Best Head Unit

im looking for a new head unit, preferly one with an mp3 player. wat the best head unit out there? my budget is $200. any suggestion?

i would personally only buy pioneer head units.

Pioneer is a great deck to get for the money. Panasonic is a good one, too. Just got a new Panasonic for my car recently, and so far, I'm happy with it. Kenwood makes a good deck as well, however, it's got a *lot* of on-the-face buttons that can make life confusing. In all reality, you're going to have to shop around and find the deck that *you* like. There are going to be way too many opinions out there. One person will be a die hard Alpine fan, while another will be a Blaupunkt lover. All depends on the features you want vs. the money you can spend. But, once again..for the money, Pioneer is a great option.

Crutchfield told a friend of mine that Pioneers had the best AM/RM radio reception you could get. Just something to take into consideration if you listen to the radio pretty often. I now have a Pioneer and I'd agree with their statement.

I now have a Pioneer and I'd agree with their statement.
I wouldn't :D My friend gets a lot better reception with his Panasonic than I do with my Pioneer. Otherwise, I do like mine better and will continue to buy Pioneer.

thanks for the suggestions. im was thinking about gettin an Alpine but i gotta even save up more for it. you guys knows the price range for one?

Depends on the model Alpine you want, but they usually start around 200.

I have an Alpine CDA-9835 (last years model) and I would not trade it for anything. You can find a used one for around $250 and maybe a new one for $300 but it is well worth it. If you are going to be running subs, look at how many volts are on the pre-outs. The higher the better. Also look at how many there are, for your other speakers. There are a lot of different head units, look around before you buy.

Have been a die hard Pioneer fan myself for years now, love their gear... for 200 bucks I would do some shopping around ebay etc... find someone that sells overstocks etc, anybody will tell ya 200 bucks isnt much to spend on a head unit... so shop around to get the most bang for your buck. I have seen some nice Pioneer head units on e bay for between 175 - 350

alpine by far would be best. pioneer premier which is in your price range so thats not a problem is a good one too. kenwood and panasonic i would reccomend staying away from unless you spend more for their higher models which are decent. but honestly you wont get a great h/u with that price range but just look at what kinda features you really need and narrow it down by doing that.

ALPINE is simply the way to go. It's proven that Alpine has the cleanest, clearest signal of all the major car audio manufacturers. They have for the past 6 years running. I have a CDA-9843. It's around $200-$220 at my local electronics place, but I bought mine brand new on eBay for $160 shipped. It plays Mp3's and it has 3 sets of pre-outs, one being specifically for a subwoofer (or subwoffers) with the control for the subs on the head unit itself so you can turn the sub down without turning the bass on all your speakers down. And the face changes 4 different colors. (Pretty cool i think) I hear Panasonic does make a good one. I'm not too sure about Pioneer. Most of therre other car audio stuff is junk. I say, why not go with the best, if it's around the same price range as the others. Whatever you decide, just don't get a sony xplode.:grinno:

Newbs cmon read the dates before posting, im pretty sure this guy has had the headunit for a while.

And panasonic>alpine. more features, nice displays(OEL graphics, can add your own pictures to the screen and short vids). I will admit alpines are nice HU's but i would take a panasonic over an alpine in almost any circumstance.