Product Description

The MEX-BT5000 car radio from Sony was specially designed to suit your mobile lifestyle. The MEX-BT5000 is the first model equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology and connects automatically to all compatible mobile phones, so you can make hands-free calls with crystal-clear sound.  Data is easy to read on the radio's screen.  Its built-in microphone captures your voice, so you can make and receive calls without pulling your phone out of your pocket!  This car stereo will read your favourite CDs with exceptional sound quality.  Bluetooth technology means you can use a mobile telephone or an mp3 player to stream and diffuse stored music files over your car radio.  This device can even control your player's own functions itself!  With its modern design and advanced technologies, the MEX-BT5000 will suit even the most demanding music fans!   

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96116 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sony
• Model: MEXBT5000.EUR
• Released on: 2006-08-22

Features

• Sony Flagship Model
• Full Bluetooth Wireless Phone And Audio Connectivity
• Unique Design
• CD/MP3/Rear Aux In/Changer Control

Manufacturer's Description
Show the MEX-BT5000 a Bluetooth music player or a music-enabled mobile phone, like the Sony Ericsson W950 Walkman phone, and you can skip through your favourite tracks.

The audio quality is exemplary. That's because the MEX-BT5000 is one of the few Bluetooth in-car tuners available on the market today that support music streaming technology A2DP, which allows you to transfer stereo music with the same quality as a CD over Bluetooth. So, ensure your Bluetooth music player or mobile phone offers A2DP technology to enjoy seamless music transfer and excellent CD quality.

What's more, the MEX-BT5000 uses Sony pioneering DRIVE-S HX technology which gives you total sound clarity and definition. The tuner features the Sony Dynamic Soundstage Organiser and S-MOSFET power stage so your car will be filled with loud and clear music whatever type of road you are travelling on.

You can also access your music whatever the format MP3, WMA, ATRAC or even a good old fashioned CD.

(*Drive-S HX, BBE MP, DSO, etc. in the CD Mechadeck do not support streaming music from Bluetooth mobile phone or portable audio device.)

Customer Reviews

Fabulous Integration of BT for Phone and Audio in a great sounding unit
FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Out of the box

The player comes with a nice rounded faceplate case, and a classic looking remote that can act as a cool telephone dialler as it has all the numbers rather than just 1-6 that appear on the head unit.

An instruction manual, which is less bulky than pervious, an install guide and lots of BT leaflets and quick start guides. Installation was a breeze, the fitting cage was longer than normal Sony ones and the nit comes with release tools which go very deep down the side of the unit.

The usual Sony Din converter is present but has no big suppression block thankfully. Remote amp leea and telephone att are the extra leads coming off the Sony block that do not connect into the din socket.

The back of the unit has the following
Ariel socket
Bus socket
Bus/aux audio in
Phono sockets for Line out front and rear with separate leads for sub out
3.5mm jack for wired remote

(Note that there is no Mic socket so you cannot connect a mic for the hands free facility and must use the one on the unit , which is on the wrong side of the unit for RHD cars )

Connecting it up went very well and we were away.

BRIEF DETAIL ON HOW THIS IS SET UP IN MY CAR.

The unit is connected to a Calliber 4 channel amp and an infinity Basslink sub woofer so I do not use the internal amp on the unit.

I use a RX4 rotary commander attached to the left side of the steering wheel. Major relief is that there is still the ability to reverse the remote (previous HU did not have this ability and using the remote was a mare as all the controls were back to front.

I also have a Sony XAC30 to which I have connected the following:
MDX66 MDLP 6 disk MD changer
MDX 656 10 Disk CD changer with ESP
Connects 2 NWHD5 interface and a 30gb NWHD5

A plethora of sounds!

SETTING UP

The unit was very easy to use. The FL display is light blue and all the button lighting is white. This is not changeable. There are plenty of animation options for the screen and you can also leave it blank.

The display can be simple clear or detailed. You always get to see the clock and what type of music is playing. For MDs it even shows MDLP mode! For CDs it will show MP3 or Atrac

DETAILED IMPRESSION HAVING USED IT FOR A MONTH OR TWO

Radio

The radio has the usual plethora or 18 presets and has very good reception. The aerial in my Fiat Coupe is pathetic but this unit picks up all but the remotest of stations with little crackle or hissing. There are the usual RDS functions and local/regional options.

Built in CD player

This unit plays WMA, ATRAC and MP3 CDs all of which work perfectly. It also has BBE MP sound enhancement which is switch able but makes a major improvement IMHO. The unit plays ATRAC CD's BUT WILL NOT PLAY THEM GAPLESS, not only that but the gaps are even longer than with MP3's. Why oh why do Sony do this.

Navigation takes some getting used to. The joystick has three operational axis. Turning it adjusts volume up and down, pushing left and right will skip tracks (holding will fast fwd/rew track. Pushing it in will give a list of the contents of a changer but not an Atrac or MP3 cd. However pushing it up or down quickly will change the source if there are other changers attached. To select different MP3 directories or Atrac group you have to keep it pressed for about ½ a second. Keeping it pressed with scroll through the folders quickly. You get used to it but at first it is a little annoying.

Bluetooth Functions

This was the reason why I wanted this. I did not want a separate BT hands free unit and wanted to use the car speakers rather than have a separate one just for the phone. So how does it perform:-

Faultlessly I can report. I have a Sony Eriksson K800i and pairing was a breeze. I then downloaded my phone book using the BT Object push and we were away. You can choose sound to come from left right or both front speakers. It does not come out of the rear ones at all. Call quality and clarity was very good and there are 2 filter settings to reduce echo and noise. I have not needed to play with these as yet. Calls can be made from the phone, the hu or the supplied remote. Pairing happens as soon as ignition is on. The unit still works as hands free even when in standby mode. I have yet to try it with other phones or when two are in the car.

Using CD or MD changers

These work very well and the unit is XAC 30 compatible. Pushing the Joystick shows a list of the CD text titles or MD titles (providing there is text there of course) For the MD changer the list is only fully populated once you have played a bit of each or the 6 MDs.

Switching disks is an easy up or down and none of this needing to keep it pressed momentarily. Forward/reverse skip/scan works as normal.

Bluetooth Audio

Well I am very impressed with this too. Works well, sounds good and easy to use. I have found that by pressing the pause button twice you can get the Phone to start streaming music without having to touch it at all. Once tracks are playing you can then use the joystick to navigate through tracks but not folders :( . I was very impressed and by using an A2DP 3.5mm audio transmitter you could easily connect a walkman or Ipod wirelessly.

Auxiliary input

One noticeable feature is that if no Bus data cable it attached the Bus in audio phono's will act as a auxiliary In. This is a very good idea, unless of course you want both.

GENERAL EASE OR USE

So far I have got very used to using this unit and find it very intuitive. One area I do not like is the fact that the sound equaliser settings for Sub woofer cannot be determined by source. I like to have low sub output when listening to talk radio shows and it is a pain having to change this every time. The numbers for the radio buttons could be a bit bigger but I am quibbling really.

I find the sound quality excellent and the functionality covers all I could need. I would recommend it heartily and would certainly buy it again if it were stolen.

PROS:
Great sound (BBE MP on)
Good Radio reception
Fantastic Bluetooth integration
Clear Hands free call performance
Ease of use
A2DP integration
Good Remote
Looks good
Clear display

CONS
No external microphone socket
Does not play ATRAC gapless
Illumination colour is not changeable
No treble or Bass controls (but equalizer is very good)
Phonebook only holds 50 names
Remote is not luminous (my old Sony one was!!!)
Sub sound not settable by input source

Sony MEX BT5000 - Quality, Quality, Quality
As I said in the title, what a quality piece of equipment, looked at some pioneer bluetooth stereos, believe me they are not a patch on this item.

All the buttons feel great, the joystick feels solid. The sound quality is fantastic. The bluetooth phone quality is excellent (I use a Nokia 8800).

I bought this item as a result of the other review (which is much more detailed than mine) and he was spot on in all his comments.

My only negative would be the lack of a motorised face, but hey for the money who am I kidding.

If your thinking of getting one of these, don't hesitate, you'll not be disappointed.