on the verge, the premier 860MP

[billybrown66 10+ year member]

first of all my set up.

1 12" AA Avalanche

mb quart psd 216 components in the front

no rear speakers...yet

mb quart raa4200 bi amped for the components

mb quart raa1000 for the AA Avalanche

i currently have an eclipse av5101 w/ a dv3101 dvd player as my source unit. however, i never really use my dvd player and want something a bit simpler around the edges, so i decided to go with a normal head unit. i have looked at...

nakamichi CD-400, 500 and MB VI

eclipse 8454

however the reliability issues with the nakamichi scared me off a bit and it doesnt have as many features as i would like (built in satellite tuner mostly)...but they are awesome sq players and look beautiful. the only thing i don't like about the eclipse is that i would have to buy it used so f that.

i've boiled it down to two players, the pioneer premier 860 and i've also been looking at the clarion DXZ855. would there be a SQ difference at all between these two products? which one is more suitable toward my setup? iv'e read some stuff on the pioneer unit, but not as much as the clarion, if anyone has played with both give me some feedback. thanks.

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[kickinaudio 10+ year member]

the 860 is awesome, people that have them have no complaints. Their is alot of adjustability on that deck. The 13band digi eq is nice.

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

I have had good luck with my 860, and you can turn the circus display/vegas by night display OFF, which makes it a lot nicer. I love Nak decks, but they really don't have many features compared to your other choices. Hands down classy as hell though.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

go with the clarion. better sq. i've had a premier 860 and a clarion DXZ745 and the clarion had better sq. my pioneer sucked at playing stratched cd's. they are also known for having bad rca's

 

[chadillac3 10+ year member]

I love it when people say "better sq" without explaining why.

 

[chadillac3 10+ year member]

BTW, I'd take an 860 over the Clarion anyday, if it's going to be your only source of EQ.

 

[billybrown66 10+ year member]

see that is the part where i get confused chadillac. i already set up all of my crossovers on my amps already, so is the 13 band eq just for tweaking? standard mode, 3 way network mode, adjustable slope...i don't really understand/know if i need all of these things, however, they do sound fun to play with. on the other hand i just stumbled upon a thread crucifying the 860 for multiple problems, the prominent one being dead preouts, uh oh, don't know how i missed that thread last night. anyway, thanks for the replies, keep them coming while i look at the clarion a bit more.

edit:...and i'll take a look at alpine, never thought i'd say that.

 

[kickinaudio 10+ year member]

my pre-outs work fine. Also nice knowing I have a two year warranty.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

I love it when people say "better sq" without explaining why.

i did.

go with the clarion. better sq. i've had a premier 860 and a clarion DXZ745 and the clarion had better sq. my pioneer sucked at playing stratched cd's. they are also known for having bad rca's

imo that is better sq. unless you like listening to a skipping cd.

 

[bimma85 5,000+ posts]

go with the clarion. better sq. i've had a premier 860 and a clarion DXZ745 and the clarion had better sq. my pioneer sucked at playing stratched cd's. they are also known for having bad rca's

eh I havent even had a chance to hook it up. You never mentioned this when you sold it... whats up

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

eh I havent even had a chance to hook it up. You never mentioned this when you sold it... whats up

pioneer's as a whole just don't play stratched cd's as well as clarion and clarion doesn't play them as well as eclipse. i throw a totally chewed up cd in my eclipse and it will play it fine. if your cd's aren't stratched up it'll sound great. i've also had 2 8600's. nothing wrong with the deck that's just how pioneer is. there were some songs where my clarion skipped, but my eclipse plays them no problem.

 

[billybrown66 10+ year member]

i went to better buy tonight to look at the alpine cda9855, it was alright, the comments about the glide touch are true, it's kind of annoying and seems like it would be difficult to toggle while driving, ****. i wish the new eclipse's weren't so ugly, i'm sure they are awesome players, but i couldn't stand looking at that thing all day.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

i went to better buy tonight to look at the alpine cda9855, it was alright, the comments about the glide touch are true, it's kind of annoying and seems like it would be difficult to toggle while driving, ****. i wish the new eclipse's weren't so ugly, i'm sure they are awesome players, but i couldn't stand looking at that thing all day.

basing decision on looks is not good //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[billybrown66 10+ year member]

absolutley. but thats like buying a car that gets good gas mileage, is quick, has everything you need buit is UGLY as ****. cosmetics aren't everything, but they're something.

 

[SirSyko 10+ year member]

You need to look into the Kenwood x889. When I was playing around with it and the 960mp as well as the 860, the kenwood just had a better, easier interface. I could have chosen pretty much any deck I wanted and even after playing with the eclipse 8445 and reading about all of them, the kenwood seemed the most versatile. It has 24 bit burrbrown DACs and 110db signal to noise ratio compared to clarion's 100 and pioneer's 99. Also the preamp outputs are 5 volt on the kenwood compared to 4 on the clarion as well as pioneer.

I suggest you stick with the getting an eclipse or kenwood. I think theyre on par with SQ.