Recommend a head unit under $150

[Hyperlite]

I realize at this price point i "get what i pay for" but i can't really justify spending more than that on this car....anyway, i'm doing an audio overhaul of my 98' rodeo a the beginning of may, and i need some suggestions for a budget head unit to replace the stock. Right now i will just be upgrading speakers (2 front, 2 rear) but i will probably add a sub or two towards the end of the summer before i head back to school. this is the one i am thinking about right now, but i'm a n00b when it comes to car audio. The sd card capability is really cool, and it seems to have a ton of features for the price. For speakers i think i am going to do Alpine type-s's all around. Like i said, i'm pretty ignorant on this stuff, so if these are stupid choices, someone please stop me. Thanks

edit: also, my car already has a 6-CD changer, do i need to look for anything in particular in a head unit to be compatible with that?

 

[funboy6942]

I know you said under $150 but $50 more and you can have this thing

And under $150:

I am actually thinking of getting this for my car.

or this one, few bucks more then the $150 though, but really leaning towards this one due to it plays everything including dvd, and I like their speakers.

 

[AMDMaddness]

A tiny bit more than $150 but it already has HD radio built in <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.amazon.com/JVC-Deck-Built%252dIn-Radio-Tuner/dp/B000EYFF98/ref=pd
bbs_3/104-1582458-4374323?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1175052216&sr=8-3 ">http://www.amazon.com/JVC-Deck-Built%252dIn-Radio-Tuner/dp/B000EYFF98/ref=pd</a>

 

[Hyperlite]

cool, thanks for the suggestions guys, i'll look into those. any speaker advice?

 

[Shawn]

Holy crap stay away from Dual. They are utter junk.

 

[Shawn]

Do you want something new or would you buy something used? If so there are tons and tons of head units to pick from all within your price range that you can find on ebay. I happen to like Pioneer the best. They are flashy, have a lot of features, and have GREAT sound quality for the price. If you don't like flash Alpine makes some good head units as well. Stay away from cheap headunit like Dual and the like. They may appear to have a lot of features but they will sound like crap and will likely break within a year.

Use Crutchfield to check out the current selection and read reviews, then go to ebay and buy one for half the price.

 

[funboy6942]

For just basic sound, nothing wow, your friends are going to sh1t their pants, and feel small compared to you for you have $1000 speaker system, I found the cheap $20 sub box and dual speakers from walmart to sound not all that bad for what they are. The 6 1/4 actually suprised me fo rthe price, have decent sound, and IMO, sounded better then anything else walmart had in the audio section hooked up in the sub $50 range. For what they lack in the $20 roadmaster sub box make up with a little more bass punch. They would prolly even sound better if I had a amp to drive them all to their max.

But I am one who doesnt pay attention to brand names, but whats in my wallet, what I can get for what is in there, and what gives me the most that isnt crap. If your not looking to spend much, the dual speakers I would go look at, they do sound pretty damn good for cheap ones, aside of the sub box, stay away from anything else roadmaster makes in the radio and speaker department, the rest of their line up suck donkey balls.

 

[50cent1228]

pioneer has an awesome one for under 150

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: 50cent1228
pioneer has an awesome one for under 150

yeah, I like that model too. I was looking into getting one of them if by the time I get my money together, and the others are no where to be found.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: funboy42

Originally posted by: 50cent1228
pioneer has an awesome one for under 150

yeah, I like that model too. I was looking into getting one of them if by the time I get my money together, and the others are no where to be found.

I'm probably going to get this one once my old one craps out and /or it's a little cheaper.

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: funboy42
For just basic sound, nothing wow, your friends are going to sh1t their pants, and feel small compared to you for you have $1000 speaker system, I found the cheap $20 sub box and dual speakers from walmart to sound not all that bad for what they are. The 6 1/4 actually suprised me fo rthe price, have decent sound, and IMO, sounded better then anything else walmart had in the audio section hooked up in the sub $50 range. For what they lack in the $20 roadmaster sub box make up with a little more bass punch. They would prolly even sound better if I had a amp to drive them all to their max.

But I am one who doesnt pay attention to brand names, but whats in my wallet, what I can get for what is in there, and what gives me the most that isnt crap. If your not looking to spend much, the dual speakers I would go look at, they do sound pretty damn good for cheap ones, aside of the sub box, stay away from anything else roadmaster makes in the radio and speaker department, the rest of their line up suck donkey balls.

For me though, i am always willing to spend a little more money for a higher quality and respected product. I have a "middle to upper-middle class" audio system in my theater at home, and i now tend to hold my audio equipment to certain standards...not to say that this Dual equipment isn't all you make it out to be...but its been my experience that in a competitive market, well, as i said before, you get what you pay for. That said, i am not discrediting you're advice, and will definitely keep it in mind.


Shawn, i wouldn't be totally opposed to buying something used. I'll look around on ebay when it comes time to buy and see whats available. Anyone have any dirt on the alpine speakers?

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: funboy42

Originally posted by: 50cent1228
pioneer has an awesome one for under 150

yeah, I like that model too. I was looking into getting one of them if by the time I get my money together, and the others are no where to be found.

I'm probably going to get this one once my old one craps out and /or it's a little cheaper.

thats pretty sweet...very clean interface. how much?

 

[Shawn]

I had a Pioneer Premier DEH-P750MP for a few years and it was the best head unit I've ever owned.
I later replaced it with a 860 that was a display model. Mainly because I got a good deal, otherwise I would have kept my 750. I gave the 750 to my sister and it still works great. Both the 750 and 860 are good head units. You can probably get both now for pretty cheap. The 760 was the year after mine but I'd stay from it because they used lower voltage preouts and removed some features to keep from heavily competing with the new 860.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Hyperlite

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: funboy42

Originally posted by: 50cent1228
pioneer has an awesome one for under 150

yeah, I like that model too. I was looking into getting one of them if by the time I get my money together, and the others are no where to be found.

I'm probably going to get this one once my old one craps out and /or it's a little cheaper.

thats pretty sweet...very clean interface. how much?

http://cgi.ebay.com/PIONEER-PREMIER-DEH...2QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

comes with an installation kit too.

 

[Hyperlite]

I found some reviews on that H&B unit, definitely scrapping that idea. Everyone is pointing towards pioneer, so i guess thats what i will go with. So lets say, hypothetically, i wanted to spend <$150 on a pioneer unit, which one should i go with?

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Hyperlite
I found some reviews on that H&B unit, definitely scrapping that idea. Everyone is pointing towards pioneer, so i guess thats what i will go with. So lets say, hypothetically, i wanted to spend <$150 on a pioneer unit, which one should i go with?

What features do you want?

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: Hyperlite
I found some reviews on that H&B unit, definitely scrapping that idea. Everyone is pointing towards pioneer, so i guess thats what i will go with. So lets say, hypothetically, i wanted to spend <$150 on a pioneer unit, which one should i go with?

What features do you want?

USB functionality would be fantastic...though it doesn't look like any of the lower end pioneer models have that...and i would definitely like to be able to go out to an amp for a sub at a later date, though it looks like that won't be a problem for any of them...

 

[Shawn]

Are you looking to use a usb drive or were you just planning on hooking up an ipod or other mp3 player?

 

[Hyperlite]

flash drive. that may be a feature out of my price range though...like you said, there is always Ebay.
nice post count by the way

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Hyperlite
flash drive. that may be a feature out of my price range though...like you said, there is always Ebay.
nice post count by the way

This is the cheapest I could find with USB that wasn't complete garbage. It comes out to 164.39 though. Clarion makes pretty good headunits. I've just always found them to be ugly.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Used alpine headunit, no question. I got a nice Alpine for $65 used here on FS/FT, higher model than one I had paid something like $150 for retail. I *highly* recommend looking for a slightly used one.

 

[Kevin1211]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: funboy42

Originally posted by: 50cent1228
pioneer has an awesome one for under 150

yeah, I like that model too. I was looking into getting one of them if by the time I get my money together, and the others are no where to be found.

I'm probably going to get this one once my old one craps out and /or it's a little cheaper.

does that also work with teh Zune? or only the ipod?

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: Hyperlite
flash drive. that may be a feature out of my price range though...like you said, there is always Ebay.
nice post count by the way

This is the cheapest I could find with USB that wasn't complete garbage. It comes out to 164.39 though. Clarion makes pretty good headunits. I've just always found them to be ugly.

Ok thanks. you're right though, that interface makes my head want to asplode. well perhaps i will be upping my head unit budget. Would there be any advantage to getting the P690UB over the P6900UB? amazon has the 6900 for $211.

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: Hyperlite
flash drive. that may be a feature out of my price range though...like you said, there is always Ebay.
nice post count by the way

This is the cheapest I could find with USB that wasn't complete garbage. It comes out to 164.39 though. Clarion makes pretty good headunits. I've just always found them to be ugly.

Here's a Clarion with USB and remote at Crutchfield for $99

Free shipping if you spend $30 more on the site (speakers?) plus, all the install gear and installation instructions specific to your car are included. I posted this same one in another thread about this recently. Seems like it may be what you're looking for.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Kevin1211

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: funboy42

Originally posted by: 50cent1228
pioneer has an awesome one for under 150

yeah, I like that model too. I was looking into getting one of them if by the time I get my money together, and the others are no where to be found.

I'm probably going to get this one once my old one craps out and /or it's a little cheaper.

does that also work with teh Zune? or only the ipod?

It works with any USB device.