Best head unit in the $250 price range

[garrettpf 10+ year member]

Man, if you have a '69 Vette you should buy my McIntosh MX406 HU.

tell me that wouldnt be cool in a '69 Vette!

 

[genxx 10+ year member]

I have ran an older DELL Jukebox MP3 model when I had my RF HU that had aux in. It works ok, its not great but it was a cheap solution as I had both lying around. Navigating is a personnel preference by brand. Its all about what you are used to. The 880PRS is one hell of a headunit and can be had in your price range. It may have alot of features you don't need. There are alot Pionneer and even Alpine HU & Clarion's out that offer decent feature for less than 250.00. You have decide what features you are really going to use and need, then what you like as far as the navigation and looks good in your 69'.

 

[stylez777 10+ year member]

First off, thanks to everyone who replied to this post with opinions on what they thought was a good deck in my price range. I ended up buying the Pioneer premier 590IB. In the end it had everything i wanted, and the price point was rediculous! (got it for $140 shipped NIB)

The Eclipse CD5000 looked like a SWEET unit and man the 8v preouts woulda sounded awsome but for the extra $100 to me wasn't worth it. So thanks to everyone again, you guys helped me out alot.

 

[scootinZ 10+ year member]

Man, if you have a '69 Vette you should buy my McIntosh MX406 HU.

tell me that wouldnt be cool in a '69 Vette!

ok...it looks cool cuz of the retro look, but for the price and what you get...I don't think so. Plus the gold in it is not me or the car at all...

A review I read:

Cons:

Here’s my biggest complaint by far: YOU CANNOT NAVIGATE *WITHIN* TRACKS!!! No forward, no rewind. Nothing. What if I wanted to skip the intro, huh??? What if I wanted to go back 2 seconds and I’m nearing the end of a 10 minute track, HUH??? Now, how hard was that to design in??? What the hell is wrong with you people??? OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS TO LEAVE OUT!!! (there, there now…)

No remote

Cannot remove faceplate

Permanent installation requires expensive alarm system (otherwise, it won’t be there too permanently)

The clock only works when the unit is on.

Installation:

Average. Straightforward. Although the unit was rather deep.

(Could be a problem in the Vette)

OK...so here is a new Question. I looked at the Alpines...and I looked at the Pioneers. I am leaning towards the Pioneers. Question I have is does ANYONE know what the difference is between the dehp6900ub and the dehp690ub in their premier line? About a 20 dollar difference and what do I get in the "premier line that's not in the 6900? Looked on Pioneers web site and I don't see the difference other than the Premier comes with a 2 year warranty instead of the one year. Is that it???

Looked at the 590/5900 but I for the few extra bux, I want the USB connection.

 

[theothermike 10+ year member]

yeah... warrenty is normally the only diff. sometimes pre out voltage

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

Question I have is does ANYONE know what the difference is between the dehp6900ub and the dehp690ub in their premier line? About a 20 dollar difference and what do I get in the "premier line that's not in the 6900? Looked on Pioneers web site and I don't see the difference other than the Premier comes with a 2 year warranty instead of the one year. Is that it???
Looked at the 590/5900 but I for the few extra bux, I want the USB connection.

The Premier comes with the cables for both USB and iPod... with the standard 6900, you have to buy them separately. Check out milliombuy.com for the Premier 690. It's at $220 I think. Ordered a lot from them and have never had a bad experience.

 

[scootinZ 10+ year member]

Here is what is strange...I found the 690 (premier) for $208.00 shipping included and the 6900 (standard) for $230.00 shipping included. That's backwards from what it should be. The 690 is the Premier model. I was just going to get the 6900 but I guess I'll get the 690 instead.

Millionbuy was $220.00 but like I said, I found it for $207.00 from a power seller on Ebay with a feedback score: 15395 & positive feedback: 99.7% so i just ordered it...

This deck locally was $330.00 and as far as warranty...I called Pioneer. As long as I have a valid invoice the unit IS covered under the 2 year warranty directly with pioneer.

By the way...cables come with BOTH units. Only difference is the 1 vs. 2 year warranty. Pre outs are both 4V 100 ohm. units are identical as far as I can tell from the stats. Faceplate says Premier on the 690 instead Pioneer on the 6900...thats it!

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

a used 880prs would be nice. i used one and it as one of the best sounding units ive been able to play with. for the money its a solid *** deck

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

By the way...cables come with BOTH units.

Only difference is the 1 vs. 2 year warranty. Pre outs are both 4V 100 ohm. units are identical as far as I can tell from the stats. Faceplate says Premier on the 690 instead Pioneer on the 6900...thats it!

USB iPod cable is not included with the 6900....

6900UB:

iPod Control Capability: USB Control (CD-IU50 Required)

690UB:

iPod Control Capability: USB Control (Cable Included)

 

[cloud_171 10+ year member]

Question, I am in the same boat but prolly can spend up to $300. So far I have been looking at 860/8600mp and also the CD5000. the 860 has the 24bit Burr Brown D/A while the CD5000 has amber illumination and other cool features. I would get a 880prs but the I really dislike the silver and is to out of place in the dash. Is the SQ between the 880prs vs the 860 that big? Also how is the SQ 860/880 vs the eclipse?

 

[scootinZ 10+ year member]

USB iPod cable is not included with the 6900....

6900UB:

690UB:

I stand corrected on that. I think the both come with a USB cable for hooking up a small portable drive. I had the guy on the phone and he said both boxed said they came with cables. Guess it don't really matter. I got the 690 anyhow.

 

[Mugen 10+ year member]

I went with the 590IB because as far as I can tell, the only thing the 690UB does over it is has USB support, which I simply will not use. I guess if you're going to plug in a USB HDD/Flash drive it'd be good, but I'm just plugging in my Creative Zen 30GB through Aux, so the extra $40 wasn't worth it for me.

Can someone tell me if there is indeed more differences between them though? I can still cancel the order and get the 690, but they seemed the exact same to me other than USB =/

 

[Kfra315 10+ year member]

I went with the 590IB because as far as I can tell, the only thing the 690UB does over it is has USB support, which I simply will not use. I guess if you're going to plug in a USB HDD/Flash drive it'd be good, but I'm just plugging in my Creative Zen 30GB through Aux, so the extra $40 wasn't worth it for me.
Can someone tell me if there is indeed more differences between them though? I can still cancel the order and get the 690, but they seemed the exact same to me other than USB =/

I currently have a Kenwood x890 and I actually prefer the USB interface because it allows your deck to see the mp3 player as a hard drive and you can use your remote control to navigate songs versus having to do everything on the player.

 

[lrgnation 10+ year member]

the 880 can be had for only 280 on hookedontronics

the other pioneer premier model that is below that is 220$

 

[Mugen 10+ year member]

I currently have a Kenwood x890 and I actually prefer the USB interface because it allows your deck to see the mp3 player as a hard drive and you can use your remote control to navigate songs versus having to do everything on the player.

Hmm, I didn't know you could do that. No matter, my player isn't all that hard to navigate anyway, especially after I make a little mount for it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif