Wondering what CD Head Unit to buy for my car:) Suggestions welcome=)

[Zucchini]

Well i got sick of the cheapo cd deck in my car, want to upgrade to something ~$200. I have a civic 98 with 3 way infinity reference in the back, and 2 way reference in the front. I forgot the exact model types but they have blue honey comb cones, not bad speakers. My headunit just stinks though, i want decent wattage because i don't have a amp... and no i don't want to shell for one either Oh yea, aux in connector on the face plate would be nice.

Figured i should ask here since some of you guys probably have decked o ut car stereos

 

[geno]

Invest that $200 into an amp, you won't regret it! But if you must have a new head unit, look at some Pioneers. I have a DEH-4100 and it's great, comes with a remote, built in EQ, and a bunch other cool stuff. But seriously consider an amp first!

 

[Zenmervolt]

I'm partial to Kennwood myself, they have a nice selection of head units, up to 40 Watt output. Sony has some nice units too, I think the XPlode series puts out 45 Watts, which is the most I have seen without an amp.

Zenmervolt

 

[Zucchini]

Genocide, problem with amps is i would need a 4x35 or 4x40... i'm pretty sure those cost over $200. That and i would end up with amplified crappy hissy sound from my very old panasonic headunit I might look into that later, i tend to buy decent components for my system a little at a time so i have room to upgrade.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

plz dont buy those sonys, i cant believe sony would put out that product. they arent gr8 at all. the kenwood excelons are great, if your are willing to part with the cash. the 45w output on the sony is peak, look at rms since thats what you will be hearing all the time. i think sony has a 50W peak, still pretty crappy quality.

 

[Zucchini]

Ah, so whats the best rms power out for a headunit?

 

[geno]

The most watts RMS I've ever seen is like 22, and that's a little exaggerated IMO. Head unit wattage is nothing compared to a seperate amp's power.

 

[Zucchini]

wow thats depressing I'm using an old panasonic cd headunit with 4x40watts.. course thats peak. No idea on the rms ~ half i know but exact figures would be nice...sigh..

 

[divinemartyr]

Sick of the cheapo unit and you want to spend ~$200? You're only looking to get another cheapo unit then. =) Save your money up and buy something more worthwhile. You probably shouldn't spend less than $300. Some of the major brands to look out for are Premiere by Pioneer, Kenwood's eXcelon series, and Alpine's are at least half way decent as well. Check into those and see which models fit your current needs. Once you find a model you like, I can direct you to a couple links to purchase it cheaply.

dm

 

[Ender510]

Go for alpine!

 

[mosdef]

Anyone have any experience with that AIWA CD/MP3 unit? Looks pretty tight.

-mosdef

 

[BDawg]

If you want the best, save up your money for a Nakamichi. They blow away Alpine, SonyES, Eclipse, and the others.

Haven't regreted my CD-45Z yet.

 

[ROcHE]

I Got a Clarion Pro Audio and I love it

 

[IamDavid]

I have the Kenwood Z919 MP3 CD player and it is awsome. Way to expensive though.. I've heard alot of good this about the AIWA MP3 CD player. It is a bit on the fugly lookin side though.

 

[Mayhem1869]

I think too that you would be better off to save a while longer and buy something better. IMO any of the top brands would be good ie:Clarion, Alpine, Eclipse. But hey, Anything will probably sound better than the old Panasonic.

 

[Doodoo]

A Nakamichi will blow away an Eclipse??? I dun think so...it may excel in certain areas, but it definately won't blow it away. I have the clarion 9675 and love it...but its a little more than 200. You could definately find an 50 x 4 amp for a little under 200. Oh...and that hiss probably is just a bad ground. Might be able to get rid of that easily.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Pioneer...cheap...sounds awsome and plays CDR's and CDRW's. I bought the cheap one and love it.

 

[BigToque]

genocide,

I've got the DEH3100 model. The only difference between yours and mine is you have a remote right?

I think I wanna add the remote to my system

 

[db]

The Blau Casablanca isn't a bad little unit. Unlike its brothers, it's silverish but looks good with black surroundings. It supports aux in, which you need to add (~$15 modular plug-in) to the back, =6' line in jack; works great jacking in an MP3 player, etc. Oh yeah, this model also has a sub pre-out. This has a *very* nice feel to it when you use it. About $215 after
first time purchase, new customers discount

 

[bUnMaNGo]

mosdef- my friend has one in his Passat... I just saw it this past weekend. It plays CDR's, CDR-W's, and normal audio cd's perfectly. All he does is carry around ONE CDR-W with MP3's on it and pops it in. No need to carry a big huge Case-Logic anymore Oh yea, the CDR-W contains MP3's written as a data cd. It works really well... you might want to get an amp though, cuz I think the output is only like 25x4 or something really low. The cool thing about it is that the illumination matches the instrument panel in VW's (purple) =P

 

[luckyducky]

If you are looking to spend under $200, then possibly look into the lower end pioneer and the Clarion 6675 decks. The 6675 is a nice sounding deck that should be in your range. Or perhaps you can look around at your local Sony Factories, and see if you can find a Sony C910. Has a copper chassis, dual 20bit DAC's and its definately one of the best SQ decks out there. Pretty much in the same range as the other high end decks like the Nakamichi CD700, CD45z, Sony C90, Clarion 9225(?), etc. One thing though, the c910 was designed without the internal amplifier, so it requires an external amp for you speakers. Hope this helps.

 

[jcballer1]

AIWA CDC-MP3
you can make a disc with like 300 songs on it and it all plays at once... see, no need for that CD-changer now either.
i can get you a 25$ dicount at crutchfieldddddddd if you want (just email me) they'll then sell it to you for 275$

 

[Zucchini]

Hmm some good stuff Well i'll have to look up all these head units i guess heh. As for mp3, its pretty good, but the rough corners have to be smoothed out from what i've read. 2nd/3rd gen mp3 head units maybe, but not now.

 

[Whisper]

I'd agree with some of the above posts that if you're looking to upgrade you should wait a bit and save up some more money. Head units are one aspect of car audio in which you usually get what you pay for. Anything over $300 is going to be at the VERY least good. I personally have a Clarion DRX7575z (just under $400 is what I got it for, but that was almost a year ago now) and absolutely love it. Then again, Clarion is known to go a bit over the top with their lighting displays (mine is a very bright blue, with a few orange and yellow buttons). I personally like that look, but not everyone does.

Alpine's are going to be good for the most part, as will Nakamichi, Pioneer, Kenwood or Sony. Best advice is to always listen to the head unit in the store first before you buy, and to brush up on the exact features that you want beforehand. The thing I always look for is that the lighting of the head unit matches the interior lighting of my instrument panel. Call me anal, but if you have orange gauge lighting and a green head unit then it just doesn't look "pretty" to me. Though like I said above, my tastes definitely aren't representative of the greater population

 

[BDawg]

Well, when I bought a new unit (*snicker*), I compared the Naks and Eclipses. What really made the difference for me was the 20 bit D/A in the Nak compared to the 1 bit D/A in the Eclipse.

The Eclipse had much cooler features, but I was after sound.