I’d like to replace the factory stereo in the Jeep with a slightly nicer model. The current one has rather poor reception and the only way to get anything into it is using an FM transceiver. Unfortunately, “rather poor reception” includes the frequencies my transceiver can output.

The Jeep is not a fancy car, and it does not need a fancy stereo. In fact, since it doesn’t lock, I’d like the stereo to look like a piece of garbage that wouldn’t get you $1 at a pawn shop. Bonus points if that’s true. So far, though, I can’t find any stereo in this category with my must-have features:

  • Digital AM/FM tuner with at least a few presets
  • Auxiliary input

Other features (like a cassette) aren’t dealbreakers, but without those two things, it’s simply not worth replacing the current stereo.

There are some painfully close models out there. This one is almost perfect. The only wart: no presets. For some reason, they chose to waste space with a crappy EQ instead of including the only bit that prevents this from being a nice low-cost radio for my Jeep. Namsung Dual makes a similar unit with similar deficiencies. Why do people want an EQ on a system this low-end? Is this some kind of low-budget ricer thing? Or am I missing something?