Which radio should I go for? Becker or Blaupunkt?

[brucedemuro]

I'm wanting to buy a radio for the 02 and cant make my mind, the options are: Becker Mexico (stereo with the magic bar search system and cassette) or a original Blaupunkt Bavaria Mono radio with the attached speaker grill to the front in perfect condition.

What do you guys think?

Cheers,

Bruce

[MEANBM]

Becker mate, they are very rare!!!!!, and will look sweet in your car!

[neanderthal]

you can get an ipod connection for that becker.

nuff said.

[Guest Anonymous]

What, no Grundig? Aren't there retros that also receive satellite radio?

[c.d.iesel]

THE BECKER DESIGN is radio SeX ! compared to the Blue Chip Blaupunckt

make very sure the place that you buy the 30+ year old

radio from offers some sort of return policy, warranty,

repair service. You can expect to pay a PREMIUM

for such a package -

that said:

when I worked at a Mercedes-Benz dealer when these BECKER

radios were new - we warranty replaced/exchanged 100's

for poor performance reasons - WHEN THE RADIOS WERE

NEW ! We cursed the poor quality then, and Mercedes-Benz

owners complained - wanting M-B to use a 'better' BLAUPUNCKT

radio like our BMW dealer neighbor up the road used.

ALSO, these radios were the target of radio bandit's

We stocked every M-B body side glass to cope with the daily demand

of repairing breakin damage, and stolen radio replacement.

On average 3 cars a day !

So the flooded market today of these same period(the radio bandit era)

German radio's has to make one wonder a little where the inventory

originated. Old non-returned dealer warranty units?, or radio

bandit supply Inc.

[TTyMiller]

BECKER hands down! iPod connectable, looks better, built better and that new high tech called stereo sound.

[Ray-2002tii]

There are 2 things to take in consideration. The Becker you are showing is from a Mercedes. It has the stripped faceplate that all Mercedes used. The Becker is also a DIN mount, not a shaft mount. Most BMWs from the early days used shaft mount radios. The DIN mount requires a very large rectangular cutout and mounts using clamps at the ends whereas the shaft mount uses a smaller rectangular cutout for the tuning area but mounts through the holes of the hsafts with simple hex nuts.

The Beacker has many features but the Blaupunkt is more period corect for BMWs, if you are going for original. The dealers back then leaned more to the shaft mount installation. BTW, Blaupunkt did make a nice AM/FM/cassette in 1973 that was shaft mount. It is the dealer installed that my dealer installed in my car in 1973. They are rare but I did find an original, NOS one last year on Ebay to replace the original one that was not working. Good Luck

[brucedemuro]

Everyone thnxs for the feedback!

I did know that the becker was commonlly seen on mercedes specially the pagoda. The thing is, my 02 has the early type interior, the one with the small dash switches and all the chrome trimming under the dash, taking that to consideration the becker fits better the interior, but on the other hand the blaupunkt though it doesent look as good as the becker is the original one thats the cause of my dilemma. If my 02 had the newer kind of dash I would go for the blaupunkt straight up...

Cheers,

Bruce

[tjones02]

This new Becker Mexico is SEXXXY! ALL the classic good looks AND all the modern features!!!! I WISH Blaupunkt would do this with a Frankfurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.mybecker.com/beckerCms/www_root/ar03/templates/Ar03ProductMain.jsp?language=En&organisation=001&navSeq=219

[TTyMiller]

Get the Becker! Use your iPod!

[John_in_VA]

for tunes you're all set. Like C.D. said, the (especially FM) performance of Beckers has been mediocre in my experience. Maybe it's just a USA phenomenon.

[WBeaumont]

forget both!

Buy a brand new radio (cheapish one) and mount it under the front seat. Get one with a remote (kind of necessary as you don't want to be fiddling between your legs while driving or you better be fairly comfortable with your passenger). Run the ipod cable from the front up through the centre consul and you get a proper sound without any of the nasty looks for much cheaper than a new becker mexico.

[TTyMiller]

Europa II on ebay 80 bucks,

iPod connector 40 bucks,

style points..... priceless

[penth2o]

Radios were a dealer installed item. True most used the Blaupunkt but, allot used various radios that they had on hand, especially in the States. My 63 Ghia in Germany came with the Blaupunkt Frankfort but didn't get the radio till it hit the states and the original owner went to the dealer and a Bendix Sapphire 1 was installed. The Becker is a sweet looking radio same as the Frankfort. It is a matter of which you prefer. I got the Becker for $75 and am quite happy with it.