well my alpine IVA touchscreen has seen better days. it's old, interface looks old, and wants to play my dvd mp3 disc whenever it feels like it. Since my tax season is gonna start next week instead of january, i've been approved, by the wifey, a 500 bucks budget :twisted: so i've figured i'll spend 300 on the new HU and 200 to replace my front 6" speakers. speakers i'm going with JL Audio VR600-CXi 60 w RMS $190 HeadUnit choices Pioneer DEH-P6000 +CD/MP3 +USB connection for USB drives and iPod +4V x 6channels +$250 Kenwood KDC X592 +CD/MP3 +USB connection for USB drives and iPod +4V x 6channels +$199 Eclipse CD3200 +CD/MP3 +USB connection for USB drives and iPod +5V x 6channels +$279 Clarion FB275BT +Digital Media (no CD) +SD card slot +$149 Alpine iDa-X100 +Digital Media (no CD) +USB connection for USB drives and iPod +2V x 6channels +299 Alpine iDa-X200 +Digital Media (no CD) +USB connection for USB drives and iPod +2V x 6channels +199 why not a car pc? provably cus i already know i'm not going to take full advantage of it just like i did with my dvd flip out. i could provably put one together for 300 too. so i got 6 choices, 3 cd/mp3 and 3 digital media. I like the digital media players convenience of not having to burn cds but there are not alot of choices and they are fairly new. the clarion has the advantage of the SD card reader. now a days you can get a 2g SD card for 20 bucks or so. but on the negative side it only has 2 outputs unlike the 3 the alpine models have. i'm already splitting the sub out three ways. i wouldnt mind getting an eq for the clarion but then again the price would be the same as the high end alpine. what i don't like about the alpine HUs are the cables. they go through the back of the HU and usually routed to the glove box. my car does not have a glove box so i would need to either buy one or mold the usb/ipod plugs to the dash. as far as the cd/mp3 HU goes, the only big differences are price and brand. all 3 have 6 channel outputs, read cdr and cd rw, usb/ipod connections, and sleek blue screens. i'm gonna hit the local circuit city, best buy and stereo shops to test out the HUs
First, I am not putting down your choices, just giving practical advice. I have been in the business for 17 years. 1. Don't go with coaxials up front. Sound quality will be sooooooo much better with components. And with a price of $190 for a set of coaxials, I can find components that would be way better. 2. The prices on the Pioneer and Clarion are over priced by about $60.
well, thats why i posted. i need/want your guy's advice/input/critic on the HU choices... 1) i had 2 way components up front before, and 6x9s coaxials in the back. 6x9s sounded much better and lasted longer so i figured it'd get some 6s from the same series instead of components. I know for the price of the 6s i can get 2 pairs of components but i'm sticking to JL cus thats what i got all around. 2) the prices i posted are from crutchfield.com and they're just ment to give you an overall idea. like i said, i'm gonna visit local shops to get a feel for the HU's as well as pricing. thanks for your advise thou. i will ask for your help latter on as wifey is thinking of getting rid of stock stereo system. she's provably not gonna be picky about sticking to just one brand, we'll just get whatever gives the best bang to the buck...
don't know the exact model off the top of my head but it was from the TR series, and they were powered by a 300/4
Weird. Its very strange and an extreme rarity that coaxials ever out perform/sound better than components. The only thing that I can think of is that their axis was off and made it sound unnatural.
go with components. i used Infinity reference components in my 01 Civic, old car, and it made a world of difference. There are a lot of good companies that make component speakers, i just happen to prefer Infinity. I have Kappa components on my 08 Lancer now...freaking awesome. i did install some coaxial speakers but they are in the rear.
