ABTEC’s 101 On Bluetooth Head-Units!

Since Bluetooth Head-Units are becoming something of a norm today in most peoples daily drivers I came to the conclusion we should compare four of our biggest sellers with a 101 On Bluetooth Head-Units. We will start this off with comparing their RRP (Retail) Prices: Pioneer DEH-4450BT RRP: $349.95 Panasonic CQ-RXBT490w RRP: $399.99 Sony MEX-BT4050U RRP: $399.95 Alpine CDE-133EBT RRP: $449.00   Bluetooth Hands-Free: Ok, this is where it starts to get a little harder to compare the four units here. The Sony MEX-BT4050U has a built-in Microphone which makes it a way easier unit to install but the downfall is usually...

Panasonic CQ-RXBT490W Product Review

In the world of Bluetooth, most head-units are very costly and out of a lot of peoples ideal price range. The Panasonic CQ-RXBT490W is the bridge of the Bluetooth Head-Units in my opinion as it is a very affordable unit! The sound quality of the Panasonic CQ-RXBT490W is pretty good considering it  only has a 3-Band equalizer (Bass, Mid, Treble). Only having a 3-Band equalizer or EQ-3 as some people put it can make adjusting your EQ relativity easy, on the other hand this also makes your sound options limited which can be an issue for some people but definitely not everyone....

Parallel Imported Vs NZ New

There has been a lot of debates over the years about the Pro’s and Con’s of Parallel Imported goods, in this blog I will try to explain as much as possible about buying Parallel Import Vs buying NZ New. Lets start by looking it from the distributors point of view When a distributor receives goods off an importer as NZ New they have already been through the quality control process ensuring they are up to the NZ Standards, and there for are guaranteed for repair in NZ. Also this means the distributor can have a more hands on approach when it comes to...

The Evolution Of The ABTEC Audio-Droid!

Back in 2006 Ashley Burrell (ABTEC‘s Managing Director) decided it was time for ABTEC to have a new company logo/mascot so he contacted some friends at a local animation company and asked if they could come up with something that would represent the company well. When they came back with a sketch of a robot Ashley was like “What’s that got to do with car audio”, they soon explained that most companies usually used cars and wheels so they wanted to try something a little different. They also went on and showed how they used car audio (Tweeters mid-range speakers in...

Tilt Sensor 101 With ABTEC

A tilt sensor is one of the more expensive sensor upgrade options on offer from the car alarm brands and we’re often asked if it’s worth spending the extra money on one. So we thought we’d post Tilt sensor 101 … In broad terms a tilt sensor is designed to detect if your car is jacked up while the alarm is armed. There are two common situations where a tilt sensor will help protect your car: Often a thief will not be after your entire car, they just want individual pieces from it, and wheels can be valuable and easy...

ABTEC dB Drag Soundoff & Sounds Alive 2012 June Update

Last Sunday on the 3rd of June ABTEC had yet another dB Drag Sound-off Event at its Lower Hutt Workshop. Due to the weather and the long weekend it wasn’t the biggest turn out we have had, but in saying that it was a good bunch of people, we all got to talk on more personal level and i finally got to put a few faces to some names. The morning started off pretty good with one of the competitors turning up two hours early to help Ashley and myself set-up the dB Drag Trailer and Workshop. This to myself...

Pioneer AVH-P8450BT Product Review

Out of all the double-din head-units I have had the chance to play with the Pioneer AVH-P8450BT has to be my favourite so far! The first thing I noticed was how straight forward it was to use and also how fast the touch screen worked. Most touch screen double din head-units have a slight delay but not the AVH-P8450BT, it was very instant which makes things a lot nicer/easier to use especially in today’s no-time-to-wait world we live in now! The sound quality of this unit is nothing short of amazing, I spent a good half an hour playing with...

ABTEC Fly’s To The USA In Search Of DD!

On the 19th of May 2012 Ashley & Darryl Burrell set off on a long tiring set of flights to the US of A starting with a short flight to Auckland with a brief bit of down time of around two and a half hours till the big flight out of NZ to San Francisco, USA. After the thirteen hour flight to San Francisco, they had another three hour flight to Oklahoma City with some excitement of flying through Tornado Alley. I’m no expert on Tornado Alley but the one thing I do know about it is it takes a certain...

ABTEC3 in Testing Hits 152.3dB in a Toyota Vitz…

Back on the 12th of May not only did we manage a 150.1dB with the 4 entry level 10″ Sony Xplod’s in the Toyota Vitz but we also managed to get 152.3dB with the same set-up apart from the 4 entry level JBL 12″ sub-woofers. We have also managed a a 150.5dB in the Mitsubishi Pajero with these same 4 JBL 12″s but with a more powerful amplifier which proves to myself that the Toyota Vitz is a much better base for a SPL car. If you look at it from a different angle the the Toyota Vitz has half...