If you’re as fastidious as I am, you’ll find that sourcing a decent head unit for an older vehicle is quite a pain in the proverbial. The original radio won’t last forever, and if you want any of the latest mod cons, you’d have to settle for one of the newer units, the glitzy lights and massive foldout screens of which would spoil the otherwise period correct look of the rest of the interior.
Enter Blaupunkt, which knows quite a fair bit about old-school radios. Its latest offering is the Bremen SQR 46 DAB which, as the name suggests, harks back to the Bremen SQR 46 cassette player from the 1980s. As you can see, the design of this 50-watt unit is remarkably faithful, right down to the no-nonsense all-black finish, the layout of the array of buttons and even the cover for the tape slot. All very ’80s.
But this is no slavish remake, because the new model comes with most of the features we’ve come to expect in this day and age, including Bluetooth connectivity for audio and calls and DAB+ digital radio. That aforementioned tape slot, on the other hand, is non-existent – flip up the cover and you’ll instead find an SD card slot, a 3.5 mm auxiliary jack and a USB port (there’s another one hidden at the rear).
The head unit also features customisable colours for the display and button backlighting, supports MP3 and WMA file formats and is compatible with steering wheel controls. There’s even a remote control bundled in, as well as an external microphone for clearer calls.
The Bremen SQR 46 DAB will go on sale next month, priced at €449 (RM2,060). Of course, Blaupunkt isn’t the only company cashing in on the needs of vintage car owners – Porsche Classic also offers a head unit with a small colour touchscreen and navigation, in a design that fits older air-cooled 911s.
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More costly Blaupunkt stuffs since they closed down Penang ops.
blaupunkt is an international company that sells its products all over the world.. i dont think the closing down of a small plant in penang would have anything to do with the pricing of their products, especially a “premium” niche model product like this, which is mainly targetted at classic european car owners. The pic of the headunit installed in a classic 911 porsche gives a hint of its target market.
I think Blaupunkt, I think Proton Saga
Yup. Best sounding HU system on any affordable level cars. The current Clarion HU just can’t compete, thou the X70 Kenwood has put it to shades (but it isn’t exactly an affordable car either, haha).
Awesome!
So means I still can’t play my 80s mix cassette tapes in this retro player? I’m so disappointed.
no CD player?
why listen to crappy cd audio in compression SQ format when you can enjoy listening high SQ in looseless audio format via sd card or USB drive?
There are no DAB/DAB+ nor DRM broadcast here unlike in the EU. Why buy a DAB+ set for?