Stuck on decision...

[morg]

i fell in love with the Alpine 9855, but after reading bad reviews and hating that glide bar, i have leaned towards not getting it. I have about 400 bucks give or take a few budgeted for my H/U. I am looking for great sound quality but great usability also. I play a lot of MP3's. I have narrowed it down to three...

Alpine 9855 - $450(have to go warranty with that dang glide bar)

-the bad reviews scare me. and I hate the glidebar stuff. Have heard the quick search function for mp3's is pretty good.

Kenwood xxv-01d($399 at etronics.com, pending deal at store)

-like the display. I think you can add your own images which would be great. don't know much about kenwood, but hear they are pretty good.

Eclipse 8445 ($450 installed at store)

-I know as far as SQ is concerned, that this deck is pretty top notch. But I am really dissapointed in the display. I think it is pretty ugly really. The layout of everything else is fine though. when the eclipse guy was showing me the mp3 stuff, I didn't care for the way it read out folders/files.

Help?? I need to buy this week.

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[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

i would personally go with eclipse. if you like then alpine then go with it. also maybe look for an 8454 if you don't like the new eclipse

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

As much as I like Alpine, would have to recommend the Eclipse over the 9855 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

From what I gather the 9855's were fixed by Alpine, and the glide touch isn't too bad.... but if you have a rough-riding car it might be a pain to do stuff while driving.

Though many here will tell you it doesn't matter what it looks like, it should be a piece of your setup that you'll have for a long time and you'll see it every time you use your car. (I have an Eclipse because it fits my interior quite well //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

If you've seen all of these units in person and hopefully demo'd them, you will know best what you'll like to use on a daily basis.

 

[Fosgate Forever 10+ year member]

ya im all alpine but i would recomend the elclipse if there you only choices, but i would get a cda 7998 or a cda 7897

 

[morg]

well it looks like i am going with the kenwood. the store gave me a pretty good deal on it. hopefully I really like it. the h/u is the only part of my system that makes me nervous, since it is the only part I interact with and look at.

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

I like the top end Kenwoods/Excelons......

I have used Alpine too (9833.9830 ) and Pioneer 7700(which was total junk)

My 9833 is coming out of my truck,its just too much of a pita to tune and tweek..The Excelon 789 clearly sounds better than a 9830 which I owned and sent back and I have an 889 going in next week to replace my 9833 and ill see what happens

Eclipse is great but I prefer not to buy full MSRP and I dont subscribe to thier warrenty practices.....