[edit for accuracy]I'm thinking of getting a better head unit for my kid's '94 Legacy and I'm looking at newer Sooby ones like the 6 CD changer. It seems like stock radios always lasted longer and were more robust than aftermarket stuff. It's also a lot less prone to thievery than something like an Alpine unit and this car will be in Chicago/Rockford for the next two years.

It has nothing in it right now and I know some older players (my '95 Grand Cherokee for instance) won't recognize a burned CD.

 

I want him to be able to play CD's he burned on his computer...regular 74 or 80min CD's not MP3 CD's.

 

What year is your stock CD player and does it handle discs you've burned yourself? Anybody got a 1999 or 2000 with a stock player?

I'm thinking of getting a better head unit for my kid's '94 Legacy and I'm looking at newer Sooby ones like the 6 CD changer. It seems like stock radios always lasted longer and were more robust than aftermarket stuff. It's also a lot less prone to thievery than something like an Alpine unit and this car will be in Chicago/Rockford for the next two years.

 

What year is your stock CD player and does it handle discs you've burned yourself?

 

2002 Legacy GT Stock player. Yes, the homemade cd's work.

if you can, don't put the adhesive lables on the back of the home-burned CD's. The rollers that suck the CD in to the drive can lift the edge of the sticker, and the heat inside the drive helps soften up the adhesive. When the lable comes loose and jams the drive, you have to dissasemble the whole drive to get it out. The 6 CD headunits that we deal with at the Honda dealership are not warranteed if they were jammed by a sticky lable. So we take them apart, clean the shreds of lable out, and then warantee them with a warning to the owner not to put the CD's with adhesive lables in.

I have an 05 WRX cd changer and since I lost my cd case I've almost exclusively played burned cds.

I think with the 94 it can play burned discs as well. Just needs to be a CD-R disc and you need to us windows media player, and tell it to make a audio disc, which can only hold like 30 songs usually. NOT a MP3 disc.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I'm aware of the sticky label trap...they jam things and also throw the CD out of balance (its spinning pretty fast in there and I've had trouble with them in my home player). So I've just used a sharpie for years.

I've should have mentioned that I'm interested in playing regular 80min standard CD's and not mp3 CD's. They are great but I usually just burn an album onto a CD and leave it at that. [i'll edit the first post to reflect that]

I'm looking at used players so I'm trying to figure out if I can go back to 2000 or so and still play my homebrews.

Thanks!

Our '02 Legacy GT factory player played burned discs w/o issue. I THINK our '99 Outback did, too, but I just can't recall for absolute positive. I can tell you that on some old home players, I've encountered circumstances where one would play discs I made on one of our Macs with certain brands of CD-R, but they wouldn't play stuff my brother made (Windows and cheap brand discs). I doubt that's a Windows issue; I suspect it's a disc brand issue, but I'm not positive. My '91 XT-6 only had a tape deck, so I can't help you there.

You can pick up a WRX 6-disc changer on the cheap ($40-80). The only problem is that the harnesses are different so you will have to buy a reverse harness for you car, a harness for the changer, and wire them together. If you get the one David Carter sells (svxdc), it has the extra illumination wire that is needed for the dimmer. Most aftermarket radios and harnesses do not have this and will be full bright all the time.

 

This should help:

 

http://jamalb.net/carsite/cdchanger.htm

Hey Jamal, thanks for your great write up with lots of pictures on changing a Gen 1 Legacy to the more modern harness. This car had the stereo stolen when we got it and the wires were hacked off inside the console. I actually used your great instructions and the links to the pinouts a week ago. I got a used radio harness from a 2000 WRX in a local boneyard and wired it in and didn't need the reverse harness since I was starting almost from scratch. I soldered and heat shrank the connections and should be good to go. They didn't have the changer but gave me the factory subwoofer under the seat because the wiring harness went to it!

oh cool glad I could help.

You can pick up a WRX 6-disc changer on the cheap ($40-80). The only problem is that the harnesses are different so you will have to buy a reverse harness for you car, a harness for the changer, and wire them together. If you get the one David Carter sells (svxdc), it has the extra illumination wire that is needed for the dimmer. Most aftermarket radios and harnesses do not have this and will be full bright all the time.

 

This should help:

 

http://jamalb.net/carsite/cdchanger.htm

 

How did you like that stereo? did it sound any better? Nice write up by the way, that radio looks pretty sleek!

I have no complaints, and it's great to just be able to load it up and not mess with CDs for a week or when I'm on a trip. I need some new front speakers but it sounds fine out of the rear, and I still need to redo the ground. I would also rather have a black changer with a tape deck out of an 02-03 because it would match the interior a little better. I've been thinking about trying to trade someone, but I have an ipod, and my FM transmitter doesn't work well in the city so I'll probably get one of those fancy alpine decks one of these days.

I have no complaints, and it's great to just be able to load it up and not mess with CDs for a week or when I'm on a trip. I need some new front speakers but it sounds fine out of the rear, and I still need to redo the ground. I would also rather have a black changer with a tape deck out of an 02-03 because it would match the interior a little better. I've been thinking about trying to trade someone, but I have an ipod, and my FM transmitter doesn't work well in the city so I'll probably get one of those fancy alpine decks one of these days.

Ya, hmm, maybe you could get a DIN adapter with RCA jacks, or a 3.5mm jack . I saw these radio's on ebay that are 1.5DIN which is a perfect fit, and they look very OEM, but have a updated system, had CD(mp3,wma,etc) and TAPE player, and it also had the aux on the front, or it was on a seperate plug on the back. But came with all the wiring etc. It wasn't that expensive either. If i come across it ill post it.

 

EDIT: http://cgi.ebay.ca/AUDIOVOX-1-5-DIN-CAR-CD-RADIO-TAPE-PLAYER-40x4-STEREO_W0QQitemZ270135914070QQihZ017QQcategoryZ38640QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

uh, yeah, no thanks. I'm not really a fan of the random no-name e-bay products.

 

I mentioned the alpine decks because they will control the ipod.

i got a pioneer deck that controls my ipod. YOu really do need to read or find the manuals and check to see if they like CD-r, CD+r, CD-RW, CD+RW. The older (actually most OE) decks wont play MP3's.

 

 

nipper

uh, yeah, no thanks. I'm not really a fan of the random no-name e-bay products.

 

I mentioned the alpine decks because they will control the ipod.

 

thats a good point lol. Not much selection though in 1.5DIN.

The stock factory player in a 2000 Outback will play burned CDs (74 or 80 min) just fine. No MP3s though but you knew that already.

Jamal, thanks for the excellent link of links!!

 

BTW - where did you get that way kewl

con rod on your keychain?

thats a good point lol. Not much selection though in 1.5DIN.

 

Well, any size will fit in there. I'd just need to find another dash pocket or something to fill the space. My itrip wedges into that 0.5 din space below the deck very nicely and I've been meaning to make a little surround out of some scrap black delrin at work.

 

Skip, I got the keychain on another forum a few years ago when I guy was selling them to sponsor his targa newfoundland rally car. It's also a bottle opener.

Thanks Jamal, I have a miniture NGK sparking plug on mine

but your's has a function.

Thanks for the WRX stereo swap idea. I was actually looking for suggestions on rear speakers for Red, the $300 Alpine Wagon, but now I'll have to do the stereo swap too! My stock 94 player works OK, but is prone to skipping and doesn't handle scratches well. I'm off to eBay.

 

PS. The 94 stock stereo does play burned CD-R's, as long as they'rer burned in .wav format. I was going to Shaver Lake in the Sierra Nevada's yesterday and decided to try and play a CD-R. I was surprized and please that it played as I wasn't expecting it to.

2002 Legacy GT Stock player. Yes, the homemade cd's work.

 

I have a '91 Lego with a OEM CD player (Clairon) plugged into the back of the OEM 80W stereo and it plays homemade CD's.

yes, but not all brands of cds...

 

I have an '00 forester and it doesn't like the officemax CDs from work, but it likes the cheap Fry's brand ones... actually I'm not sure if it's the CD or the burner... but what would happen is after a few songs you would start to hear static and if you skipped back and then forward it would go away for a while and then come back...

 

I copied the CD at home onto another brand of CD and it works just fine...

 

I also have a stock clarion deck in the '98 impreza and never had any problems with all the burned cds we played in that...

 

so most likely the older ones will work fine for you, but you may have to try a different brand of media if you have any issues... and always make sure you close the session on the CD when you burn it...

 

 

--Spiffy

yes, but not all brands of cds...

 

I have an '00 forester and it doesn't like the officemax CDs from work, but it likes the cheap Fry's brand ones... actually I'm not sure if it's the CD or the burner... but what would happen is after a few songs you would start to hear static and if you skipped back and then forward it would go away for a while and then come back...

 

I copied the CD at home onto another brand of CD and it works just fine...

 

I also have a stock clarion deck in the '98 impreza and never had any problems with all the burned cds we played in that...

 

so most likely the older ones will work fine for you, but you may have to try a different brand of media if you have any issues... and always make sure you close the session on the CD when you burn it...

 

 

--Spiffy

 

They can be touchy that way. I found that a name brand burner and at the very least staples or better discs work best.

 

nipper

Got the stereo 2004 WRX stereo install, and in worked with the exception of two problems. The dimmer didn't work at all. If fact, when I turned the lights on the stereo lighting shut off. I tested the leads leading to the stereo, and it turns out either the wiring diagram for the reverse harness or the Legacy harness had the illumination + and - backwards. I reversed the wiring and that problem is solved. The other problem is that the front and rear fade is reversed. If I turn down the rear speakers on the stereo, the front get turned down instead. This is also an easy fix and will do it this weekend. When I do I will also check and make sure the + and - are correct going to the speakers, just in case.