Help me decide

[TMB_WaCk]

Gotta upgrade my HU, got 2 in mind..

CDA-117 - Alpine In-Dash CD-R/-RW/MP3/AAC/WMA/AM/FM Receiver with USB Connection

or

CD5100 - Eclipse MP3/WMA/CD Receiver w/ USB input & Built-in Area Shot Navigation

Any other suggestions in the price range would be nice, too.
Thanks!

[whitedragon551]

CD5100 over Alpine. Ive done alot of reading regarding Alpine and most people only go for the Alpine because of the price per feature is cheaper than any other brand out there, not because it actually sounds good.

[Ksan]

What you have right there is what we call a....Win......Win situation. That Eclipse is a very good sounding unit but does not have all the features the Alpine does. I just bought that Alpine 117 for my son and let me tell you it is a one hell of a fine unit. Ipod ready, crossover, 5 band P or 7 band G EQ and a 24-bit DAC, you can't go wrong with either. It really comes down to which you like more but if it was me I would get the Alpine.


P.S. Guess what...that Alpine sounds GREAT!!!!

[misfit138]

What you right there is what we call a....Win......Win situation. That Eclipse is a very good sounding unit but does not have all the features the Alpine does. I just bought that Alpine 117 for my son and let me tell you it is a one hell of a fine unit. Ipod ready, crossover, 5 band P or 7 band G EQ and a 24-bit DA, you can't go wrong with either. It really comes down to which you like more but if it was me I would get the Alpine.

How does you son like his Soundstream amplifier?

[Ksan]

We didn't like them at all but to be fair to Sound Stream, we never heard them. We wanted to go a little on the cheap side so we were looking at the Sound Stream amps. We decided not to get them and went with Rockford Fosgate T400.2 for Comps (6.5 Cresendo's) and went with Rockford Fosgate T1000.1 for the Subs, Two RE Audio *** 12's Tuned to 33Hz. And the Alpine 117 HU

[whitedragon551]

What you have right there is what we call a....Win......Win situation. That Eclipse is a very good sounding unit but does not have all the features the Alpine does. I just bought that Alpine 117 for my son and let me tell you it is a one hell of a fine unit. Ipod ready, crossover, 5 band P or 7 band G EQ and a 24-bit DAC, you can't go wrong with either. It really comes down to which you like more but if it was me I would get the Alpine.

P.S. Guess what...that Alpine sounds GREAT!!!!

Signal to noise ratio is horrible on that Alpine. 65 db vs the Eclipse which is 95db. Alpine has 4v preouts, Eclipse has 5v. Only difference where the Alpine is better than the Eclipse is that its active capable which is a moot point if the OP is running passive.

[TMB_WaCk]

Which I will be running passive, atleast until later down the road. Thank you both for the feedback. I really appreciate it.

[Ksan]

Come on Whitedragon, I know you love the Eclpise and their is nothing wrong with that, they are some really good HU's but please don't spread false info on the others just to make the Eclipse sound better. The alpine is a 95DB Signal to noise ratio same as the Eclipse is. The Alpine has a 5 band parametric and 7 bans Graphic EQ, The Eclpise only has a 3 Band Parametric The Alpine has A 24-Bit Burr Brown D/A converter The Eclipse does NOT so the Alpine WILL sound better IMO. The Eclipse does have 5Volt Prevolt's and the Alpine has 4Volt but with a clean signal like they both put out thats not going to be big. The Alpine is Ipod ready and the Eclipse has to have a extra box which mean more money.


The Eclipse is great you will be happy with it, you will have to spend more money to get the Ipod going with it, IMO, I say the Alpine is better and better sounding with more settings on it. I would get the Alpine CDA-117

EDIT. I made a Mistake I was going off memory, I sat down and read the manual for the Alpine CDA-117 and the Signal to noise ratio is 105DB that is 10DB better than the Eclpise, which makes the Alpine CDA-117 EVEN BETTER. I Still say the Eclipse is a great HU and you can't go wrong but the Alpine CDA-117 is a better HU than the Eclipse 5100 by a pretty good bit.

[miker]

Come on Whitedragon, I know you love the Eclpise and their is nothing wrong with that, they are some really good HU's but please don't spread false info on the others just to make the Eclipse sound better. The alpine is a 95DB Signal to noise ratio same as the Eclipse is. The Alpine has a 5 band parametric and 7 bans Graphic EQ, The Eclpise only has a 3 Band Parametric The Alpine has A 24-Bit Burr Brown D/A converter The Eclipse does NOT so the Alpine WILL sound better IMO. The Eclipse does have 5Volt Prevolt's and the Alpine has 4Volt but with a clean signal like they both put other thats not going to be big. The Alpine is Ipod ready and the Eclipse has to have a extra box which mean more money.


The Eclipse is great you will be happy with it, you will have to spend more money to get the Ipod going with it, IMO, I say the Alpine is better and better sounding with more settings on it. I would get the Alpine CDA-117

More people on here should type like that

[TMB_WaCk]

Will be ordering the CDA-117 on friday! Thanks for all the of advice!

[coleadcock]

i really enjoy my kenwood x994, i think its on par with those other two units. i like the features and it sounds great, just saying

[KMS]

Too many people have Alpine. Go with the Eclipse.