Need help picking head unit
 

Hey guys,
who makes quality head units I'm running all fosgate pieces but since fosgate doesn't make head units I need to find something else.

looking for ideas on a single din head unit.

thanks

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

If you don't mind cutting, the 3 that come to mind are Eclipse, Alpine and Kenwood's Excelon line.

I like Kenwood, but from what I read it's the lesser quality of the 3, but I just don't really like the looks of the Alpines and don't want to drop the dough on an eclipse.

This is what I plan to purchase for my blazer when I get to audio:
Kenwood KDC-X993, I like the dual knob look of it.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...rL._SS500_.jpg

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

kenwood or clarion,pioneer
alpines nice, but don't like them,
I've got 2 kenwoods that are 15y/o+ and been in more cars than they should..

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Pioneer is very intuitive and easy to use and give superb sound quality. Kenwood isnt quite as easy to use, but isnt terribly complicated and is a solid product as well.

Also, Eclipse went under. They're only doing OEM stuff now from what I understand.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Clarion Pro Audio and dont look back;)

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I am a big Pioneer fan, I used a hand-me-down Pioneer 6 disc changer about 10 years old that still ran like a champ.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I used to be a huge Clarion Fan until I heard that they are now owned by Jensen and their quality went downhill and don't even talk about their looks *FUGLY*...

I recommend Alpine, Kenwood and Pioneer but I lean more towards Alpine especially their Head Units that support Imprint! I love how my cda-9887 sounds after being tuned with the imprint kit I have! My first Alpine and first time I ever installed a car stereo, better sounding then the Clarion Stereo I had paid $ 1500 for in my 68 back in 2001..

HTH,
Charlie

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I would go with pioneer, for the quality to dollar ratio, buyer friendly tuning capability, and function. Most units will allow you to get pretty intricate with the tuning which helps alot especially if you dont have alot of aftermarket pieces.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I've been selling Audio/video since 2002. Alpine is nice, thats whats in my daily driver. Its a nice looking unit, been having it in there since 2003. I had A Clarion Pro Audio radio in my old 93 Suburban. Best radio I ever owned, and by far one of the ugliest. If you want pretty, pioneer or alpine. And the pioneer from Walmart and best buy isnt the same as from an automotive carstereo dealer... looks the same, but its not. Eclipse units are nice, but Eclipse doesnt make radios anymore. And i wouldnt stop buying clarion because they make are a brother/sister to Jensen. Jensen actually makes some nice units too. There are alot of higher end brands that are affiliated with cheaper product lines... everybody cant afford high dollar electronics. Smart economics comes into play when a company does this:smoke:

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I have ran both pioneer and kenwood. The only downfall to the pioneers I have noticed is that when I was using cds that they didn't want to come fully out when ejected! Other then that they are great units. Think its more personnel preference. Just figure out what you want to be able to do with it and go shop around. There are a ton of good units around and for good prices.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Yeah I can understand where you are coming from, however, I was told by local Car Audio *Lombards Auto Sounds in Goleta, CA*, would primarily carry Eclipse and Clarion, however, as of the past 5 - 6 years, they have been carrying Alpine, Kenwood and Pioneer. I asked them what happened to Clarion and was told their quality went downhill and they are FUGLY.. I did not believe it until I hit up a Frys Electronics and Damn they are FUGLY. From what I have heard that since the whole Jensen, Clarions high end has had some reliability problems but considering my last Clarion system was a 2000 maybe 2001 and that was when they were at their best in my opinion. Even they were not ugly but actually great looking. I would agree about buying any stereo from Walmart and Best Buy, even considering Kenwood and Alpine from there are not going to be the quality like buying from an actual Car Stereo company.

As for low end car audio, I would not discount JVC, Kenwood, Alpine and Pioneer. I would avoid Boss and other in house brands. Now Planet Audio is supposed to be good, however, their amps, I would avoid as I have seen they get a bit too hot when being ran.

Now as for my opinion on Alpine though, Alpine CDA-9887 with KTX 100 EQ *imprint*, KCE422i *iPod cable that I am not using*, kca-400BT with kwe-460e *cable to hook up the bt to the deck*, kce-433iv *ipod cable from bt*, I got the entire package for $ 200 shipped. The Imprint is what really made this sound amazing. Which when I go to swap my 68s cab to my 71 AC cab, I am thinking Alpine as well, whether I pick up another 9887 or a newer model, I can still use the Microphone and Software to use the imprint!

HTH,
Charlie

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Does the imprint allow it to tune itself it do you use it in order to tune?
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Re: Need help picking head unit
 

wow over the last 5 years a shop drop'n the high end gear and selling the lower stuff,
that not have anything to do with the economy,right?????
alpine/kenwood/pioneer all have low end and mid high end..
pick one you like and go..
I have a banana box of alpines I've pulled to install another unit for friends because the alpine was dead..
take that for what it's worth, I got a box of sony's too.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

pioneer premier is what i buy/like

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I would not say it was due to the economy but it could be, however, they are still getting the outrageous prices for their installs! When I originally went in wanting to get an alarm *crimeguard*, Kenwood Excelon 445, Speakers, Sub, Box and an Amp, this shop wanted $ 8K for everything including Install. The owner still recommends Alpine over Kenwood and Pioneer. As of this weekend, he is back to carrying Clarion *just one deck* and he states the quality is about as par to Kenwoods which is saying a lot compared to his opinion on the whole Kenwood Excelon series which he was stating they have been having a lot of doa units. Ofcourse Alpine, Kenwood and Pioneer have low to high end and it all depends on what each person wants.

I know there are bad units between all of the companies including Clarion. If Clarion would come back to making actually making their same quality as they were building 10 years ago, there would be no comparison, I would be running Clarion again. As for my preference, the Imprint from Alpine, I am really happy with. SQ is what I am after and if Clarion can beat an Alpine Imprint SQ, or even Kenwood, Pioneer, JVC, Planet Audio or anyone, my money would be there!

Cheers,
Charlie

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I have always had good luck with Pioneer decks. Look good, sound great, work like a charm and if you actually listen to the radio, they have always had the best tuner.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I have sold a **** load of Clarion NX500 and 409's with only one coming back. Seems the face just shorted out. They sent another one without a hassle. I've sold alot of Eclipse, Planet Audio, Jensen etc... so far the Clarion was the only one. But their lines change from year to year. Problems go and come from year to year. Used to do alot of Panasonic, they are ok but dont have alot of volume. Not enough voltage going out. I have seen more broken pioneers and Sony radios then I would like to. I have a Sony in my box that I had to eat. Dam Xplod junk

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I have an Alpine CDA-117 right now. I like it pretty well - the iPod controls are super easy to use. Prior to this deck I always ran Pioneer Premier head units and I loved them. I went to Alpine because I liked their iPod controls better, but to me, the Pioneer was easier to use and was easier to set up however you wanted sound-wise. Had an Eclipse once and didn't much care for it.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Rockford Fosgate used to make very good quality decks, you can still find them if you look around. Im running an RFX-9220 in my '69

http://img40.picoodle.com/i537/gkolm..._3cc_u9hi9.jpg

http://img40.picoodle.com/i537/gkolm..._18f_u9hi9.jpg

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

IIRC, they relabeled this deck for MBQuart a year or two ago.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I really like my kenwood 993
i liked it so much i installed it in both my blazer and my daily driver
so i get in they are synced my calls come in thru my front speakers
and the pandora thru bluetooth is an awesome way to cruise....

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

I would shop around for an audio store besides Lombard's - IMO they are the highest price store on the planet. They seem to know what they are doing, but compare their prices with somewhere else. At least that's the case with their store in Santa Maria.

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Random insight on the subject.. I have concluded that of all products listed above the highest quality deck for your system would be a Pioneer.

I believe Pioneer utilizes much more bench testing with their equipment before shipping resulting in a much less defective products. As stated above they are also very user friendly, and have some of the widest frequency tuning ranges of all other decks.

Alpine is fantastic. Most of the new features you see on hu's today were on an alpine first (time correction, solid state drive OS, ect..) Their lowest end deck will cost you about the same as a mid range Pioneer(which is better).

Eclipse has lost a majority of their contracts for prefabricated radios to Pioneer and Sony and have really deteriorated in quality. Aesthetically they always looked the nicest to me, and they were used in major stereo comps because of their high output to amplification. I don't even know of a store here in Denver that installs eclipse, Car Toys/Quality Auto Sound?

I have installed more Kenwoods than any other deck, it is what is in my vehicle right now. I think they have very bland sound quality relying mainly on preset frequency ranges. Not nearly enough options can be troublesome when trying to eliminate reverberations from exhaust/engine/road noise. Kenwoods time correction is also the pits.

Sony and just about every other brand is basically just Sony. They will last a long time if you take care of it, but likely have basic features. Its what we put in a persons car if they live in an area with heavy auto theft because the insurance actually gives you more than what a sony costs.

15ys MECP

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Hey Dan,
Which is why I did the install myself for both the alarm and the system *which subsequently the prices on everything was still around $ 1500 less then what Lombards in Goleta was charging *the SM store used to be owned by the same owner as the Goleta, however, he sold it because the SM store was costing him more money then it was worth lol* but still $ 8K which they were charging $ 2100 - 2500 for everything but the install was the rest. I picked up the same alarm for $ 40 from Frys, had to buy 3x 5 pin relays for the install *crimeguard 350i5* as I did not need remote start, just keyless and I wanted some kind of security.

Then I did the stereo system the way I wanted it with out having to be told, that no rear speakers were required, but it was not too bad of an install for either the alarm or stereo, just had to have a lot of patience, test light and a volt meter for the alarm system lol. Total was around $ 700 for stereo and alarm install as well as the install was just a few days total for doing my first install. How is your 67 coming along?

HTH,
Charlie

Re: Need help picking head unit
 

Cool that you got exactly what you wanted - I did most of mine, but I'm having problems with interference from the motor, I think it's the HEI. I have a Retrosound in it right now, but the zip drive doesn't work properly, and it really doesn't sound that great, having to battle with my flomasters (even with an amp). I will probably cut the dash when the time comes, it gives you a lot more options. I wish there was a decent car stereo retailer/installer up here; we have that Lombard's, and one on North Broadway called Atlas, but they are hit or miss. Your story re-inspires me, though.:chevy: