Suggestions for a good head unit/adapter combo for a '99 Subaru?

[loudguitars]

I have a '99 Subaru Outback station wagon and I'm looking to get a head unit with an iPod adapter.

My current factory head unit has a tape deck and a CD player, but has no CD changer input. Therefore, any available line-in solutions are pretty much dead in the water without a new head unit anyway.

Since y'all are the most knowledgeable, I was wondering if I could get some suggestions for systems I should be looking at. I'm looking to spend 200-400 bucks including installation. Installing it myself is not an option, since I'd likely electrocute myself.

Obviously the cheaper, the better, but I realize to get quality, I may have to go towards the higher end of my price range. This is a car I plan on driving until the wheels fall off, so I'm willing to put a little cash into something that sounds decent.

Here's what I need:
1. I should be able to control playback (though not volume) from the iPod. I've seen some units where once you plug it in, you can ONLY control the iPod through the head unit, and I think that's a major pain.
2. It should be a line-out solution through the dock connector that charges the iPod at the same time.
3. The head unit should have a CD player and an AM/FM radio

Here's what I do NOT nead:
- Any sort of mounting solution (I already have a proclip that works great for me)
- Any additional screen (besides the traditional readout on the head unit)
- Satellite radio.

I live in the West Los Angeles area and want to try and get this done by the end of May (unless there's some fantabulous new product you guys can convince me to wait for). Any suggestions, particularly from Subaru owners who've gone through the same process?

[Galley]

Pretty much any deck with an auxillary input should suffice. You can use a Belkin AutoKit to power the iPod and send the audio to the deck via a Y-cable. There's really no reason why all of that including installation should cost much more than $200.

[loudguitars]

I've had a lot of crappy experiences with some of the cheaper charger-with-an-aux-out things before (with a tape adapter instead of an aux in), and at this point I'm done testing each and every solution in that vein and knuckling under and going with the more expensive integrated solution.

Most of the time the charger-with-an-aux-out stuff ends up sounding like complete garbage. It certainly isn't the tape adapter, since the tape adapter works just fine with the jury-rigged setup I have right now (a disassembled and frankensteined with electrical tape Transpod).

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm looking for fully integrated solutions at this point.

[Morfious]

Go to you local car stereo shop and start playing with the headunits. Buy the best one you can afford, that has features you need. You will be pushing and turning the head unit all the time so layout and how it looks is of primary impportance. Most, if not all, of the big manufacturers have aux in kits available, (Pioneer, kenwood, clarion, sony, alpine etc) If you are good with a soldering iron, you can make a flush mount aux in jack and hook up your ipod (line out connection) to that. Most of the direct connect options allow you to control the iPod from the head unit itself. Since you do not want to do this, aux-in will give you the best sound quality and the cheapest cost.

If you like Pioneer I can give you exact part numbers as well as pictures of my setup.

[loudguitars]

That's a good suggestion, but I think I should clarify: It's fine if you can control the iPod through the head unit, I just want to definitely be able to control it through the iPod itself. Or is this something that I definitely can't do with the integrated solutions?

Edit: How about with the Alpine CDA-9857? Can I actually control playback from the iPod, or will it only work from the head unit on that particular unit?

[retrodog]

The Kenwood approach is pretty good. The ones with the round connector for connection to disc changers and Music-Kegs. Then you can go with the $20-$30 aux input attachment. You can control all the features of the iPod at the iPod itself. Or you can go with the $99 iPod interface and control the iPod from the head unit.