So I wanted to get an Alpine IDA-X001 headunit to hook my iPod up to. Best Buy's website says that the unit is incompatible with the 350z, but crutchfield.com says it IS compatible (although I would be losing the voice capability in my nav system).

So I call the Best Buy audio department to see if it is compatible or not, and he said that it is not compatible, and there are no headunits out there that are compatible with the 350z (that have ipod capability) without sacrificing the entire nav system. He said the entire navigation system works only with the stock deck, and if I switch it out, it won't work at all.

Sounds to me like this guy is full of crap. But I wanted to hear your guys' opinions. Should I still get this deck or will it really screw up my entire nav system?

 

what is right with best buy

 

I think he is actually correct, you can leave a small dedicated speaker connected to the nav if i remember correctly and then somehow hook something up to the mute line but i'm not sure how to do it all...hopefully one of the audio experts will swing by.

But they probably won't b/c this thread is more of a rant about best buy than it is you asking for help...and if you were actually trying to ask for help you should have thought about that when you were making the title.

 

fixed

 

^^^ I couldn't see what was different, maybe i just ate to much for lunch and I'm sleepy.

 

yes, you can hook up any headunit in the world to any Z wtih a stock nav system, and still retain nav voice, yes you need an external sepaker, no its not outrageously hard, yes it is somewhat time consuming, yes i have done quite a few Zs and Gs with the same set up...

and yes i am in san jose lol

 

Best Buy or Bing... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm hard decision

 

when i talked to best buy about my head unit they told me that there was no such thing as a 350z w/o a Bose system. no matter what I told them, they didn't believe me, they wanted me to drive 30 minutes (closest best buy to me) and show them. they don't know what they're talking about

 

Hum,,,," saying, no such thing as a 350Z w/o a bose?" Sounds like someone at Best Buy needs to update their " look at me, I'm stupid " vocabulary...

 

Seems to me a lot of these electronic stores (Best BUy & Circuit City specifically) are hiring people that don't know the slightest bit of what they're doing. I would trust Crutchfield over some punk who hates his Job.

 

its Best Buy for christs sake, I think its safe to assume the kids working in the back don't know what they are taking about. Stick with a sponsor or Crutchfield.

 

LOL so im not the only one. I went into best buy to look at pioneer head units and i was asking them if they had the I pod adapter for the premeir units and they kept trying to tell me to use a line in plug.... i could not convince them that there was something different.

 

This sound exactly like what I had to go through to keep my nav back when I had my MINI.. (minus the BB part).. The external speaker bit works, but finding a place for it where you can HEAR it with the car running.. that's another story, least it was in the MINI..

 

on the Zs, the nav voice, as long as its pre-06, gets pretty loud with an external sepaker strappedunder the dash, easily audible unless you are cranking the sound. but if you are really looking volume, you can also go and get a super cheap tiny little amp, like a radio shack special, wire that up so it t urns on with the car, and have it amplify the external speaker...

b

 

When you call you talk to a sales counseler, not an installer. The salesguys work out of a book, they don't actually touch cars.

The big box stores are big enough that they can completely divide the sales and install side of things. This, however, leads to salesguys who rely too much on what the 'book' says. If they go against the book and promise a customer something that can't be done they catch all kinds of hell from the installers, manager, and usually the customer.

 

I talked to a sales counselor, who transferred me to an installer. I worked at Circuit City for 3 years when I was younger, and back in the day, people know what they were selling. Now it seems like they are more clueless than the customer.

 

best buy's audio people arent all that...at all...

 

Its Not The People Its The Company Not Training Their Staff!

 

i was talking to a few installers from CC and BB, they were pissed at the way things are manged and how the good installers were underpaid so they left. Now, it's a bumnch of high school kids getting certified within the retail store and not through an educational institude(the way they used to do it).

Ohhh and about the Crutchfield comment, The Book they get there info is up to date and is a reliable source. CC & BB rely on the salesperson guess or assumption. I had my unit installed at CC (free installation) & the guy in the back (installation Bay) told me he wasn't going to do it because it was free and he gets nothing from it, he told me if I give him 40 bucks he'll do it. Well, one quick stop to his manager and not only did he do the work, but he installed extra things due to this.

 

Best Buy is the last place you should go to install or ask questions about audio equipment. Avoid them.