Need a new HU.. Pioneer or Alpine? Since Eclipse is no more....

[d77543020 10+ year member]

i agree with you i have all types of different brand of head units and pioneer was the only brand i had that pico fuse problem with,but i do love there decks as long its the 4000 series and up anything under that sounds like crap

 

[d77543020 10+ year member]

why

for my experience with kenwood you get alot for your money, all the of the Kenwood eXcelons i have owned sounded great for a great price, for instance you can get a KENWOOD KDCX693 with all these features

* 3 Sets of 4V preamp outputs (front, rear and subwoofer)

* SIRIUS Satellite Radio Ready: Subscription and the purchase of Kenwood SIRIUS Package required and sold separately

* iPod and iPhone Ready: Kenwood KCA-IP101 recommended and sold separately, although the standard iPod-to-USB connection cable allows you to charge, control, and playback your iPod through the receiver and stereo system

* Bluetooth Ready: Kenwood KCA-BT200 required and sold separately

* HD Radio Ready: Kenwood KTC-HR200 required and sold separately.

* Rear auxiliary input: 3.5mm (headphone jack) allows connection to portable media devices such as MP3 players, etc.

* Rear USB input: USB port allows connection to portable media devices such as MP3 players, as well as a iPod USB direct connection

* Steering Wheel Control Ready: PAC SWI-JACKv1 required and sold separately

* CD Changer controls

for 100 dollars on ebay, you cant beat that

 

[hzsogood 5,000+ posts]

for my experience with kenwood you get alot for your money, all the of the Kenwood eXcelons i have owned sounded great for a great price, for instance you can get a KENWOOD KDCX693 with all these features
* 3 Sets of 4V preamp outputs (front, rear and subwoofer)

* SIRIUS Satellite Radio Ready: Subscription and the purchase of Kenwood SIRIUS Package required and sold separately

* iPod and iPhone Ready: Kenwood KCA-IP101 recommended and sold separately, although the standard iPod-to-USB connection cable allows you to charge, control, and playback your iPod through the receiver and stereo system

* Bluetooth Ready: Kenwood KCA-BT200 required and sold separately

* HD Radio Ready: Kenwood KTC-HR200 required and sold separately.

* Rear auxiliary input: 3.5mm (headphone jack) allows connection to portable media devices such as MP3 players, etc.

* Rear USB input: USB port allows connection to portable media devices such as MP3 players, as well as a iPod USB direct connection

* Steering Wheel Control Ready: PAC SWI-JACKv1 required and sold separately

* CD Changer controls

for 100 dollars on ebay, you cant beat that

Everything you listed is on almost every new HU these days.. Hell I could get all those options on a brand new HU for 150 bucks

Youtr not doing a very good job plugging your kenwoods //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

No kenwood fo me... alpine pioneer ( also premier ) and clarion

 

[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/car-audio-classifieds/487062-fs-pioneer-avh-6500dvd-w-hide-away-ipod-interface.html

 

[stanky1219]

Fudge Pioneer , everyone i have owned has had issues with noise through the rca's. excelon or alpine , and if you dont mind a ugly head unit get a eclipse , them muh-fuggers got 8 volt rca's!!!!

 

[hzsogood 5,000+ posts]

Fudge Pioneer , everyone i have owned has had issues with noise through the rca's. excelon or alpine , and if you dont mind a ugly head unit get a eclipse , them muh-fuggers got 8 volt rca's!!!!

ive had em.. for years.. 1 volt, 8 volt , It dont mean a thing... Thats what amp gain is for

 

[Bob Saget]

Fudge Pioneer , everyone i have owned has had issues with noise through the rca's. excelon or alpine , and if you dont mind a ugly head unit get a eclipse , them muh-fuggers got 8 volt rca's!!!!

I wouldn't be admitting to everyone you don't know how to properly install a Pioneer h/u.

It's simple: DON'T play with the RCA preouts while the deck has power to it. It takes 3 seconds to pull the harness plug.

 

[Stalin-ohaulic]

The pico fuse issue is not from playing with the rca's while in use. It's from current being drawn through the rcas due to improper grounding.

Alpines no longer have all of the features they used to have. Kenwoods have nice EQ options. They have more free options than alpines. You can get all the same options with alpine but you have to buy add on unit after add on unit. I have experience with all of the newer head units every year //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Alpine still makes a great product, but they are skimping on the features now. Pioneer makes great units. They are up there with kenwood.... just make sure your grounds are amazing, and ground your rca's also. My vote is for kenwood.

It's funny that the pioneer nuthugger blasted spanky saying he didn't know how to install a HU but the idiot that blew his kenwood rca's out didn't get a tongue lashing. Pico issues are common with pioneers. Kenwood doesn't have a common problem that plagues each model.

 

[Sweet'n Low 10+ year member]

I've got a Alpine CDA-9855 with the Slidebar and I love it. Not great for iphone and ipod tho... SQ and tune settings are hard to beat tho, you can get them pretty cheap if you look in the right places. You can match the button color to match your interior too if your into that kinda thing haha... owned a Pioneer DEH-6000UB before that as well, no real complaints...wasn't for me tho.

 

[hzsogood 5,000+ posts]

I've never had a problem with ANY of my HUs as far as fuses or rcas blowing .... How does it even happen? I mean you install a hu and it slide in your dash all while the power on the car is off. Am I missing something here

 

[Stalin-ohaulic]

I've never had a problem with ANY of my HUs as far as fuses or rcas blowing .... How does it even happen? I mean you install a hu and it slide in your dash all while the power on the car is off. Am I missing something here

The amp's ground has higher resistance than the Head unit's so the Amp draws current through the RCA's. You have to be a real idiot for this to happen, but it does.

 

[kr15 5,000+ posts]

I am what you would call an "amatuer" installer, and I have owned multiple Pioneer HUs and have never had that fuse issue happen to me...so it must not be too difficult to avoid....And on the topic of alpines, I love mine, and mine is more of a base model

 

[hzsogood 5,000+ posts]

The amp's ground has higher resistance than the Head unit's so the Amp draws current through the RCA's. You have to be a real idiot for this to happen, but it does.

Hmmm I have also never grounded my HU. I solder the harness and slide it in. That's it. I dunno what issues ppl are having but I've never seen or heard it happen. Around here at least

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Hmmm I have also never grounded my HU. I solder the harness and slide it in. That's it. I dunno what issues ppl are having but I've never seen or heard it happen. Around here at least

My Eclipse is the first HU I soldered and heatshrank. Even when I used butt connectors on my Pioneer for a temp install it never happened. Ive also never seen it happen.

 

[Jack Off]

I am in the same boat as OP. Have an old Pioneer deh-9200r but im now looking for an Alpine or Pioneer that plays mp3s and other formats as well as have ipod controls. Been checking out the alpine 9887/9886 and pioneer p7200hd.

will be following this thread to see what people recommend. i dont want to "upgrade" to a newer deck only to lose features that my old one had.