Clarion PU9836A HK Stereo Refurb...

Just had a call from the repair people at Clarion telling me my stereo has been repaired and is being sent back to me. I sent my unit off for their fixed price repair and replace service.

They've serviced the tape mechanism, replaced all the bulbs with LEDs, replaced the LCD screen, replaced the volume knob pot, switched off the security code chip (now irreplaceable and they do sometimes fail apparently), added an aux in lead and performed a "sink test" (whatever that is) all for £99.

Not a bad service I don't think. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone thinking of throwing their old head unit away and getting an aftermarket one.

Talking to the engineer, they still have loads of brand new units ready to supply to Land Rover, although LR will charge you £1200 for a brand new one!

Why bother? Just fit a modern head unit if yours is a later model.

Cheapo £99ish (can't remember now) unit from Halfords and I now have Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free calls, music library playback and DAB. Why persevere refurbishing an antique?

Because the HK speaker system needs to have line level inputs to work with the separate door amps and bass-woofer properly, a cheapo head unit from Halfords would have a built in amp so there would be impedance mismatches with the outputs, unless I built a custom circuit to cure that the sound would suffer, and I'd have to butcher my loom to plug it in properly.

For the same price I couldn't get anywhere near as good a head unit as the Clarion one, and certainly not one that would work with whats already there.

I like to be able to use the steering wheel controls, and the 6 CD changer and the radio is enough for me. I've got an aux input if I need to plug an iPod in.

The hands free telephone would be good, but I have a hands free headset thing for long journeys that I can use. I hardly ever do though because I don't get that many phone calls when I'm in the car, not enough to bother me anyway.

I also like to have things as original as possible... I'm a bit OCD like that!

MrGorsky said:

Because the HK speaker system needs to have line level inputs to work with the separate door amps and bass-woofer properly

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That's why I qualified my post with "later". my 99 car has a HK sound system, but was compatible with a modern standard stereo with no mods. Yes I lost the steering wheel controls (no loss.) but it works fine.

StuckAgainSteve said:

Why bother? Just fit a modern head unit if yours is a later model.

Cheapo £99ish (can't remember now) unit from Halfords and I now have Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free calls, music library playback and DAB. Why persevere refurbishing an antique?

Click to expand...

Hi, StuckAgainSteve, I have a 2000 MY, would I be able to fit an aftermarket stereo into mine without any mods, it has the HK system with amp and sub in boot. Thanks
Paul.

sounds good at £99. you get a guarantee also?

donp38 said:

sounds good at £99. you get a guarantee also?

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6 months. So not bad I thought!




PPP38vogue,

The problem with fitting "any" aftermarket stereo is that our standard systems have separate amps to power the speakers. The head units just supply line level signals to the amps (situated in the boot on your car, and in each door on my car).

You need to get a head unit that will supply line level audio, or make a loom up that will attenuate the amplified output from a standard head unit for use with our systems. The advantage of the latter system (Alpine head unit) is the the connector blocks are standard, whereas the earlier connectors are unique.

Clarky130 (on here) cracked it a while ago, and will send you instructions on how to make the loom up (I think he'll even make it for a small fee), and fit an aftermarket head if you want. There are ways to keep the steering wheel controls too.

Have a read here

It's got all the details I think!

I've had mine done same as you. Very quick turn around and can't fault the job they did. Sound is as good as the head unit in my 2012 car. Don't see the point in messing about with it.

PPP38vouge said:

Hi, StuckAgainSteve, I have a 2000 MY, would I be able to fit an aftermarket stereo into mine without any mods, it has the HK system with amp and sub in boot. Thanks
Paul.

Click to expand...

The info is in the original thread I just searched for: http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/p38-head-unit-thoughts-226084.html

I spent £129 according to my own post!

I had mine refurbished by the same people, very professional.As good as when it was first fitted (I m.h.o. )

Clarion did my PU9590C from a 1993 LSE head unit too. Very pleased with the result. They did say some of the parts can't be found new anymore though.