I am exploring changing the radio head unit that came in my Crossfire. I'm sure many of you already know it's OEM branded as being made by Infinity - who many years ago (25 or 30) was primarily known as a loudspeaker manufacturer.

Nowadays, Infinity is owned by Harman International. In addition to Infinity, Harman owns a number of names - JBL, Becker, Mark Levinson, Crown, DBX, Studer - really some great names from the old days. They own a bunch of others too. These are names that are increasingly popping up in other auto brands - but obviously are quite similar to each other.

A few features I am looking into - access to IPods and other MP3 players, Satellite Radio and HD Radio, and a NAV unit with a good color screen. I'm making the assumption that the Harman electronics all have similar interfaces, etc., and that Harman gear might be a good place to start looking if one wanted a replacement for existing Harman (Infinity) gear.

I found this article - and it looks like Harman is going to be offering exactly the features mentioned above. From the Edmunds car site on 5/29/2007 and referring to BMW and the features listed above. BMW uses Becker and Becker is from - Harman. Just follow the dots...

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=115510