onebadwagon

Honestly, I'd buy some left over 2004 product if I could find it, the new ones look atrocious ( like pioneer) LOL

a CD8053 will get you 16v preouts with balanced line out, or 8v, 13 band parametric eq, 6 channel crossover adjustable frequency / slope, no mp3 though, without the eclipse commander.

badass radio, and the Commander will do anything you want in the car, voice scheduler, turn on your windshield wipers, hell, anything.

NEEDAZ

Onebadwagon, I absolutely agree the Eclipse is much better unit, just disagree on why. I also like to clarify that not all Pioneers are equal. Yes a DEH-1600 sounds like A., but you can’t compare that to a DEH-P860, or even a DEH-P7700. Pioneer is #1 in sales in part because of there wide range of HU options. From the vary cost effective to the more full featured offerings.
Scrappy, it is vary possible that your noisey amp was picking up the noise from the fuel pump. The few that I have seen have, at best, pore filtering in general. It is possible that a different location wouldn’t have had a problem.

DISTURBthePEACE

Around $500 will get you this deck.. Im thinking that the cd8445 is $449 but i could be wrong, it may be $549, I haven't sold many of them. Not much of a market for decks over $250 in my podunk kansas town.

The 3 band eq does make a difference to just bass/treble adjustments. Most decks for $200 just have a bass/treble adjustment. Just something else to use to sell the deck over everyone elses.

And yes, I have heard of an Ipod interface, but i can put it under my seat when I get out of the car and still navigate using the Ipod. They have a great navigation screen on them. They make a car charger for the ipod as well, but my Ipod is alwayz charged anywayz and I dont really go far enough to need to charge it with my deck. Yes, the Ipod interfaces are cool, but not worth the money in my book.

ScrapMaker

man that link you sent me is offensive... is that a 2005 model? looks tacky... and I've read about that "area shot" thing.. gimmick.

all-in-all, I like the features, except the tiny screen it has, and I don't know how fast it is from mp3-to-mp3.

DISTURBthePEACE

The decks look alot better in person. We thought the same thing when they changed the looks until we got to see them. They actually look pretty good, and the displays are sharp. It is a quick loading and switching deck, I promise. Ya, I agree, the area shot thing is pointless to me as well, but the other features make up for it I think.

ScrapMaker

Where's the best place to find one of these? Are there any national chains that carry Eclipse? I honestly despise most of the local shops around Austin because they are scam artists.

DISTURBthePEACE

Local Dealers only man, sorry. I dont know of any nation wide places that are allowed to carry Eclipse...they havent crossed that line and screwed the little guy yet like Alpine, Kicker, etc...

ScrapMaker

well, those custom shops screw the CUSTOMER!

almost every deck that's available at best buy as well as a custom audio shops, they are about 50% cheaper at best buy...

but if you HAVE to go to a warranty-less custom audio shop to get an amazing product... you gotta do what you gotta do.

my friend learned the hard way that the warranty at most audio shops require the deck to be shipped off and sent to the manufacturer, which takes over a month.

onebadwagon

Yeah, well, that can be the cases, but there are some advantages. Like the fact that alot of times, the people who work at those custom shops know what the **** they are talking about, or the installers know what the **** they are doing.


Dude, go to houston and buy one from Car Toys.

ScrapMaker

we got a "Car Toyz" here in Austin.. is that the same place?

Limited selection, but they said they can order anything we need... "for a price." (evil laughter proceeds.)

I guess it's just me, but in my experience, the custom audio shops I've been to really don't care about your car, and have the tendency to really F up your car... in my case, the dashboard was broken in half, and the speakers were installed like crap... but that may just be my bad luck.

on the other hand, I've also had Best Buy and Circuit City install a few things, such as car alarms and speakers and whatnot. They seem fairly knowledgable when I am talking to them, and the job is done right. The best part is that the work is guaranteed. I can go into ANY BB or CC, and get the stuff repaired if the job happened to be done wrong in the first place.

I honestly would have also though that local shops would be better at installing stuff, but I've come to find that they only care about your car if they honestly believe that you are going to become a return customer. When I bought my Kappa plates, I told them that I didn't need another amplifier, because my Kenwood deck, (from bestbuy,) was sufficient for now. They took 8 hours to ruin my dash, and horribly install my speakers.... I may have had better results if I had promised to buy components, an amp, some XM stuff, and a DVD screen from them.

DISTURBthePEACE

dude, you have some ****ty local shops then. We warranty every cd player on the spot w/ a new one and put it in for you, and we get a $10 shipping fee to cover the cost of sending in the bad one and receiving a new one. We can also do it for subs and amps. Exept memphis amps and eclipse cd players. Memphis amps are repaired not replaced so we have to send them in, and eclipse decks have to be sent in due to the serial numbers and warranty/theft protection stuff. Warrantyless shops? how are they still in business? I have a hard time goin thru best buy or places like that because i dont seem to get the customer service like I do at a car audio shop. I cant believe that they took that long to install dash speakers and you probably got charged by the hour. Those are the shops that people put together, stay in business for 6-12 months, buy stuff for them and do ****ty installs, and then go under. But they got the cool **** they wanted for really cheap so they dont care. If you find a good shop, you'll be treated right.

ScrapMaker

so far, Austin doesn't have any good shops... been to Alpha Audio, Custom Sounds, and Xtreme Sounds... all of the salespeople are *******s who make huge mark-ups, and the installers only do a good job if you tip them.

Yeah, literally a real tip! My brother gave the installer at Alpha Audio a $50 tip so that he would do it right... The installer actually asked my brother questions about where the wiring would be routed and such... something they didn't ask me or my friend who did not tip... what the crap is that? I've never heard of tipping an installer, since they get paid serious dough to put that crap in.

Your shop sounds amazing. Replace on-the-spot? That's what Best Buy does unless it's Pioneer or Alpine, otherwise they have to repair them as you mentioned before. I like brands that allow you to replace them on-the-spot, better for everyone involved.

onebadwagon

Yeah, like anything else in the service industry, if you want extra-ordinary service, you tip...

Trust me, they don't get as much as you think they do.

ScrapMaker

at least twice as much as the guys at BB, which don't expect tips...

you don't tip mechanics, A/C repairmen, or plummers, do you?

why would you tip an installer?

onebadwagon

Yes, i'll tip anyone who is doing me a service that I feel does a good job and deserves it.

and no, the guys at your local specialty store don't get twice as much as the guys at Circuit or Best Buy.

A good installer will make 13$ an hour at Best Buy, a good installer will make ~16-20 in a commission environment.

ScrapMaker

hrm, people don't normally tip mechanics and such, I guess the world is changing.

onebadwagon

Normally? You're right. But when someone is willing to pay for EXTA ORDINARY service, it happens.

ScrapMaker

Now I understand, if you find a shop that's capable of extra-ordinary service, you tip them to ensure that's what they do.

However, I was just reading a tipping guide where it specifically listed repairmen, installers, mechanics, and people at the counter for a carry-out meal, as people you especially do not tip.

I don't know, maybe it just pisses me off about how much the merchandise is marketed up, and I assume that the salespeople, which are also installers, are making money off of my order. It seems insulting that he basically just screwed me on the price of the amp, and now he expects a tip? Maybe I would tip if he actually gave me some kind of sweet deal.

I was talking to an ex-employee of a local shop, and he said the way it is, is that the store has the COST in the computer, and how much the store will take on that order, no matter what. It's then up to the salesmen to sell it for much higher to make personal proffit, which can be quite a bit.

onebadwagon

Yes, that is how it works at alot of small stores.

You know, if you went in there and wanted to pal around a little bit, you could probably save yourself 15-30%, you can use that system to your advantage.

how about a little You scratch my back, i'll scratch yours, explain that You are a little short on cash, but that you can give somebody the 'hookup' or a discount wherever you work.

They are people to, so even if you never give them a discount, (most likely) you DID offer to save them money.

Or just try making an offer, of what the item is worth. If they want 250$, pull out 200$ and say, Do you think you could take 200$ etc. You'd be amazed.

ScrapMaker

yeah I realize that, and I have seen a mexican salesmen give a meixcan guy literally half-off on a new amp... meaning that they mark it up at LEAST that much... I think that's what really gets me... the excessive markup. I would have had to pay full price, because I've tried before...

I mean, what other business marks up their stuff 100%?

At my computer business, I keep it at about 10-20% markup, and sometimes less, just to get return business....

onebadwagon

computer stuff has almost 0 markup, almost everything you buy that's not electronics has plenty of markup.