megane radio

[onlyme]

megane radio,

right so, i have the standard megane radio that comes in with the 1.6 VVT (this may be the same as many other models)
witch is great, it works, the remote control for steering column is handy and it suits the car,
however! the power output is pants and when it comes to volume i find things get messy and sound shabby.
sooooooo i want something with a good output
i dont peticulaly want to spend 1000s on a double din that will just get thieved by scrotes, nor do i want to buy a cheep looking head unit that wont suit the car, what i like is the fact the radio looks to be part of the dash like all standard radios it is designed to sit flush with the dash and looks good were as after market units stick out like allan sugar in netto. what i really want to know is, is there an alternative i can buy that will look as normal as the one i have but be better quality? do renault offer an upgraded radio? is there a better one in the sports models that i could look out for? or does anyone know of any other car that houses a simila design with better output that i could try fit?

thank you very much for all your help

Simon

[Toodeep]

Renault sell a Sony unit that presumably retains the car's display and remote control. I haven't seen it so can only assume it does not look out of place. The first thing I would do, however, is upgrade the speakers to the Pioneers that are mentioned all over the place. In my experience changing speakers alone can have a marked effect on sound quality and since you would have to do it anyway whan you upgrade the head unit, you might find you are happy to keep it.

I don't know the relative power outputs of the Tuner List or Update List or which of these you have. In my goddaughters '53 1.6 Privilege, she has the Carminat SatNav unit (which plays CDs or the Map Disk but not both) and CD changer. The Carminat is not much cop as a SatNav compared to what's available now (just voice and arrows, no maps and really slow to program) but the power seems fine so I assume it's either more powerful than the regular units (which I haven't heard) or I'm just getting old. I'm sure they fitted these to other models (Laguna, Espace, Vel Satis) so you might pick one up second hand from someone who was fed up arriving before their SatNav finished calculating their route. At least it will look right.

If you decide to go for the Sony, get the model and try to find it elsewhere. Renault's price is bound to be a rip-off.