Matty.

I am currently looking at the following:

1.-Kenwood CDA-MP928

2.-Pioner DEH-P960MP

3.-Alpine CDA-9855

Any helpful feedback/ experiences/ thoughts are welcome.....

hb420

iTrader: (1)

alpine.

Matty.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hb420 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">alpine.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Really. Do you currently own this unit? What are your reasons for Alpine&gt; *?

suspendedHatch

Alpine isn't what it used to be.

Eclipse.

hb420

iTrader: (1)

I've had a kenwood head unit there not that bad but at high volume they tend to make speakers break up. Ive had a pioneer headunit and they overheat after a while and shut down until they cool off and all there crappy crossovers they have. So out of those three choices I would go with alpine out of personal experiences. And to answer anyones questions or remarks about the kenwood head unit making speakers break up at high volume, i have art series ppi amps, audio control line drive and crossover and mb quart componets so i would highly doubt it's my equipment. The alpine sounded the best out of the three. Oh yeah the new eclipse radios are nice to.

SQ Kuk

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by suspendedHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Alpine isn't what it used to be.

Eclipse.</TD></TR></TABLE>

neither is eclipse.

eclipse has background hiss. alpine doesnt.

SQ Kuk

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hb420 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've had a kenwood head unit there not that bad but at high volume they tend to make speakers break up. Ive had a pioneer headunit and they overheat after a while and shut down until they cool off and all there crappy crossovers they have. So out of those three choices I would go with alpine out of personal experiences. And to answer anyones questions or remarks about the kenwood head unit making speakers break up at high volume, i have art series ppi amps, audio control line drive and crossover and mb quart componets so i would highly doubt it's my equipment. The alpine sounded the best out of the three. Oh yeah the new eclipse radios are nice to. </TD></TR></TABLE>

maybe your gains werent adjusted right. gain adjustment is one of the most important things when tuning.

SQ Kuk

kenwood radios seem to sound falt, dull and lifeless. the imaging and staging is never focused. if you plan on running an eq it sucks.

havent played with the pioneer 960.

alpine 9855. no complaints but the glide touch is annoying. it might just take time to get used to. the parametric eq is pretty good, the crossover is 4 way i believe and the time aligment is pretty good as well. you also have the option to go with the pxa-h701 processor for total control.

eclipse radios sound pretty good too but all the ones i ever played with has background hiss.

wrx-killer-Sti-eater

iTrader: (1)

I am gonna say pioneer, I have every model that they have and they all sound great, you get more feature for your money with them. The 9600 is a cool deal. I just not into the face slide. I have the 8600 in my da right now and I never had a problem, The crossover to me is not crappy it does the job just fine. Plus it comes with a 11 band eq. I also never had a problem with pioneers overheating. Just make sure that you run a 8 or 10 gauge wire from the battery to the head unit or get power at the ingnition harness. You will deff hear the diffrence in sound, I just put the new deh-p80mp in my gf mercedes. This unit has a built in 60 watt amp and need to be connected to the battery, It is pushing a set of rev series componets 6.5 and there is no distortion and the sound is really clear.

The alpine is a great unit. I love there sound. Its just that you don't get too many features with out paying for them. I think kenwood just fell of the map. I get to many complaints about them.

wrx-killer-Sti-eater

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SQ Kuk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">kenwood radios seem to sound falt, dull and lifeless. the imaging and staging is never focused. if you plan on running an eq it sucks.

havent played with the pioneer 960.

alpine 9855. no complaints but the glide touch is annoying. it might just take time to get used to. the parametric eq is pretty good, the crossover is 4 way i believe and the time aligment is pretty good as well. you also have the option to go with the pxa-h701 processor for total control.

eclipse radios sound pretty good too but all the ones i ever played with has background hiss.

</TD></TR></TABLE>


Man you got that right, I put that dam glide touch in a scion. I hate that dam thing. It was a pain in the a$$ to get use to. It would be better if it was not so complicated

Olegus

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gumtape_deathmatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Audiophiles: Which Head Unit...?</TD></TR></TABLE>
This hu
http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...-9990
or this
http://www.clarion.com/us/en/p....html
or this
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mc...MX406
What you've listed has nothing to do with "Audiophiles" whatsoever
Get an older Alp like 9815 and live happily. Those 9813/15/35 were and still are excellent decks

hb420

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SQ Kuk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

maybe your gains werent adjusted right. gain adjustment is one of the most important things when tuning.</TD></TR></TABLE>

my best friend is an installer at a high end stereo shop. That wasn't the problem.

hb420

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SQ Kuk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">kenwood radios seem to sound falt, dull and lifeless. the imaging and staging is never focused. if you plan on running an eq it sucks

</TD></TR></TABLE>

couldn't of said it better. But i would't use an eq, to much adjusting.

JDM_Ej

Alpine.

And your right, they aren't what they used to be, they're better.

suspendedHatch

Yeah you know it. Once they started outsourcing to another country and mass producing for Best Buy, the quality just improved dramatically.

EBP_SI

Get a Sony ES

fcm

This Alpine..... http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...tab=F $400 US
or this one...... http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...tab=F $1600 US if you want everything, or eBay they will be blowing out last years units a good prices...... http://electronics.search.ebay...d9855

94

SQ Kuk

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Olegus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This hu
http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...-9990
or this
http://www.clarion.com/us/en/p....html
or this
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mc...MX406
What you've listed has nothing to do with "Audiophiles" whatsoever
Get an older Alp like 9815 and live happily. Those 9813/15/35 were and still are excellent decks</TD></TR></TABLE>

those dvi-9990 require the DAC or the processor. the original CDA-7990 is a better unit.

clarion is great, but some units have turn on/off pops

mcintosh is not worth it at all. youre better off buying a rockford RFX-8250 for 400 bucks.

Olegus

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SQ Kuk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
those dvi-9990 require the DAC or the processor. the original CDA-7990 is a better unit</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh, I'm aware of that (external DAC) and fully agree - 7990 was a great unit

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SQ Kuk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
clarion is great, but some units have turn on/off pops</TD></TR></TABLE>
Didn't know that. But 9255 sounds clean BIG time, seriously

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SQ Kuk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">mcintosh is not worth it at all. youre better off buying a rockford RFX-8250 for 400 bucks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh please, RF and SQ??? You must be kiddin. McIntosh may be overpriced just like any "audiophile" piece of equipment, but cmon, how can you compare those 2?

And there's also Denon, Nak and so forth...
Anyway, that's not the case, is it?

luckyzz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gumtape_deathmatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am currently looking at the following:

1.-Kenwood CDA-MP928

2.-Pioner DEH-P960MP

3.-Alpine CDA-9855

Any helpful feedback/ experiences/ thoughts are welcome.....</TD></TR></TABLE>
the alpine is ok , it took me some time to get used to the glide touch , and
you take ur eyes off the road for some time to use to "Factory equaliser" function .
I use it with my ipod , and it's not good at all , it always plays the same song everytime it starts , and i have to set the "mix" function on (eyes off the road). generally that's my complain for it ... to do stuff you have to take your eyes off the street . the I-personalize feature is stupid because alpine's website is a chaos , i could be through it , i havent use the sound timing stuff or anything , but i could get a simple background on either =/.

the sound is incredible althought i never had much experience with headunits , it sounds a LOT better than my stock headunit my integra came with . using the equalizer makes it sound alot better . and it has some options that change the color of the buttons so it muches the car , i changed it to light blue with violet and it looks like really good since it's beneath the air cool-heat thing

bottom line :
I love the sound , the sound options , it plays from my ipod
I hate the time needed to do something since you have to look at it all the time
and the glide touch thing takes time to get used to

edit: it works ok with the ipod but you have to make playlists.


Modified by luckyzz at 1:38 AM 1/27/2006

dc24me

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Olegus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh please, RF and SQ??? You must be kiddin. McIntosh may be overpriced just like any "audiophile" piece of equipment, but cmon, how can you compare those 2?

And there's also Denon, Nak and so forth...
Anyway, that's not the case, is it? </TD></TR></TABLE>

funny how you rag on the rfx-8250 and suggest denon...

for the people who are familar with the denon made rockford deck, will the tuner work in NA?

Olegus

I'm sorry, I was wrong about RFX-8250. To be honest I just didn't know that it's made by denon, since I was never interested in RF products. Well, my bad.
I apologize for being ignorant.
Have you heard the deck? Any comments?

revhi

Eclipse, even though theyll be in Circuit City soon.

Matty.

Thanks for the replies guys. Keep em coming.

For one so far I won't be getting the Alpine since it sounds like the Glidetouch would get annoying after awhile. I am leaning towards the Pioneer unit just dont really care for the dual face. It looks easy to break. I really like the fact that the appear to have the most features in regards to good sound and quality though. Specifically the mic which listens for feedback from the speakers sounds interesting.

On the other hand I like the simple, clean display of the Kenwood KDC-mp928.

dc24me

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Olegus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm sorry, I was wrong about RFX-8250. To be honest I just didn't know that it's made by denon, since I was never interested in RF products. Well, my bad.
I apologize for being ignorant.
Have you heard the deck? Any comments?</TD></TR></TABLE>

it was originally available for asian market and never officially sold by rockford in north america. (someone correct me if i'm wrong). it's been discontinued for a couple of years. there are numerous threads on it on carsound.com and other forums.