What your opinions?

 

I'll put on in for worthless - the pioneers with the dolphins swimming by and the helicopter's-eye view of Stonehenge. Shouldn't you be watching the road, not the dolphins on your radio? The display feature of these head units does give a lot of flexibility to display information, though.

 

i cry.... im going for Pioneer 9300...
yes its true that you should be watching road, but pioneers are so easy to navigate.
and i like them because great for sitting and having something flashy,

i got an entry level 4100, two sets preouts..
i enjoy it, but time to step up..

My two pennies,
Good post!

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91 FireBird 305 V-8
Edelbrock Catback, Fourth Gen Console. i have six cupholders. all for starbucks!
ghetto rigged cold air intake,
GheTTo Riggers INC.
We Make Mcgyver look Like Crap
God Created The Earth, And Then Turned Up The Bass

 

flat out cd sound quality = high end Alpines

best bang for the buck all round = Blaupunkt.

I have an Alpine 7949 for my Firehawk, but in my daily driver, i use a Blaupunkt Alaska, has good cd sound, great FM, built in adjustable eq, RDS, all for under $350.

mike

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custom 3rd gen kickpanels at
http://www.lachernet.com/kickpanels

 

i bought a Jensen head unit and i wouldn't recommened that you do the same. It broke after 7 months of use and it was still under warranty, but the manufacturer still couldn't fix it so they sent me a new one. Good customer service, but it doesn't make up for making crappy head units. I hear Clarion is real good...

 

The Good:

SONY ES series (cdx-C90)
Kenwoood Excelon series
Alpine "high end"

The BAD: (my opinion)

Clarion
Pioneer
Jensen etc. etc.

The UGLY, (but good, to VERY GOOD):

MCINTOSH ( I LOVE MINE!!!)
NAKAMICHI (sp?)
ECLIPSE
BLAUPUNKT

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1967 Camaro RS w/ 454 restoration in progress.
1982 Camaro Z28 MANY mods and someday some HP
MECP certified car audio installer
SCCA autox ESP class #28

 

No one said anything about Panasonic .... man ok I get the hint that it isn't any good, but it was my first and it came out of an 81 olds so hey it rocked in that thing. :P

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1989 Trans Am GTA, 5.7L TPI, TH700-R4, T-Tops, dual cats, 9-bolt rear, 3.27, Dynomax muffler, K&N
1992 Camaro RS, 5.0L TBI, T-5, T-Tops, L69 Dual Snorkel, K&N - Sold

 

What's wrong with eclipse? They don't have real flashy graphics, but I wouldn't call them ugly. I really like the controls on mine, because it's easy to adjust quickly. The faces that I like the most are the one's that are oversized and fill the whole area.

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'89 Red Formula 350- 350 .060 over w/ forged pistons, 232* @ .050 cam, Performer RPM, Holley 750 DP, Vortec 1.94 1.50, Accel Coil and dist, Hedman shorty headers, Dual Exhaust w/ cutouts, WS6 suspension, 9 Bolt 3.27 Posi Edelbrock LCA's & Track bar subframe connectors, 700R4, A&A snorkel scoop Eclipse Head Unit, Delco Bose Speakers, 2 12" Pioneer subs w/ 400 watt/chanel amp

 

Eclipse is actually one of the best...no matter how ugly or how nice it looks. They use them in competition stereo setups...my neighbor won a stereo competition and he used an eclipse deck. I actually think that the blaupunkt...however u spell it...has the ugliest looking faces around. I really dont care for most of the Alpines...besides a few...but they are great decks. The Panasonic's really arent that bad...a couple of my friends have them and they work great and look great. My over all favorite is the Pioneer series...yes the ones with the dolphins but hey they even have racecars to watch now..lol. Well I plan on gettin the Pioneer DEH-P730 b/c I cannot see spending all that money on the 930. The 930 does have such a clear screen and I believe it is possible to play DVD's on it...unless that is the next model up. What is so wrong with the Pioneer? Everywhere I go they always prefer it to me...it has more options than most other stereos out there. And of course Im not going to watch the damn dolphins when Im drivin...it is just for show. The Pioneers put out 50 X 4 just like the alpines do..and they are the same price...and the Pioneer just simply looks better. Just my opinion...so at least when I am bored at red lights I can watch my dolphins or racecars on the screen...while the rest of you will be wishing you had dolphins on your alpines, pioneers, etc.

 

I've had Alpines, Clarions, and Pioneers, but I prefer my current deck, the Kenwood eXcelon x911 over all of them.

I don't remember the model #'s of my other decks, but I have never been one to buy the low end models. I usually opt for the one right below the best (for $$ reasons).

The Kenwood has the clearest sound from any deck I have owned. It's ampless, so you need outboard amps, but the sound quality is amazing. The navigation is fairly easy too, and everyone always seems to be impressed with the motorized flip face

The worst is definitely Jensen!

Thomas

 

I frikkin love my Kenwood Excelon KDC-X817. I has 3 RCA pre-outs, and crossovers for the fronts, rears, and NF (non-fader, aka subs) all built into the deck. the crossovers seem to be damn good too. at least as good as the ones on the amps im using. it has all the flashy graphics and what-nots that are pretty, plus i can change my button color from green to red! it has very good SQ too. tells me what day it is, has mask technology, and a detchable face. i got mine for about $430. it was a little more than what i aimed to pay, but it was worth every penny.

 

Actually for whomever mentioned Panasonic...the high end panasonic decks will actually give the Alpines and Eclipses a run for the money. If you can stomach the loud flashy looks of them, the cd and output stages on their decks are actually very good.

There has only ever been one Clarion that I cared for (acutally the one I own) and that's the 9255, other than that, Eclipse, Alpine, high-end Pioneer (ODR) are some of the best build quality and component quality.

Kenwood Excelons are rather good and even the new Sony black face no button decks are good for the money.

Basically there are a ton of decks to choose from that you would be happy with. Find what you like and I'm sure there will be plenty of supporters for the deck as much as there are people who will criticize it.

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Carl
CarAudio Resources

[This message has been edited by GndPrx (edited August 25, 2001).]