Blaupunkt or Alpine?

[alpine944]

Hey all... I'm looking at revamping my system.. I can't decide whether to go Blaupunkt or Alpine. I hear nothing but good remarks about Alpine. Any suggestions....

[Crippler]

I have not had anything blaupunkt. But any Alpine products I have bought have been excellent. Never had ANY problems with them.

[Panzer909]

I've had both - an Alpine CD player in my old 944 and currently have a Blaupunkt CD in my 944S.

Personally, I prefer Alpine. I still have the head unit in my room, but am just too lazy to switch it and the Blaupunkt in there has more watts per channel. (If that makes sense). But in the last few years Alpine has started to use cheaper plastic parts/buttons which break easier than, say, the early '90s. Yet their prices are still up there. A lot depends on which speakers you are using. I have Boston Acoustics all around and it sounds great.

[alpine944]

I have a Blaupunkt head unit currently. I'm somewhat partial to their overall quality. However, I think Alpine's sound a little bit better...(with the right speakers of course)

[944S Boyeee]

Blau is wicked - always has been - the Porsche of stereos.

On that note, I have a Alpine head in my other vehicle and it is nice, but parts and service have always been a bugger for me. Alpine has nice options on their decks, but I, too, find that their quality is lessening lately.

Nakamichi (sp?) is hands down the best of the best, IMO.

[alpine944]

I have no experience with Nakamichi. How are they in price in comparison to Blau's and Alpines?

[944S Boyeee]

Their "mid-range" stuff is usually comparable, if not less. Their higher end stuff is about the same, but they have higher high end that is costly, but very nice.

[alpine944]

I'll definately be sure to check them out before deciding. Thanks for the info....

[Booster]

I have a Nakamichi CD 45Z in my 951 and a CD 40Z in my truck, Nak don't put all those fancy lights and gizmos in there units..they go for the quality sound.....and Blau being the Porsche of stereos....Blau's are ok but there not great.......I have 4 of then sitting on a shelf in the shop that I have removed to replace, Alpine makes some good stuff and don't rule out the Eclipse. I like the Nak the best but the Eclipse is in close second then the Alpine...Blau is futher on down the list.

[ae1969]

Alpine.......... its a little too flashy for my taste.........but its a great headunit..........

Blaupunkt........yeeeeessssh.......thats like saying Bose is the best hometheater system........all name ... no guts

[RaF944]

heh I just bought a JVC kameleon cd player for $159 on e-bay.... Shop around you dont have to get those 2 brands...I think for the price of one of those you can get an even better pioneer or sony

[Crippler]

Whatever you do. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON A SONY! You will regret it.

[Booster]

Yea Sony sucks................

[todd951]

what's wrong with sony? i had a sony head unit and 10-disc changer in my car, and i liked it just fine. the only issue i had with it was that it didn't like to play cd-r discs if they were burned at high speed, so i had to burn my discs at 1x. but that's no big deal, since the sound quality was good and i never had any reliability issues.

[Booster]

I had two CD head units and in both units the left channel went out, I also have a home theater Sony system and the right channel amp died (I still use it), also the units I had would get really really hot and I think thats what lead to failure.

[Nabeel]

The factory systems that Nakamichi used to design for the Lexus LS/SC/GS models were the best factory sound systems I've ever heard. Using that as an indicator of Nakamichi's overall quality, I think you should definately look into some of their stuff. I don't know much about their aftermarlet head units, sorry.

[ccus944]

Alpine has always produced top-notched equipment, however, I went the purist route when I put a new system in my 951...I really despise the majority of aftermarket head units with all of the flashing lights and silver faces...They look so cheap, and RICE!!!!!...Alpines included...Even some of the new Blaupunkt units look RICE, while others have the bright blue glow to complement the new VW autos...None of these look right in our 944 cars....There are a few Blaupunkt models that are great performers, and display their German roots....so they look great in our cars...The Blaupunkts are also pumping the most RMS wattage from a CD headunit...I put in a Blaupunkt Tokyo(I know, RICE name, but NOT RICE LOOKING)...along with the IN-DASH 5 disc changer...They work and sound awesome!

[Nabeel]

wow, that blaupunkt setup looks great. I'm just curious, how much did the head unit and in-dash changer cost? I'm planning to upgrade my system in a few months and just want to get an idea of what's out there for what price.

[ccus944]

Crutchfield had a package deal on the pair for $349...Call them & ask about their changer/headunit package-deals....

[Leadfoot]

Nachamichi/Sony other japanese brands make good amp but their speakers lack, have never had a problem with sony, very reliable driven hard, they also make great walkmans/discmans minidiscs dats plasma televisions and broadcast gear especially digital cameras in their high end range of products whereas nach's are on a consumer based level, but they have always made great tapedecks,not so good amps,NAD made the better amplifiers, but unfortunately they went out of bussiness. Blau go for high end consumer as do pioneer, both of these are ok, but in respect to quality pioneer arent too bad for speakers, blau make good amps,not sure about blau speakers. As it goes though i have never been truly impressed with any two way speaker system to reproduced full audio range, all companies do dodgy stuff to get more sound for less cost and parts, until u spend money on lucas arts THX speakers u haven't heard real sound...
but they dont make them for cars .....yet......!!...Leadfoot