Update: Some of you may have read some other posts where I commented about trying to get the Aux-in port to work on the Chrysler head unit. I was not successful, so....

I purchased a Becker Monza head unit. For those that do not know, this is the company that makes the head unit for our Crossfire's and Mercedes-Benz and Porsche and many other European cars. They (Becker) do not make any silver radio's all the Becker radio's are black with various colored displays. I found a 7882 (white display) on eBay in Germany. I had it shipped from Germany and installed it today. Here's the results:

1. Plugs right in but you do need two antenna adapters: Metra 40-EU10 and a Metra 40-VW20. This converts our antenna to motorola and then back to the VW/European plug.
2. To add aux-in you need a Blaupunkt Aux-in adapter from Crutchfield or any other Audio vendor. Trust me, it plugs right into the CD changer connector and works great.
3.... there is no 3!!!!

It works GREAT, in fact BETTER than the original Chrysler head unit. But there it was in my nice silver dash all shiny and black. So... phase two

I had already completely disassembled the Chrysler radio, face plate and all so it was not much trouble to swap out the black face plate for the silver face plate and buttons. The end result is a completely stock looking head unit that plays MP3's and has an Aux-in port for my iPod. To swap the face plate is no small task as it involves completely disassembling the circuit board, clips, metal tangs and breaking off two small plastic rivets.

The only difference in the Becker, besides the white display is the CD eject button is the power function and the MAN button is the CD eject function. It doesn't bother me and I guess it will keep people from messing with it.

It even operates exactly the same as the OEM radio and I can turn it back on without the key.

Edit: I might even put a silver skin on my iPod...

 

Thats awesome, congrats.

Still cant beleive the AUX-In doesnt work..Makes no sense to me.

two other models to consider...
The Becker Monza 7889 model plays MP3 cd's and is the stock green color.
also the porsche unit cdr-23 (becker unit also, looks exactly the same but I cant find the schematics of what the rear looks like and if it is compatible (same inputs) I know the Aux out works from looking at the porsche forum.

 

Yeah I'd have preferred the 7889 but there weren't any on eBay, well none that would ship to the USA.

I have not seen a picture of the cdr-23, is it the Monza just re-branded for Porsche? If it is the same design as the Monza then the rear is most certainly the same.

Thanks

 

yeah, certainly looks the same as the monza so I would guess it is ( inoticed the buttons are round the right way also, I guess thats due to it being a US model where the driver still sits on the left, i suspect thats why yours are diff being a righty Euro version). they are fetching around $100 on ebay so thats not a bad deal.

Again, great job!! looks really awesome and STOCK.

 

Update: My Becker Monza experience

All of the Becker head units are expensive. The Monza line goes for around $580.00 - $600.00 USD (depending on currency conversion), so you could buy almost three of the Sony CDX-F7700's!

Well I can tell you from my experience it is worth every penny. It is by far the best head unit I have ever had and used(1). It is very easy to adjust and use, the Aux-in works great with my iPod and would work fine with any external source. You could add a CD changer (not what I'd do, but you could). Audio CD's sound great, obviously; the MP3 function is very easy to use and control, one slight irritation is that you can display MP3 artist / song info on the screen but that's all so I guess from one respect that's kind of cool but I like see the other information too. It is nice to push the button, see the MP3 info and then push the button to display the usual info.

The FM (RDS stuff) works very cool even here in the US, several stations display artist and song info. It has manual programming or the auto search format that goes by the strength of the stations, the name or type. I first thought was clunkly but after I RTFM it is very cool. I know, newer head units like the Sony have a feature that will "load" strong stations into the presets but the Becker does this on the fly.

Sound quality exceeds the stock head unit and as I mentioned it is better than the Sony I had for a few weeks. The Sony was actually louder but it was not as clean. The Becker is loud enough to hurt my ears but it still sounds really clear, crisp and sharp. This is with stock amp and speakers.

(1) Head units I've used and owned:
Sony
Blaupunkt
JVC
Jensen (don't laugh, it worked very well)
Alpine
Panasonic

 

that is absolutley awesome!

if you had a business where we sent in our units and you could turn them around i would definately be in line for one.

great job again!

 

Dude... funny you should say that... I am indeed trying to purchase more Monza head units just for that reason.... Thanks

I'm trying to purchase a 7889 to make sure the Becker green isn't too green and will match our dash. I'll keep everyone informed.

 

Okay... here's the prices estimate....
Click right Here!

 

Just use an iPod and the neo ion www.mp3yourcar.com that what I did.

 

Are you sure this works with the xfire? I believe someone on here ordered it and it did not work due to the cd changer and aux inputs being disabled on our cars.

 

That would be friggin' sweet... please post more info... please!!!

 

Judging from the lack of any response... hmmm where'd I'd put that bullsh*t flag???

 

This was for the other MP3 topic...

 

CyberGreg,
I know this thread is a little stale but I thought you might want to know that I applied your recommendation on the Monza head unit. Bought the Monza from swstereo.com, they have great service and the head unit is the best I ever had. I had mostly Alpines and a Couple of Sonys. This thing blows them all away. The face plate change out was straight forward. I now have an awesome headunit that looks stock but sounds custom. I use a HTC Trinity WM5 handheld/phone and play 128bit WMAs. I blow people away when I verbally request music from my on chip library and the handheld responds by repeating the name of the Band then queuing up the music on voice command only now over a great Becker sound system.

Only two problems:
- As you noted, top right and top left buttons function is now reversed.
- Trying to teach my wife that the top right and top left buttons function is now reversed.

Thanks for the posts,
N2O2

 

N2O2,

Very cool... nice job!

For anyone that might be interested stay tuned for a new thread to swap my head unit for an OEM one. Going to be trading in the XFire for a Saab 9-3.