I'm in the process of shopping for a new headunit for the Cl and I was wondering what kind of input you guys have on brands and models. I have had two sony headunits in previous cars, and they are sh*t. I'm looking for something in the $100-350 range.

 

Alpine is really good, i have my previous (1 year old) CDA-9825 in perfect condition if you wanna buy it at a good price, PM me

 

I buy nothing but pioneer head units

 

Yea, i was thinkin pioneer and alpine are probably my best retail store brands.

 

pioneer, alpine, eclipse, kenwood are all good

 

those are all good brands, I'm partial to pioneer myself. But those are your winners i'd say.

 

I'm partial to Pioneer as well, but mainly cause that's all I've had. I had a low end Alpine and didn't like it, but some of the newer higher up model seem nice. I like Pioneer because you can adjust just about anything as far as sound goes. My sister had a Clarion, but I didn't like it.

There was a brand that started with an R maybe. Low key, not fancy looking, no deck power...anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

Anyone have any objections to this one: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-oag1gcJ...113KDCX589#Tab

I have had friends with pioneers but most under $300 only have two pre-amp outputs and I kind of want one with a sub output also.

 

i just bought a Pioneer DEH-P4700MP CD/MP3 from best buy for like $180. Granted, i bought it for my other car (99 subaru legacy), but i like it. It seems to be pretty good for a fairly cheap head unit. The sound quality is decent even with the stock speakers. I also have been quite fond of Pioneer, but for the price, it's definitely worth checking out. Granted, it doesn't have screen savers, etc but it's a decent all around CD player.

 

kenwood is definately the way to go
i have a kdc mp822 in my winter beater
and the kvt 815 in dash dvd in my cl definately kenwood best out there
but i got a buddy that works there so thats the other big reason i go with them

 

I say Alpine or Eclipse.

I'm currently looking to get the ALPINE 9855 - retails for 450 (yes out of your range, also out of my range haha)
But, how do you guys feel about buying these items from power sellers on ebay? Fairly safe i suppose, and I saw this head unit on ebay for ~300-350.

_ts

 

used to be in the business side of cd players and alpine are the clearest/ longest running out em all. i like pioneer too but they are way to flashy. That is another BIG reason why i love alpine. They are the easiest to use and ver simple. If you want all of those annoying ass pioneer or kenwood displayes go for it. They get old. Just my opinon i guess. Nicer Alpines you can durn the display all the way off ........... and change over 500 different colors of your choice. So whatever suits your fancy!

 

I have a kenwood KDC-X789. I love it. There are soooooo many settings to play with.
You can turn all that graphic animations off which i have. They get old and repeditive.

The one thing i do hate is the selector knob. You have to push it left,right, up or down. I never use it. I just use the remote.

I would go with Alpine, Kenwood, or Ecplise. I dont like the pioneers for some reason. But they are good decks. Just not a fan of them.

 

Thanks a lot guys, seems like the consensus is pretty much Alpine, Eclipse, Kenwood or Pioneer. Thats what i figured. One question thou...does it really make a difference between two or three preamp outs? is there a way to hook up a 4-way amp and sub amp with only two presets?

 

i had 2 kenwoods, both shitted out on me, so i went to pioneer, and its great, alpine is awesome too, just a really hard user interface

 

I have this and love it

 

Yea, that one is freakin sweet ^^


I love the touch bar on the bottom.

 

how much?

 

no clue, got it free through an insurance ordeal


Wasn't expecting it at all, i think it's a few hundred, let me look it up

 

$350

 

yea get that one i am getting it next month, with my alpine setup

 

hopefully i got the image to work. This is the one im talking about Alpine 9855 - too hot! Retail MSRP TOO MUCH haha, $450 -

But like i said, i saw ebay powersellers with it for < $350.
Do you guys thing its safe to buy products from these guys?
_ts

 

ya i bought my 9855 from ebay for 334$ shipped had it in a week no real worries when you get from a power seller just make sure their positive feedback percentage is high

EDIT: as a matter of fact my entire setup was bought from ebay powersellers all brand new in retail boxes at least 100$ below retail price. Jl XR-650Csi front, JL VR-690CXI rear, JL e4300 amp, and the Alpine CDA-9855

 

damn, thats almost the exact system im getting haha! Gonna tack on a 10w7 to make the CL really bump... yes only a ten... yes it will be enough.

Which amp is that? I as probably gonna get the 300/4 to run my speakers, and the 500/1 to run the sub.
_ts

 

the e4300 is not a slash series amp its a little less high end.. but with Jl its high end either way.. i will be getting a 500/1 for subs and im thinking of 2 10 inch w6s later on

 

2 preouts is for front and back.
3 preouts is for front and back and sub. These decks have a subwoofer volume control built into the deck.

You can hook up a sub amp with only 2 preouts. But most decks nowadays have 3 preouts. If you wanna hook up a 4 channel amp to just one set of your preouts you have to get 2 splitters to make your 2 channels from your preouts to 4 going into your amp.

 

yea, i guess that could work, but then you couldn't control the fade from your headunit. But i guess fade isn't really something you mess with often anyways.

 

Exactly. But then you dont have full control of your system. I like everything to be perfect when it comes to my sounds. So i would recommend a 3 preamp deck. Most of the new ones have that.

 

yea, to be honest, i probably won't even get a 4-way, but the thought of not having the option bothers me...lol

 

^^Yeah, I'm the same way. I need to at least have the option even if I never use it.