Head Units:

[Trancendental]

Consider Head Units in the same class/price range for comparison

Robustness (Will it run for 2 days and 2 nights withough going crazy, wil it survive transit from where ever you bought it from to your house etc, will it survive a cowboy install etc)

Audio Quality (Does it require any extra haedware to provide excellent sound, can it produce great sound on its own, is it loud and clear or loud and rubbish etc)

Special Features (Things like can it raise its own volume when your car engine, passengers, environment gets loud, Mobile phone ring cut/mute, display caller on screen, change screen savers/animations etc)

Visuals (Overall look of the unit, visual display, animations, screen savers etc.)

Usability (How easy is it to navigate menus, Install on your own following the instructions etc.)

Complex funcions (Does the unit have complex functions to facilitate your mad installs and utilise them to its fullest etc)





What have you used/owned and what would you stick with/recommened?

 

[F R O S T Y]

i would of said Pioneer until i got myself an Alpine, Now all i can say is ALPINE head units are in a league of their own, nothing comes close in comparison. But mind you thats just MY own personal opinion.

F R O $ T Y

 

[beau]

iv had quite alot of headunits, lol.

iv had a few top model alpines, and they have been good, very good, but both broke! yes they were second hand but so where all my headunits, one older one broke, and one newer one broke, tho i repaired them both in 15 mins or so (ribbons came out there sockets) and quickly sold them on ebay my friend also has an alpine, guess what, its broken.

but they were flashy, swivel face etc, but the sound, i didnt like it.

iv had 2 kenwoods, 1 new budget one, and one from 1997 (still got), they there were both brilliant imo, they wernt flash, they were just basic, but they sounded fantastic (better than alpine) and neither broke, iv still got the old cd player from 1997ish i think, and it still works and sounds good. so yes i like kenwood, but only through personal useage, and tbh, il probably get an alpine at some point, cos they are flashy and i like that, but for my punto, think il be sticking with a newish basic kenwood, i know what one i want and there only £30 on ebay.

 

[F R O S T Y]

iv had quite alot of headunits, lol.

iv had a few top model alpines, and they have been good, very good, but both broke! yes they were second hand but so where all my headunits, one older one broke, and one newer one broke, tho i repaired them both in 15 mins or so (ribbons came out there sockets) and quickly sold them on ebay my friend also has an alpine, guess what, its broken.

but they were flashy, swivel face etc, but the sound, i didnt like it.

iv had 2 kenwoods, 1 new budget one, and one from 1997 (still got), they there were both brilliant imo, they wernt flash, they were just basic, but they sounded fantastic (better than alpine) and neither broke, iv still got the old cd player from 1997ish i think, and it still works and sounds good. so yes i like kenwood, but only through personal useage, and tbh, il probably get an alpine at some point, cos they are flashy and i like that, but for my punto, think il be sticking with a newish basic kenwood, i know what one i want and there only £30 on ebay.

Alright beau... I agree Kenwood is quality they been in the business for ages i forgot all about them lol As for breaking your alpine head unit you must've had a really flashy one, those are really flimsy and fragile, the same thing happened to a mates sony one, but the normal head units are pretty strong. i've dropped the face from my one loads of times and it still works fine, its only got a little crack but nothing major.
ps why dont you repair your mates alpine and flog it on fleabay as well? lol You Dodgy geeza haha Quality mate!

Oh yeh i forgot to mention my first head unit was a Clarion and that was pretty decent too i must add!

F R O $ T Y

 

[beau]

Alright beau... I agree Kenwood is quality they been in the business for ages i forgot all about them lol As for breaking your alpine head unit you must've had a really flashy one, those are really flimsy and fragile, the same thing happened to a mates sony one, but the normal head units are pretty strong. i've dropped the face from my one loads of times and it still works fine, its only got a little crack but nothing major.
ps why dont you repair your mates alpine and flog it on fleabay as well? lol You Dodgy geeza haha Quality mate!

Oh yeh i forgot to mention my first head unit was a Clarion and that was pretty decent too i must add!

F R O $ T Y

well they were quite top, not top models but near, they did feel cheap too, the 4 blue buttons next to the turny knob rattled.

and my mates alpine, its not the ribbon, the back light has blown, the mechanism which makes the face fold and swivel has snapped and burnt out the motor for the swivel mechanism

and never had a clarion, but they seem decent when in halfords.

 

[greenstarvaz]

iv always had top end sony head units(used to work for them great discounts) and i think they give cracking sound for the money

 

[SkinzCinqSporting]

My blaupunkt is trusty, runs no matter what and has lasted a lot better than my friend's sony and jvc headunits have Hell it looks new compared to theirs yet is just as old, and it took my beautifully bodged up wiring no problems

 

[Luke]

Ive always had sony, one died after a couple of years of abuse and my second (current) has been great and problem free *touch wood*. Both were flagship models, so cant really comment on their lower end stuff.

However, that said, im with Beau eek: ) that Kenwood are good. I use their subs and my big daddy amp is by them too - seriously good amp. So if their headunits are anything like the rest of their stuff, you're onto a winner

My experience with pioneers isnt all that great really. My dad has always had pioneers and managed to cook 2 screen drivers in not too greater time. The other old model he had lasted a long time before the screen went pop though.

 

[johnstoke]

2 years ago, i would have said pioneer, but am of the opinion blaupunkt head units, certainly if my dab54 is representative. i'm very fussy on audio (cartridge on my turntable at home cost more then the dab54!), the blaupunkt has better clarity and a quite 'fast' sound. i hada pioneer deh-p77 head unit before, that had the same bass extension as the blaupunkt, but sounded 'bloated and sludgy' in comparison. I dont listen to dab much on it, as dab is a very flawed format (and the codec is going to be changed from MP2 to AAC+) soon, but it is one hell of a cd/mp3 player. Tuner is excellent,and amazingly the am bands are completely interference free (certain places in mid wales have no fm coverage apart from radio 2........)

comparing the blaupunkt against the p77, is like moving to a cambridge audio/rotel/nad entry level hifi system, after a decent mini system. I have owned several makes over the years, i always used to be a pioneer fan, still am really, but the blaupunkt is a significant notch above, i even get a proper soundstage in my car.........

 

[Virmin]

Got an Apline and a Panasonic at the moment no problems with any of them

 

[dr_hillmann]

Panasonic? not a chav brand like kenwood

 

[wotnowarninglight]

Voted Pioneer as my DEH1430R has never missed a beat in 4 cars over 4 years and 68 K... stereo has more miles on it than most of the cars it's been fitted to Plays any CD I throw at it and is not fussy about muller'd discs

With johnstoke for what my second choice would have been... had Blaupunkt before and found the clarity of the sound was a cut above the rest, sound on the pioneer tends to be either thin with no body or boomy with the happy medium being hard to find. So have to adjust & re-adjust the on board graphic to try and get some clarity.

 

[gt3man]

Well I will say in my opinion Alpine are good that's for sure.. Kenwood well in opinion the only good things they make are food mixers.. Sony I recon maybe good but are over priced for what you get so im not a fan. Some pioneers are good.. Fact is there maybe loads of good units its just what appeals at the time.. For my next unit I will be going "all balls out" I have a pioneer at the minuet the mp77 I like its its classy With its black aluminum face plate, it is basic but good 6.5v preouts x3 sub out 24 bit filter 1 dit dac every thing you need really .. Except the crappy flashing lights most people buy head units for. This unit has proved reliable for me iv had it years I don't think it sold well for pioneer it was soon discontinued retail was £350 I got mine on sale £220

 

[Dunc Uno Turbo]

sack off the headunit along with the speakers and rest of the interior. 2 buckets, a cage and a bit of carbon fibre and ur sorted

Dunc

 

[gex18]

I have an alpine CDA-9855 R cd player, and it is the most assured Headunit i have used.

Bass is deep and responsive, treble is sharp wiithout being harsh, and its not a tinny sound, more of a warm / quality sound, which compliments my Rainbow components perfectly.

Its not overloaded with tacky features just the features i need.

IMO better overall sound quality then pioneers which sound a bit harsh IMHO.

 

[toad101]

i've had five sony head units 2 tape 2 mini disc and have just bought a mex r1 dvd h/unit, have never had any problems and they all sounded great. The further up the range you go the sound gets better and you get more functions most youd never use, my latest one has a remote which controols everything its going to take a while to learn where all the buttons are

 

[faster4_tec]

for spending sub £180 pioneer do some nice sounding units, although they generally look gash and too shiny/boy racer style with flashing lights.

but ultimatly your looking at an alpine.
reserved styling.
fantastic sound that gets better and sharper the more you turn it up (Not as good at the lower end as some pioneers and kenwoods can be)
buttons that should be more fitting to a roller
classy looks again.
good customer service IME

best thing to do is find an ex catalogue store and hunt down a top of the line kenwood from last year or year before.

as TBH car audio isn't exactly jumping forward in leaps and bounds is it.
my dad got £575 worth of top shelf kenwood for the grand splash out of £117.50 from an ex cat store in kendal.
its sodding gorgous to listen to, but a rare find, esp considering it was not a display unit, was still sealed with warrenty tags th lot:worship:

 

[jug]

as long as it has 3 high voltage preouts,
and each preout has its own filters and gain control,
and you can adjust the equalizers seperately on each preout,
then i'm happy.

although i cant remember the last time i owned a headunit without motion graphics as well. it must have been the 90s.

 

[Liam]

Alpine - disregard Beaus comments since the previous owners of his got rid on ebay after they never looked after them, I'll pop back here after thursday to say wether or not my 9812RB survived my crash, I've got the HU just not powered it up since then.

When you buy one you wonder why you hadn't earlier, IME Blaupunkts build quality aint the same as Alpines although the units look good and sound ok.

Liam

 

[beau]

Alpine - disregard Beaus comments since the previous owners of his got rid on ebay after they never looked after them, I'll pop back here after thursday to say wether or not my 9812RB survived my crash, I've got the HU just not powered it up since then.

When you buy one you wonder why you hadn't earlier, IME Blaupunkts build quality aint the same as Alpines although the units look good and sound ok.

Liam

one was brand new!