[mwood5]

Hey Michael,

If you're still looking....I work about a mile from you. I'm at Plano Pkwy and Coit area. I've got a Pioneer/Premier unit in mine....with an MTX amp, JL Audio sub box w/ 2-12", JL Audio 5.25" in front door and some older Clarion speakers in the rear spots.
I too went with sound clarity and quality...or tried to. You are correct, most of the stuff on the market is garbage. There is some nice stuff, but no on locally (DFW) seems to stock it. All they have is the garbage.

My all time favorite headunit was a Clarion that was recently stolen...or the faceplace was. It was a preamp only...no power in the unit itself. It was top notch...the specs were really nice as it used high quality Burr Brown D/A chips. They're top of the line. Also, the fact that there is/was no amplifier section in the unit, heat and interference was kept to a minimum. I really hated to loose that one.

I replaced it with what I could find under $500, which was a Pioneer Premier unit that too used the Burr Brown chipset. It's not quite as nice, but I'm happy with it.

If you'd like to hear/see it, let me know and I'll meet you any day....

m

[KayakPanic]

pioneer.
best quality for the price of $200.
green display, less kalideoscope shifting lights to be distracted by (xplode has lots of these)...

[effjay60]

anything but Kenwood. I've owned two kenwood head units and two Kenwood amps and none of the above lasted even 6 mo. I too vote Alpine for head unit, Rockford for amps (i have two in my boat for 6 years) and polk for speakers (all polk car audio speakers are marine rated)

[workingdog]

I have to agree on the Xplod from Sony. I have one in my 40 and a Panasonic in my truck. The display on both drive me crazy but the but the button layout on the xplod makes no sense whatever.

Peter

[Michael Hanson]

I agree that most unit buttons are too small and make no sense.Im leaning toward Alpine or Pioneer.Double din or single din? Mike

[baxter650]

I have Sony's in both our trucks, i am going more deaf by the day so the sound quality is good enough for me.
I will also not spend any more than $150.oo on a deck that the little bastard down the street will pry out in a week.
All the flashy lights don't bother me either, i mount the decks in the glove box and leave the stock AM radio in the dash, out of sight out of mind.

[nuclearlemon]

Originally Posted by ntsqd

it feels that it has to remind me that the face plate is in the unit every time I turn the key off. .

you can turn off the attenuation beep.


fwiw, i usually run cheap ass sonys. i think the best bang is in updating speakers. any stereo is going to sound like crap if you crank it with stock speakers.

i'm running a $60 delphi head unit now in my 80, have maybe $175 in new front door speakers and a powered subwoofer and it sounds great (well, great for a cheap stereo). the only thing that looks different is the head unit (everything else is behind stock panels, so if anyone breaks in, they get a crappy $60 head unit.

the 60 got broken into three times. it wasn't worth giving someone a stereo that was worth a crap and i'm not entering any competitions.

[Michael Hanson]

I hate buying cheap,I cant afford cheap.But I understand your points.Id rather buy things that are like cruisers :excellent and built to last. But these days ,What is quality? Mike

[jeverich]

Alpine hands down. I've got a CDA-9883 - pretty bulletproof.

Why spend more than $200.00+ ?

In my opinion it's just more eye candy for the tweakers.

[Cruzerman]

I've been real happy with the Pioneer unit (although it's in my Subaru). I really like the ability to put cheap thumb drives in the usb port. Lots of music online for cheap. Bounce proof too.

[KayakPanic]

the only Pioneer I was able to see broken, was bought used at a pawn shop, and worked great...until a tourist T-Boned (and blindsided me, possible the only concussion of my life) and pushed my '80 2wd sr5 with BRAND NEW REBUILT ENGINE IN IT up onto a 5 foot tall snow bank. I crawled out the passenger side window and nearly attacked the ...(the driver door was punched in about 14", almost hitting my shoulder in the process and wouldn't open)

his vehicle was a rental Sheetvee Blazer...his kid went to the hospital in an ambulance on the first day on the va-ca...way to go dad!

of course his insurance would neither compensate me for the broken stereo (no new reciepts), nor the new engine (even though i had reciepts)...
i even saw the first truck i ever owned myself, on the way to the junkyard on a flatbead. oh and no they would not sell the truck back to me for the rebuilt 20R.

but after cussing the same insurance person out for 1-2 months...i upgraded to a 1980 sr5 4x4 on their dime! way to go me, cuss words turned $650 into $2000!!!

(end of rant)

i do not have much experience with Alpine (green displays rock though), but have lots of good musical experiences with Pioneer...

[mwood5]

if you really want the ultimate in quality....look no further....

McIntosh MX406

...if i had the cash, this is what I'd go with in the dash.

m

[specialk396]

Alpine, the more 9's in the model number(CDA-9859), the better. I've never had a bad one, have used them almost exclusively for 20 years.

[NYFJ62]

Always used alpine but just put a pioneer in my 62 and am very happy with it. The controls are a little hard to get used to, but getting a head with a remote helps that a alot.

The one I picked up has a front usb jack that charges my ipod, bluetooth that works really well despite the noisy interior of the 62, an aux jack so I can plug a laptop in and watch a movie with the sound over the speakers, and of course the remote. The unit sounds as good as any can with the stock speakers and no amp, but could be a killer setup if you throw new speakers/sub/amp in.

The pioneer also allows you to plug your ipod to it via usb while also being able to control the music from the ipod itself. Every alpine i've had requires that you browse your music library through the head which is a serious pain in the A** in my opinion. This was actually the main reason I went with the pioneer.

[pcperks]

A lot of this is going to be personal opinions, but there is some room for what you are going to be using it for. If you just want some tunes playing while driving around and not a really big sound person, then the majority of inexpensive name brands are just fine. Obviously if you are a really big sound afficianado and need that really clear precise sound, you are going to have to spend that extra money.

For those that are doing heavy duty off road, kicking up lots of dust and hitting bumps at high speed, you are going to want something a little bit tougher then your standard stereo as well.

When I get to doing my stereo, I am actually going to go with the Sony Marine products because they are very well encased, with some protection against shock, and virtually impervious to dust or water getting in to the critical parts. I'm running a full Sony Marine system in my boat including head unit, two amps, 4 6 1/2 speakers, and 2 10 inch subs (and 4 stock speakers running off the head unit). They have been doused in water, banged around in rough conditions, and not a single issue in 2 years. Oh yeah, and they don't cost very much either if you get them on eBay.

[mmw68]

I've always used Alpine, and they have held up for ever. I've also gone digital with all my music on my iphone, so I went with the Ida-X305. I got it of ebay for about $275.

I'am very impressed with it, very easy to use and sounds good. It does not play CD's, that was a bit strange. But I would miss call because of not hearing the phone over road noise and the radio, and when a call comes in the radio mutes. It a cool feature.