Best Head Unit

I like alpine the best, i own the CDA-9827 model and i love it.

I like Alpine heads personally, Eclipse is good too but IMO I hate the way they look

I got the 9827 too...its pretty badass other than the fact I cant adjust my mids like I can with a Pioneer. I dont really get why they didnt put that in with the bass and treble.

i love eclipse

out of your choices .....

Alpine .... love 'em
Sony ..... sux, they will skip after a year or two
Pioneer ... skips too, but the looks and sound quality are usually good
Kenwood ... never liked them

others:
Eclipse ..... always gets good marks
Nakamichi ... a good solid unit with generally very few "frills"

i like the rockford fosgate headunits to bad there too damn much just for a cd player :(

Best would be a DENON...

Pioneer all the way

i love my alpine 9807

in terms of head units, i think i'll put them in the order i think they're best in

alpine
eclipse
pioneer
kenwood
panasonic
clarion
sony
jvc

Ive always liked Pioneer car electronics; Right now ive got Pioneer head, amp, and subs. even though they may not hold 'best' in these areas, i am very happy with my setup.

One thing not known as much about most of the Pioneers is that you can independently adjust the EQ for front and rear speakers.....very useful to optimze music quality.

With respects to PaulD, our fearless moderator, I gotta go with Kenwood Excelon

let's just say I have had "issues" with kenwood ... unfortunately, you the consumer, get to do some of their R & D

they had a problem with cd players skipping, their service bulletin said to tie a piece of nylon fishing wire to two opposite corners and tighten it down - "that should be enough to get it through the warranty period" ... their words

A certain model of home reciever kept coming back becasue it wouldn't turn on. We tracked it down to a turn on/off muting board with a wrong value resistor. The pics that came with the schematic did not show the add-on board from the top (where it was sitting), but you could just see the side of it from the bottom pic. They tried to cover up that the thing was even on there.

stuff like this makes you wary of a company

i like my JVC KD-G700. sounds good, looks good, pretty cheap ($200 at best buy). my only complaint is that it doesn't have any auxillary outputs, but i'll live. other than that it's great

Thanks for the insight, PaulD - I'll keep an eye out... But I'm on my 3rd Kenwood deck (keep trading up) with no problems so far (I've actually installed the tradeouts in my friends' cars and they've been happy so far, 'cept one friend that notices CD skipping over hard bumps like RR tracks, but that's it), so maybe I've been lucky... (knock on wood!)

i like my JVC KD-G700. sounds good, looks good, pretty cheap ($200 at best buy). my only complaint is that it doesn't have any auxillary outputs, but i'll live. other than that it's great

panasonic

I think it is the CQ-DF363U(sat, mp3, c.d, f.m/a.m)

Mine never skips on any kind of bump.

I have had it for a while!

I have a Sony...it's alright, I guess.

But from what I've seen, I think Eclipse is the best. They may not have the best looking headunits, but the sound quality is freakin' awesome. I'm hoping to upgrade mine to the top-of-the-line Eclipse player soon.

Lets all just chant Alpine and be joyful.

I've had a pioneer for about 6/7 years now..(35w x 4 if that says anything)..It has never failed me and has only skipped once when I ran into the back of another car at a red light going 15. Have a Kenwood DDX7105 double din in-dash DVD being installed next week so my mind may change.

Best is definately Pyle...j/k

What's everyone think of the BLAUPUNKT??? My dad has the new HEIDELBERG, he says it's really nice.

i don't know, i put a blaupunkt in my cousin's car. she liked it but then again she just wanted something that played cd's. she wasn't an audiophile like us.
personally i wouldn't get one. i had a jvc that my dad's friend gave to me and it lasted a good 4 years for me (not to mention the 5 that was in his car) it eventually crapped out and i bought an alpine and i flippin love it.
i was looking at pioneer but didn't really like the buttons configurations and stuff.
my friend had a sony and it sucked more than a hoover.

i have the pioneer deh-7500mp and it sounds great and looks awesome

alpine, pioneer

as far as non competition setups go, the name ///Alpine is synomonous with value and superb quality

in general alpine

but subjective the rockford fosgate 8720(i think thats the model), this wasn't made by rockford it was made by denford, and it has no internal amp, just a great sq unit..... :)

What's everyone think of the BLAUPUNKT??? My dad has the new HEIDELBERG, he says it's really nice.

blaupunkt makes some nice headunits actually, good for the money, probly the best you can find for the money, or certainly one of them...

not the best for the money.... they are better but they cost more for equivelant models and even though this is a small issue they look hideous, like a stock HU from the 80's

Blaupunkt DO like hideous, I hate the way they look but they seem to be pretty good. I love my panosonic - mp3/wma player, 7 band eq, 5 volt preouts and 25Wx4 (btw, has anyone seen/heard that new 60W a channel one?), and I really like the way they look.

i like alpine there a good brand

u cant go wrong with alpine, like i said

I have a panasonic and I love it. It looks good and sounds great and the price is reasonable.

One reason everyone loves eclipse is because their preamp output level's are very high, I believe that some of them even come with 14V preamp outputs... compared to most other headunits that give you 2 or 4, or maybe 6 if you get a high end unit

Alpine 7909...I heard that they will specially make this classic headunit for a hefty price

I don't think the 7909 is made anymore .... the replacement is the 7990

alpine and pioneer are good

the lastest sony's out are good also...
i've had a cdx800 for over a year now i love it... produces good sound has lots of good options

this thread has been around since before i came here. alpine is GOOD. Pioneer is GOOD. Eclipse is GOOD. nuff said please.........:)

this thread has been around since before i came here. alpine is GOOD. Pioneer is GOOD. Eclipse is GOOD. nuff said please.........:)

lol u havent been here all that long (neither have i but thats not the point...)

This thread should be dead... pac is right, it has been around forever. P.S. don't forget the denfords...

I need to buy a head unit, some amps, and I want 2 15" subs
But, I have no idea of what brand I should use for these things

try making a seperate post for this

years ago when I gave my 2cents to this poll (#23), I had about 300 post under my name, (the count wasn't right then either), now I'm up to one hundred and something...

they must start over if you don't post for a while ? I really don't know about that.

It's all good, when I deploy and come back the count start over, I think this is like the third time now...

HEAD UNIT POLL...
ALPINE
PIONEER

Im going with Pioneer cause i just got a new one a couple months back, about 100 bucks at Best Buy. I dont deny better ones are made but this one does okay. i havent heard any complaints.

Pulling up an old thread.....

I happen to dislike all recent HU's they all have the stupid tilt volume buttons that are getting way. They are to flashy and just really turn me off. I like my old panisonic from 2005, its plain looking but it has the 7 band eq along with the 5v preouts and 2 aux inputs, something i can't find any more. Stick it to this iPod crap Creative ZEN for LIFE!!!!

Panasonic FTW.

I too am a little (ok a lot) disappointed with recent headunit offerings. Most companies are getting away from the 4-5 volt output, have an entire stereo sytem built in (eq, crossover, time delay and amps), and generally look like a mutant christmas tree when they are all lit up.

Whatever happened to the primary task of a cd player .... PLAYING a cd ?

Yes, God bless Panasonic. Nowadays they're the only ones where you can get 5 volt preamp outs on their decks for not a lot of money.

Yes, God bless Panasonic. Nowadays they're the only ones where you can get 5 volt preamp outs on their decks for not a lot of money.

And they dont look like they where dipped in a bath of chrome, or made in some third country.

the only reason why I want an Alpine still is I am going to run digital optical the h701 processor.

the best is the 9856...thats what ive had for a year and its sick

believe it or not....here in L.A. I've been hearing many good things about the new headunits from Panasonic

darn, the poll shows that everyone is in love with ///Alpine

I'll agree with 93rollaracer (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=163948). I like JVC. I have the KD-LH 910 which features an SD card slot...very cool feature!! I liked it so much I bought a second for my second vehicle. I previously had a Pioneer and I WILL NEVER OWN ANOTHER!!! JUNK IMO. Both my Pioneer and a friend's Pioneer liked to hold cds in the slot and you had to manually lift the cd to eject it. Also had problems with Pioneer and durability and I'm certainly not rough on my stereos! GO JVC!!!