[Michael Hanson]

Most stereos I have looked at are plastic junk,emit too much heat,no heat sinks,which will kill off the unit pretty fast,we all know heat kills.Most dont say the rms or any sign information.Most we looked at when you barely crank them up distort terribly. So what is considered the best built brand? Thanks, Mike

[IrollwithTojo]

I've got an Alpine and love it

-Carl

[ntsqd]

I've run a variety of Pioneers over the years. Been truly impressed with their durability. Every new to me truck gets one. The only one that I've had trouble with came to me in Patch when I bought him in '99. It was pretty used when I got it and it impressed me enough to buy the same brand for the Suburban. Then ~1 year after buying the Sub a Pioneer the original in Patch keeled over. I replaced it with another Pioneer and have been happy with it too.

[MutleyFJ62]

Alpine survive well, as well as Nakamichi for pure build quality and sound reproduction. Most units will run an honest 25 to maybe 30 watt RMS, however, your best bet is to use a good quality amp to avoid distortion at higher levels. Basic things like good cabling and connection/earth points make a massive difference to sound quality.

[Michael Hanson]

I always used Alpine but people have been saying they are not as good,I didnt know.My son has a Sony and its been very good,must be if it can survive in the 1982 fj-40! Mike

[rdublt1]

I've had good luck with Alpine. A friend of mine works at a mobile electronics store and usually pushes us towards Pioneer (more bang for the buck he says)- but I hate all the gizmo/ screwy screen graphics they have. Alpine's have always had a clean look and easy to navigate (at least the ones I have owned).

[2mbb]

I had a nakamichi (bought on the internet) that would skip whenever the car was moving--I replaced it with a pioneer and have not had probems. I have a pioneer in my FJ60 too. Off-road it does really well. Very rarely can I get it to skip.

[Elbert]

first choice for me is Alpine...2nd is Pioneer, given how much $$ you would like to spend.

[seanzy1105]

go alpine, just got a new one has plug and play usb flash and some other cool gizmos, built strong to last long

[cruiser88]

Kraco


























kidding

[Bomar]

If you listen to the radio the Pioneer but I would get the Premier (high end pioneer) they don't have all the stupid graphics and most have the ipod cable included and a longer warranty.

I am an AM sports radio listener and Pioneer have the best tuners on the market.

I run Premier in both of my trucks and I love them. They have a nice ipod interface also and all come wiith remotes.

I bought them both off ebay for around $125 bucks retail about $260 to 300.

[Matt60]

i only use clarion & cerwin vega products.

[Michael Hanson]

Sems like this is still open for debate. Mike

[Eric Winkworth]

Alpine fo sho, I've had my Alpine MP3 deck for 5 or 6 years and it's never given me any issues at all

If you're going low end sony is a bit easier on the wallet

[LCOwner]

I'm voting for Kenwood. i've had them in 3 rigs and have all worked flawlessly.

[tonkota]

I hated the Alpine I had. I've since liked Pioneer for the low end stuff I buy. I had a Sanyo that was actually pretty good in my mini-truck. It replaced a Pioneer that lived through 3 break-ins before they finally broke the face completely off.

If you are worried about heat, get a pre-amp unit and put a 4ch amp someplace.

[BG_TX]

Sony Xplod... cheap, sounds good, simple design, green backlighting matches OE dash, etc.

[Michael Hanson]

Looking at so far but not limited to:Alpine CDA-9866,alpine CDA-9886,alpine IXA-W404,PioneerDEHP700BT,Sony MexBT5700U. ANY THOUGHTS. THANKS, Mike

[klinetime574]

Hey Mike,

I recently purchased a Pioneer DEH-P5100UB, and I love it. Pioneer has some funky controls, but once you get used to them you ask yourself "Why didn't they make radios like this in the first place?!" I previously had a Alpine CDE-7870 talk about old (I think they stopped using the CDE designation a few years ago!). It worked really good. But hideously under-powered for the rest of my equipment. I did a lot of researching prolly the same amount you are doing and I came to the conclusion that Alpine charges more money for the brand than anything else. Some Pioneer units that are equal or greater power are like $50 dollars cheaper. And so far my Pioneer rocks.

The Pioneer you have listed is a Bluetooth model, that adds like thirty dollars to the price tag. Pioneer has radios pretty tailored to certain areas, like for instance my model has UB which means USB connection. Its got a slot on the front and a plug in on the back of the unit. So if you want iPod connectivity UB is the way to go. Sadly my radio didn't come with a cable so I just plug in my own white cable Apple supplied with my iPod to the front of the unit. Works the same as the $34 dollar cable Pioneer sells.

Hope that helped in some way shape or form haha

[Michael Hanson]

My daughter has a new pioneer and it sounds great but the volumn control is already going out.Thats my hesitation on pioneer so far. Deff. want USB and ipod but dont know if I need Bluetooth? thanks, MIke

[klinetime574]

Bluetooth would be for like connecting your phone and being able to make hands free phone calls.

If its new it should have at least a 1 year manufacturers warrantee.

[Tofudebeest]

The truth is that if it is under the $350-400 price point, it is pretty much shit. But, that's all most people will ever want/need. I second the Sony Xplod. It is sub $100, will sound great with decent speakers, and will last at least 7-10 years. The Pioneers and Alpines are good units too, but are really no better than the Sony and are more expensive and you really get nothing more for the money.

[Michael Hanson]

Alright say we step into the 600.00 range. thanks, MIke

[ntsqd]

Backing up a bit, my 60 came with a Sony Xplod of some sort or other. I hate it. The display is always doing something that is distracting and it feels that it has to remind me that the face plate is in the unit every time I turn the key off. I'll be replacing it with a Pioneer. Probably about the 5100 level of options.

[Matt60]

Originally Posted by Tofudebeest

The truth is that if it is under the $350-400 price point, it is pretty much shit. The Pioneers and Alpines are good units too, but are really no better than the Sony and are more expensive and you really get nothing more for the money.

i'll agree with this..

if you wish to hook up an ipod or play burned cds then go with the cheapest thing (sony) you can find. the sound quality will be the same.

unless you plan to drive these:

[ginsudan]

I have pioneers in three of my seven vehicles three have stock and one has panasonic. I am partial to the pioneer for the tuners as well as the sound quality and ability to up grade, amps ect.., all come with remotes. I bought all Pioneers from Crutchfield.com. They are very good at providing the necessary mounting hardware included with purchase. They have tech support for everything they sell. There is also great information on their site to help you choose the right equipment for your taste and specific application. speaker quality is crucial to sound quality. Speaker selection depends a lot on the space they will be used in. Use the information from Crutchfield's site to help match what ever products you are partial to for the best quality performance. I have had Alpine products in the past found them to be of good quality except for the controls there always seems to be trouble with durability issues with Alpine's controls. Maybe it's me too much trigger finger.

[esh]

I compared the Alpine and JVC media-type receivers (didn't look at the double-dins, but the IXA-W404 is right in line). JVC won because I didn't have to buy as many add-ons to get the same features (JVC includes bluetooth and a CD/DVD player).

Bluetooth can also be used for streaming music wirelessly from your phone or player. It gives you the digital quality of USB and the usually better interface of your player, without wires.

I ended up with a JVC AVX-33, which is the same as the new AVX-type(40/49/77) models except with tactile controls. It was around $250 on ebay(old model, new unit). I like the Alpine double din's ability to search by tag types.

[T-bones 60]

Originally Posted by Matt60

i'll agree with this..

if you wish to hook up an ipod or play burned cds then go with the cheapest thing (sony) you can find. the sound quality will be the same.

unless you plan to drive these:

From what I understand the Pioneer is most compatible with the new ipods. (2nd gen touch) I paid $250 for mine at Circuit City (RIP) in December and love it! Works great with my 32G touch.

I wish I had room to run those Corner Horns. At 104db 1w/meter sens, you could rock with as little as one watt! I wouldn't even need my amps!

[lehiguy]

Pioneer. I had one in my 60 for ten years before it was finally overwhelmed by dust build up and wouldn't load disks any more. The Clarion I put in as a replacement has not been as good, skips too much.

[trucruiser]

I used to install Car audio professionally for 8 yrs and have installed every brand name indash unit out there.
Im all of my vehicles I run Alpine