How You Can Help Your New Stereo Fit In

When buying a new car stereo it is important to consider how you are going to make sure the new unit blends in with your old car. Whether your new stereo is a DIN or double DIN fitting, fascia adaptors surround it to give it the same appearance as the rest of your dashboard. Buying a new car stereo can be an integral part of upgrading your car. Whether you're after something with top sound quality, if you want to be able to listen to digital radio on the go, get better reception or an integrated LCD screen, it can be an exciting purchase. Some people, however, are in for a nasty surprise once they've fitted the new radio; it doesn’t look right. To fit your new stereo you’ve had to take off the fascia that surrounded the old one, and now it won’t fit back on again. A fascia adaptor can help. They’re available in both single and double DIN sizes and will help blend your new car stereo into your old car design. For the uninitiated, “DIN” stands for “Deutsche Industrie Norm” and is, as as those of you who speak a little German will have guessed, the standard measurement for all aftermarket car stereo units sold in the UK (if you don’t speak German, keep up). A DIN is 2 1/8 inches tall and 7 /18 inches wide, with depths varying depending upon the design. Other common measurements of aftermarket car stereo include the double DIN, which is twice the size and is generally the dimension used by the more showy car stereos boasting LCD screens, SatNavs, DVD screens and the like. If your car radio socket is a standard DIN, then, yay, happy days, fitting your new head unit should be simple. If, however, it isn’t - and most car head units aren't - then you will be needing a DIN adaptor kit/double DIN kit. These kits fill in the empty socket left by removing your old car radio, leaving a socket into which your new DIN or double DIN aftermarket stereo can be fitted. And there you have it. Your DIN/double DIN kit has left you with a spanking new stereo complete with LCD screen, iPod socket and everything else you could possibly want to blast out your Basement Jaxx on the Monday morning commute. But now there is a new problem; your radio doesn't fit in with your rest of your car. It's obvious that you've pulled off part of the dashboard and just stuck a new stereo in. You might have better sound, but you've cheapened the appearance of the rest of the car. Well, of course not. Your new car head unit was designed to work with any car into which it might be put. While that gives the head unit itself a wide range of adaptability it also inevitably means it isn’t going to be uniquely suited to any one car design. You need a fascia adaptor. Each is a plastic frame designed to fit around the outside of the new head unit, blending it into the surrounding design of your car. The genius of the piece is its simplicity. It doesn’t obscure the display or controls of the stereo, but it does make it look smart. DIN and double DIN fitting kits allow you to fit an aftermarket car stereo without radically altering the appearance of your car’s dashboard. Fascia adaptors are available for a wide range of major car brands, including Seat, Honda, Smart, Volvo and Vauxhall. Depending on the make and model of your car, you may need a “cage” to hold your stereo and fascia in place. Finding a matching cage and fascia adaptor can be a pain, but the best car audio suppliers will offer both as part of the same deal where appropriate. If you want the best quality stereo for your car, but don’t want to sacrifice style and elegance, then you need a fascia adaptor. Like all great ideas, it is simple but effective. You don’t need any technical expertise to fit the adaptors, it’s a quick process and any small instructions you might need should be easily available online.