Eclipse head unit

[TwistedVisions 10+ year member]

Okay well im trying to get a head unit for my car and i was willing to spend up to 250 for the head unit and another 150 for the install. I had my choices narrowed down to the pioneer dehp660, and the alpine APN CDA9827. I was looking at the pioneer because it had the 3-band equalizer, and the 3d graphics. The equalizer would be nice to have to tweak my settings to get the best quality out of my infinity 6x9's in the rear and my polk 5'1/4 in my doors. The downside was it only had 2 volts and i was told the clarity was not as good as the alpine. So i started looking at the alpine deck and i noticed it had 4 volts for better clarity to my speakers and also looked good but without the 3d graphics. I was about to go ahead and get the alpine when i decided to goto kens car tunes. I was talking to the salesman there and he told me eclipse was the best head unit on the market and had better clarity then both the alpine and the pioneer. I always assumed that alpine was the best so i wasn't sure to believe him. Well he went ahead and showed me what the head unit could do and he turned the sub up loud and it was loud enough to hurt my eardrums but had no distortion which was a good sign. The only problem with this eclipse head unit was that it was the ugliest head unit i have seen in a while and had no built in equalizer. It did however have these features"front/rear/non fader preamplifier rca output terminal pairs,flexible bass and treble controls,speaker crossover frequency setting,non fader level phase control,digital servo system" those are just the main ones there are more. Now im new to car systems and this is my first one so i have no idea what those settings do and which i need to be able to control my sub that I will be getting in the upcoming weeks and 2 amps. If anyone can help me out on which head unit would be best to get and why and if anyone has ever heard of eclipse head units(i haven't) and if there any good. Also the model number is"CD3424" and there website is www.eclipse-web.com" if you want to read up on them. Thanks for your reply's.

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[DJ FURY 10+ year member]

Eclipse is top of the line....................the model numbers will vary but they make some of the best head units esp for sound quality.............

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Yes, it's true. But why not install the HU yourself...then you could step up to the eclipse 5---- series, they are even better. Check them out, see what you can get for $400. Then all you have to do is buy yourself a wiring harness...plug it in to your stock harness and splice like 10 wires at most. The wires are even already stripped for you, and they are color coded for easy install. It would be worth it to install yourself and get a much better HU. peace

NG

 

[TwistedVisions 10+ year member]

Well i was going to get my dad to install it since he knows alot about electronics but he said to take my deck out would be a challenge and not to mention i have to buy a deck kit and a few other accessories needed to install my cd player. The actual labor is only like 90 dollars the other amount is for those accessories. I have a 91 oldsmobile and it has that huge ugly factory deck which i could see why my dad doesn't want to attempt putting my cd player in. Although if i can settle* with the lower end head unit i can get trade in value which is just like buying a car and trading it in for a better one. I have to talk to the sales rep tomm. to find out exactly how much the trade in value would be after several months until i really need the top of the line eclipse head unit. Thanks again.

 

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

I have owned most major brands, and I prefer any eclipse I have owned to all the others.

 

[forbidden 10+ year member]

Eclipse is one of the best choices available for a good sounding easy to use cd player. If good ol dad installs it you have a 1 year warranty, if the dealer installs it it is 3 years warranty and 1 year replacement if it is stolen.

 

[POO-ON-YOU 10+ year member]

i just ordered and installed a pioneer DEH-P7600MP from http://www.savinglots.com for a total of $231 with shipping. It is a great HU and seems to fit in your budget. It may not be up to the sq of an eclipse HU but i like it none the less.

 

[TwistedVisions 10+ year member]

Thats a real good deal for that 7600 i mean thats 100 dollars of savings,but how much did you pay for that extended warrenty? Also can anyone tell me if these eclipse head units are detachable? I would think they would be but i have seen a couple high end head units that just fold back and are not detachable. Also im still confused about the differance between the built in crossovers and a equalizer. Would those built in crossovers and a good amp be enough to have a good sounding system without blowing my inside speakers? Just for the sake of looking i went ahead and looked at some alpine equalizers and they run about 200 for the cheapest on up which is expensive.

 

[unrealii 10+ year member]

Eclipse has ESN in lieu of the detattachable face. ESN, is that you put a cd of your choice in the hu and let it learn the cd. If the hu ever has the power cut to it, it will ask for that cd to function again. There are definitly pros and cons to this. Eclipse will replace the hu if it is stolen in the first year after buying it. Only problem is that it has to be installed by an authorized retailer - i think.

If not, you can put that $150 towards the hu and get this which has 8v preouts (it has no mp3 though, dunno if that matters): http://www.tweeter.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1264794&cp=.1247217

 

[aZ_M3 10+ year member]

Where could I order a AVN 2454? Its ok if they are backordered, i just cant find anywhere that sells them and eclipse-web.com doesn't have a number I can call

 

[TwistedVisions 10+ year member]

That esn i have been reading about is that anti theft which i thought they just had as an extra. You mean to tell me they have it because the face isn't detachable?? I live in a upper class residental neighborhood but still wouldn't trust my 400 dollar cd player to be left in the car,face and all. Can anyone tell me if they have had problems with this esn and if there eclipse has been stolen???

 

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

That esn i have been reading about is that anti theft which i thought they just had as an extra. You mean to tell me they have it because the face isn't detachable?? I live in a upper class residental neighborhood but still wouldn't trust my 400 dollar cd player to be left in the car,face and all. Can anyone tell me if they have had problems with this esn and if there eclipse has been stolen???

I have owned Eclipse ESN decks for 10 years with no theft problems at all. A dealer on another forum mentioned in his 8 years as an eclipse dealer, he has had 4 customers have their eclipse decks stolen. I am also on several car audio forums, and I can count the number of posts from people who have had their eclipse decks stolen on one hand.

I have had detach face decks, and I prefer ESN for a variety of reasons:

in time, taking the faceplate off just becomes a hassle so I left it on(as do many others)

detach faceplates can get lost, stolen, or broken

some thieves will break into your car anyway since they figure your faceplate is probably still in the car(under a seat, in the glovebox, etc)

some thieves will just steal whatever they can get(and I have seen posts from people who still have their faceplates yet the rest of the deck was stolen)

It all comes down to personal preference. I would prefer a stock looking false front to cover any deck I owned over detach face/esn/phantom face, etc.

I think keeping a low profile is more important than what type of security you have, anyway.

If you think you really want/need detachable face, don't buy an eclipse.

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

Yes, it's true. But why not install the HU yourself...then you could step up to the eclipse 5---- series, they are even better. Check them out, see what you can get for $400. Then all you have to do is buy yourself a wiring harness...plug it in to your stock harness and splice like 10 wires at most. The wires are even already stripped for you, and they are color coded for easy install. It would be worth it to install yourself and get a much better HU. peace
NG

Must agree headunits are not hard to install. Do it yourself and save some money that you could use in other areas of your system or on a better head unit.

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

In my area you better have a detachable face because basically what the thiefs do is go through the area and find out what people have. If they see a car with a faceplate still on the deck they take those first because they are the easiest target. All decks that I've heard about being stolen in my area had their detachable faces in at the time. I won't even turn my stereo up until I'm out of my area. It is true that if you flaunt your system in your area you're more likely to have it stolen, but I've known people that had absolutely no system at all except for the deck and have had it stolen. Although this may not be as true if you live in a nice area where your neighbors don't have to steal from you.

 

[packerfan 10+ year member]

Must agree headunits are not hard to install. Do it yourself and save some money that you could use in other areas of your system or on a better head unit.

Yes, but if it means your getting 2 extra years on the warrenty PLUS a one year theft replacement warrenty, the $24 is well worth it to have the shop install it.