best deck pre-2000

Very close to your timeline and one of my favorite HU's I have ever owned is the Clarion Pro Audio DXZ 715.

I’ve always had a special spot for the Pioneer Premier DEX M88 ..in test that Richard Clark did it had better SQ specs than the Alpine 7909

that 7909 is a total classic!!

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I use to have one ..I still have a high end Alpine 7618 cassette with a 5959 changer

I was always partial to my Kenwood Excelon x911. Mask with 8v balanced pre-outs. Da*n ribbon cables though.

Anything Alpine pretty much

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Alpine bump face pull out radio

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Eclipse 7200

Eclipse 55040 or 55060. I think they may have come out in 1999. The 55040 was the best SQ head unit I've ever had. 8-volt preouts with 55 ohm line out impedance, no internal amplifier, and no processing. Had basically no features, just well built and sounded fantastic.

They (meaning head unit manufacturers) haven't made them like that in quite some time. Everything, currently, has to come packed with every imaginable feature and SQ pays the price.

I've only ever run Pioneer but Nak, Alpine, and Eclipse made good products back then. My first aftermarket headunit was in 2001 though and it was a cheap pioneer.

I was always partial to my Kenwood Excelon x911. Mask with 8v balanced pre-outs. Da*n ribbon cables though.

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I think I have one somewhere..but it needs a ribbon cable as most

One of the best, in that era, was the Sony Mobile ES CDX-C90. With four 20-bit DACs and that DVOL function that bypasses all circuits except volume control, it's SQ was among the highest. The Denon DCT-1 and Rockford Fosgate Rockford Fosgate RFX-8250TI were excellent head units, as well. I think they were made by the same company.

I had an Alpine 7949 I remember really liking