Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio What is the best car deck ?

I actually love the way the Alpine HU looks Especially the 7977.

I just don't think it has comparable SQ to my C90, I'm sorta picky though

I listened to both with the same cd seconds after each other, over and over again. The C90 just blows the 7977 away SQ wise. If alpine would make at least one unit with better quality or say quad 24bit DAC's then I probably would have bought the Alpine.

FYI...I have also read that for a small amount of money, the C90 could have been improved as well. Sony, in efforts to cut costs, choose to use lower quality Capacitors..etc... (not that they used poor quality...but just not the super top of the line components) But you can replace them with higher quality and get even more Sensitivity out of it. Which I think might be gettin carried away but hey....just thought that was interesting!



I would wait for 2002 as well to see what Alpine comes out with...and if they don't come out with much new...just buy the older version and save some dough!!

Good luck

I have to give it up to Pioneer.... my .02 cents

NO.
Not bad though.

Maybe. They have had some damn good stuff in the past.

warmonger

Too many posts for me to agree with or knock down the suggestions. It is kind of a personal question. Do you like 'Gaudy Looking' decks like the alpine shown here? Its a great deck, but sometimes you want something to match your interior better, not dominate everything and overpower the instrument cluster. Refinement and features. Does it need to be an MP3 player or not?
I say you can have a deck like pioneer where they have a bzillion f***in buttons for everything, which are cryptic to comprehend and use, clarion which is only a bit better (and both of which are bulletproof by the way), but yet leave something significant out.
I Choose eclipse as the best High-End head units. Ive owned or bought for friends and installed all of the above mentioned decks at one time, but I have only repeat bought clarion, pioneer, and eclipse. The first two are great products and very reliable overall. The eclipse outdoes them in its esthetic refinement, button placement, look and sound quality. I had an eclipse 5303 which was an awesome deck and the first eclipse with the rotary knob. I got offered a great price for it so I used the money to buy the currently new Pioneer 8000 something or other with the organic display and changer. It had every fricking thing, crossovers, FIE, organic display, etc.
ONE little thing drove me absolutely nuts. WHenever I put my cd player on the power antenna would stay up. My eclipse would lower the antenna with the cd on and raise it only with the radio on. It was great since I like to drive really fast sometimes with music on and I didn't want wind resistance to bend my antenna. I would just pop on the cd at speeds above 90mph.
The other thing was I didn't use any of the other crap on the deck. The high end eclipse has no extra junk, it doesn't even have speaker wires on it. You have to use amps with it. With a dialed in system of amps and crossovers you have no use for all the gimicks. Thats it.

Thats my 50 cents worth, and here is a bad picture of my 1.5year old 5506 eclipse head unit.


warmonger (I know it sounded pompous, sorry)

Originally posted by cthomp21:
...something about crutchfield and high-end stuff....


If you are talking about crutchfield it is almost never high end. Maybe the sony mobile es.

warmonger

I'll take a better picture of it later. By the way, the deck is a bit pricey. It retailed for $999.00 and the changer for $400 something The best I could do with someone working in the business to get it at employee cost was about $700 for the deck. Eclipse does offer a 3 year warranty for their decks if installed by their authorized technician and they used to offer first year free replacement if stolen because they were pretty confident in their anti-theft system. You get what you pay for I guess.

warmonger

The HX-D10 may not be the Clarion Pro Audio flagship, but it's definately above the mid-level decks that the average consumer will purchase at the same price with excellent customer service and extras thrown in.

As for Eclipse, they're great decks. Their major drawback is the lack of a detatchable face. 99% of thieves have no idea about their theft deterrent system and will still break into and vandalize your car to steal the deck.

I love my new pioneer premier 730, the steering wheel remote is awesome feature. Sure it's got gimmicky useless screen savers, but that is the first thing people seem to comment on, not SQ. I was looking for a "bargain", and I got it for $260 including s&hy. Will tell you more after I get new door speakers and sub/amp, but all of this won't come till after an alarm.

So many mods, so little time(and $$$).

It's true about the eclipse non-removable face and partly true about the thieves' knowledge. But I don't like having to remove or carry a face anyway.

warmonger