stevem5000 10+ year member
Member
Bought it from Best Buy for $160.00
50Wx4 chan, detachable face plate, I guess all the stuff you would expect at this price range.
My thoughts:
I remember Dual from the 60's as putting out very good turntables for my LP's...didn't hear anything from them for quite a few years, thought they were out of business, but the logo on the HU is the same as on my old turntable, so I suspect it is the same company...If these HU's and amps I see at BBuy are as good as the turntables were 30-40 years ago, this should be an excellent unit...
I got this as a replacement for my 3 month old Alpine 9813 that got stolen just before Xmas...my wife and kids felt sorry for me and got me Best Buy gift cards for Xmas, so I was "trapped" into getting something from BBuy...Otherwise I would have bought the Alpine 9801...as I am out of $$$ for another 9813...
The Dual is NOT an Alpine, but it performs suprisingly better that I expected it would.
It has one set of preouts for a bass amp...only the speaker outputs for any other amps...
All the knobs and buttons are red, (which matches my truck)...but at night when all the lights are on it kinda looks like a Nevada w**** house...
All the buttons are easy to use, pretty well identified...The volume control knob is large enuf, but I wished it stuck out a little further on the panel than it does...if you have large fingers it might be just a little difficult to get a good grip on the knob...
Actually the unit is much easier to use than my Alpine was...but it doesn't have anywhere near the kinds of control of my Alpine...
Sound quality is better than I expected...when you crack the volume to max it does distort a little, but it's livable...
It has only the minimal amount of controls...just what you need to hit the stations and play CD's...
Treble and bass control are very effective and you just depress the volume control to access bass, treble, balance, and fader...very easy and quick...The bass control puts a lot of punch into the low end real quick...you may find yourself adjusting the bass level fairly often depending on the type of music...
Playing MP3's is very easy...the cd spins up quickly, you can change between tracks very quickly, 2-3 seconds from cut 1 to cut 100 for example...there are 10 preselect buttons on the panel so you can select cut 3 or cut 45 or cut 168 for example just by pushing the buttons in order...
Has a pause button, can choose folders, fast change forward or backward...
The face plate is large, easy to read, scrolls the ID, but it is either track ID or artist ID, not both at same time...
Tuner works very well, good reception...hard to tell the FM stations from an MP3 track in sound quality...
The face plate comes off very easy, all the contacts and etc seem well built and appear rugged...
All in all, if you are looking for a upper-low level HU that handles MP3's flawlessly, I think this is a good unit...
If you want to add amps, I don't think this the unit you want due to lack of all the preouts...I might put a sub amp on later this year...if I do I think I'll get Dual's subamp...
I got the 4 year extended warrenty for $40...that way if it craps out, I can get another, or use the credit to move up to some other unit...
50Wx4 chan, detachable face plate, I guess all the stuff you would expect at this price range.
My thoughts:
I remember Dual from the 60's as putting out very good turntables for my LP's...didn't hear anything from them for quite a few years, thought they were out of business, but the logo on the HU is the same as on my old turntable, so I suspect it is the same company...If these HU's and amps I see at BBuy are as good as the turntables were 30-40 years ago, this should be an excellent unit...
I got this as a replacement for my 3 month old Alpine 9813 that got stolen just before Xmas...my wife and kids felt sorry for me and got me Best Buy gift cards for Xmas, so I was "trapped" into getting something from BBuy...Otherwise I would have bought the Alpine 9801...as I am out of $$$ for another 9813...
The Dual is NOT an Alpine, but it performs suprisingly better that I expected it would.
It has one set of preouts for a bass amp...only the speaker outputs for any other amps...
All the knobs and buttons are red, (which matches my truck)...but at night when all the lights are on it kinda looks like a Nevada w**** house...
All the buttons are easy to use, pretty well identified...The volume control knob is large enuf, but I wished it stuck out a little further on the panel than it does...if you have large fingers it might be just a little difficult to get a good grip on the knob...
Actually the unit is much easier to use than my Alpine was...but it doesn't have anywhere near the kinds of control of my Alpine...
Sound quality is better than I expected...when you crack the volume to max it does distort a little, but it's livable...
It has only the minimal amount of controls...just what you need to hit the stations and play CD's...
Treble and bass control are very effective and you just depress the volume control to access bass, treble, balance, and fader...very easy and quick...The bass control puts a lot of punch into the low end real quick...you may find yourself adjusting the bass level fairly often depending on the type of music...
Playing MP3's is very easy...the cd spins up quickly, you can change between tracks very quickly, 2-3 seconds from cut 1 to cut 100 for example...there are 10 preselect buttons on the panel so you can select cut 3 or cut 45 or cut 168 for example just by pushing the buttons in order...
Has a pause button, can choose folders, fast change forward or backward...
The face plate is large, easy to read, scrolls the ID, but it is either track ID or artist ID, not both at same time...
Tuner works very well, good reception...hard to tell the FM stations from an MP3 track in sound quality...
The face plate comes off very easy, all the contacts and etc seem well built and appear rugged...
All in all, if you are looking for a upper-low level HU that handles MP3's flawlessly, I think this is a good unit...
If you want to add amps, I don't think this the unit you want due to lack of all the preouts...I might put a sub amp on later this year...if I do I think I'll get Dual's subamp...
I got the 4 year extended warrenty for $40...that way if it craps out, I can get another, or use the credit to move up to some other unit...
