Can Head Units from overseas be installed in NZ cars?

[dream///machine 6]

Anyone have any prior experience with this one? 

I'm currently comparing brands, models and prices from most common suppliers here together with the likes of Amazon, Ebay (US). 

It seems some head units can be purchased for a LOT cheaper on Amazon etc, BUT it appears model #'s and cosmetic design can have the slightest variances too, yet the SPECS on the head unit itself appear the same. It also looks as though NZ suppliers is either behind a year or missing out on certain models??

Just wondering if this is due to the manufacture process where they design a head unit for a specific region, and that the unit itself will only work for radio station frequencies in the region it was designed for etc. (much like the whole DVD region thing)

OR, am I good to ignore this thought and move forward on purchasing?

I need to ask because arranging overseas returns is such a fun process if I get this wrong

Cheers.

[aja540i 1906]

Your thought is correct, different parts of the world use different frequency ranges for commercial radio broadcsts and radio units are made accordingly, that is why you need a band expander on jap imports to listen to NZ radio stations. There is some overlap, I think the UK uses a very similar range to us, but some time with google might tell you more.

[kwhelan 241]

99% of them have international radios on ebay and work fine here, the jap import cars have japanese specific bands which is what causes the issue

you just need one that increments in 0.1 otherwise you could pick up 93.3 and 93.5 but not 93.4.  type issues and it will list the upper and lower limit as well which from memory are about 88 to 106 on FM

https://www.lovenewzealand.net.nz/new-zealand-radio-stations.php

[Allanw 1071]

The US uses a different AM frequency step... coz you use AM all the time anyway

[dream///machine 6]

2 hours ago, kwhelan said:

99% of them have international radios on ebay and work fine here, the jap import cars have japanese specific bands which is what causes the issue

you just need one that increments in 0.1 otherwise you could pick up 93.3 and 93.5 but not 93.4.  type issues and it will list the upper and lower limit as well which from memory are about 88 to 106 on FM

https://www.lovenewzealand.net.nz/new-zealand-radio-stations.php

Great tip regarding the increments, cheers.

 

5 hours ago, aja540i said:

Your thought is correct, different parts of the world use different frequency ranges for commercial radio broadcsts and radio units are made accordingly, that is why you need a band expander on jap imports to listen to NZ radio stations. There is some overlap, I think the UK uses a very similar range to us, but some time with google might tell you more.

I believe my Ti is a Jap import, but using the vin checker was made in Munich... are we saying here that during the build, German cars destined for Japan get made with specific bands?

Prior to pulling out the old head unit the other day the frequency settings was moving in increments of 0.05 and would pick up the common low and high limit. It was a single DIN pioneer CD player only, hence the need to replace - guess this means I have a Jap import with a good enough band on it?

Edited March 6, 2018 by dream///machine

[MD13 494]

I remember reading an older thread which stated BMW's had 'world tuners' but are set to the region they are intended to be sold in. 

[kwhelan 241]

I was under the impression all BMW had world radios, you just had to program them from japanese to world, which isn't hard, certainly was the case on my e39

[dream///machine 6]

19 minutes ago, kwhelan said:

I was under the impression all BMW had world radios, you just had to program them from japanese to world, which isn't hard, certainly was the case on my e39

 

32 minutes ago, MD13 said:

I remember reading an older thread which stated BMW's had 'world tuners' but are set to the region they are intended to be sold in. 

Are you guys both talking about the OEM factory head set itself, or a separate radio module in which all head units connect to? eg. 'Any head unit -> radio plug -> some kind of module -> cars antenna'

cheers!

[Olaf 3317]

2 hours ago, kwhelan said:

I was under the impression all BMW had world radios, you just had to program them from japanese to world, which isn't hard, certainly was the case on my e39

Depends on which chassis you're talking about.

[Olaf 3317]

3 hours ago, Allanw said:

The US uses a different AM frequency step... coz you use AM all the time anyway

indeed.  they use 10 KHz, we use 9KHz.

Plus FM, the equalisation settings in USA are different to NZ (and rest of world) - IIRC it's 15uS vs 25 uS.  Plus fine tuning is slightly off in NZ with a US head unit.

How do I know this?  Apart from being a bit of a tech geek and having studied this stuff many moons ago at tech, I purchased a really nice Kenwood head unit in USA in the mid-90's to bring back (2nd to top of line I think).  I knew the risk I was taking.  The tuner was excellent, though never quite right down here.  Tape deck was superb.  I had it in a couple of cars, left it in a Sentra I sold along with some Magnat speakers.  I doubt the new owner appreciated what they had.

O.P.:  The more modern kit may well have software configurable settings for local radio.  Why not just buy one locally, save the shagging around?

[dream///machine 6]

1 hour ago, Olaf said:

indeed.  they use 10 KHz, we use 9KHz.

Plus FM, the equalisation settings in USA are different to NZ (and rest of world) - IIRC it's 15uS vs 25 uS.  Plus fine tuning is slightly off in NZ with a US head unit.

How do I know this?  Apart from being a bit of a tech geek and having studied this stuff many moons ago at tech, I purchased a really nice Kenwood head unit in USA in the mid-90's to bring back (2nd to top of line I think).  I knew the risk I was taking.  The tuner was excellent, though never quite right down here.  Tape deck was superb.  I had it in a couple of cars, left it in a Sentra I sold along with some Magnat speakers.  I doubt the new owner appreciated what they had.

O.P.:  The more modern kit may well have software configurable settings for local radio.  Why not just buy one locally, save the shagging around?

Awesome to know and yes the old mix tape era! I'll have to google 'IIRC 15uS vs 25 uS' as that's beyond my knowledge.

I'll see how I go for local, I simply opened my own can of surprises by searching elsewhere and now I'm curious...and I'm also a fussy pussy cat that refuses to eat dried biscuits when I know theres something better in the fridge.

[Allanw 1071]

9 hours ago, kwhelan said:

I was under the impression all BMW had world radios, you just had to program them from japanese to world, which isn't hard, certainly was the case on my e39

That is probably a very late E39 - the earlier ones I'm fairly sure were japanese OR rest of world, I think they changed in 2002 or 2003... but don't take that as gospel!

[Olaf 3317]

19 minutes ago, Allanw said:

That is probably a very late E39 - the earlier ones I'm fairly sure were japanese OR rest of world, I think they changed in 2002 or 2003... but don't take that as gospel!

yep, same with e46; early ones don't change, later ones do.

[hotwire 352]

1 hour ago, Allanw said:

That is probably a very late E39 - the earlier ones I'm fairly sure were japanese OR rest of world, I think they changed in 2002 or 2003... but don't take that as gospel!

Sept 01 they came with world tuners, similar time for E46. Pre this they had either Euro/rest of world, Jap or USA specific tuners.

Later cars - E60 etc were back to their destination market & more involved to try & change