SQ deck, opinions needed

[skierxx5556 10+ year member]

Eazy
Alpine CDA-7998, Alpine CDA-7878, Eclipse 8454 or Eclipse 8455

i myself am still wanting one of these

for all that i heard so far Alpines 9813, 9815, 9835, etc... do not compare to the SQ of the older 7998, 7878 for example... i have a 9815 and i love it but im looking for better sq

x2 on the 7998 you could pick one up on ebay for around 350. Probably one of alpines best HU's.

 

[fatryan 5,000+ posts]

x2 on the 7998 you could pick one up on ebay for around 350. Probably one of alpines best HU's.

god, i dont know if that thing would even fit in my truck. its huge. and it seems kinda pricey for an older deck with 1 bit DAC and 4V preouts

you guys, i cant find these decks anywhere. there all discontinued and nowhere to be found. except the 8455.

 

[SBLAZER]

thats wha the remote is for. use the pause button on it.

 

[fatryan 5,000+ posts]

thats wha the remote is for. use the pause button on it.

which deck has a rem with a pause button on it thats not on the deck itself?

 

[El Ropo 10+ year member]

found info on it. now is this really a good SQ deck?

I've been into mobile audio off and on since '87, have owned many dead head excellent sq HUs, and the x889 is the finest I've ever owned. Now let me qualify my statement by saying I've never owned an eclipse, or denon rf, or denon, but have owned all the top of line HUs from Alpine and Kenwood.

Just to be clear though, the 889 is not a dead head unit, I just brought that up, cuz most of the best SQ HUs of the '90s were dead head units. A couple great features of the x-889 are Burr Brown 24 bit D/A converters, excellent Digital sound processing capabilities including digital time alignment, 4 band parametric EQ, 5 volt pre outs, and the ability to turn off the internal amp when using external amps.

 

[fatryan 5,000+ posts]

I've been into mobile audio off and on since '87, have owned many dead head excellent sq HUs, and the x889 is the finest I've ever owned. Now let me qualify my statement by saying I've never owned an eclipse, or denon rf, or denon, but have owned all the top of line HUs from Alpine and Kenwood.
Just to be clear though, the 889 is not a dead head unit, I just brought that up, cuz most of the best SQ HUs of the '90s were dead head units. A couple great features of the x-889 are Burr Brown 24 bit D/A converters, excellent Digital sound processing capabilities including digital time alignment, 4 band parametric EQ, 5 volt pre outs, and the ability to turn off the internal amp when using external amps.

i wasnt talking about this deck when i was saying the stated decks are discontinued. but anyways, it sounds pretty nice. whats the advantage of turning of the internal amp when not using it? heat reduction?

 

[slain93gsr 10+ year member]

i wasnt talking about this deck when i was saying the stated decks are discontinued. but anyways, it sounds pretty nice. whats the advantage of turning of the internal amp when not using it? heat reduction?

yep.. one less thing the hu has to do.

 

[fatryan 5,000+ posts]

how does it handle scratched cds? and i read it doesnt have anti-shock memory...does it skip easily?

any1 else have input on this deck?

 

[Slaugh 10+ year member]

god, i dont know if that thing would even fit in my truck. its huge. and it seems kinda pricey for an older deck with 1 bit DAC and 4V preouts
you guys, i cant find these decks anywhere. there all discontinued and nowhere to be found. except the 8455.

well what are you talking about? the 7998 is a single din hu just like any other... the only thing is that the motorized faceplate moves out and then lay down becoming a 1.3din but it will fit in any car im positive about that, unless you have something to block the faceplate to come out, like the gearshift for example

here's a small vid of it opening

it's now a very underrated hu as i've been reading, you could find one used for 350 dollars or so, i doubt you can find something better for this price.. well at least that's my 0.02

 

[fatryan 5,000+ posts]

well what are you talking about? the 7998 is a single din hu just like any other... the only thing is that the motorized faceplate moves out and then lay down becoming a 1.3din but it will fit in any car im positive about that, unless you have something to block the faceplate to come out, like the gearshift for example
here's a small vid of it opening

it's now a very underrated hu as i've been reading, you could find one used for 350 dollars or so, i doubt you can find something better for this price.. well at least that's my 0.02

oh i c. i thought it was a 1.5 or something. well thats cool. how old is this deck? when did it come out? i can get an eclipse 8445 for about the same price, which would you take? how do they compare in sq? functionality? features?

 

[Slaugh 10+ year member]

oh i c. i thought it was a 1.5 or something. well thats cool. how old is this deck? when did it come out? i can get an eclipse 8445 for about the same price, which would you take? how do they compare in sq? functionality? features?

im not sure now because the 8445 is a hu with a very poweful SQ, but i'd take the 7998 over any other Alpine or Pioneer Premier...

but if you dont plan on buying it from an authorized, get the 7998... the 8445 faceplate doesnt come out afaik, and they wont give you a replacement for the theft if you bought it on Ebay for example...

i dont know which has the best SQ thou... good question... just think you can't go wrong with either dude... if you want to know better about the 7998 PM Fosgate Forever ( http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/member.php?u=22009 ), he just acquired one... i think Mephisto02 also has one or has had one...

oh and it came out in 2002 and was the top line hu of alpine that year, and it has better SQ than next years top lines alpine hu's (9815 and 9835)... this at least from what i've been reading everywhere... the only problem with it is that the motorized faceplate seems to "hang" occasionally and you have to reset it so you can return to use the hu... i've heard about people having to send to authorized to fix the motorized faceplate aswell, it doesn't seem very reliable anyway...

i wish i had the same conditions you are having now when i needed a hu //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

good luck heh

 

[fatryan 5,000+ posts]

da mn, so that alpines got faceplate problems? i dont wanna deal with that. and what does "the 8445 faceplate doesnt come out afaik" mean? lol

 

[skierxx5556 10+ year member]

he means that its not detachable

 

[VOA_NIGHTMARE 10+ year member]

I got a sony mex-1hd and Have read nothing but great things about it also has a built in 10 gig hd so you dont need to worrie about skipping I believe it has 3 setts of rcas dont know about the pause button but from what I have read it is a great sq hu.

I have not been able to use it yet to personaly tell you how great it is, but I have ran a ton of alpine elcipse pioneer kenwoods mostly and for sq I found panasonic to be great out of all of them. I had like a 9800 I think it was and loved it over the pioneer 860 and pretty much all of the alpines.

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

"the 8445 faceplate doesnt come out afaik" mean? lol

Good question:eyebrow:

I just stopped at the Eclipse dealer in my area to play with the new Eclipse amps (yea the only one that doesn't frekin sell tailpipes and wheels ) and talked to the owner who is an ecoustical engineer by trade and really knows his $hit. His shop used to be the biggest Alpine dealier in the midwest up until a few years ago before Alpine started slipping in quality and now just sells "crap" - his words, not mine. He said what really sets the Eclipse decks apart from the rest is the low output inpedence and the onboard digital processing. He said that the new 2005's have even greater sq capabilities because of this...apparently Eclipse upgraded some of the chips in the new decks.

In terms of sq and quality he recommends Eclipse, then Clarion, then Kenwood....and his best selling deck is the 8445 because it's hard to justify an extra $100 for a 10 band eq and the other minor differences - again his words not mine.

So what it boils down to is getting what you want as far as needed features (pause button) and then finding the best sq you can for the $$$....it's easy:crazy: