bring moving to Butuan city was our Detrola turntable record player, and a collection of about forty 78’s. My wife told me it will probably be the only one in Butuan. From the the looks and comments of friends and family she appears to be right. Even tho some are a little scratchy, and in some quarters considered old fashioned the sounds and music is still unforgetable.
Roberto;
My father loved the 78’s and his big band music, I’m happy to hear you’ve keep up with them, as with all the other forms (45’s, 331/3 LP’s,4-trac,8-trac. Cassettes, CD’s mp3 CD’s and now USB, or what ever comes out next week.) they are part of our love of music. It’s just so hard to play those 78’s in a small car.
Paul,
Glad to see your wife kept her promise! Hope you have many hours of enjoyable riding! We will be having a party in Cauayan in December… Could I hire you as the DJ? I could offer free San Migs! 🙂 I am sure as long as it is music everyone would be happy, country or not!
Steve;
Keep this to yourself, but I’ve over 400 old Rock albums on my computer as well. (they stopped making good rock in the 80’s) , I just can’t let my Sh-tkickin’ buddies find out about them. I love rock, but when there’s a cold Magoo in my hand, I want country! To answer your question. “I do work for beer, just not very hard!”
HAHA Senior Chief,
you need to get caught up on the times and learn that new toy. I can not say much myself because the only thing i would care to learn to use is the USB connection and AUX-IN port. WHO USES CD’S anymore 😉 ? Count down is at 6yrs before that military pension starts
Chris;
Wow, CD’s are outdated and I just figured them out, would that mean my new USP will be passe next month?
Don’t rush those six years, you’ll want them back later (lol). Every Navy ship I was on has been de-comissioned, my keeping up with the times has passed, hard enough to keep up with my granddaughter! (But I try! lol)
Morning Senior,
Gotta a good chuckle out of your article today just what I needed.
Seams the world is moving faster than our minds. I remember Black and white tv till I was in High school, the old typewriters in typing class, and the ma bell rotary dial telephone. As far as music there was am radio, am/fm radio, 8 tracks, casette tapes, DVD’s of various kinds, and now thumb drives what next?
Hell I remember when you could work on a car and sup it up. Now you can’t touch the darn things. MY MY how the world has changed I feel I’m being left behind I’m still on DVD’s and push mowers and charcoal grills. 🙂
Seinor;
Just one more thing to add still just learning how to use a computer. learned how to cut and paste yesterday LOL
Bruce;
What drives me nuts is my 8 YO granddaughter, who has every electronic gadget known to man, she’s on Face-Book, she has a cell phone, and she plays her game-boy with games I can’t even pronounce.
Cut and paste? I’ve known how to do that less than a year, my daughter showed me how.
But I do remember how to load and fire a 5 inch 50 Gun, and also the twin 44 Cal. anti-aircraft guns. Let her try that!
Senior;
They may have all that gadget knowledge, but I bet we could out work any teenager any day of the week except on football sunday.