I have a 2000 trans am and bought cdt speakers. i have a gift certificate from best buy and trying to find out what would be my best hu that they offer.they are very limited from what i see. no high end jvc or 9887 alpine.

 

your best bet is taking that gift card over to the power wire aisle of their very limited car audio dept and pick up a 4ga power kit...if they've got a decent one.

 

Can you use the gift card on their website? If so, check out their lineup there. The website carries more than the store.

 

yes i can use it online, but i really don't see anything different there.I went into a local store and they told me they carried alot more on line but not that i see!

 

I would say that the best HU that they offer online is the Alpine 9886. I dont see a real feature difference between that and the 9887 other than the color of the faceplate. I see 24-bit DAC, 4 volt preouts, and similar looking display. I have been out of the car audio world for a few years so I might be missing something.

 

Sony will be releasing their New HU with built in HD soon!! CDX GT700HD. Just wait a couple of weeks. I have had Sony all of my life and I think they are the best. They are also about half the price of any other Good HU. IMO

 

sale the gift card to a friend who likes best buy, and use the cash to buy a hu elsewhere, bestbuy is redic overpriced.

 

I would definitely go with one of the Alpines.. I worked at Best Buy for 3.5 years. I have owned 3 Alpine head units (just kept changing them when I saw a cooler one come out) And absolutely love them, built quality, and sound quality.

It is a little overpriced. Most of the **** is marked up double.. $200 HU's I bought for like $120 there, and they still made money.. They Rockford 4g wiring kit at $130, was $30 for me

 

I would go with one of the Pioneers. I have had both Pioneer and Alpine, both are very good head units but I just didn't like the tuning interface of the Alpines.

 

I have become a big fan of JVC head units. Got one from Best Buy about 3 years ago (G820) and I'm still rocking it out in my 99 SS. I love the features and ease of use. I had an Alpine in there (whom I love for speakers) but there was no comparison between them for head units.

 

The alpine 9886 is great. I've got one in my CTS-V. I'm actually a dealer for Clarion and prefer Alpine's.... The 9887 adds a crossover and a few other hard to operate features. I installed a 9887 for a customer and it took forever to get it to sound right after he left with it the first time.

 

Sell it and get one elsewhere. Hands down.

 

First off I don't know **** about HU's, however I just bought a cheap *** $80 JVC HU a couple weeks ago. I don't know which model tho. Anyway for the $80 bucks I spent I am amazed at how much of a difference on the stock monsoon it made. The sound quality is awesome. I don't know which is best tho I will say my old alpine in the 97 bird is still there kicking after 6 years.

 

The only thing nice about getting a HU from Best Buy is the warranty. Free install is nice too if you don't want to do it yourself.

 

I get a kick out people who think they hear better sound through their stock speakers after changing only a head unit. Even a $3k head unit will make only minimal improvements on stock speakers over a stock head unit.

people will all prefer different brands for different reasons. Alpines used to be better than most as far as build quality was because they were made in Japan. Now that they are made in malaysia i doubt they are made any better than a pioneer or clarion. I prefer Alpine or eclipse over the rest mainly because its what ive had in the past and im used to the controls.

BTW im not just some punk kid, i sold and installed car stereos for about 8 years and i used to compete back when IASCA was in CA, but ive been out of the loop for about 3 years.

 

In any vehicle where I have replaced the factory head unit with an aftermarket head unit, I have noticed better sound.

 

any unit with better headroom will sound less compressed/clipped/distorted... especially any newer HU has good processing inside.. of course it wont sound like a McIntosh stereo with only the HU replaced, but it will def. improve in general.

 

Does anybody know when the new models will be released being its the start of the new year? I also replaced the stock speakers with cdt speakers.

 

But they charge you out the a$$ for the install parts.... And the warranty is only 30 days. Buy from a local authorized dealer such as a mom and pop's shop, and it should have a 1-year warranty.

Alpine is normally a little behind, but they're stuff should be available around mid-February. This is a good time to get good deals on the remaining 09 stuff.

 

That's kind of like asking for the tallest pigmy.