Being a newbie and planning to buy a head unit myself. What's some general information I should know before purchasing? What should the average newb be looking at? What are "Preamp Outputs"? How does choosing the right head unit effect the SQ?
Well the head unit is where everything starts. Here are some basic things to look for in a head unit: Preamp Outs -4V Preamp outs (gives a cleaner, stronger signal to amp) -3 Sets Actual Wattage -CEA-2006 compliant is nice -Low, clean power is better than high, unclean power Parametric EQ -7 band is best (gives more control of sound), but 5 is good Other things that make a HU nice: IPod Compatibility AUX Input I feel like I'm missing something, but those are the basics. Usually if you stick with major brands (Pioneer, Alpine, Eclipse, Kenwood) you'll get a very good unit.
Usually CEA compliant units will have nice, clean power even at higher volumes, but that's not to say every head unit not CEA compliant is going to be bad by any means. The best test is the ear test.
2ch-8ch preouts? i would assume that is the number of preouts the deck has. all you really want to look for it 3 sets of preouts, front, rear and sub, look for deck that have at least 4V preouts, nothing lower.
I'm looking into 3 HUs as of right now. I'm kind of confused why the 5100 is 4v and the 5200 is 2v...tell me watchu guys think. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22377_Pioneer+DEH-P5200HD.html http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_17768_Pioneer+DEH-P5100UB.html http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22378_Pioneer+DEH-P6200BT.html
How would that compare to this: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113BT945U/Kenwood-KDC-BT945U.html?tp=5684 Would the extra money be worth getting that instead?
you know, i was doing some researching on decks too. i found that the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X794 is a really nice deck. you should take a look at it... it's packed with features... search it on youtube and you'll find a few videos from one guy there. he shows the menus and what the deck can do. I'm about to buy one before the end of May. http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_113KDCX794/Kenwood-Excelon-KDC-X794.html?search=kenwood+x794&ssi=0&tp=27783
the new excelons are awesome... we picked up a 994 for my friend like 2 weeks ago and it has everything bluetooth... eq with setting for every single frequency. but we got it for 200. lol
So I got the 794 about 2 days ago. Pretty neat, everybody seemed impressed by it. Especially the 5 line display. Easy to navigate, I still gotta learn how to go back to the song thats playing when im searching up new songs lol. Only drawback is that the usb and aux port is behind the unit instead of in front. But overall I like it 9/10.
great. Im pretty sold on getting on as well. I like the fact that the connection is in the rear, you can bring it forward and hide it away somewhere. Did you mess with the time alignment yet?
I haven't got to play with much of the settings. I'm still learning what makes the sound optimal, so everything is set on default for me right now. still got to learn how to use the graphic eq lol I'm such a newb lol.
