If, like me, you miss the days when car stereos had actual knobs for adjusting bass and treble, and didn’t look like they were styled for the interiors of spaceships, you’ll probably appreciate Blaupunkt’s re-release of their classic Bremen head unit. The original was offered as a tape deck in 1986. The updated version offers media slots and ports under a door where the cassette slot used to be.

The unit, officially known as the Bremen SQR 46 DAB, comes equipt with Bluetooth, an SDHC slot, two USB ports, and is iPhone/iPod compatible. On the downside, the screen is same size as it was in the ’80s but display and lighting color is customizable. So nice to have dedicated knobs and buttons. And so nice to see a car audio product with such a handsome, understated design.

Like most things with understated good looks, they don’t come cheap. The Blaupunkt Bremen will set you back about 450 Euros (about $495). Read the rest of this entry »