View Poll Results: What Company makes the best quality headunits?
Alpine
47
44.76%
Pioneer
32
30.48%
Blaupunkt
0
0%
Jvc
3
2.86%
Sony
3
2.86%
kendwood
7
6.67%
other, please post in thread
13
12.38%
Voters: 105. You may not vote on this poll
Headunits
Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
It's called "post whoring" - it's something that's done by people who haven't conquered the skills of copy-and-paste or by people who just want to inflate their post count. In this case, he's managed to post almost 14% of his total count in this one thread alone. Oh well, let him play...he'll get tired of it eventually. 
omg i have a headache from all of those stupid smilies and loud bold text, they're to be used once in a while, not make up your whole post! kage has really put me off to the alpine brand, now that i see alpine i'll see judge hammer's and rofl smilies... i honestly dont like the look of the alpine HU's becuase they all look the same basically. i have had pioneer's in 4 of my car's and even though they are not super high end models, they are reliable and provide what i need them to do, play music. i'll probably end up getting another pioneer and stick to what i like, simple.
Originally Posted by reject
omg i have a headache from all of those stupid smilies and loud bold text, they're to be used once in a while, not make up your whole post! kage has really put me off to the alpine brand, now that i see alpine i'll see judge hammer's and rofl smilies... i honestly dont like the look of the alpine HU's becuase they all look the same basically. i have had pioneer's in 4 of my car's and even though they are not super high end models, they are reliable and provide what i need them to do, play music. i'll probably end up getting another pioneer and stick to what i like, simple.
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Originally Posted by Kage
You need to graduate from middle school first to understand.
I think you're just a little mentally unstable.
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
iTrader: (5)
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,231
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From: Chesapeake,va and Charlotte,NC
Ive been looking at these 2 headunits from alpine.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lsf9ijw...5&i=500CDA9885
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lsf9ijw...3&i=500CDA9883
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lsf9ijw...5&i=500CDA9885
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lsf9ijw...3&i=500CDA9883
[QUOTE=FireSilverLullaby]Ive been looking at these 2 headunits from alpine.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lsf9ijw...5&i=500CDA9885
Way better.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lsf9ijw...5&i=500CDA9885
Way better.
i didn't read through the entire thread yet (mainly because about HALF of what i DID read was Kage rambling on & on), but there's not really all that much difference in the actual sound quality of different head units.
what you really want to look for are higher-voltage preamp outputs (as in 4v+) and the other features that are included on it. after all, there's no sense in paying tons of money for a unit that has 300 features on it, when you only really need about 50 of those features, right?
although, there are other things you want to look for as well, such as how well a player will play a scratched disc, how well it handles bumps, etc., etc. unfortunately, the manufacturer will probably never list these types of things, so i would recommend going to a full-on car audio forum and reading some posts on there about these types of things.
and it also depends on the look of the head unit itself, some find a particular head unit a beauty, others think it looks disgusting....it's all up to what YOU prefer.
i personally like the looks of the Kenwood units, and to date, my last Kenwood was the longest-lasting of any head unit i've owned, and that includes TWO Alpines....both of them lasted only half as long as my Kenwood....both of the Alpines were bought from a "high-end" stereo shop that specializes in home/car audio (one of which was installed by them), and my Kenwood was purchased from Circuit City....so the argument that you should only buy from a "reputable" dealer is a crock
if you're a DIY-type, then get it from wherever you can find the best price on it (as long as you can take it back if there's a problem with it), then install it yourself.....it's not like they send a different unit to the retail chains than they do to the specialty stores, and somehow have a "better batch" of the same unit that they send to the specialty stores or anything.....and you can sometimes end up getting both a better price and a better extended warranty at a retail chain like BB/CC anyway. usually the only difference between the two is that the specialty stores will get the "latest and greatest" before the retail chains do....unless you just HAVE to have the most recent product, who cares?
what you really want to look for are higher-voltage preamp outputs (as in 4v+) and the other features that are included on it. after all, there's no sense in paying tons of money for a unit that has 300 features on it, when you only really need about 50 of those features, right?
although, there are other things you want to look for as well, such as how well a player will play a scratched disc, how well it handles bumps, etc., etc. unfortunately, the manufacturer will probably never list these types of things, so i would recommend going to a full-on car audio forum and reading some posts on there about these types of things.
and it also depends on the look of the head unit itself, some find a particular head unit a beauty, others think it looks disgusting....it's all up to what YOU prefer.
i personally like the looks of the Kenwood units, and to date, my last Kenwood was the longest-lasting of any head unit i've owned, and that includes TWO Alpines....both of them lasted only half as long as my Kenwood....both of the Alpines were bought from a "high-end" stereo shop that specializes in home/car audio (one of which was installed by them), and my Kenwood was purchased from Circuit City....so the argument that you should only buy from a "reputable" dealer is a crock
if you're a DIY-type, then get it from wherever you can find the best price on it (as long as you can take it back if there's a problem with it), then install it yourself.....it's not like they send a different unit to the retail chains than they do to the specialty stores, and somehow have a "better batch" of the same unit that they send to the specialty stores or anything.....and you can sometimes end up getting both a better price and a better extended warranty at a retail chain like BB/CC anyway. usually the only difference between the two is that the specialty stores will get the "latest and greatest" before the retail chains do....unless you just HAVE to have the most recent product, who cares?
Originally Posted by 02Z28LS1
i didn't read through the entire thread yet (mainly because about HALF of what i DID read was Kage rambling on & on), but there's not really all that much difference in the actual sound quality of different head units.
what you really want to look for are higher-voltage preamp outputs (as in 4v+) and the other features that are included on it. after all, there's no sense in paying tons of money for a unit that has 300 features on it, when you only really need about 50 of those features, right?
although, there are other things you want to look for as well, such as how well a player will play a scratched disc, how well it handles bumps, etc., etc. unfortunately, the manufacturer will probably never list these types of things, so i would recommend going to a full-on car audio forum and reading some posts on there about these types of things.
and it also depends on the look of the head unit itself, some find a particular head unit a beauty, others think it looks disgusting....it's all up to what YOU prefer.
i personally like the looks of the Kenwood units, and to date, my last Kenwood was the longest-lasting of any head unit i've owned, and that includes TWO Alpines....both of them lasted only half as long as my Kenwood....
what you really want to look for are higher-voltage preamp outputs (as in 4v+) and the other features that are included on it. after all, there's no sense in paying tons of money for a unit that has 300 features on it, when you only really need about 50 of those features, right?
although, there are other things you want to look for as well, such as how well a player will play a scratched disc, how well it handles bumps, etc., etc. unfortunately, the manufacturer will probably never list these types of things, so i would recommend going to a full-on car audio forum and reading some posts on there about these types of things.
and it also depends on the look of the head unit itself, some find a particular head unit a beauty, others think it looks disgusting....it's all up to what YOU prefer.
i personally like the looks of the Kenwood units, and to date, my last Kenwood was the longest-lasting of any head unit i've owned, and that includes TWO Alpines....both of them lasted only half as long as my Kenwood....
and some of the High-End Kenwwod HU. I've always liked Kenwood myself have a Kenwood KGC 9044 Equalizer / crossover in my truck.
On the rest of the mumbling go write a book!!!!!!!!
Last edited by Kage; Apr 9, 2007 at 09:02 AM.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,003
Likes: 3
From: Champaign/Chicagoland
Originally Posted by 02Z28LS1
i personally like the looks of the Kenwood units, and to date, my last Kenwood was the longest-lasting of any head unit i've owned, and that includes TWO Alpines....both of them lasted only half as long as my Kenwood....both of the Alpines were bought from a "high-end" stereo shop that specializes in home/car audio (one of which was installed by them), and my Kenwood was purchased from Circuit City....so the argument that you should only buy from a "reputable" dealer is a crock
I bought my current Kenwood Excelon new off of ebay 6 years ago, no problems yet. I bring that up because that feels normal to me, and I would expect it to last another 2-6 years easily.....what was the life span of your head units? The way you make it sound, it seems shorter than I thought (I was thinking 6-10 years was average??)
Teching In
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
From: Central Jersey
Originally Posted by 02Z28LS1
i didn't read through the entire thread yet (mainly because about HALF of what i DID read was Kage rambling on & on), but there's not really all that much difference in the actual sound quality of different head units.
what you really want to look for are higher-voltage preamp outputs (as in 4v+) and the other features that are included on it. after all, there's no sense in paying tons of money for a unit that has 300 features on it, when you only really need about 50 of those features, right?
although, there are other things you want to look for as well, such as how well a player will play a scratched disc, how well it handles bumps, etc., etc. unfortunately, the manufacturer will probably never list these types of things, so i would recommend going to a full-on car audio forum and reading some posts on there about these types of things.
and it also depends on the look of the head unit itself, some find a particular head unit a beauty, others think it looks disgusting....it's all up to what YOU prefer.
i personally like the looks of the Kenwood units, and to date, my last Kenwood was the longest-lasting of any head unit i've owned, and that includes TWO Alpines....both of them lasted only half as long as my Kenwood....both of the Alpines were bought from a "high-end" stereo shop that specializes in home/car audio (one of which was installed by them), and my Kenwood was purchased from Circuit City....so the argument that you should only buy from a "reputable" dealer is a crock
if you're a DIY-type, then get it from wherever you can find the best price on it (as long as you can take it back if there's a problem with it), then install it yourself.....it's not like they send a different unit to the retail chains than they do to the specialty stores, and somehow have a "better batch" of the same unit that they send to the specialty stores or anything.....and you can sometimes end up getting both a better price and a better extended warranty at a retail chain like BB/CC anyway. usually the only difference between the two is that the specialty stores will get the "latest and greatest" before the retail chains do....unless you just HAVE to have the most recent product, who cares?
what you really want to look for are higher-voltage preamp outputs (as in 4v+) and the other features that are included on it. after all, there's no sense in paying tons of money for a unit that has 300 features on it, when you only really need about 50 of those features, right?
although, there are other things you want to look for as well, such as how well a player will play a scratched disc, how well it handles bumps, etc., etc. unfortunately, the manufacturer will probably never list these types of things, so i would recommend going to a full-on car audio forum and reading some posts on there about these types of things.
and it also depends on the look of the head unit itself, some find a particular head unit a beauty, others think it looks disgusting....it's all up to what YOU prefer.
i personally like the looks of the Kenwood units, and to date, my last Kenwood was the longest-lasting of any head unit i've owned, and that includes TWO Alpines....both of them lasted only half as long as my Kenwood....both of the Alpines were bought from a "high-end" stereo shop that specializes in home/car audio (one of which was installed by them), and my Kenwood was purchased from Circuit City....so the argument that you should only buy from a "reputable" dealer is a crock
if you're a DIY-type, then get it from wherever you can find the best price on it (as long as you can take it back if there's a problem with it), then install it yourself.....it's not like they send a different unit to the retail chains than they do to the specialty stores, and somehow have a "better batch" of the same unit that they send to the specialty stores or anything.....and you can sometimes end up getting both a better price and a better extended warranty at a retail chain like BB/CC anyway. usually the only difference between the two is that the specialty stores will get the "latest and greatest" before the retail chains do....unless you just HAVE to have the most recent product, who cares?
If your going to rely upon output voltage than you should look even harder at resistance of said voltage. 4+ V means nothing with a 300-400-500+ resistance. Its all noise in the end.
Yes different HUs can carry similiar 'SQ', but will vary dramatically with sound characteristics. I continously swap between a Clarions DRZ9255, Denon DCT-1 and a Nakamichi CD-700. Is one better than the other? Purely subjective answer. Do they Sound different? Absolutely.
As for what is sold in the big box and the mom&pops...yes there are some differences. Big box do not and have not carried Pioneer Premier, its simply for the small retailers. You also will not find F1 in big boxes, theres extensive training required to be an F1 dealer for Alpine. This is training that the kids in the Big Boxes will never see. Then theres of course the boutique favorites - Denon (dropped from US) and Nakamichi. Although Nakamichi is available in HT, it wont be found in mobile.
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
iTrader: (5)
Joined: Aug 2005
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From: Chesapeake,va and Charlotte,NC
Thanks for the good info 02z28. So im guessing i should save up another 50 bucks and get the 9885 with the 4volt preamps, or would i gain much by going with a 5volt headunit.
Does anyone know of any car audio forums, or sites with good info?
Does anyone know of any car audio forums, or sites with good info?
Last edited by FireSilverLullaby; Apr 9, 2007 at 02:54 PM.
12 Second Club
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 272
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From: Boise, ID
Personally, I don't buy me stereos at Walmart...
so...
ALPINE FTW
Alpine is sticking with the Sound Quality aspect where everyone else is just going for looks... BOOOOOOO on them...
I wouldn't buy anything else.
Ohh, and if you don't believe me.. the look who wins the sq comps every year.. it's not anything but alpine decks.
so...
ALPINE FTW
Alpine is sticking with the Sound Quality aspect where everyone else is just going for looks... BOOOOOOO on them...
I wouldn't buy anything else.
Ohh, and if you don't believe me.. the look who wins the sq comps every year.. it's not anything but alpine decks.