Narrow it down for me!

[clanderson]

Hey guys, I'm getting my girl a pretty basic HU for her new car. She has stock speakers with no sub and no amp. I'm kind of stuck between a few of these decks though - any opinions on which would be a better choice? The differences seem to be negligible, unless I'm being ignorant.

Choices:

• Kenwood KDC-BT318U
   
  
• Kenwood KDC-BT558U
   
  
• Kenwood KMM-BT308U
   
  
• Alpine UTE-42BT
   
  
• Alpine CDE-143BT
  

Click to read more...

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

If easiness of operation of the deck is an issue. Get the alpine. Kenwood a tend to be a bit harder to navigate thru

 

[clanderson]

I was kind of thinking that too.

Any other suggestions?

 

[fly_marlin]

I have had good experience with a few JVC decks a while ago, and they are cheaper than comparable Alpines and Pioneers. I personally have a pioneer - those are generally less intuitive than alpines, but once you get used to it...it gets the job done. For stock everything, I'd really just go with a JVC deck and you can get one with all the bells - HD radio, front USB, auxiliary, bluetooth, etc.

 

[The Silverman 10+ year member]

I have had good experience with a few JVC decks a while ago, and they are cheaper than comparable Alpines and Pioneers. I personally have a pioneer - those are generally less intuitive than alpines, but once you get used to it...it gets the job done. For stock everything, I'd really just go with a JVC deck and you can get one with all the bells - HD radio, front USB, auxiliary, bluetooth, etc.

+1 on the JVC. They tend to have shinier buttons and girls love shiny things. Or you can get her one of those new Jensen triple din decks with the holographic buttons and 26 volt preouts.

Seriously I like the Alpines...also I've seen and heard good things about Pioneer HUs.

 

[fly_marlin]

+1 on the JVC. They tend to have shinier buttons and girls love shiny things. Or you can get her one of those new Jensen triple din decks with the holographic buttons and 26 volt preouts.
Seriously I like the Alpines...also I've seen and heard good things about Pioneer HUs.

LOL is that a real +1 on the JVC?

 

[caterham09]

I only have experience with kenwood and pioneer but I found the kenwood to be way easier to navigate so if it were my money I'd buy it. However I've heard nothing but good things about alpine and I've loved their speakers and amps. Differences on the headunits are pretty negligible though

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

on basic units like this i'd actually recommend crutchfield/sonicelectronix since they give you everything you need. Cost comes to about the same if you buy the install accessories and head units seperately on ebay/amazon. Along with better warranty/return policy.

Pioneer FH-X700BT CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

I'd say get her a double din. I got one for my sister and some of my homegirls and they loved it. The main thing about girls is bluetooth calling/audio streaming along with easy buttons to push. With single dins, changing/setting radio stations is a chore because of the lack of buttons so figure that into the equation if your girl likes listening to the radio.

 

[The Silverman 10+ year member]

LOL is that a real +1 on the JVC?

Yeah. They're pretty solid. Especially for the price.

 

[clanderson]

Thanks everybody! You've definitely helped me a lot! And good call on getting from sonicelectronix/crutchfield and bundling jeffdachef!

 

[clanderson]

I've narrowed it down to just a couple... So far, my top choice is the Pioneer jeffdachef suggested.

Pioneer FH-X700BT CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

The only thing holding me back is the wattage - the two Kenwoods I have in mind are 22w RMS while the Pioneer is just 14w RMS. Would this make a difference? I don't really have that much experience with such low wattage... hahaha

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

I've narrowed it down to just a couple... So far, my top choice is the Pioneer jeffdachef suggested.
The only thing holding me back is the wattage - the two Kenwoods I have in mind are 22w RMS while the Pioneer is just 14w RMS. Would this make a difference? I don't really have that much experience with such low wattage... hahaha

Real world you are only getting 8-12 watts out of any head unit.

 

[Slobalt]

I've had an jvc, pioneer, alpine. My vote alpine

 

[BoomTaco64]

jvc and kenwood units are pretty much the same except the look. they are sharing technologies now. buy the jvc and you basically get a kenwood unit. dont believe me....look at the sticker on the top of the units. they now say JVC Kenwood Corporation rather than just JVC or Kenwood. now Kenwood excelon is still Kenwood but still under the same JVC Kenwood Corporation. same with the JVC Arsenal units.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I've narrowed it down to just a couple... So far, my top choice is the Pioneer jeffdachef suggested.
The only thing holding me back is the wattage - the two Kenwoods I have in mind are 22w RMS while the Pioneer is just 14w RMS. Would this make a difference? I don't really have that much experience with such low wattage... hahaha

trust me that double din will put out true watts compared to the single din with bloated RMS numbers.

If you want a double din with 24 bit sound processors and with a kenwood brand on it, this does the job for 20 dollars more.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_65905_Kenwood-DPX500BT.html

pioneer has younger style and looks over the kenwood while kenwood is more expensive but has a tad bit better specs. Your choice.

Most of the times, the rms numbers on head units dont mean anything at all. As said before, they arent meant to put out anything over 12 real watts. even if a head unit posts 22 watts rms, I guarantee if you have an amp that does 20 real watts rms, it'll be louder and cleaner then the head unit.