i'm going to sound like a dork but....

[Ben]

can i ask a stupid question in relation to car stereo head units.

What is a gamma head unit? how does it differ from any other head unit?what other head units are out there? how do you tell the difference?

also when someone talk of something being oem i'm assuming its something that means original? what does oem stand for?

ben

[Eshrules]

can i ask a stupid question in relation to car stereo head units.

What is a gamma head unit? how does it differ from any other head unit?what other head units are out there? how do you tell the difference?

also when someone talk of something being oem i'm assuming its something that means original? what does oem stand for?

ben

ok, first of all, no question is a silly question <giggles> LOL joking aside,

oem = Original Equipment Manufacturer

when someone mentions OEM, they are meaning manufacturer origional. an official VW gamma head unit would be considered OEM.

the difference between the head units i believe (on vw) are beta and gamma. i may stand corrected, but audis have a different way of naming theirs.

you can usually tell what head unit you have, simply by looking on it, it will usually say what model it is on stereo somewhere on the front.

[Ben]

ok so my rcd300 is a gamma? and is deffo a stereo. is a beta a mono?

i'm looking stupid here i know.

[Eshrules]

ok so my rcd300 is a gamma? and is deffo a stereo. is a beta a mono?

i'm looking stupid here i know.

from what i understood (im not very well clued up myself here) the RCD is the different model of the particular head unit..... i could well be totally wrong here. all head units are stereo lol , theres no such thing as a mono unit.

im sure if you take a look at the head unit itself, it will say on it if its a gamma or beta.

[Col]

Mono !?

Maybe in a 1977 Vauxhaul Viva !

[Eshrules]

Mono !?

Maybe in a 1977 Vauxhaul Viva !

lets not prod fun at other's disability <giggles> we are all special in our own way

(tis only a joke)

[Col]

Well Mr MK5, did leave himself open and has freely admitted nievity [read as stupidity LOL].... nearly as bad as my spelling!

[Ben]

Yes, absoloutly right bigcol.

There have been several threads regarding radios and i've read many replies talking about gamma units. So what is the difference between beta or gamma?

I believe i know the range of standard oem radios in vw cars is something like rcd 200, rcd 300, rcd 500 and then the sat nav units with the front of the radios only varying to cater for the fittment in to different dashboards.

so is the difference between beta and gamma, to do with the connectivity on the rear of the units, the no. of speaker out puts, the colour of the knobs and buttons? or can you only tell by comparing side by side.

[Sam]

Beta headunits are 2 channel. Gamma headunits are 4 channel. Both are made by Blaupunkt.

As for the visual difference - pics collected from the web.

Beta IV Headunit



Beta V Headunit - note; no fade button



Gamma IV Headunit



Gamma V Headunit - note; fade button



It's not a stupid question at all either. It'll help a lot of other searchers (no, not the 60s pop group ) in the future too.

Your RCD-300 is a Delta headunit.




The RCD range of headunits are, I think, only present in the newer gen cars MKV, Passat B6 etc and are completely different to all of the above. They appear to fit a double DIN sized opening too.

[Eshrules]

thats a handy little guide sam i had the gamma v unit before i took it out of the golf then. (replaced with a sony xplod mp3 with aux input) its a shame really, i love the way they all integrate with the lightings etc and i've got a cd changer which i cant use at the moment, but i love my mp3 cds too much