My wife has a 2010 Subaru Forester and she wants a new stereo. School me on what these new things are and recommendations on what to get. Would like to keep it under 500 dollars.

www.crutchfield.com

Type your vehicle in and it will give you your options.
Find the Kenwood, Alpine, or Pioneer that fits your needs and budget.

If you install it yourself, it'll save you a lot.

Also, if your budget is limited to $500, your best value will likely be to limit the upgrade to speakers and sound deadening material.

Install myself? There is no way I'm opening up that barrel of snakes. We'll be using the same speakers. Interested in just the receiver, radio, head unit, whatever its called. I'm afraid when she finds out she can get a back up camera with some of these things that's what she will want.

Years ago I bought a truck dash unit from ebay - it fit right in the spot. The bad news was, its electronic anti-theft feature was "locked" and it cost me $150 to get the Chevy dealer to "unlock" it before we could listen to it.

Maybe check into the Subaru forums and see what the Subaru fans say - they may have some good ideas on where to get a good but economical unit.

Crutchfield. A 2010 Forester should have option of single or double DIN receiver. You decide if you want CD, digital media only, etc.

Other rec: get all available harnesses Crutchfield has offer. Makes install pretty much plug and play to existing speakers, etc.

A good opportunity to add android & iPhone compatibility

I've had better luck with Kenwood head units than Pioneer.
Pioneer has a bit of screen lag that gets irritating.

If the 2010 Subaru Forester has radio steering wheel controls, that $500 limit is going to be tough..
You may need a iDatalink Maestro or other brand of adapter to make them work with the new head unit.
Adding a backup camera will also be an added expense, more for the labor than the camera.

I agree with the others, call Crutchfield and they can walk you thru everything you'll need.
Have them email you an invoice, you don't have to buy when you call.
Only issue you may have is finding an installer that will install something that wasn't bought from them.

If anything call Crutchfield and see what they recommend.
That will give you something to go on if you go to a local shop and see what they have to offer.
Unfortunately around here, local shops are full of bull shitter salesman and basic install installers.

All, OP isn't installing the HU himself. Unless he finds a vey amicable installer, OP will be purchasing whatever the dealer has.

Also, the labor of the install will be around the $100 mark. Add in the additional cost of harnesses, brackets, adapters, gender benders (if needed) and, other piece parts, OP might be looking at a $250 HU after the installer marks up said additional items.

Point him to HU capabilities (connectivity to a phone, ability to upgrade to rear camera, etc). Not where to order from.

Another vote for Crutchfield. They usually send you detailed install instructions too. I just bought my daughter a 2020 Subaru Impreza base sedan. I’m happy with the head unit (apple car play and android auto included) but not the sound. I was looking into adding an amp and Crutchfield recommended changing the speakers first to see if it improved so I wouldn’t have to spend as much money. Four new speakers fixed my issue with it. If they’re willing to offer suggestions that don’t make them money, that’s a company I will continue to use.

If you don’t want to install just drive to your local ghetto radio shop and offer to pay in cash and see what deals you can get.

You need to talk to our member honestlou. He's been in that business many years.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
www.crutchfield.com

Type your vehicle in and it will give you your options.
Find the Kenwood, Alpine, or Pioneer that fits your needs and budget.

+1 on Crutchfield. They don't always have the best prices but their customer service rocks.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
All, OP isn't installing the HU himself. Unless he finds a vey amicable installer, OP will be purchasing whatever the dealer has.

Also, the labor of the install will be around the $100 mark. Add in the additional cost of harnesses, brackets, adapters, gender benders (if needed) and, other piece parts, OP might be looking at a $250 HU after the installer marks up said additional items.

Point him to HU capabilities (connectivity to a phone, ability to upgrade to rear camera, etc). Not where to order from.

He still wants to go to a Crutchfield to do his research.

Subaru makes an alternate part # for the dash plastic around the receiver that fits most aftermarket double Din receivers. The bigger issue is losing steering wheel controls. There are one or two rather complicated devices that will allow you to keep them but it would probably take a specialty shop for that.

I like Kenwood, Sony and Alpine. Personally I would look for one that integrates with her current telephone. A recent version of Apple CarPlay device would get GPS capability for example using the phone rather than paying a high price to build it in the unit itself.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
We'll be using the same speakers.

Have you checked the speakers?

When my previous vehicle was about 12 years old, the plastic buttons on the head unit began to disintegrate so I decided to replace it. It also sounded like shit so I popped off the speaker covers and found the speaker on the bottom.

Factory speakers tend to have paper cones instead of something more rigid like the propylene shown in the top speaker (i.e the replacement). The pictured Polk speakers were inexpensive (front door were $40 per pair and rear door were $75 per pair), but sounded fantastic.

Following, as this is on my radar.

Downgraded recently (but have no car note now) from my Mercedes to a 2012 Malibu & definitely miss some of the features on the stereo.

Audio over bluetooth, backup cam, GPS, AndroidAuto.

It's been years since I've looked into aftermarket stereos, and that was on a '97 Civic, which necessitated burying the OE stereo in the dash, as it contained the anti-theft immobilizer, IIRC.

My first Mercedes & subsequent Saturn had a single DIN AIWA HU, the above Civic got a Pioneer single DIN.

For the Malibu, it'll be a double DIN, but will have to do some research on who to go with. It's also got the Bose stereo, so I think there's some difference there, and apparently the blinkers 'tick' runs through the stereo, so that's another module to add & another for the steering wheel controls.

I don't mind the sound out of my OEM system - AM / FM - but I could sure use access to maybe a usb flash drive full of mp3s, or a way to plug in an ipod full of napster and self-burned cd songs. Going to give this fm transmitter a shot.

Since you don't install or have a lot of experience in this area you might want to go to a car stereo store.
Crutchfield is great and generally helpful but no bargain on price but yet very fair, IMO.
Get some education on what is available, give him your budget and see what they can do.
They could install it for you right then and there.
I will say that the $500 budget can easily be exceeded.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
We'll be using the same speakers.

Have you checked the speakers?

When my previous vehicle was about 12 years old, the plastic buttons on the head unit began to disintegrate so I decided to replace it. It also sounded like shit so I popped off the speaker covers and found the speaker on the bottom.

Factory speakers tend to have paper cones instead of something more rigid like the propylene shown in the top speaker (i.e the replacement). The pictured Polk speakers were inexpensive (front door were $40 per pair and rear door were $75 per pair), but sounded fantastic.

I did almost that exact upgrade on my 2010 Forrester. You have to be careful with depth on them as some can hit the windows. I believe the Polk adapters had many holes and I found some that fit well enough. I did not replace the head unit, but I have considered it a number of times.