Which Head Unit Brand Do You Prefer?

Adapter cables are cheap on ebay. I spent about 60 bucks on my cdrb10 (aux input plug for Pioneer) about 3 years ago, now you can get it for like $15.

meh, i like them for a couple reasons:

  • i don’t think mine has Ever skipped going over rough roads. Ever. if there was ever a reason why i would buy a unit, that’s one of the main things i want.

  • i had the 5414(?) and the CD4000 so far, been Very pleased with both. wouldn’t change anything about either one.

  • i’ve actually used the theft warranty on mine before. they stand behind it, sent me a new one. i don’t know of any other brands that do that.

  • sony sucks. their customer service is a joke. i wouldn’t expect them to offer to fix, replace, or do anything for me if i ever needed anything. i really don’t like anything they make, across the board. you might want to do some research on their product quality over the past few years.

Pioneer.

wow… well I’ve been outta the car audio for a couple years due to funding, but from my personal experiences…

Sony - used to be good, back in the late 90’s, once they went from high-end stuff their enitre car audio line went to hell, can’t recommend them at all unless you’re talking old-school equipment (But their stuff lasts, the HU that I bough in '97 is still working wonderfully in my brothers summer truck)

Pioneer - only used a long time ago and ALWAYS had problems with quality, astetics, and things breaking…

Alpine - Always made a good solid product, and always worked wonderfully; still running one in my DD. The only issues I’ve ever had is with the writing wearing off some of the buttons from usage, but that’s typical with anything

Eclipse- Used to be top-of-the line, hearing other things lately

Nag - Was always a great less-known-brand with high-end audiophile reviews

JVC - Was not impressed with the Kamelion that a friend had that I installed, always stuck, and just seemed to have blah quality.

panasonic - I believe they are making Alpine now, with Pioneer being the “lower” name; always had decent results and liked their units, even the lower-end ones.

Personally as of now, I’m not really sure what I’d want; hell, I would probably look for a used but good condition Alping 7949 (I beleive this was the model number); this was one of the best car audio head units ever produced as reviewd by almost anyone

1.eclipse FTW
2.alpine

I’ve got a cheap Kenwood. It’s been through several cars. Problem free. :tup:

why isn’t pioneer an option?

Eclipse then Pioneer then Kenwood. The only thing to be said bad about Eclipse is the newer units seem to have less fm stereo reception. But the Ipod intergretion is the best out there and adaptor for intergretion is only $45.

I have had a lot of headunits and played with a bunch of my friends units…
Alpine’s lack highs and they break.
Sony’s are only good for highs and nothing else…they break even more than Alpines.
JVC and Panasonic are just cheap sounding…Worse than oem radios alot of the time.

Old Tensiju(?) Eclipse stuff, then Pioneer. New, Pioneer fo sho. Followed by Alpine maybe.

I’ve gone through quite a few, and “classic” eclipse is still my fave…

More importantly, if You are dropping >$400 on a deck, PLEASE tell me that You are not running stock’ish coaxials off of the HU amp. :ugh:

well for all the eclipse haters it now comes with a detachable face on the 2007 models and the cd 5100 and 7100 have 8 volt pre outs for the money now one can touch the pioneer in the same price range is 5 volts also i ran a pioneer and loved it however they have HUGE overheating problems i smoked one and all the others i had ran hot as :smash2: but both a quality decks look into the NEW eclipse coming out don’t believe they are in stores till next month or buy my 5425 so i can get the 7100 :slight_smile:

Pioneer

How about Nakamichi??

[quote=“JaysGreenLX,post:31,topic:24058"”]

How about Nakamichi??

[/quote]

I have never heard one but I’m not a fan of what I see…

Heres one of the nakamichi’s
Nakamichi CD-700II

HIGH End CD single Receiver

$1,299.00

Technical Specification

  • WMA Playback: No
  • Satellite Radio Ready: No
  • Preamp Voltage: 5 volts
  • MP3 playback: No
  • Maximum Power: No Watts
  • HD Radio: No
  • DIN: 1
  • Changer Control: Yes
  • CD Text: Yes
  • Bluetooth: No
  • Aux input: Yes
  • CD-R/CD-RW Compatible: Yes
  • Detachable Face: No

Features

  • Uncompromising sound quality
  • Hand-selected left and right channel 24-bit D/A converters
  • 4-gang rotary analog volume control
  • Selectable Analog/Digital CD changer inputs
  • 5-volt preamplifier output
  • Safe and reliable disc handling
  • Noise rejection shielding
  • Aluminum faceplate and volume control knob
  • CD changer controller
  • 3-D Viscous suspension
  • Anti-Roll stabilizer
  • 24bit Ladder-type D/A converter
  • 4-Gang Analog volume control

I mean I’m not really crazy about some of the headunits’ displays or general layouts but I don’t want to take it all the way back to the ‘stone age’ look to get rid of something like pioneers’ obsession with dolphins. Plus 1300 for a unit that isn’t even compatible with 5year old technology.:smash2:

I love my Sony. Flip down face place, awsome controls, and sounds great.

8v preouts will fry most amps. :tdown: eclipse

I love my pioneer, no frills but overall a great head unit, next head unit is definetly gonna be alpine though.

pioneer colored screen.Its cool you can make a screen saver on your comp and upload it to your headunit

Eclipse is the only brand that I would buy. I gave up on the car audio awhile ago though. I’m happy with the stock players in my Talon and tC.

i love my kenwood…thanks dirty :wink:

[quote=“dirtye30,post:34,topic:24058"”]

8v preouts will fry most amps. :tdown: eclipse

[/quote]

not true…running cheap amps and cranking the gain all the way because the amp isn’t worth a shit fries amps. If you have 8v preouts you just turn down the gain…almost all the way for some amps. I have never fried any of the about 20amps I have used and pushed hard with my 8v preouts.

should have put pioneer on the poll