stereo poll

if other, post brandname...

for what exactly? :confused:

Yeah, for what componant? Head unit? Subs? Mids? Amps?

oops!! I knew I forgot to write something... :)

headunit it is...

I voted Pioneer. I have the Pioneer Premier DEH-P730. I absolutely love it. It has 3 pre-outs, 3 band EQ, Subwoofer controls, Organic EL display with about 10 different screen savers, 50wx4 and you can bridge two of the channels to run a small sub (70wx1). A couple of my friends own a Car stereo store and they will say for the pioneers are one of the best decks you can find (that is why that is there #1 brand of head units they sell). The 730's runs about $400. Go with pioneer.:flash:

Pioneer is ok But i have a Mcintosh/Polk system i have 2x5 1/4" polk/momo component speakers model MM455 and a pair of 6 3/4" polk/momo speakers model MM465 in the front i also have two 12"polk/momo subwoofer's model MM120 in the trunk in a ported bandpass box and a Mcintosh amp model MC4000M powering it all it divides 100watts x4 for the main speakers and 300watts x2 for the 12's total system power output is 1000watts in one amp! oh and i have a Mcintosh MX406 headunit and a Mcintosh MPM4000 meter module to keep track how many watts im using.check it out at http://www.mcintoshlabs.com

:smoka::eek:

Clarion makes some damn good shiznit - its a shame they don't promote their retail as much, their bread and butter is OEM and thats where they get the quality from.... we are only allowed like 1 per million defective units.... All kidding aside, I've been an installer and heard/installed it all, and owned about half and I've been very pleased with all my clarion equipment even before I was working there hehe. You usually have to give up some looks and or ease of use but I'm noticing that trend with all aftermarket radios, too many buttons with too many features.....
Anyhow I'm about to get going on my setup I'll post a list/pics of the equipment when I've made my mind up and keep you all updated as I go along... Best part is I think I can get work to pay for it! lol
As a side note - Clarion and McIntosh are one in the same and at one time they had a head unit and amp that were copies of a Mac product but a LOT less.... I'll get model nummbers but the amp was a A####G or something like that, a purple one from a few years back....
Chris - it pays to help the engineers with their computer problems first when you need an amp repaired

I used to have a pioneer sound system in my old truck. It was the best investment I ever made as far as music is concerned.

Kenwood Excelon for me :D sounds clean and it was strong enough to push 2 sets of Kenwood Excelon HQ 6.5" components (1999 model) front and back, I had the KDC-X815 (2000 model) I never had any problems with Kenwood whatsoever, so its very reliable, I had everything Kenwood in my old sentra, So I plan on putting everything Kenwood in my G20 also, except it'll be their newer line of products...but to each his own...:licker:

here's a pic of the KDC-X815...

I chose Pioneer . . . my personal favorite:cool:

I tend to think that Nakamichi or Blaupunkt would produce the cleanest sound with the best sound quality . . .

Many may not know it, since the market is crowded with colorful, innovative designs, and all other kinds of bells and whistles . . .

But Blaupunkt and Nakamichi have been leaders in sound reproduction for quite some time . . .

yeah but my mcintosh still gives me a little brain damage everytime i leave my car my eye starts twitching :eek2:







J/K sort of :hehehe:

Kenwood Headunit and amp, and all INFINITY speakers. The demos in Future shop sounded better than anything else, and they were beat up. You get a real nice clean sound, for all you folks out there who go for quality and not volume.

I have had this deck for 2years know I was happy with it in the begining, but know every time I try to add a slave monitor (so I can play my playstation to while I commute 30min drive got to use my time wisely.) I get the run around from clarion we don carry anything no more, but then I call back later & they tell there is a slave monitor in dash for it, I got to nearest dealerS and they all tell don't know what your talking about & they try to sell me a new stup, give me 2grand I will half as install something in your car, I looked @ them with a glazed eye and say no thank's I install myself don't want you to rip me off!

Check this out my brother in law bought a A4 audi so he liked my deck & decided to get Clarion the top of the line with all the bells & whistles controls sub out put inverted & all that jazz 2months down the road it start to flicker on & off on its own while we are bumping at a car show,10 trips to the dealer 5 calls to clarion it turns out was defective well that was 1,300. well spent 8 months down the raod they give him the same deck I have & told him they dont make his deck no more, well he lost 1,000. bucks right there since the deck I got only cost 310.00.

So I am not very Inpressed with this brand right know I love there stuff but I am still trying to get the grand for my brother in law back & get that monitor in + to top it off I cant find the darn wiring diagram for the thing (xx7575z).

Sorry some frustration come out .:devil:

Ok calm down buddy first off in reply to your email to me about your deck - there is no slave in dash unit - you can buy a LCD monitor in dash or remote mount, and the tv controller and hook it up to your deck to control channels/volume but theres no magic slave unit.
Second off - It is very unlikely for a deck to die like your brother in laws - any brand - after installing for a long time as a job I know this pretty much it works or doesn't work or it will fail the first few days (I know I know there are exceptions). Anyways if you were "bumping" at a car show and it started to flicker here is what I'd suspect - first off bad wiring - did you install it yourself? You get a two year warranty on all clarion stuff if an authorized dealer installs it and one if you do it. Next I supposed he had amps/subs? Was the car running? If an amp is pounding away and draining the battery of juice and the head unit is given non normal input voltage it will eventually die. And finally - what head did he have are you exagerating a bit? The only head units clarion makes that are over a grand are the flip up fold out tv units.... And again what deck does he have? very unlikely they no longer have it the warehouse is full of stuff from two years ago even still being sold as refurbed....

Finally the wiring diagram for your radio - the wires are industry standard colors - if you can figure that out without the manual perhaps you should be having your stuff installed at the dealer. Not trying to rip you or get a flame war going - Being an installer I fixed a LOT of peoples mistakes and it makes no sense for you to be irate about something you knew you were getting into.

As for your bro-in law - if what really happened happened - sue the install shop otherwise stop griping - I doubt they only have him a head worth 300 for one worth 1300, and if they did and he accepted that, then its his own fault. And again even if he installed it clarion warranties it for a year - they'd repair it and if the shop did it its two years.........

Sorry for the long post/rant - but I'm working on fixing someone else "install" right now....

chris

:o

First of all sorry that I made it sound like I was ticked!

My brother in laws deck, as for his thing it had something to do with the deck it was sent to clarion for a look up & they determined it had something to do with some kind of lose board in there well they fixed it the flicker on & off continued in clarion's hands so they so it first hand, they couldn't find the problem that caused it. So they gave my borther in law another deck wich is a step above mine I beleive it came out to around $1300.00 cause of the digital sound processor that got screwed up from the power flicker on & off from the deck and all the other little things that he bought custom from clarion, a shop installed it.
Also the amp A pheonix gold god screwed up cause of the deck situation wich had to be sent to the manufacturer to fix burnt board from the flickering.

About my deck 7575z I have hooked up all the industry standard wires, & i still get the samting it runs out of back up power 5 day's later loose all my settings everything. maybe Im overlooking something but it just keeps telling my system check all the time.:confused: like the face say's I am confused I have installed decks for 10 years & this has never happened.

Maybe I will just sell it!

Than-x for the help.:bloated:

Ok your deck - sounds like a bad ground or perhaps the memory wire going to your battery is no good.
As for your brother in laws, I'm still not buying it man - the DSP got fried because "a board was loose" and the amp too? And all the head was doing was flickering on and off? Come on... You never mentioned that in your first post..... If an authorized dealer installed the equipment for you and what you are saying happened really happened, I'm sure they'd have replaced the deck, dsp, and amp if the deck failed like you said it did - but there is no way that a head unit fried your amp - if it did it probably would have taken your speakers with it - only possibility is SOMEHOW dc voltage got sent through your RCA's - that'd fry the proccessor, head, and amp but also make the nasty sound you've ever heard out of your speakers.....
So you've installed for 10 years eh? But you don't know what model head he had and you didn't know about the slave unit for your own radio?
Explain to me about ford door lock when you intergrate keyless entry - how do you hook them up?

Dude - sorry just not buying it.....

Chris

We finaly got confirmation from the shop, they are reinstalling the same deck he had before they found one excatly like what he had I will get the model # I beleive it is the auto pc it has the microsoft emblem in the middle & the shop finaly confesed to screwing up the install, they wouldnt go into details but they are payingg for the whole thing & yes you are right the speakers whent to. (I feel they were just trying to get out of paying for it)
They are replacing the whole set up down to the wires, they want to be sure this time.

About my deck I had it fixed today, the shop let me now what was up, some how the back up wire going into the deck was losen its contact inside & would not lett more juice to come in to the memory & would blank out, this shop in tracy sound bytes said they fixed the problem I will find out in 5 day's to see if it persist.:bloated:

Sounds good - glad to hear things worked out.....
Chris

Pioneer Premier DEH720 or 900R

Although a lot of people may not like Kenwood. I am in love with mine.

My deck is a brand new Kenwood eXcelon KDC-817. Plus it has been completely rebuilt on the inside. I know someone at Kenwood, so I got an incredible deal ($252 w/ S&H) for a deck that theres only one of.

High-end Kenwoods have incredible sound. Much more than you would expect out of them. Mine now sounds even better because I had them up the voltage of the pre-amp outputs. The AM/FM tuner was replaced with a much better one. Even though I dont listen to the radio.. I had it put in anyway.. just in case. Plus my friend who I got the deal through (hes an engineer) added in a lot of new goodies. Im not that much of an engineer.. im just a bigtime car audio buff. Heh.

Go Kenwood go!

I have all infinity kappa in my G. It's loud and perhaps more importantly, it's clean.

Kappa is pretty good, props given.

They make some really nice components, and some really nice speakers. But their subs are a different story, I cant figure it out yet.. but Infinity subs are no good.

I dont know about everyone else here.. but Focal components... holy shit wow those are good. But you wont ever see me letting my 2 sets of Audiophile components go.

Anyone remember Audiophile? Great company.. went out of business because they couldnt compete with name brands.. but they used to have some amazing people working for them...
JL/Xtant/PPI's amp designer, MB Quarts installer, Soundwerks engineer. Lots of good people. I happen to make friends with the guy who owned Audiophile and got myself some of their last few components around for super cheap. I've never heard speakers like this..

Except Dyn.. if anyones heard Dyn Audio's components you'd have to go change your pants.

i would go with alpine because they have the cleanist head unit as far a distortuin goes nice displays also depends on how much money you are willing to lay down
sleepy:devil:

I have a mcintosh amp i want to sell if anybody is interested. its the 100x4 amp. i bought it about 5 years ago and never put it into my car. Got lazy. Also have an alpine CDA-7940 cd tuner head unit that i was gonna use with my amp but still sitting in my desk at work. If anybody is interested make me a serious offer for either one and will talk.

Thanks
davin
[email protected]

I have a Rocford Fosgate connected to palin factory speaker. Best Buy Did the head unit install . Iit is not really loud but I am happy for now.

Well, except one ... thing... Malibu maybe you can help... the Headt unit is not flush with the rest of the Dash. I took it back to best Buy and they told me that nissans are " just like that " with aftermarket radios. But I look in these post and no one else's poke out the half inch that mine is ...

I thought that " nissan adapter kit " they made me buy would solve this . my other P10 came with a sony that is nice and flush ....

Ya - the bastards never take the time....
Normall with most head units you can recess them back a bit - normally one screw hole in the back will line up but you may need to make your own hold in the radio chassis to hold it in the front - use VERY small screws to do this and you may want to pull the top or bottom radio cover off to check for clearance first..... But ya, if you do that you can usually put the trim ring back on the radio and butt it up against the back of the plastic radio bezel and it will look fine and dandy.
Chris

Thanks malibu.. but they did not give me back the original trim for the radio !!! Anybody got one they can hook me up with ... DAMN @#%@^##@*@

i suggest eclipse head units...

Pre amp quality wise Nakamichi is probably the best..but their prices are rather high too
I love the Alpine CDA 79xx series....
no built in amps... awesome pre amp signals...
The new CDA 7990R ...awwwww retailed at $3000usd :eek: :eek: :eek:

other wise...
Pioneers make some pretty funky units too... don't think too many other brands could beat their "price vs feature".

Pioneer DEH-P3300 [I think that's the right model #]

Decent Value
Good Power [MOSFET 50x4]
Keeps the bells and whistles to a minimum, while still having enough features to tweak the sound to its best.

The Sony Active Black Panel units are real trick, plus they sound good. One of my friends has a Khameleon(or whatever.)in his truck(heh.)and it's even more showy. Also, Sony stuff tends to be really expensive, but it's usually real good. I found my ABP unit for $250 at www.jandr.com , which was $150 of the MSRP, although to find it, i had to search for the model number, as it was nowhere to be found through normal navigation.

Well, I had a Clarion 8575z deck, Infiniti Kappas all the way around, an Inifiniti Kappa Perfect 12.1 sub, and fosgate amp for the sub, but someone decided they wanted to stick a large object through my window and rummage through my car and take the faceplate (hidden) and remote (also hidden) for my deck. It's $220 for a replacement faceplate... DOH! :( So....

Now i'm looking for a new deck. I'm looking at the Pioneer DEH-P7300 I can get it for under 250 shipped, that's the biggest selling point right there. I'd love another Clarion, but they are more expensive.

Eclipse...
3year warranty
1st year over the counter exchange
1st year theft replacement
Best sounding cd player in the industry (Industry Poll)

With every Eclipse cd player you are investing in sound quality not a light show. That is why more and more competitors win sound offs with Eclipse head units.

eclipse actually does rule, i had a 5303r for 3 years..it was actually sorta problematic, didnt matter at the time since i was friends with a rep.=) but i finally got a cd8061 not too long ago,all i have to say is that eclipse offers incredible quality now adays, and there stuff is definitely in the same arena as high end alpine stuff and whatever else that is out there, but if i had to choose between brands, id look at nak, alpine, and eclipse..

one love
babir:smoker2:

Eclipse 7002 in dash video screen.

Never again will buy Clarion! :finger: Had a very bad experience dealing with them. Gave me a hard time replacing a new alarm that I bought at Crutchfield. Clarion's manager didn't want to replce it, but thank God! for Cruthfield's 100% backing up what they sell. They gave me a brand new Clarion alarm. Well, the alarm now is sitting on the box along with my audio components. I don't mind Sony, Alpine, Kenwood and Nakamichi. Any suggestions on hooking up my stuff. I know what I have are not those High-End components, but for me, it's good enough for now. I'm satisfied with the sounds..., even the factory head unit(Panasonic) and the speakers for awhile.

ronnie g.

Has anyone seen those Alpine subs? those are freaking clean...I want some real bad, like have 2 12inch R-types and an 8inch Stype in the middle.....i think i could cry...

If i had to choose 12s id pick either JL W7 OR Rockford Fosgate 3112 OR the new Eclipse. as far as head units go...Rockford, Nakamichi, Eclipse or Blaupunkt. Just no sony or pioneer crap

Without a doubt, Nakamichis give the cleanest sound. Their units lack any glam, but they are highly practical, and effective.

I've run Clarion for a couple of years, and I'm pretty impressed. The user interface is not the best I've seen out there, but they give a good clean 4V line out, and the quality is pretty good. Clarion would remain as my pick for my next HU.

I've run the Rockford, and I haven't been too impressed.

Pioneer, I will always say, is possibly the best value for money. However, if you're looking for some more clarity and quality, spring for the Nakas, Clarion, or Alpine.