Quality Head Unit for Car Audio System ??
 

What would be a good head unit for a car audio system?

Looking for Quality sound (Focal speakers - but not the uber alles version)

and a good D to A conversion routine if possible - I'd like to plug in an iPhone and have the head unit itself do the D to A if possible


Ian?

Alpine and Focal are what I use.

I'm still using a blaupunkt Toronto......aux in for my phone (about 8gig worth of music)....
running around 400 Watts on 2 5.25” and another 800 on 2 10's.....

I went with Kenwood excelon HU , Audison amp, Hertz speakers. Very happy with the setup.

If you haven't already, then go listen to what you are looking at buying.

Focal vs others, and straight head unit vs. amps.

I've got an older Los Angeles MP3 from Blaupunkt. I chose it because it has a very wide Eq, and 3 separate inputs, which pairs well with the crossover. I like the fact that it has a calibration mic, that listens to the signals from the speakers and "tunes" the Eq automatically. It also has the ability to turn up the volume as the road noise increases.

Focal is a good choice. I had the 165 VB's in the Lexus and they are great. Head unit choices are a bit more difficult. In my experience, I would stay away from Alpine. Generally, their designs are gaudy with oddly shaped buttons and back-lit buttons that only come in eyesore shades of blue.

My friend and I were both installing touch screens in our cars at the same time. He went with an Alpine and he regretted it. The on-screen navigation is clunky and to pick a song on your ipod, you had to scroll through your artists or songs ONE AT A TIME. It takes forever. Also, his bluetooth never worked and it sounded like you were in a tornado.

I always do my research and went with a full touch screen Pioneer. It is great. Navigation and song selection is quick and easy and the buttons can be changed to any shade to match your interior (if that matters to you). I would definitely consider one of the new Pioneer units.

I used to be into car audio (~10-15 years ago) and Alpine was one of the best out there, so its sad to hear they have dropped so much.

I have a Kenwood in my 914 and Sony in my Civic. Both seem to work fine but the Sony seems a bit too much like a spaceship.

If you have a Fry's or larger car audio place nearby, you should be able to see many at one time and compare the sound quality. Just be aware that displays are usually hooked up to good speakers and amps to make the headunits sound really good.

I have one of these in my daily driver, costly but few better.

http://www.productwiki.com/upload/im..._dex_p99rs.jpg

It's all made in China out of the same parts bin. There will be little to no difference in sound quality with same settings. Buy the speakers based on sound quality and electronics based on features/price.

The Blaupunkt I just installed in my MB....made in China. Works and sounds fine but any brand would have sufficed (under $200).

I always check at crutchfield, cross reference wit Amazon because sometimes their prices are a little out of whack but the head units are competitive and their service is great.

I just got a Kenwood for the Miata, does all the bells and whistles (USB, bluetooth) since it is a top down car didn't need uber hifi.



Just to add... not to rain on your parade however IMHO HIFI and automobiles are an oxymoron... lots of ambient noise and a horrible acoustics... YMMV

Yup. Just like there is no difference between an F-150 and a Corvette, all made in the same place with the same stuff. :rolleyes:

What Willtel said...love it.

I've been looking for head units for the nissan. I think I've decided on a double din DVD/etc. The one I'm liking right now is a Pioneer unit, about $300...at Walmart.

I just installed a Pioneer AVIC-X950BH double din in my gun gear hauling Chevy HHR. It originally had the high end 6 disc changer, 6 Pioneer speakers and a woofer in the rear so I left all that alone. The only issue was the integration module which allows on-star and steering wheel controls to work and the unit did not need to have the dealer do any programming. It plays my ZZ Top videos just fine on the way to the range to exercise those muzzle loaders!!!! GPS has traffic status built in now too.

If u are smart and don't want to spend on that P99R pioneer you'd look at the Kenwood KDC-x996. time delay DSP and all kinds of crap under $200 all day long.

I have 2 versions of that stereo I use, older and they destroy anything from Alpine and lesser pioneers in terms of adjustability and SQ. USB direct of course, no funny adaptor cables. Then again, the two I have are in cars that use exclusively Polk Audio and old, old skool Rockford Fosgate Punch equipment. So no, I'm not kidding around about fidelity.

Buy a head unit that has the features you need. Also try to buy one that doesn't light up like the Las Vegas strip. That is much more difficult. Alpine has always sounded bright & forward btw . . . I bought a plain-Jane Dual deck but that was 5 years ago or so. I put the $s into the amps & speakers & a lot of effort into the install & car acoustics. 70 mph top down bliss. :D And I can STILL hear the engine . . .

Ian

Dex-P99RS is the answer but only a 1%er would buy one. He would have to buy it under duress.

I agree with the Alpines sounding bright. I owned a CDA-9885 for 4 years, been through 4 cars with it, I was happy with it through stock speakers and only when I got back into building systems I realized just how ungodly hard and flat it sounded. The Kenwood transformed the system.

Alpine is on my desk in the office waiting to be traded in or sold one day with a car...

Kenwood. Nothing special, but biamped with good speakers it sounds nice.

All of the new bluetooth decks are a pain to use, set up and scroll thru menus. Just too many features. But in the end, worthwhile if only b/c their d/a chips are better than those in the iphone, so if you run a flac app like goldenear you actually get pretty good sound out of the portable. CD performance is pretty similar across the board these days.

Your money would probably be better spent on a decent HU with 4V minimum preamp outputs and a really high quality amp. No HU will give you the same quality as a good dedicated amp. I'm a big fan of the Kenwood Excelon stuff, but it's been years since I built a good sound system.

Check out crutchfields closeouts. Usually last years models at awesome prices!