Please recommend a Head unit under 400.00

[cswann821]

Hi everyone,

I've been away for a while and wanted some input on whats new and hot. My old phat noise kenwood music keg which I used to store and play all my mp3's finally died after a decade of great service. So I am looking for a new head unit, which is known for great sound output, I want it to be external hardrive USB compatible and OR iphone 4S-5 compatiblity and MUST have a nice easy to use way of search for the music useing the HU. 2-din or 1din . I have a max 375.00 budget. I guess im hopeing for pioneer,kenwood, or alpine.

The unit will running along with Alpine PDX amps, CDT woofer/twitters/ 2x 12" type Rs.

Thanks Chris!

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[d77543020 10+ year member]

depends on what you looking for there are lots of great decks for alot less then your budget

 

[cswann821]

Well, Nothing to flashy and bright. Something that says 007. Slick and cool and simple in look but Is up to date or ahead in Capabilities. I want something that well last, and give me great sound quality and control over it. As I said I use to have a kenwood with voice playback which made the phatnoise music keg awesome and easy to use when searching for music. My music keg died this week so I am looking for a method to replace my in car music storage and the old kenwood HU was that ran the music keg was built before ipods were invented so I am looking to upgrade.

I am also looking for a deck that has menu's and a display that are easy on the eyes, easy to control, and will control current external music players in a sensible manner. Are there any HU's with internal Harddrives yet? If not, can I use a small external one to a usb to play music from? Something that has software perhaps that I can hook to my PC and organize my music from there. If hardrives aren't used and I'm forced to go iphone/droid route to stream or play my music from, I want to beable to control it from the Head unit and this must be user friendly.

DVD would be cool

Navigation would be cool. But I am really looking for a sound performer HU here. Not an all in one navigator/movie player/calender/horoscope teller/HU...unless you know of one.

and again the unit will be running along with 2 Alpine PDX amps, CDT woofer/twitters and 2x 12" type Rs.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Steveopevo 10+ year member]

Pioneer DEH-80PRS CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

 

[NASTY08IMPALA 5,000+ posts]

i have the kenwood ddx419 and love it has everything pandora bluetooth nice eq navigation dvd ..3 sets of 4v preouts and a 4v sub out..349

 

[West]

Clarion U.S.A. | CZ702

Very impressive deck for the money.

After my current experience with their stage 4 headunit, I do not recommend Pioneer anything.

If you like SQ steer clear from the double din nav units, you are paying for navigation and the touch screen, they cheap out on the internals...

 

[cswann821]

So far I'm really likeing the look and options on the higher end single din Kenwoods. Some of which are media only and do not play CD's. Though I don't really use CD any more. My question is this. I am planning on getting an Iphone 5. Which I hear has a different plug than the previous versions. Is there a adapter for it yet? so I can hook it to the HU?

 

[zako 10+ year member]

If you want 1-din unit, I think it's hard to beat the Pioneer DEH-80PRS. You get

Active front stage (2-way+subwoofer or 3-way without a subwoofer)

A very good selection of crossover settings

A very capable equalizer, that's also L/R independent

Time alignment

auto tune

bluetooth phone support.

RCA in connection should you need to hook up an RTA device.

On a lighter budget, the Clarion unit looks pretty attractive too (bt, ta, active capable, etc), but it does not have Auto Tune or RCA in, so all tuning is done with your ears.

I wouldn't consider Kenwoods. The quality and implementation are pretty low IMO.