I've been thinking of getting the Neo Car Jukebox with the DIN mounted controller and another single DIN head unit.

I was just going to mount it under one of the front seats, but looking at the dimensions, and making some measurements of my own, it appears that the unit is the perfect size to be mounted inside the tray on top of the dash.

I'm thinking it might look pretty sweet up there, but then again it could turn out looking butt ugly. It can be installed with or without the aluminum fins.

Does anyone agree with me or have reasons why it should NOT be mounted on top of the dash?

 

I dont think I would mount it on top of the dash because of easy detection by a thief, plus the fact that it would be in the sun a large amount of the time. Just my .02.

 

And how well would you be able to hide the wiring?

I think it could be kind of cool looking to showcase it like that, but I would put it elsewhere (if it were my truck).

If you have the flow-thru console, I hear there could be quite a bit of room in there under the shifter. It would take some modding of course, but might be an ideal location to put it.

And, space provided, you have the area under your seats (if it fits). You (obviously) just need to make sure it's not too much trouble to remove and load the hard drive portion.

For me, it sure would be nice if that wired remote fit in the ash tray ... a fold-out would be awesome.

I've looked at the Kenwood Music Keg (branded product from PhatNoise). But, I'm waiting to see if they make any improvements. That, and I don't have the funds available at this time anyway.

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/excelon/excelonKeg.jsp

http://www.musickeg.com

 

This is the kind of device I have been wanting for my truck and my RV. I would definitely mount it out of sight. Now if someone would just come up with a way to connect to the AUX input for those of us that do not have the roof mounted DVD player.

 

I would love to find out if this is a possability.

 

it would be convenient to have it up top, but as people have said, it would be very visible and tempting, and the unattractive rear of the unit would show. Perhaps you could get or fabricate some sort of a cowl to go over it?

A cool item to have, though - i miss having 200 records available to me via my old Nomad.

 

According to the NEO Car Jukebox MP3 Player web page, the dimensions of the wired remote are 4.3x1.9x1. I just took a tape measure to my ashtray (after removing the 'tray') and I think we'd have plenty of room. Wiring, by the right professionals, could be fed down behind the ashtray.

Hmmm.........

Looks like I need to talk to my local stereo install guy and ask him if why the Kenwood Music Keg is so much more expensive than the NEO. I need to figure out the pros/cons of each.

I want CD quality ... not FM modulated. I also want more than 20GB. The Music Keg currently has two options: 10GB and 20GB. 20GB would be my starting point. I'm about to double my MP3 collection (30GB+/-) and think I'd be better off having room for the future. The NEO can go up to 120GB! Again, hmmm.........

I did a Google search for it and the results are all pretty good. I guess I have some more reading to do.

So, the main question I have is what outlets/hookups, etc. does our stock (Audiophile for me) head unit have? How easy/hard is it going to be to add one of these gems?

There may be others out there, but I did find this forum on the NEO.

If anyone has or gets one of these, we MUST have details, pictures, etc.!!!

 

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I will be mounting it under the seat.

The NEO is only sold with up to 120GB but accepts any 3.5" IDE hard drive which means you can upgrade its capacity yourself with 160GB, 300GB, etc.

I have also looked at The Kenwood Keg and similar models, but with the NEO I can fit my ENTIRE music collection into one device. That was the selling point for me.

Also the NEO has several adapters for attaching to your cd changer controllable head unit. This way you don't have to worry about where to put the wired remote, you don't really need to use it at all.

 

All I can say now is keep us posted and take lots of pictures! Please be sure to post a follow-up reply to this thread and let us know all the pros/cons. Thanks!

 

Unless you change the audiophile head unit, you won't be able to plug this into it. You'll have to go with an FM modulater. Sucks, huh?

 

astronyth, I was going to just send you an email via your profile, but you have that option turned off.

Did you ever install the NEO? Install any such device?

 

After the new head unit, amp and sub, there was no money left over for the mp3 unit. I still plan on it though. I have decided to mount it under the seat and not on the dash. Luckily my new alpine 9827 plays mp3's so I even if I can't have the whole cake, at least I can have a slice of my cake and eat it too.

If I ever find the money to go ahead with it I will be sure to post pictures.

PS. My email option is disabled because my email filters would likely have deleted your email long before it reached my inbox, and I'd hate to miss any valid emails from a fellow f150 owner.