looking for quality HU

[raheelk]

Hey, I am looking for a quality HU, that allows quality sounds (don't care about loud but just clear crisp sound) and I hear pioneer are the best... also what are the pro/cons of CD player vs CD Changers?

--rk

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[MinorSkills 10+ year member]

I love pioneer HU, I've owned a couple others, from JVC to Sony to Panasonic. Definately my recomendation on the Pioneer HU, I bought the 8400MP and it kicks ***. As far as Cd player vs. Changer, I switch Cd's often and I've heard of people who would go though the 10 Cd's in the changer really fast. I had a factory Changer when i got the car and it was straight, but now with the Cd player I dont miss it at all, and it wouldnt be worth the hassel for me to put another one in. Plus this unit i have plays MP3 formats so i can make some huge *** Cd's and I dont believe Cd Changers play MP3 discs yet. Just my 2 cents

 

[masterbass 10+ year member]

you heard wrong id go with either alpine or nakamichi

 

[MinorSkills 10+ year member]

Also when looking for the right HU you want to balance out cost with the necessary features you need. For example if you plan to install multiple amps you need to look at how many preamp outputs the HU offers and what votage they are at, I'd try to keep it at 4V or above. If you think you might want to get a cd changer, make sure you buy a HU with Cd changer controls. If you are not going to buy an 4 channel amp to run your speakers make sure the HU has adeqate power, you should stay at or above 22 Watts RMS, not peak power, Peak power is the amount of power it might hit on a HArd note. Rms Power is the Constant power and doesnt stop. Anything at 22 Watts RMS or above is okay, anything below that is bad. I know you said you didnt care about it being loud, just clear and crisp, but Power=Clear and Crispness. The Higher the RMS figure the louder and cleaner your music sounds. And last, about Cd Sound Quality you will need to check the CD-signal-to-noise-ratio which is a measure of the musical signal strength relative to background noise. So basically the higher the number in decibels (dB) the cleaner the sound. This rating should be at 94 dB or above for quality Cd sound. You will find all this information in the Specifications area on the box or in the manuel. Or get a Crutchfield magazine to look at specs and compare to figure out what your looking for, then shop around online for the best price.

http://www.crutchfield.com - dont buy from them, they are retail i.e. expensive, practically every other online site is cheaper.

 

[mr4pto 10+ year member]

if you want a quality headunit, go with eclipse. They are the best sounding headunits I have ever heard and they are reasonably priced for what you get. No fancy graphics or complicated features, just plain quality sound. IMO they sound much better than the alpines too, especially for anything musical and not just all bass etc.