a few years ago i bought a kenwood excelon kdc-x717. it broke about 3 times, and i sent it into get fixed everytime. well it broke again recently, and i contacted kenwood, and they are going to replace it with a new 05 model. so thats cool, but, do you think i should sell the brand new deck, and go with an alpine, or keep the kenwood. ive never really heard many alpines, but i know i love the way my kenwood sounded, any advice would be nice. thanks

 

i personally dislike the kenwoods. The alpine's sound great, but don't have all the looks that some other decks like panasonic and pioneer have. However, their EQ, Time correction, MX, v-drive if you use it, and their DSP make it an unbelievable sounding deck. Go with what you want, but i love alpine decks.

 

i personally like the alpine because they aren't flashy, its nice and simple and easy to read, and also they are one of the best sounding headunits out on the market including the eclipse. look into the Alpine CDA-9833 it's their top of the line headunit/mp3 player

 

Correction:
top of the line is '05 9855
Not posted on Alpine site yet

 

Alpine without a doubt. IMO, there are only 2 companies left which make an A+ deck from a quality, sound quality, and function standpoint. Alpine is one and Eclipse is the other. Just my opinion.

 

kenwood.
ive had 2 different ones stolen from my car, none broke tho

 

Alpine, most definitely.

 

alpine period. ever since the old times they make good HU

 

actually the alpine cda9835 was higher than the 33 for last years models. The one shown above is gonna be sweet.. I own the CDA9835 and wouldnt have it any other way. Before i bought the 35 i owned a kdcx979 and it weas also a very nice head unit. Go with either company both make great head units and you cant knock kenwoods support of their excelon products. I know because i sell them both and rearly have customer compaints on either. As for pioneer and panasonic i wouldnt buy a panasonic unless i was deaf and only wanted somthing to look pretty. Pioneer however is also a nice choice go with a dehp860 or 960MP from 04. Both great HU's and both offer 24 bit DAC.

 

thanks for all the input, does the new 9835 do anything as far as screen graphics, or just say the track and stuff, thats the only thing holding me back from alpine, i like the kenwood screen savers. anybody else agree?

 

the 9835 is not new. its a step up from yours same model year of 04. Yes it has 5 sreen savers and a much better looking screen than the 33 imo.

 

ive got all kenwood excelon equipment.... headunits, and mid range speakers, in my own opinion are top notch, out of any brand... the others are good stuff, but not outstanding, or I havent tuned it correctly yet...

Many of my friends have Kenwoods and prefeer them, I do too, for headunits.. No problems, and my headunit is ... well crap, over 5 years old now ... the x859

ive only heard other brands, such as alpine, I have never used them myself... so that is how im making comparisons.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thatbluecrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">kenwood.
ive had 2 different ones stolen from my car, none broke tho </TD></TR></TABLE>

so its safe to assume that by buying kenwood, its going to be stolen...atleast twice.

 

I used to sell Kenwood head units in a store, and they were pretty nice, but I had Alpine in my car. A Kenwood salesman with an Alpine. The MASK head units screwed up left and right. They are'nt made for long term use IMO. Not to mention that I've got about 10 Alpine head units in my possession right now. 9835 in my truck with Sirius adaptor, 9815 in my car, 1502 and changer in my golf cart, and some classic 7803's and 7914's in the closet. 15 years old and they still work like new.

Go with Alpine. Better sound, looks, and dependability

 

i like the new slide thing on the 05 alpines, would anyone be able to get a shot of the screen savers on the new alpine. thanks

 

Alpine IMO...kenwood is just too complicated to get used too. You'd literally have to sit there and play w/ it for awhile to get the hang of what each buttons do, just so many features. Alpine was plain and simple. I too own a kenwood excelon kvt910dvd, only because I got it for dirt cheap or else I would of just bought myself another alpine hu. I miss my alpine cva1003.

 

kenwood

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSR515 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i personally like the alpine because they aren't flashy, its nice and simple and easy to read, and also they are one of the best sounding headunits out on the market including the eclipse. look into the Alpine CDA-9833 it's their top of the line headunit/mp3 player</TD></TR></TABLE>


ummm cda-9835 buddy.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Olegus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Correction:
top of the line is '05 9855
Not posted on Alpine site yet

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

I would get the 9833 or 9835 because they have the more powerful amp at 26rms vs. the 18rms on the 9853 and 9855.

 

The biolite display on the 9835 makes tuning crossovers, eq settings a hell of alot easier imo than the 9833 and 9815 models.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CooBlueDAB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...No problems, and my headunit is ... well crap, over 5 years old now ... the x859</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow! These things seem to last a long time. I have one even older than that, the Excelon X801. I think I bought it in 98 or 99. The CD drive motor was replaced once at the factory. I replaced the ribbon cable once about 6mo ago. Good stuff.

I don't think many brands are made quite like they were back in the day. It's still almost impossible to find a good HU with no built-in amp. Back in the late 90's, I didn't like the Alpine HUs. The ***** got flaky after use and the buttons didn't have that "soft" feel of the Kenwood.




Modified by PupaScoopa at 5:47 PM 3/7/2005

 

PIONEER has in my opinion the best decks, you can adjust your sub, amp etc and theyre an awesome lookin deck

 

no i dont like pioneer at all, i dont like how they sound either.

 

Who cares about internal amps anyway?
Mine's been turned off since the day I bought the hu

 

i'd say go with alpine. reliable and simple to use with really good sq