how much effect does a head unit have on sound quality?

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

ok. thanks guys you have put me at ease a bit. now I can focus on the most important part, the install!

Should have hit me up. I have some pioneer b stock avhx5500 decks for 275 plus shipping

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

^^ do you have any of the old prs decks with the p-bus port?

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

^^ do you have any of the old prs decks with the p-bus port?

Nope sorry did just get a dehx 980 mp tho. But keeping it

 

[blakgtp 10+ year member]

Should have hit me up. I have some pioneer b stock avhx5500 decks for 275 plus shipping

****. oh well, you win some you lose some haha

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

****. oh well, you win some you lose some haha

Still might be one left

 

[Dirtrider4eva 10+ year member]

pre-outs isnt everything. processing and abilities of the deck influence the sound immensly and the deck itself will have a distinct sound. Pioneers tend to be more bright. kenwoods flat. Eclipse warm, alpine cool but sharp. depending on the tastes of your ears you may prefer one to the other. i personally like the sound of my eclipse more than any kenwood or alpine i have had. I have yet to try an alpine yet. may down the line.

 

[murph 10+ year member]

There's nothing wrong with 2 volt preamp outputs. I can't think of an amplifier I've ever experienced that couldn't be driven to its maximum output on that voltage.
As for sound quality, an inexpensive unit with a tv screen isn't going to have a lot to offer in that department. It's a simple economic equation... to get a tv screen in a cheap head unit, something else must be left out in order for the manufacturer to still profit on the sale.

Lol I'm sorry but, you must have never ran any os (amps pre-2002ish) amplification before. Amps from that age for example the Phoenix Gold MS series definitely want a higher preout voltage than 2 volts. When looking at Head Units having a quality DAC or DAC's are always something to look into.

 

[bbeljefe]

Lol I'm sorry but, you must have never ran any os (amps pre-2002ish) amplification before. Amps from that age for example the Phoenix Gold MS series definitely want a higher preout voltage than 2 volts. When looking at Head Units having a quality DAC or DAC's are always something to look into.

I wasn't aware this conversation was about old school amps. And old school to me is mid 1980s, when I started in car audio.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

pre-outs isnt everything. processing and abilities of the deck influence the sound immensly and the deck itself will have a distinct sound. Pioneers tend to be more bright. kenwoods flat. Eclipse warm, alpine cool but sharp. depending on the tastes of your ears you may prefer one to the other. i personally like the sound of my eclipse more than any kenwood or alpine i have had. I have yet to try an alpine yet. may down the line.

Ah, so I'm not the only one running an Eclipse deck! I've had my CD1200 for probably 4 years now, my dad originally had it installed in his car at the time and when he gave the car to me I kept it. Then I sold the car so I pulled the deck out and put the OEM deck back in. Bought my new car and threw the deck in. I love it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[RoYALbLUE08 10+ year member]

my avh-p8400 gives me perfectly good crystal clear loud sound with 0 distortion. it only has an 8 band eq but running the speakers active its fine from my crescendo amp is fine. besides. wouldnt you need time allignment if your running front and back speakers?

not to mention i like to be updated with technology i dont like old school stuff so my headunit is very nice looking, very fast and responsive and has great features that i use everyday in it and a nice 7 inch screen that i mirror my iphone on it for navigation/internet browsing, etc.

 

[Dirtrider4eva 10+ year member]

my avh-p8400 gives me perfectly good crystal clear loud sound with 0 distortion. it only has an 8 band eq but running the speakers active its fine from my crescendo amp is fine. besides. wouldnt you need time allignment if your running front and back speakers?
not to mention i like to be updated with technology i dont like old school stuff so my headunit is very nice looking, very fast and responsive and has great features that i use everyday in it and a nice 7 inch screen that i mirror my iphone on it for navigation/internet browsing, etc.

i had a very similar unit. identical processing. sounds pretty good. a little bright up top. new tech isnt always greater than old..

Ah, so I'm not the only one running an Eclipse deck! I've had my CD1200 for probably 4 years now, my dad originally had it installed in his car at the time and when he gave the car to me I kept it. Then I sold the car so I pulled the deck out and put the OEM deck back in. Bought my new car and threw the deck in. I love it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

im running a cd7000. before this i had some weird double din with a detach gps in it. it was a weird fun unit.

as for pre out voltage i vote 4-5V is perfect. my us acoustics amp cant handle 8 anyhow.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

[quote name='RoYALbLUE08']my avh-p8400 gives me perfectly good crystal clear loud sound with 0 distortion. it only has an 8 band eq but running the speakers active its fine from my crescendo amp is fine. besides. wouldnt you need time allignment if your running front and back speakers?

not to mention i like to be updated with technology i dont like old school stuff so my headunit is very nice looking, very fast and responsive and has great features that i use everyday in it and a nice 7 inch screen that i mirror my iphone on it for navigation/internet browsing, etc.[/QUOTE]

I actually just traded off my 8400 DD in favor of a JVC KD-A95BT. While I do miss the 8-band EQ (and had finally gotten settings where they were sounding great), the SQ on this $200 JVC is leaps and bounds ahead of the Pioneer. In my experience, Pioneer decks always favor low frequencies, Alpine favors the high, and Eclipse love midrange. This JVC covers all three extremely well and its sense of staging and imaging just pushed it over the top. Its 5-band graphic EQ, though, leaves a little to be desired.

Adding my two cents in the equation (especially after this experience), the deck should really be the first thing you look at replacing when searching for SQ. You can have some of the nicest amplifiers and speakers/subs in existence, but great amplification is only going to amply a bad source. There's a reason the processing world is doing so well right now. Hell, for $350 these days, you can take a JBL MS-8 and make almost any consumer-level deck sound better. @PapaGeno21 ; can vouch for this especially. He's seen tremendous gains in what his system is capable of after putting it in his system and he's by no means all about the essques.

On the other side of the argument, you can't take a great deck and poop amplification and expect to get good results, either. These days, it really doesn't matter if it's Class A/B, D, G, H, etc since there's great and awful examples of each in the industry. Swapping out my A/B Boston Acoustics GT-2125 for a Zed Leviathan was in itself a giant leap ahead for my sub stage. That Boston is now happily driving my passive components. But don't expect to get a Shark, AP, VVME, whatever budget amp and expect it to perform like a Sinfoni. It just won't.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

[quote name='neo_styles']I actually just traded off my 8400 DD in favor of a JVC KD-A95BT. While I do miss the 8-band EQ (and had finally gotten settings where they were sounding great), the SQ on this $200 JVC is leaps and bounds ahead of the Pioneer. In my experience, Pioneer decks always favor low frequencies, Alpine favors the high, and Eclipse love midrange. This JVC covers all three extremely well and its sense of staging and imaging just pushed it over the top. Its 5-band graphic EQ, though, leaves a little to be desired.

Adding my two cents in the equation (especially after this experience), the deck should really be the first thing you look at replacing when searching for SQ. You can have some of the nicest amplifiers and speakers/subs in existence, but great amplification is only going to amply a bad source. There's a reason the processing world is doing so well right now. Hell, for $350 these days, you can take a JBL MS-8 and make almost any consumer-level deck sound better. @PapaGeno21 ; can vouch for this especially. He's seen tremendous gains in what his system is capable of after putting it in his system and he's by no means all about the essques.

On the other side of the argument, you can't take a great deck and poop amplification and expect to get good results, either. These days, it really doesn't matter if it's Class A/B, D, G, H, etc since there's great and awful examples of each in the industry. Swapping out my A/B Boston Acoustics GT-2125 for a Zed Leviathan was in itself a giant leap ahead for my sub stage. That Boston is now happily driving my passive components. But don't expect to get a Shark, AP, VVME, whatever budget amp and expect it to perform like a Sinfoni. It just won't.[/QUOTE]

would love to know where one can get a jbl ms-8 for 350 new.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

would love to know where one can get a jbl ms-8 for 350 new.

Keep your eye on Harmon direct's eBay page and their website. They're technically refurbs, but it really doesn't matter. Also keep watching the DIYMA classifieds. Seems like a BNIB one pops up every week over there.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

thanks!