hey i am shopping for a headunit right now up to 400 to spend on something nice. cd/ mp3 etc. basically i dont want anything cheap like 100 dollar crap. if you can help me what kind of unit do you recommend. thanks

 

Alpine. I have the 9855, which has built in eq/xo/time correction. Lots of features to play around with.

What do you want to do with the head unit? Use it by itself or run amps for the speakers?

 

i will be running amps to the speaker

 

basically something that can make my system sound good and looks nice haha

 

Or a new, (06) Alpine... http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...-9857 or if you want XM... http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...AV_HU kind of depends what you want out of the HU. 94

 

what do you guys think about this pioneer unit

 

the 9600 is a nice unit. bluetooth built into it. I have the premier version (deh-p960bt) it is extremely userfriendly.
the 35,000 color oel display screen looks amazing on it.

 

that is a very nice pioneer with tons of growing room but its not the 9600 its a DEH-P9800BT but good guess


integradriver you have a pm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IntegraDriver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do you guys think about this pioneer unit

</TD></TR></TABLE> Probably an OK HU, I am no fan of Pioneer, so all I can give you is my biased opinion, I think it's butt ugly, not at all user friendly, is prone to noise problems if wired to anything other the Pioneer processer's and amps, did I mention UUUUGLY. 94

 

sorry typed the wrong letter 9800 I stand corrected.

FCM you and I have had this arguement before, pioneer vs alpine, and Im nopt going to waste my breath again, just dont knock it until youve tried it.

I have mbquart amplifiers on mine and have absolutely no noise problems, and you dont need a processor with this radio, it has a DSP, TA, 16 band EQ, and such built in. Oh and the display looks ridiculous in person, the pixels are 1/4 the size of the 960 (the radio it replaces). Not to mention, afaik, this is the only radio with bluetooth built in. If my phone rings, it interrupts my music, the persons name or number appears on the radio, you can upload your whole address book, and can do your dialing while in your car through your radio.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by incubus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">FCM you and I have had this arguement before, pioneer vs alpine, and Im nopt going to waste my breath again, just dont knock it until youve tried it.</TD></TR></TABLE> So stop wasting your breath.
I have worked for more then a few Pioneer dealers including the last one, that dropped Pioneer because of problems with their HUs, so I have tried it, probably many more times then you have, I also said it was a biased opinion, and I was speaking of Pioneer HUs in general, I also said they are prone to noise when connected to other brand processors and amps not that they would have noise, or had to be connected to processors 94



Modified by fcm at 6:41 PM 8/15/2006

 

clarion.
i just bought one.. i love it. really happy with the sq and everything. does everything i could ever ask for. 250 bones off etronics, &lt;---I'll probably get flamed for buying audio equipment off the internet

 

I have a Alpine bias as well, but its for these reasons:
1.)Quality built product
2.) User friendly
3.)Plenty of usable features
4.)Clean looking units

Now dont get me wrong I like and use Pioneer as well but when it comes down to it Alpine is my first choice.

 

Wow...Alpine HU and user-friendly - I must be missing here something. I've had one of Pioneer's higher-end hu's (DEH-P8600MP), and now I have Alpine's 9853 in my latest car. It was my first Alpine, so I just wanted to give it a try. Overall, it's a good hu, but it really blows when compared to my old Pioneer. Pioneer was so easy to use and operate, all settings were easily accessible, especially with the help of its large display. With Alpine, I have to go through the stupid menus, scrolling with the silly glide touch bar, and because their mp3 searching function is so NOT user-friendly - I gave up on searching my mp3 cds for song/folder titles, and just skip everything until I find what I want. With Pioneer it was as easy as turning on a light switch, plain and simple. Adjusting crossovers and eq on Pioneer is so much easier, because it's all graphical instead of characters & text. So anyway, after about 6 months of Alpine use, I'm still not 100% at operating it...and usually I have no problem with operation of electronics.

Maybe I could live with Alpine even though it sucks at ease of operation, it's still a pretty good hu. What Alpine really lacks is the sound quality Pioneer provides. Their MMX feature is ok, but not as close to what Pioneer has: loudness control and BBE. After setting these two, the sound is crystal clear ...and no matter what settings I tried on the Alpine, I can't get the same sound!!!! And for the noise..I only have noise with the current Alpine hu, but maybe that's 'cause of the cheap RCA's I got. Never experienced any noise with Pioneer (PG amps/no amps).

Now I'm pretty much set at this DEHP7800 Pioneer for my next hu, which seems to be just a newer model of DEH-P8600MP

 

Sorry I forgot to mention that the glidetouch headunits are a different story. And Alpine realized that they screwed up and discontinued the glidetouch headunits.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiRGDC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sorry I forgot to mention that the glidetouch headunits are a different story. And Alpine realized that they screwed up and discontinued the glidetouch headunits. </TD></TR></TABLE> Ditto that. Not a user friendly HU 94

 

Sony HUs are great, too, although most are on the cheap side. I run a Sony Xplod system in my car with an MTX Thunder TA 3404 4-channel amp and an MTX Thunder TA 3401 Mono amp running two 12" Sony Xplod subwoofers, and I get perfect sound. The head unit I have can run MP3 CDs, WMA CDs, ATRAC CDs, iPods, AM and FM radio broadcasts, red-lit buttons and a negative LCD display, all for $120. It comes standard with a credit-card-sized remote commander and a removeable faceplate for added security. One more little reminder: Sony's proprietary audio format, ATRAC3plus, is to mp3's as CDs were to tapes. ATRAC3plus maintains CD quality all the way down to bitrates as low as 48kbps, and a single 700MB CD-R disk can hold 490 songs (assuming a 48kbps bitrate and 4-minutes for each song).

If you're going to build a stereo system in your car, do not forget to run Monster Cable speaker and subwoofer cables as well as a capacitor and an Optima Yellowtop battery.


Modified by mnaines at 1:35 PM 8/16/2006


Modified by mnaines at 1:43 PM 8/16/2006

 

i think sony hu kinda suck thats me. i had one before and friends had it didnt like it at all .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IntegraDriver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do you guys think about this pioneer unit

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

I got to give this radio 4 thumbs up. real easy to use and it sounds great. I love the bluetooth fuction. I had this radio for the past 6 months. I haven't had a problem. What I most love about it is that it is very user friendly.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wrx-killer-Sti eater &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got to give this radio 4 thumbs up. real easy to use and it sounds great. I love the bluetooth fuction. I had this radio for the past 6 months. I haven't had a problem. What I most love about it is that it is very user friendly. </TD></TR></TABLE> I bet that Pioneer radio is expensive...The only thing Pioneer lacks is ATRAC3plus compatibility. As I said in my earlier post, ATRAC3plus is to MP3's what CD's were to tapes. All my music files are OpenMG format, ATRAC3plus codec, 64kbps @ 16-bit/44.1kHz; 20Hz to 20kHz response with less than 1% THD. If recorded and burned using SonicStage Version 2.0 or higher, there is almost no difference in quality between a store-bought CD and a 64kbps ATRAC3plus CD

 

It goes from 440-500 depending on were you go. I sell it for $440 shipped. Price is because of the bluetooth and it the highest end on the single din besides dropping in a single din dvd player radio. which is the dvh-p5000mp and its a nice unit too

 

Still...I'm not paying $400 for a flashy head unit that doesn't have all the features and the quality I want. I'm an audiophile, and most audiophiles are obsessed with sound quality. Sony is top-of-the-line in the electronics industry, and the $120 Sony Xplod head unit has the quality I am looking for, as well as the features I want. The features I look for in a head unit...Built-in amplifier with subwoofer/rear pre-out and a low-pass filter; front-mounted auxiliary inputs; wireless remote; CD/CD-R/CD-RW/MP3/ATRAC3plus/WMA playback capability; 120dB signal-to-noise ratio or better; 10Hz - 20,000Hz frequency response with &lt;0.1% THD @ rated power; removeable faceplate for added security; and studio-quality sound (rich, deep, clear bass; rich, crystal-clear mid-range; and clear, undistorted high-range sounds). I can get all those features and that level of quality for less than $200 by buying Japanese technology. If it isn't "Made in Japan", then it isn't the quality I desire.


Modified by mnaines at 4:08 PM 8/16/2006

 

Not trying to hijack the op thread but I am a audiophiles and I don't like sony. I think sony went out back in the day. I used to be on the sony bandwagon but the looks went to shyt and I kept having problems with them at cc when I was a slave to them,lol. But hey man, do you. If it not in your price range don't fret. No one is going to twist your arm to buy it. I stand behind it because I use it and it has features that I like. and It looks real cool at night. I will give it thumbs up and keep a look out for next years model. I just seen pics of it.

 

That's just the problem..."It looks real good at night"...More like a severe driving distraction at night. I do not want to be the victim of a car crash caused by a distracted driver. The Sony Xplod head unit I have has a dimmer that dims the display at night to make it less of a distraction. That, and how often to you see car audio companies like Pioneer making commerial and home electronics? When I look at brand names, I do not just look at one category of products and their reliability...I look at all categories and the quality and reliability of all the categories that brand makes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mnaines &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That's just the problem..."It looks real good at night"...More like a severe driving distraction at night. I do not want to be the victim of a car crash caused by a distracted driver.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Why do you people have to be like this? Ok, I'll get an ugly headunit, so it won't distract me while driving. How many people think this way? People get good looking stuff because they like it. That doesn't automatically mean that it will be a distraction.