Which one to buy?? I like the fact the the JVCs have a front panel aux imput jack. Do any other brands have this as well??

I don't plan on running external amps or anything, but I will pay for quality.

 

Personally I use either Kenwood or Pioneer. They both have reasonably priced decks and I've never been disappointed with their performance or options - even with their "bottom of the barrel" model. My previous Camaro had a $200 Pioneer receiver and it had nearly every option imaginable....I love how they display the name of the mp3 you're playing. I would use that deck to this day were it not stolen.

I wish Phillips Magnavox had a car audio division. Based on the home audio experience I've had with them, something tells me they could really carve their own budget priced niche in the market.

But I digress....

 

Do any other units have a front panel Aux input plug receptacle??

I really like that feature.

 

I agree, that is a neat addition, but I don't know of any other decks that offer it. I suppose you could check Crutchfield and examine some of the other decks there.

If your local stereo shops are anything like the ones around here, Crutchfield is an absolute lifesaver!

 

Some Jensen's have the front Aux too :P

I like my new Alpine... the CDA-9809 :hail: Mp3 and WMA compatible, 4V pre-outs: 3 sets of them (separate subwoofer pre-outs). It doesn't have a front panel input but it does have the Ai-net adapter... basically you get an adapter to use as a standard RCA input instead of controlling a CD-changer... a major selling point for me as I wanted to run my in-car PC project into it. Remote, etc. Just a nice standard deck. They go for about $280, though I got mine for $240 because the step-down model from this (!mp3) that I was going to buy wasn't in stock... it was $199.

 

i'd say if you want to have an mp3 player in your car, i'd go with alpine all the way.

the media expander is really nice for making your not-so-good-quality mp3's sound decent, not to mention the other options you'd get.

and in my humble opinion, alpine simply makes better head units than most of your other car audio companies. i'm about to buy the cda-9815, its sweet! just my $.02

 

For $19.00 now you can get an I-Roq heh.. go figger. It's an fm modulator that fits into a headphone jack...

Anything that has an output can play on your choice of 4 FM channels from 88.5 to 88.7.. I mean anything laptop, walkman, tape recorder, dvd whatever.

So raher than run wires from your project PC, plug this eal in and tuck it under your seat. You won't have to run wires to have clear sound coming through your deck..

Yes I have one I use it to run my laptop through the deck.