need a new head unit ($300)

[8inw7 10+ year member]

Right now i have a stock system except for an 8 inch w7 in the back. i have a 250 watt jl amp runnin it. right now i'm lookin to get a new headunit. i really need the mp3 capability, cause i have 20 cds in my car and it's a pain havin to change em. i'd like the head unit to not be veriy gaudy at all, cause i dont' want the interior of my car to look stupid (2004 corolla-s). if you have any suggestions for a good quality head unit that will still be nice after i get some nicer speakers, but isn't too gaudy please tell me. i plan on getting better speakers this summer too. i have seen this thread: http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/showthread.php?t=57259 i'm gonna look into that head unit, but stilll would like to see any other suggestions

oh ya, and i have roughly 300 bucks to spend. can go as high as 500, but would like to spend less. thanks agian.

Click to read more...

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

check out the eclipse head units, as they look to be stock.....atleast the one i have in my sentra looks like it could have come with it......VERY nice headunits as well

 

[AsK 5109 10+ year member]

If you don't want it to look like **** the my advice to you is to go with a Clarion with color changing face capabilities so you can match the color to your interior. It sounds korny as **** but I played around with a few of these at Tweeter and their tight as hell.

Peace

 

[8inw7 10+ year member]

Well, although i do want a unit that doesn't look like ****, what other things shoudl i also look for in a unit? i'm pretty sure the power output doesn't matter all that much cause if i get new speakers ill get an amp with em. and from what i hear they don't really give great power output anyways. also, do headunits come with the cutout for your dash or how does that work?

 

[slick316 10+ year member]

i think that the clarion dxz745mp is a very classy looking deck, mainly black with a few chrome pieces here and there. and like ask 5109 said, you can change the colors on it, and it can match the interior lighting in your rolla (its like green isnt it?).

i like eclipse also, the 3434 is a great choice for you as well, it plays mp3's. it doesnt really look stock to me, only nakamichi looks truely stock, but the 3434 doesnt look gaudy at all.

 

[8inw7 10+ year member]

Hmm, i looked at em both. They look alright. The clarion is right around 300 which is good. I can't seem to find aprice for the eclipse cd3434. i dunno why. anyways, why are these better than any 100 dollar ones?? just tryin to learn more about this stuff. thanks.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

Hmm, i looked at em both. They look alright. The clarion is right around 300 which is good. I can't seem to find aprice for the eclipse cd3434. i dunno why. anyways, why are these better than any 100 dollar ones?? just tryin to learn more about this stuff. thanks.

probably because eclipse and clarion (higher end) made them //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/toast.gif.bc0657bf54b9ee653b6438524461341e.gif

 

[slick316 10+ year member]

eclipse decks are going to be hard to find on the internet, they dont authorize online sales thats why (a lot of companies dont, but eclipse is just so hard to find other than on ebay). i think that the 3434 retails for $300, so its the right price, but i think you get a little more with the clarion, tough choice, i like both.

 

[Shugarra 10+ year member]

The Alpine 9835 looks pretty sweet, and fairly classy, not sure how much they sell for though.

 

[LostCause 10+ year member]

The Alpine 9835 looks pretty sweet, and fairly classy, not sure how much they sell for though.

MSRP is $550...on ebay you might be able to score them for $400.

- Lost Cause

 

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

Yep, the Eclipse 3434 retails for $299. In that price range, that would be my choice if I needed/cared about mp3.

 

[ny96j30 10+ year member]

I would look at the Nakamichi CD400, depending if you need any particular functions. It doesn't have time correction or Mp3 capabilities, but what it does have is a very stock and understated look, and phenomenal sound quality.

When buying mine, I compared it to the Eclipse 5423 and the Alpine 7995 - in SQ, I found it much better than the Alpine, and better than the Eclipse

 

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

I would look at the Nakamichi CD400, depending if you need any particular functions. It doesn't have time correction or Mp3 capabilities, but what it does have is a very stock and understated look, and phenomenal sound quality.
When buying mine, I compared it to the Eclipse 5423 and the Alpine 7995 - in SQ, I found it much better than the Alpine, and better than the Eclipse

I would love to hear a nak someday. The original poster says he needs mp3 though.

 

[urwhatueati8god 10+ year member]

I would love to hear a nak someday. The original poster says he needs mp3 though.

They're horrible, not worth the money. The thing skips with even the most minute scratch and over the most miniscule of road bumps.

 

[slick316 10+ year member]

you must have a bad one or something, i know someone with a cd400, very nice and simple looking, and i never heard him complain about it skip (the dude is anal, if there was a problem, i would know).

the deck is nice and perfect for the person looking for a simple, good sounding deck (i would have bought one, but i'm a feature *****).

 

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

you must have a bad one or something, i know someone with a cd400, very nice and simple looking, and i never heard him complain about it skip (the dude is anal, if there was a problem, i would know).the deck is nice and perfect for the person looking for a simple, good sounding deck (i would have bought one, but i'm a feature *****).

You can't be hung up on a ton of features if you are going with the 9255(this is PerryB from SD, btw). //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[slick316 10+ year member]

dude, the 9255 has a 5 band parametric EQ, 4 way Xover, time alignment for each channel, i mean come on, thats a lot of features. also has the dual 24 bit burr brown DAC's, copper plated chassis, gold plated preouts with OFC cables, vacuum florescent display. the only thing simple about this deck, is the looks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

while it falls short of features found in the 8053, it makes up for it in other ways.

come on perry, you should know this //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

dude, the 9255 has a 5 band parametric EQ, 4 way Xover, time alignment for each channel, i mean come on, thats a lot of features. also has the dual 24 bit burr brown DAC's, copper plated chassis, gold plated preouts with OFC cables, vacuum florescent display. the only thing simple about this deck, is the looks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gifwhile it falls short of features found in the 8053, it makes up for it in other ways.

come on perry, you should know this //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I knew it had some features, but still not a TON of features like somebody who loves features would be happy with.. I have never felt that more features necessarily means better sound anyway(though many seem to think that it does). The 8053 that I have now just happens to have alot of features, but I don't really use many of them at all(deck is set flat, for example).

The 8053 doesn't have a copper chassis, but I believe it is listed as having gold plated RCAs. The local shop sells clarion as well as eclipse. The ONLY clarion they have ever mentioned in the same breath as eclipse when it comes to sq is the old 9255. I will be interested to hear the new one.

 

[slick316 10+ year member]

yea, i noticed that the 8053 sounded great right out of the box when compared to my 835mp, so i'm also interested in how the 9255 sounds, but even with the 835mp, i wasnt dissappointed after i fooled around with the settings a bit (the parametric eq made it easy to adjust for me).

 

[8inw7 10+ year member]

I'll have to check out some local shops see what they suggest. i've looked and i was wonderin if someone could rank the following for how good they would be for my needs: alpine 9831, alpine 9813, and the eclipse cd3434.