Head units

ok, here is the first one of the series ....... I guess I will work my way down. Please list what head units you have had experiences with - good or bad. What brands you prefer and why.

I have had experiences with Sony, Pioneer and Alpine

Sony ..... I purchased the first 3 players they ever made, they were good except they tend to skip after the first year or two.

Pioneer ..... I had the DEX-M88 on the advice of Richard Clark, I had it modified to accept his noise gate. It was a good player too, but after several years, it too began to skip. I guess I shouldn't expect it to last forever.

Alpine ........ I currently have the 7930, I have had this one for 6 or 7 years and it still doesn't skip. Because I seriously doubt I could tell the difference in sound of most good CD players, I tend to favor Alpines because they basically never skip.

Pioneer DEH-1300: probably the worst headunit i've own. after 3 months, it skips and buttons stopped working. when it played, it was great though.

Clarion DBR-4675: it's ok. preouts were only 1.7v though. still not a bad player for a beginner. this is a feature-less deck though. none of them suited me well. tends to not like cd's that are a BIT scratched.

Alpine CDA-7965: great deck. very high quality and doesn't get hot (no internal amp). never skipped before and very cool display:D all the features i need like crossover, phase adjuster, etc. kind of bright at night, but you'll get use to it.

"kind of bright at night, but you'll get use to it"

is there a wire on the back called "lights" ? If so, it will dim the display when the lights are turned on.

Originally posted by PaulD
"kind of bright at night, but you'll get use to it"

is there a wire on the back called "lights" ? If so, it will dim the display when the lights are turned on.

it'll just dim the LCD screen (whatever you call it), but it won't dim the buttons. i got use to it so its no problem. sure looks like las vegas at night:D

My jensen just stopped working (POS) prolly overheated till it died

and the sony skips all the time. that and the 2v preouts dont do what i would like

I hope the panasonic that i will be getting is as sweet as it looks

Panasonic - Good solid unit, good built in features including a build in center speaker. 5 volt pre outs (front, rear and sub out) Have had no problems at all with skipping and I drive on some pretty bad roads.

JVC KD-LH1000

No problems yet, and the color changable lcd screen is friggan cool.
They got 4 line outs, 2 sub outs, built in 3 band equalizer.

JVC-KDC series ........Bought one took it back after a year because it stopped reading discs. Second one stopped pushin CD's out after a year, and the thrid and final worked until i traded it off.

JVC kahmeleon(1st generation) ..... had a good sound to it, overall average head unit, but lacked sub pre outs like the previous 3 head units i had. Only problem is the cover that goes over the buttons eventually wears out and isnt flush anymore.

Sony flip around cameleon(1st generation)..... had overall good control of sound nice display, i didnt like the way my subs sounded with this unit they didnt seem as loud :-|

Finally my baby:
Eclipse 8000 series..... has 8V rca outputs front rear and sub, makes highs scream, only downfall is that the display is hard to see in bright light! Is also a little picky on certain burnt Cd's.

O yea and the rest of my setup is as follows if your wonderin what im basing this all off of:

Subs= 2 12" Eclipse 88120 DVC aluminum series
Sub Amp= Alpine MRV-1507 2 channel 1500 watt peak bridged hooked in series to subs
Highs (soon replacing)= Infinity Reference Series Co-Ax 6.5" (4 of them)
High Amp= A/D/S 40x4 old school amp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Highs will son be replaced with Boston Acoustics 6.5 pro series components
They will be pushed by RF 400.4 until Alpine replacement is bought to match up and make things look pretty :-)

My review of the Pioneer DEH-P3300.

Bought it 1.5yrs ago. Its been a good unit. I have never had the unit skip, and it has played burned cd's without problems. The list of features is great, for the price.

I do have a couple of complaints though. The deck has no mute, or attenuator. It has a pause button, but that only works when playing cd's. The deck needs an attenuator that works for cd and radio mode. The buttons on the deck have begun to wear as well. They still work ok, but you have to press significantly harder than I had to when it was new. I dont like how the face attaches / detaches. It can be frustrating to attach the face. Last, but not least, the deck only has 1 set of pre-outs.

Thats about it. For the price, its a great unit. 50w x 4 MOSFET is enough power for the speakers for the average system, meaning a bunch of amps arent required. Some of the other features such as Source Level Adjustment, and SubWoofer Control are great.

I would, and will definitly buy another Pioneer headunit.

a few comments .......

the detachable faces never rweally became what they wanted, most people just leave their faces on.

CD sound - most people would have a VERY hard time distinguishing 2 CD players from just listening their sound, for ones in the same price category (meaning features are far more important).

Pre-outs - I like the high voltage ones (+4V). However, since I generally use a system EQ, I really only need 1 pr .......... the amps are typically split off of the crossover(s).

Blaupunkt Munchen CD43 - Came eith my old GTi, worked great, but I took it out to save weight :D

Stock Corrado unit, "Symphony" - Think it was a Panasonic unit, literally threw this out.

Denon DCT-Z1 - What can I say, fell in love with Denon's home audio products, and this hasn't let me down either. Compared to anything else I have listened to, this is the best, by far. No distortion, doesn't run hot, doesn't skip, 8 volt pre outs, real volume knob, great radio and easy to use. Maybe not worth the pricetag, but defenitly car audio perfection.

Originally posted by PaulD
a few comments .......

the detachable faces never really became what they wanted, most people just leave their faces on.

CD sound - most people would have a VERY hard time distinguishing 2 CD players from just listening their sound, for ones in the same price category (meaning features are far more important).


- true

- I tend to disagree (to a certian extent) with this comment as from what I have heard the Pioneer head units tend to emphasize the bass note more than any other head units I have "auditioned"

All I have to say is that I have had many problems with my Blaupunkt Austin and that I am not happy with it.

Originally posted by SPLThunder
My jensen just stopped working (POS) prolly overheated till it died

and the sony skips all the time. that and the 2v preouts dont do what i would like

I hope the panasonic that i will be getting is as sweet as it looks

i went to 2 cartoys stores awhile back and had help deciding on decks. both of the employees at seperate locations recomended staying away from jensens and panasonics (mp3 models). i bought the sony cdx-mp30 cause it was the next cheapest deck that played mp3's. i was skeptical at first, but so far i'm very satisfies with the deck. it takes only a few seconds to recognize between mp3 mode and regular cd mode. there's 3 quick bass boost modes, so you can quickly choose which bass is best for the type of songs you're playing. the only thing that would make it better is giving the remote more functions. i'm planning on getting the cdx-t70mx cd changer, a 2 channel amp that puts out at least 1,000 watts, a farad cap, and 2 10" subs. tell me how that sounds and give me some suggestions.

ive only had one so far, aiwa cdc-mp3, and it sucks. the one thing that blows it for me, skips over most bumps. but im sure this warning means nothing, im the only idiot that would buy aiwa to begin with:bloated:

Originally posted by tazdev
- I tend to disagree (to a certian extent) with this comment as from what I have heard the Pioneer head units tend to emphasize the bass note more than any other head units I have "auditioned" [/B]

that could be caused by the unit having the loudness on or one that is undefeatable

Originally posted by gnushit
i'm planning on getting the cdx-t70mx cd changer, a 2 channel amp that puts out at least 1,000 watts, a farad cap, and 2 10" subs. tell me how that sounds and give me some suggestions.

I am more into the sound quality part of it ........ you are only mentioning bass stuff

Originally posted by PaulD
a few comments .......

the detachable faces never rweally became what they wanted, most people just leave their faces on.

CD sound - most people would have a VERY hard time distinguishing 2 CD players from just listening their sound, for ones in the same price category (meaning features are far more important).



1. I always took my face off all the time right after I installed the deck, but I stopped doing it after 1-2 months.

2. Very true. With 2 units set up identically, it would be almost impossible to tell the difference in sound quality between them (as long as they are in the same category as you mentioned). You would need some metering devices to be able to determine which is better, and if this is so, then it doesnt really matter....if you cant hear the difference anyways :D

Nakamichi CD45z... Heaven

Needs no more then that :devil:

Originally posted by Rich


1. I always took my face off all the time right after I installed the deck, but I stopped doing it after 1-2 months....

Ditto that...I have a Kenwood MPV-7019, VERY good unit I think, cost me $240 shipped and has NEVER skipped (ok, except that one time I tried to play a cd that looked like it had been run over), it has never skipped because of a bumpy road, that is. MP3 seek time is fast, sounds great, does 2 button colors and 67 face colors...what more could you want?

Originally posted by boingo82

...what more could you want?

crossovers and such?:D

Originally posted by GSteg


crossovers and such?:D

I meant for $240. :) And I have no idea what the heck a crossover is. Besides, it plugged right into my stock system ( I have separate amps for all speakers ) so I'm happy with it. :)

hi was wondering if anyone could help me i'm trying to find somewhere to buy a Sony CDX CS5000R. It is'nt a new head unit it has been around for a while. Can anyone help??

Cheers
Scotsman :smoka:

try e-bay

Yeah i've tried ebay but was wondering if anyone new of anywhere else to find this model?