Boomin850 Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Alright, alright....looking to upgrade my Headunit. Now instead of Alpine (I think that they are a lil overpriced) I'm looking into Eclipse. They have a very impressive 5v-8v RCA output and some other very nice features. Currently I'm looking at the CD-5444 but no decision has been made. Please give me some input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderlord Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Alright, alright....looking to upgrade my Headunit. Now instead of Alpine (I think that they are a lil overpriced) I'm looking into Eclipse. They have a very impressive 5v-8v RCA output and some other very nice features. Currently I'm looking at the CD-5444 but no decision has been made. Please give me some input.←I think these are great HU's... heard a lot of good things about them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsat Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 I have owned two Eclipes.The first one bit the dust because of my Dumb jerk during an install. (Trying to push it in and the face flipped open, jammed on one side then broke the ribbon cable attached to the HU) $500 down the drain.Second one was a newer model of the first.Both were absolutely awesome. The first one replaced a Kenwood HU. At the time it was Kenwoods top of the line. Dead head with 3 preamp outs.As soon as I plugged in the Eclipse the audio system came to life. First, the Eclipse had a higher output voltage than the Kenwood and second Eclipse did not monkey with the frequencies like other brands do. (boosting bace and treble to sound louder at comparable levels)All that I have ever asked of a HU is 3 Pre Amp outs. Sub level control. Bass, Mid, Treble control. Play CD's and have a Tuner. That is it. Anything more is a waste. Although now I will not buy an HU that won't play MP3's. Still, my demands are very low.No flashy display. No preset listening styles. No DSP processing. No nothing but play the darn CD.The only company that comes remotely close to those rules is Eclipse.I still wish somebody would make a Dead Head unit for Under $300.00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bing_0 Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 i am not bashing eclipse but merely stating my experience.we used to be a eclipse dealer and i have peraonally owned a slew of eclipse headunits: 5440 5442 5504 5303R 5605 and iave insatlled a bunch more...and here is my take on eclipse:nice headunit when working properlyhave a tendency to jam, or OS crash (need to reset), or skipping (hence their nickname of eskips)the 8V output is cool and all, but unless you have a 8v input on the amp, its not that meaninfulgood uniqueness factorin general, we droppped them and i persoanlyl stopped using htem when they just starting breaking, one after another, even the top of hte line stuff started dying, some were dead right out of hte box, other had noise issues and died a slow death...so basically, i will still say this, how good a ehadunit isnt all about the numbers...sure the higher line eclipse stuff sound pretty good, by they are by no means the best...also, make VERY sure that you get new eclipse from an authorized dealer if you want any kind of customer service from them...i used to like them for being different, but i have gotten over that and nowadays, i just want a relable, good sounding headunit (whcih i guess sorta make my avic-n1 not a very good choice lol) ...b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomin850 Posted December 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yea...plus the avic is outta my league/cash flwo. Im really skrewed now since I have a smaller amount of money to spend. What is your take on Clarion ex DXZ-745mp and DXZ-845MC? Or should I be looking at other options? Please help soon as I need to buy withen the next week. THANKS :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bing_0 Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 well, tell me waht your goal is, what your budget is, and what the rest of your system consists of :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomin850 Posted December 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 I still have everything that is listed in my signature except the head unit... . My budget is prolly going to be up to $400 and with Ebay being my best friend I think that I can get a pretty nice HU. I would like to have a headunit that will have a nice equalizer built in such as the CD5444. With that memory stick option I should be able to do a lot in that respect. Well, bing...jus let me know what you think is good. Sadly I am anti JVC, Kenwood, and Sony so I am sorry for all those toes out there that I just stepped on, but I am also very open. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderlord Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 I still have everything that is listed in my signature except the head unit... . My budget is prolly going to be up to $400 and with Ebay being my best friend I think that I can get a pretty nice HU. I would like to have a headunit that will have a nice equalizer built in such as the CD5444. With that memory stick option I should be able to do a lot in that respect. Well, bing...jus let me know what you think is good. Sadly I am anti JVC, Kenwood, and Sony so I am sorry for all those toes out there that I just stepped on, but I am also very open. Thanks←just out of curiosity, why are you anti some of the three best manufactures that bing recomended? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomin850 Posted December 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 I knew that I would have someone reply on that one...Sony-Never had a good experience with...break easily...look like they are poorly madeJVC-My brother had one, and it was dead with a few months...also look poorly madeKenwood-Seriously almost bought one before...was talked out of it by numerous car audio dealers, they all said they were mostly poor quality and break easily.as far as the cosmetics that I listed above...its mostly just a personal thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderlord Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 I knew that I would have someone reply on that one...Sony-Never had a good experience with...break easily...look like they are poorly madeJVC-My brother had one, and it was dead with a few months...also look poorly madeKenwood-Seriously almost bought one before...was talked out of it by numerous car audio dealers, they all said they were mostly poor quality and break easily.as far as the cosmetics that I listed above...its mostly just a personal thing←Yeah, i understand, people just have their preferences. I don't like Alpines because they're baffling to use, clarion's had that stupid toggle ball thingy that I hated... I don't like anything sony makes for car audio, I bought one of thier amps and the thing crapped out on me, twice. Not to mention that xplod crap is so effing ugly... This is my first Kenwood, and I love it, I had 3 JVC's before, loved every one... I had the first MP3 deck they made, oh it was sweet! I hope you find one you like man.. post some pics! Af+3rMark3+ 4 lyf3 ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bing_0 Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 okay here is my take oin today's brands, of course, all of them are not facts, just my opinion from my experience:Pioneer: relatively easy to use, relatively reliable, pretty good sound quality, average value, overall a decent headunits...JVC: use to be crap i would never use, since the advent of their digifine line a few years ago, they have really stepped up their quality. now their mid to high end lines are very attractive looking, reliable, great amount of features, good sound quality, at a good value. sony: with the C90 and C910, sony use to have two of hte best sounding headunits around, unfortuantely, since the advent of the xplod line, their stuff has gone totally down hill in terms of cosmetics and quality. with this years model, they have improved some, we had a chance to carry sony, but after demoing a few of their products, we decided against it. one thing i always disliked about sony;'s xplod line is their poor defect tracking...they like to skip on any little scratch on the disc.alpine: top touch sounding headunits, but some waht confusing to use, and on most models the display isnt so great (important for mp3 ). reliablility on alpine units are a bit iffy, both alpine units i have owned have had little glitches, but nothing major. all in all, they are very nice sounding headunits, though the value isnt as good.Kenwood: i ran a kdc x859 for a while back in 2000, clean sounding, nice list of features. but really hard to use. then the shop got a bunch in that had some relaiblity issues and taht was the last i heard from kenwood. so in my mind, they offer decent sounding headunits with lots of features, but are hard to use and spotty reliability. i will say that my 859 hardly ever skipped on scratches. panasonic: my experience with panasonic headunits is similar to pioneer...so see pioneer.eclise: i already listed my opinion of eclipse:Nakamichi, used to love them, plain, no frills cd players that offered great sound quality with the cd45z, and of course, very easy to use...not much features, but hey, thats waht makes a nak a nak also had relaiblity issues with them at the shop, got a shipment of 15 in, 10 were DOA but i am not sure if this is an isolated incident...i personally think nakamichis are very classy headunits that would look nice in a luxury car denon: owned two, like naks but i think even better sounding...clarion: owned 9575z, 7675, cleaning sounding, neat display, and relatively easy to use, both suffered from poor defect tracking...i guess i would say clarion now is like pioneer but just not quite as good blaupunkt: pretty good headunits, great AM/FM reciever, good overall performance, cosmetics i am not really keen on, but if you like the way they look, they are decent headunits...so...back to your question: i would say for around 400 bucks and nothing with those three brands, I would say:Alpine 9830 series (31 33 35)Pioneer: 8600 would be a nice one if you can find one at a good costto be totally honest, i doubt you will really hear a difference from one headunit to another given that they are similar price range and performance level, so i guess i would look at the tangible things like cosmetics, display, ease to use, features and make your decision b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bing_0 Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 one thing i really would want to persuade people form doing is making a judgement on products based one or two personal experience or a freinds experience...etc...cause if you are in the industry long enough, you will experince horror stories from just about every major brand... and often, its not the fault of the manufactuer, but hte installer or customer...for example, i have see one customer blow up 9 JL w3s in the period of 3 months...his tripple 12 box would eat 3 subs at a time...he eneded up swearing that he will never get another JL. so i fianlly after he blew the 3rd set, and came in for warranty, i said, let me take a look at your car, and guess hwat i see> he had set his gains to near max (we set it correctly), and his bass on his headunit's eq was boosted to max level. basically, he was running the 3 subs with roughly their Recommend RMS power but at a very high distortion rate...no wonder they failed...so i set his gains back to normal, and told him that this is the reason why he has been blowing subs, he didnt believe me after first, so i told him not touch his gains and settings, and only use the volume button, and see if htey blow...well, thats the last time we ever saw that customer come back for more replacements subs but of course, i am sure to all his freinds, JL will foreer be known as "the crappiest brand in the world"...and they probably wont ever use JL because of it...but wouldnt they be missing out oni a great bunch of products?" b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderlord Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 You're right bing... as usual. People just go with the brands that they've had success with... no matter what they're buying... Car Stereo or gas, or soda, or toilet paper... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsat Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 I prefer Charmin. I wiped my arse with some White Cloud once and let me tell you it felt like I was using 40 grit sandpaper.For a good wipe, you must use Charmin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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