its been a little over a year when i bought it..and the laser got diffective..my warranty is done and i have to pay to fix it..sony charges 125 and some local shop 115....BULLSHIT!! i payed big bucks for this cd/mp3 player and now its fucked up..cheap *** sony piece of ****..i knew i shouldve went with pioneer..anyone esle had this problem? what did u do..i might as well buy a new head unit..im pissed..that HU was like the best thing on my car..

 

My recommendation: don't buy Sony products any more. People always like Sony stuff just because they're big and other people buy their stuff, but it's really not that great. Sony is like the GM of electronics; they're in lots of markets, and make lots of different products, but they don't lead in any of them. For head units, better brands are Kenwood and Alpine, maybe Pioneer.

 

Well said. I worked at Major Electronics companies for many years and I will never ever buy any of their garbage. They are so well known, such a HUGE company, they have the brand recognition, so they don't have to try. They don't have quality because they have brand loyalty. Like people that buy Fords, have major problems with the car a couple years later, then they go buy a new car, cause they don't know any better.

Alpine, Kenwood, Eclipse, Clarion are all HUs I would buy. Pioneer is OK, I just don't like their funky controls personally.

 

aww man...all this isn't making me feel so good about the hu i just bought.





[Modified by 5th Gen, 5:17 PM 12/6/2002]

 

Sony has had issues with their head units for a long time I just got fixing a CDX-910 that the outputs went out for no reason. My MDX-400 has been running perfect and have never had a problem yet. I don't think I will ever get rid of this deck.

 

hope i don't have any problems with mine

 

so what u saying don't buy a sony playstation 2?

 

I wouldn't buy one simply because I couldn't care less about console games, but that's beside the point. The point is don't look to Sony to be a leader in quality simply because they're huge, especially in a market they don't dominate (like car audio). Plus, comparing the PS2 to their car audio products is like comparing a Plymouth Neon to a Mercedes S-class. They're both products of the same megacorporation, but other than that they have absolutely nothing in common. People don't hear about the lackluster quality of a Neon and decide against buying a $95,000 Mercedes because of it, because they associate them with different brand identies. But they have friends with a bunch of Sony products like PS2s and then think that somehow the people that made their car audio line are the same people that made the PS2, and of course that's pretty silly reasoning.

 

Sony just has their hands in too many pots. There are some brands like Clarion, Eclipse, Alpine, JL, etc. that don't make TVs, Games,Computers, Monitors, Digital Camers, CDs, Stereos, VCRs, and just about everything else that somehow has power. These companies that specialize in car audio spend all their R&D dollars on car audio because that's ALL they do. Sony does spend a good amount on their higher end(and money maker) products, such as their ES line and PS2, but have you ever heard of people having problems playing DVDs with their PS2? I have a PS2, but I don't use it to play DVDs. I have a Sampo DVD player, not well known but probably the best quality DVD player you can buy. BEcause they don't have the luxury of brand recognition, they can't get $300 for a piece of crap, they are forced to use only the best components and sell the units for much less.

 

Even the ES lines have problems both my decks are ES line. Actually now that I think about it my MDX-400 is stuck in digital mode. I can't get it back to anolog. I don't really care because I run fiber in my car instead of RCAs. This type of crap is unexeptable this deck was $1400 in 97. The other problem I have with Sony is there products aren't cross platform compatible. Just because you buy all Sony doesn't mean it will function correctly.

I also have a cheap CDX-CA400 that I bought for my beater car. When you turn the car on the radio tuner losses its signal you have to retune the station.

If at all possible stay away from Sony.

The only reason I keep buying Sony is they always seem to be the inovative leader. Nobody else seems to have what I want when I want. My entire home audio is there ES line as well. And there new HDTVs are looking pretty damn nice. to me.


[Modified by nsxxtreme, 2:56 PM 12/7/2002]

 

I didn't say you won't have problems with ES, just that they spend more R&D dollars on ES. And I would actually buy a TV of theirs if they weren't so overpriced. You can get a Toshiba with a much better quality picture for a much lower price, so it's an easy decision. Go to a store that carrys both and look at them side by side.


[Modified by sp, 11:47 PM 12/7/2002]

 

Do the HU that play mp3s have a different laser? I might get a new HU and was considering the kenwood x859 or the x759. If the mp3 laser are more sensitive I might just get the regular ones.

 

ps2's are known to break down pretty easy too. go on ebay, and look at all the broken ps2's you see for sale. and for what? the same problem..something about disc read error.

 

it's the same laser, it's just reading a CD. the only difference is the audio decoder. it can decode MP3s instead of standard CD audio. i've had Sony HUs for quite some time and have had friends with them as well, and we've never had a single problem. JVC on the other hand, they suck my ***s. (2 dead in 3 years, never again.)

 

Heh but don't forget Eclipse is really Fijitsu Ten, who makes alot of stuff, even heavy industry products. All asian companys are this way. Sony's car audio still sucks either way though. I *NEVER* recommend it to any of my customers. Alpine all the way

 

I've never bought any Sony car audio products and dont plan on it either. A feiend of mine thought they were so good, he bought two 10" subs and an amp, didn't like the sound of the subs and the amp was always overheating and didn't actullay put out as much as it said it would. wow, thats a long sentance.
I say some good brands for HU's are Alpine, Nakamichi(sp?), Kenwood, some JVC, pioneer....also, I have a blaupunkt right now and I think its a nice deck, had it for a year, still works like it was brand new

 

i've owned sony decks and they've personally all looked crappy and performed crappy

 

Sony isnt as bad as you think. I own many things that are sony. A t.v., dvd, vcr, portable cd player, minidisc, ps2, computer, and a couple other things. Their elcectronic products are just as great as any others in there price range, if not better. I can not speak for car audio. I have owned all of these things for years and the only thing I can complain about is that if you have a slightly scratched cd or dvd, sony products cant read them worth a ****.

 

sony makes excellent video products like their dv cameras and televisions. they also come out with alot of innovative products. Summary don't buy sony speakers and head decks but when it comes to video buy it.

 

Yeah, to make a general statement as "don't buy sony" is just as bad as consumers buying because of brand loyalty.

Just because they're a megacorporation doesn't mean "ALL" of their products sucks. I just picked up a DV camcorder and after months of shopping for prices, features, quality, and other stuff, I ended up with a sony unit and I purchased an additional warranty from HiFi buys in case something ever happened.

 

Sony makes excellent home and office electronics but I would stay away from them when it comes to car audio. Go with Alpine next time, top quality.

 

I don't know about the whole sony thing... I have had many sony head units. None of them went out on me at all. I am still using my head unit and cd changer from 7 years back and with no problem at all.