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
car stereos best brand
- Thread starter Michael Hanson
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I've got an Alpine and love it
-Carl
-Carl
ntsqd
technerd
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.
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.
- Thread starter
- #5
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
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).
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.
go alpine, just got a new one has plug and play usb flash and some other cool gizmos, built strong to last long
Kraco
kidding
kidding
Bomar
SILVER Star
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.
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
KiSS of Death
i only use clarion & cerwin vega products.
- Thread starter
- #13
Sems like this is still open for debate. Mike
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
If you're going low end sony is a bit easier on the wallet
I'm voting for Kenwood. i've had them in 3 rigs and have all worked flawlessly.
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.
If you are worried about heat, get a pre-amp unit and put a 4ch amp someplace.
- Thread starter
- #18
Looking at so far but not limited to:Alpine CDA-9866,alpine CDA-9886,alpine IXA-W404,PioneerDEHP700BT,Sony MexBT5700U. ANY THOUGHTS. THANKS, Mike
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
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
- Thread starter
- #20
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
