I am looking for a simple blue tooth radio with amp. Also would like to twist the speaker wires to mono. The size of the bus combined with my hearing favor mono at all speaker locations .
The current pioneer is a fancy pos that you can't turn off and flashes a bunch . Hate it .
Thanks
I put a power switch on my Pioneer so I turn it off when I don't need it. It also has the hands free phone feature. I put Velcro on the steering column for the microphone.
Some of the Alpine units offer a display blackout feature that turns the display off if you haven't pushed a button in a while. The Mono output might be tougher to find, but you could always use an external amplifier and just connect the low level outputs together.
Mike I'm soon to be replacing my head unit as well. The old one is a non-standard size so it's going to mean fabbing a bracket and probably opening the aperture up a bit. What did you do in this regard?
After 2 head units that stopped working (no sound) we've a hole in the dash.
Trying to decide if it's worth it try another unit or just fill the opening.
We do like the radio upon occasion.
Searched on eBay. Found Bluetooth amps listed . I stream radio from the mobly . I guess that's enough.
Ordered amp and 6 speakers. We'll see. Audio is so hit or miss nowadays.
I got this BOSS with Apple Play you can plug your phone into and get nav and a bunch of other great features. It went into the original spot (I think) where my radio was in my 1996 U295 and the monitor protrudes out and has a great screen. It's been great.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TN8CS8C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
That's a great idea, then you don't even need the radio in the dash and you can control everything from your phone wherever you are.
You should see if the amp is bridgeable. That combines left and right into one channel and increases the power output. That would give you the mono output you are looking for.
Let us know how that unit works out.
No amp, but this is the one I put in my rig....
Amazon.com: VDO Continental TR7412UB-OR European Style 12v Radio Orange... (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08D2R48HZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
The Sony that came with my GV was hard to read, and always doing some kind of flashy display thing... I just wanted radio and bluetooth to stream music. I think it does handsfree calling but I've never messed with that.
Update. Installed a cheap chinesium Bluetooth radio , rated at 200 watts. Must be smaller watts.
But sounds fine at reasonable levels .
It turns off and on easy without any flashy crap.
Other points . The little overhead speakers that were linked to the long gone tv. Can be series wired to the 5.5 in speakers next to them.
Prior owner crossed the speakers and thus lead to my confusion over channels side to side and rear/ front.
Replaced all but one of the Sony speakers with "Boss". eBay ones. They sound very nice and clear.
This amp is pretty clean for my loud Vivaldi or Mozart concertos.
Gets a little fuzzy with the garage bands like the Cramps "
I'll keep my eye out for a simple but powerful radio / amp.
I just installed the boss one linked above. It has Apple CarPlay, so it will show my Google Maps on it natively and comes with a microphone for taking calls hands free. Took a bit of effort to build a spacer to handle the single din head unit and I had to get creative with some of the wiring but all in all a pretty easy project. you can see I installed a toggle switch on the dash to kill power to it when we are parked at night.