I see lots of threads about sub-$200 headunits here, but I don't see many about expensive headunits. I currently have a Blapunkt CD70 San Francisco headunit; the top of the line at Blaupunkt. It has lots of snazzy features, most of which I'm too lazy to actually use.



I can sell the Blaupunkt and for $250 more buy an Alpine CDA-7998 headunit. This is a CD/MP3 unit that is near the top of Alpine's line.



Is it worth the cost to change the headunits? Or are there better choices out there regardless of price? Should I just stick with the Blaupunkt, maybe throw on an aluminum dash kit to match the color?

And I'm asking about the overall spectrum of "goodness": sound quality, build quality, security, looks, ease of use, feature content, and so on.

Thanks for the help,
Ben

 

I have the CDA-7998 and it's a bad-*** head unit with a wealth of features, but it will also require an external amplifier.

If you plan on using it to it's extent (or just want it because it cool, which it is) then go for it. But to me, it sounds like you're set with the Blaupunkt.

 

http://www.sony.jp/products/me/conte...x_7700mdx.html

 

English please That head is pretty looks good though.

I have had the 7998 for a week. It was the first purchase of my system build but still have stock speakers I have owned half a dozen after market heads ranging from 200-450 in price. This is the first that I have spent this much money on. If it can make my stock speakers sound descent. I can't wait to get some real speakers.

The only issue I have with it is the propped out face. I use the remote, because my clumsiness would probably break it.

 

If your not worried about a deatachable face go for the Alpine, awesome hu with lots of features. If you'd like something simple go with Eclipse or Nakamichi (8 volt ore-outs = ).

 

that sony deck looks cool...but I hate sony car audio...I dont care what anyone says sony stuff is pure garbage

 

Sony's stuff is garbage and their preamp voltage outputs suck too...

Alpine is by far not only mine but the usual crowd favorite ditto on High end elclipse and nak deks (for the ultimate stock look).

High voltage outputs, great DACS and 105+ signal to noise ratios make these decks all great!

My votes with the alpine

-Rage

 

That's sorta an ignorant comment, seeing as the Sony CDX-C90 and XDP-4400x processor combo is used by at least one of IASCA's top competitors

The same head unit is also in the JL GTI.

But then again, you must be right, and these people know nothing about good sound....yes...ALL Sony car audio products are pieces of crap :rollseyes:
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Now had you said that the low end gear that sony has been puting out lately was garbage, then I'd pretty much agree with you. They are incorporating some cool technologies though. I've owned a total of 4-5 Sony HU's in the past, and they were all pretty good....lately, they are going toward the gimic route (ala audiobahn) and that's when I jump ship.

BTW, you won't find an 8V preout on any of Nakamichi's single CD heads, they are 4V on the 40 and 45z's...not sure on the 35z. The top end 8xxx Eclipse has the 8V preouts and with the balanced driver goes to 16V ....I wouldn't hesitate going with an Eclipse, but I have heard too many horror stories to go with the Nak. I'm sure some people have them and like them though.

I personally don't think that you will see that large of (if any) improvement if you swap heads. I would look to other areas of your install that could benefit from an upgrade before buying a new head.



[Modified by rcurley55, 10:44 PM 1/6/2003]

 

I also don't care for sony. Mainly reliability issues for me. Other problems I have found with Sony is they are such a large company that not all their products are cross platfom compatible. MDX-400 and XDP-210 for example.

The sad part is almost everything I own in made by Sony. The reason for this is they are the technological innovators. No one else has what I want when I want.

 

Install, speakers, amps, and voltage/wiring upgrades.

 

Perhaps a nOOb question, but what happened to Sony's ES line? I know they had one in the past (Previous XRC-900 owner), but was wondering what happend to it now.

 

Ah yes the Elevated Standard line.......well in a nutshell Sony Kinda woke up and look at the numbers...they were selling more on the Autosound product ( ie entry level) then the Mobile ES so the lines sorta became blurred.....way to much to ask me. Then to top it off make your product available everywhere ( mass retailers,discount merchants,auto parts stores,warehouse stores) and a few issues will arise. Sure you have a highly visable product ( market share is great),but you the greatest risk of "defective return" product ( due most by improper installation)
so now the product gets bad mouthed as being crap. oh well the price of doing biz.

My 0.02 is keep the Blau its seems to work fine for you.....I know the "itch" of wanting a new cooler product,but like you stated there are some features that you havent used yet and dont plan to.....well the Alpine is that X10 will you use the onboard Digital Time Alignment feature,the Media Expander or even go to the website and burn a cdr with your own personal greeting message,set up your xover points and other info about your car so that the radio is tailored to your car and yours alone?

Maybe,maybe not.....just a thought.

 

ok sorry that you took the sony comment to heart...by the way what does that combo run???? sorry if they make some good quality top of the line models...and the rest is sub par or garbage...doesnt really impress me much
just my personal opinion
and just because someone is running something a car that competes doesnt mean that for the same amount of money you can get something that will sound better and be of a better quality

 

If your looking to save money and have one of the best head units check this out, I just wish I had the extra cash to get it ( I allready have one but...)

He's selling it for $200.00 and thats a steal!

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=377077

 

i have the sony mex-5di that im about to put in my car, but what the hell is that sony up there...omg thats nice. Check out the one i have. I bought it not too long ago.

 

Their subs are utter crap. Every idiot n00b I know who has purchased an xplod sub, has had it burn out, in less than a year.

 

Nahhh...I didn't take it to heart at all. I just get pissed when people make blanket statements that I feel are just not true. Some of their high end gear is excellent, like the combo I mentioned above...I think one set went on ebay for around $2000 a short while ago....it's definitely not cheap

Like I said before, Sony went the way of the gimmick lately - I wouldn't buy one of their products for my car (but I do love my two Wegas ). They are trying to sell car audio products based on looks rather then performance...this is ALWAYS bad. It's too bad, but it's tough to take equipment seriously when they are called "Xplode" and everything is bright red in color.

Again, that's a true/debatable statement, but that's not the point I was trying to make. Value is extrememly difficult to determine. Quality is rarely linear with price, and SQ is subjective, making value decisions quite difficult.

I was just referencing the fact that if two people (Steve Head, the IASCA competitor and Manville Smith, the guy behind the GTI) who know a hell of alot about SQ products selected a Sony headunit....then Sony probably knows how to build a good quality headunit.

Now wether they are trying to place the same emphasis on SQ and build quality with their other lines of audio is debatable and probably doubtful.

If you want a cheaper combo that does more, the Pioneer DEQ/DEX P9 setup is the first that comes to mind. The crossover points are TERRIBLE (personally I'm shocked that any engineer over there ok'ed the design) but past that it's a great piece. The street price for the combo can be as low as $1500 - still not cheap, but a good value none-the-less.

Didn't mean to offend, just wanted to show that Sony does know a thing or two about audio, they have just chosen (IMO) to go another route with their products.

 

But what happened to Clarion? Don't they make good gadgets?

I have a clarion 9675 and I love it, maybe more features than what I need but good graphix not to cheesey like some out there, built in EQ and XM just to name a couple.

 

I have an Eclipse 5442 now and I love it.

The sound/build quality are excellent, though it lacks the Alpine's bells and whistles. The 8 disc changers daisy chain and the Commander allows voice control of various stereo and car functions (beware though, the install price to put in the relays to voice control windows, sunroof, etc is ridiculous).
More info here: http://www.eclipse-web.com/products/...op.html#cd5442

I want to step up to the new integrated dvd/mp3 unit though, but I can only imagine what it's going to cost.

 

I have a 5441, (basically same thing).. and love mine too. I wouldn't use another headunit other than Eclipse.

 

[QUOTE] If you want a cheaper combo that does more, the Pioneer DEQ/DEX P9 setup is the first that comes to mind. The crossover points are TERRIBLE (personally I'm shocked that any engineer over there ok'ed the design) but past that it's a great piece. The street price for the combo can be as low as $1500 - still not cheap, but a good value none-the-less.
[QUOTE]

Can you elaborate when you say the xo points are terrible? The pioneer website tells $h!t.

 

For those of you who are not familiar with the combo, here's a link to a review by one of those "non-biased" car audio mags that we all love:

http://www.caraudiomag.com/testreports/0112cae_pioneer/

Now if you take a look at the crossover section, you will notice a few problems from a system design standpoint. If you look at the frequencies...they are all fixed. They are no infinitely variable like a pot would be on an analog device (ok, those are not infinitely variable either, but you get the point). So, you are stuck with the points that Pioneer decided that they wanted to use.

Yet they integrated a ton of variability in most of the crossover slopes. I'm guessing that this is to allow the crossover points to be a bit more versatile, but I still think it sucks.

For example, ifyou wanted a typical 3 way front stage with dedicated midbasses....If you look at the "LOW" output, the highpass numbers look ok (you can really only select from 50Hz - too low - 63Hz or 80Hz). Then check out th elow pass numbers. The lowest you can go is 250Hz!!! That is far too high IMO. Sound gets pretty localizable at that frequency....the point is that I want my kick speakers playing that area. If it was me, I'd have my low pass there at 125Hz-ish.

The same problem occurs with the high pass on the mid. Again, you are at 200Hz as the lowest...that's still too high IMO. The only good thing that they did in the mid and high pass range is allow you to high pass real high....at around 5kHz so that you can run A-pillar tweeters. You have to up the crossover point to get them to work well up there. This is the only real good thing.

Now here's my real problem with them. Let's say you want to run horns. Virtually any HLCD on the market will play down past the 1.6kHz mark on the high section. That means that if you wanted a three way stage, you couldn't run horns down to their designed high pass point. This pretty much nulifies most of the benefits to running horns.

Basically....this unit is the ***** for running a three-way front stage in any car IMO. Sorry if that was rambling....but that's my $0.02