hey, my name is mike, and im looking for some advice... i have a 1995 dodge neon (www.cardomain.com/id/mhz2010) that i would like to put a system in eventually, but would like to start with a head unit first. I have liked Clarion (have no clue why, have never heard any in action) for a while, but would like to know whether or not you guys here at H-T like Clarion Pro Audio. In particular, i have been interested in DXZ545mp and DXZ645mp at the clarion.com site; these are the new 2004 models, coming out in about a month. I would like to know what you think of these head units compared to eclipse, sony xplod, jvc, alpine, pioneer, or whatever less popular brands there are. Thanks....

mike

yes, i know this is honda tech, and i do have a neon, and i do know neons aren't real good cars... lol... peace

 

Alpine fan here, Ive owned clarion, sony, kenwood, and Alpine. Alpine was IMO 2nd in sound quality to my Kenwood unit but I never had a problem with it skipping like I did with every other head unit. Check out a 7939, 7949, 7939 (I think). They are older units but I have come to find out that car audio equipment from 1995 to 1999 is far superior in most cases, to the stuff that has come out lately.

 

I have an older clarion (DXZ715), and it have worked flawlessly. Sounds freat, and has NEVER skipped due to bumps.

I'd recommend it.

 

I run only Clarion Pro Audio in my cars. Currently have a DXZ925

Sony and especially Kenwood sound like complete and utter crap to my ears. Alpine makes good stuff thouth.

My personal preference:

1. Clarion
2. Alpine
3. Don't really consider anything else.

 

I was an installer at a car audio shop that sold Clarion for about 4 years. When the store opened, Clarion was their first complete line (head units, speakers, amps). We also sold Alpine, Eclipse, and Sony. Before I worked there, I worked at another shop that sold Kenwood.

First off, Sony's entry level line freakin sucks!! That crap never worked right, and the trim ring design was terrible.

Alpine is and was great. Their older stuff is the best. But they are so damn expensive.

Eclipse was okay, but we had trouble with the warranty dept. Had a cd player on the display that messed up so we sent it in and they repaired it. That one was one month old. Should have been replaced in my opinion.

Kenwood head units are pretty nice. The only flaw I have found in them is the faceplate, but that is a problem with all of them. Head units that have a motorized face, or one that completely flips like the "MASK" have ribbon cables that go bad over time. When these cables go bad, you cannot control any thing on the unit. So that means if you've got it cranked up, the cable messes up, the only way to turn it down is to pull the fuse from the fusebox, or pull the radio out and unplug it, then you've lost your cd.

Clarion was awesome. For the price, you get a lot of features that you don't get with other units. They don't have the flashy screen savers like Pioneer, but at least you could operate them without having a wreck. As for the warranty dept, you could almost send them a brick in a cd player box and get credit for it. Their weren't very many that came back. The ones that did, got replaced, not repaired (unless they were four years old).

I now do help my parents with their golf cart business and we picked up Clarion Pro. Just waiting on the 04 stuff to come out.

 

yeah, so am i. so it seems that clarion and alpine are the top... what do you guys know of power handling w/o an amp with clarion heads? but thanks for the other info... peace

mike

 

The older Alpine's seem to have cleaner power. The 03 and 04 models don't seem like they sound as good. Most of the upper end clarion's as far as I can tell sounded pretty good