Car CD Deck... very vanilla.
 

My father is a giant creature of habit. Just recently, he's been listening to CDs. Yes folks, my father just made the giant leap to CDs. He takes a lot of business trips nowadays in the car, and I'd like to get him a CD deck. But here's the thing; I need it to be the plainest of plain. No flashy displays, and very few buttons. The less confusing for my father, the better. I've looked into buying the actual deck that would have came with his car (a 2000 Chrysler Intrepid), but that's not an option at the dealer I went to.

I've seen some "kind of" plain decks out there, but the Pioneer and JVC models aren't what I'm looking for. The deck would need to be black.

Thanks a bunch; I'm off to look at other models.

For ease of use and simple ergonomics I would suggest Alpine. You wont find a black one in the '04 line up but the charcoal grey isnt bad looking.

No no...alpine is still pretty flashy. I'd go with Blaupunkt. The sound quality is above average and the actual units are extraordinarily "plain" looking. For example, take the Blaupunkt Montreal CD34:

http://www.blaupunktusa.com/Blaupunk...treal+CD34.htm

Simple LCD display, very few buttons, and will probably look about as close to "stock" as you'll get with an aftermarket stereo.

If you want something "vanilla" or not to flashy, id suggest clarion. Something like this. Its pretty plain compaired to other ones out there, nothing fancy, nothing flashing like crazy. Oh yea, if hes used to the reviever hes get now, why not go with a cd changer in the trunk?

I was thinking of the changer in the trunk, but he keeps a lot of stuff in the trunk, and god forbid any of the trunk space is taken up by a changer. Thanks for the ideas, everyone.

I second the idea of a Blaupunkt. They have uncluttered faceplates, and excellent sound quality.

Ive sold almost every brand on the market. Hands down - for middle aged customers and those that arent 'tech savvy' Alpine has been the most well received.

Take a look at the button/function location of the balupunkt. Absolutely NO ryhme or reason to placement. And the displays are just like the old sonys - wash out terribly in sunlight.

Clarion? Could the buttons get any smaller? You need a toothpick to simply tune/change tracks!

Alpine - all frequently used controls placed on the drivers side, well organized, clean easy to read display. The ergonomics and ease of use cant be beat IMO.