Sony CDX-CA650X

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $140.00 from Good Guys

Year / Model Reviewed:
1998 Toyota Avalon

Strengths:
Powerful and stylish. Colored red and orange display is cool at night.

Weaknesses:
Volume knob does not respond to quick adjustments. Colored display is poor in daylight. MBP (My Best Position- turns on left, right, or all speakers) feature is stupid and useless (balance adjustment does the same thing)

Summary:
Have had no problems in the 2 years since installed. Works well with my 400 watt subwoofer. EQ7 band is customizable... can adjust each of the bands on each of the preset EQ settings. CD-text is a rolling display of the CDA ID3 tags from my burned CD's. No CD skipping except on the worst roads. FM tunes in very well.

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Sounds On Wheels

Year / Model Reviewed:
 2001 CDX-CA650X

Strengths:
Great sound, easy to operate, detachable faceplate, cool graphics.

Weaknesses:
Mine just wasn't built with quality components.

Summary:
This unit has been great until three weeks ago. The laser (diode) went out and needs to be replaced. Replacement costs are as much as I paid for the unit initially. For only a year and a half in age I feel that Sony should back up this product and will be pursuing this avenue. Car Stereos for this dollar amount should last a hell of a lot longer than just 1.5 years!

Similar Products Used:
Pioner, JVC, Factory direct units.

Price Paid:  $180.00 from Circuit City

Year / Model Reviewed:
 2001

Strengths:
Great display Crisp sound 2 sets of pre-outs User-friendly controls

Weaknesses:
Limited remote control range No direct play Distortion at high volumes Hard to see display in sunlight

Summary:
Good receiver for the money. When wired to my Kenwood and Pioneer speakers, it really puts out excellent sound, although a bit distorted at very high volumes. The faceplate bends when buttons in the middle are pushed. The CD text capability is nice when you mix your own CDs. Sadly, my unit was just stolen. I don't think it would have happened if I had removed the faceplate. ALWAYS remove the faceplate!! This deck is very attractive for thieves.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Strengths:
good design, lights up bright, red insides, detachable, remote (tape down the lil stick thing to have it play w/o the face)

Weaknesses:
it stopped eating my cds.. i need to push cd in hard for it to accept.. not sure why

Summary:
Very nice head unit. Mine broke so I ndded to replace and this was inexpensive. I've heard bad things about sony but it has been good to me so far. It is very easy to use (functinoal b/c a lot of buttons are reused) I've used eclipse faces and the volume control is next to the skip track, its very hard not to increase the volume or skip a track when you intend to do the opposite, but I have no problem w/ this face.. very well designed.

Similar Products Used:
eclipse, sony, alpine (alpine is good)

Price Paid:  $199.00 from Best Buy

Year / Model Reviewed:
 2001

Strengths:
Has many features

Weaknesses:
The one big problem i am facing right now is the fact that it skips a lot. I just got my subs installed and every time i try to crank it up it skips!! So i only recommend this cd reciever if you are not planning to buy subs.

Summary:
Overall a very good cd reicever. Has a lot of good and useful features.