head unti suggestions? im not too sure what makes some HU's better than others, or what key features to look for. reccommendations?
welp, i will throw in my 2 cents Look for high voltage preamp outputs, at least 2-4 volts minimum I personally prefer a non digital potentiometer for volume control for various reasons, but doubt that it still exists, otherwise a rotatry volume control, easier in my book to control and feel than a button. Otherwise, they are all about the same in my book, choose one that has decent features and good performance, and looks good with your cars interior. I would spend about 200 - 300 bucks on one myself........
gotta ask yourself quite a few questions first.... 1.am I gonna connect an Ipod to the unit 2. satellite radio in the future 3.External amplifiers, sub (s) 4.How do you see the system expanding 5.How important is radio tuner's quality 6.If you put a complete system in, what budget, goals Everybody is gonna have different answers to those questions..... My last head unit was the absolute most perfect fit for me, but it broke and my budget did not allow me to get a new one with the features I wanted, so I tried to get most of the things out of the one I have..... So you need to ask yourself what exact plans do you have for the head unit before figuring out what you want it to be able to do.... Willy
Good points willy, Not bein in the industry for all these years, i keep forgettin about the ipod/sattelite stuff.......oh, and the built in x-overs.......
I am here to tell you Viking.....When I bought my last head unit (prior to the JVC) There was no Ipod, barely Mp3 stuff integrated into HU or satellite radio. That was the Kenwood....it had 3 sets of 4v. preouts with pigtails...you could high pass different points on the fronts and rears independant of each other...Sub preout had -12-+12 adjust and you could pick low pass frequency AND you could flip the phase right there in the HU....it had flexible EQ and it was a clean sounding unit..... What I want in a head unit is the ability to play CD's.....I could care less how good the tuner is (I barely listen to radio) and satellite, Ipod, cool graphics or connection with an ISB port.....I wanted three sets of pre outs....I wanted high pass capabilties on those, sub level and freq. pick..... What I should have done was save my money and buy a nice eclipse or something like that...Something designed mostly for high quality CD play, multi-amp flexibility.....I have never even downloaded a song from the internet. I could care less about owning an Ipod or satellite radio....I like my old school music that consists of 400-500 store bought CD's....SQ is my #1 priority.....I want to get the best I can within the budget I have...If it turns out to be fairly loud that is cool too....but I want quality first....quantity 2nd.. I was shocked when I looked at HU.....I have been away from it for several years and I see that things I read about in home audio magazines warning about the slowly dying demand for high quality audio is being squeezed out by downloaded music, Ipod, Mp3 and stuff using data reduction to squeeze as many songs into a small space as possible....Bands that record now, tend to go for recording and mastering processes that make the final product as loud as possible.....Dynamic range is 50% of what used to be out there...Everything is getting the hell compressed out of it.... I guess it is amazing that you can walk around with a thing smaller that a deck of cards with thousands of songs at your disposal....but I guess I am old school....Still trying to make a mount for an old turntable to put in the car, but the biggest problem is the damn thing having the needle jump all over the place....ha ha ha ha I will stop ranting now... Willy
It appears we have much in common Willy, My last "High Quality" HU was an old Alpine 7909, had it till it finally puked years ago. The compression of the dynamics in music is a sad thing really, but what with limiteed power amps, and cheesy speakers in all this industry now-a-days, it is almost a necessity to implement it. I am like you, I listen to a CD, not mp3, not wm, not any of this compressed garbage, i dont mind only 10 or 12 songs on a disc and it is full, that is the ONLY way to record in my book. Now, vinyle in the car? thats an old idea, i remember some company actually made such a thing for mobile use, dont remember who though. Some of the FINEST recordings ever made have been on vinyle.....I try and explain WHY to peoople, but they just dont quite understand usually!! A high quality ANALOG recording is better than digital anyday of the week!!!!!! Whoops, this is a thread about HU's!!!!! Better stop while i am ahead and have to delete my own post!!!!
I joined this place http://www.recordingwebsite.com/ Over a year ago....One of the guys who runs this, is a mastering engineer who did a lot of Motown stuff......he is a guy who used to have to master to an actual mastering disc on the fly as it was actually cut...back in the day of splicing tape and open reel recorders....To get a lot of sound effects, you had to make them...They were trying to capture the actual sound of the band so that is how you hear it.... yeah I know we are getting off track walkin down memory lane...but isn't it cool?? Willy
really, you would do good by letting us know what you want from your HU first (what features and capabilities).. then let us know what kind of budget you are looking at, and then we can help. You can get more for your money depending on where you shop, and who (if you need) does the installation.. and you probably won't be happy unless you spend a hundred bucks more then what you are hoping for.. sorry to say that, but that's just how it works. Instead of saying "man, i shouldn't have bought this cheap terd" You'll be saying "I'm really glad I spent the extra dough on this better HU" It's just the nature of the beast.. (and don't even think about buying sony)
ill have two 12" subs, one amp, and all new speakers in my car. budget is $250 or less. i dont mind so much about an ipod hookup, theres tons of adapters if needed.
I sure like Kenwood Excelon stuff. We deviated on the wifes truck and went with an Alpine. It shot craps within warranty, and I paid a bit more to "upgrade" to an Excelon, and am darn glad I did. Untrained ear or not, that Alpine sounded like crap compared to the Kenwood. That one is a KDC-X689, I have an X859, and in the Montego, we have an X959, I think it is. 4-5 years old. Still sounds great. They all play MP3's, if you choose. But like you folks, 10-12 songs are just fine on a disc. BTW, Chrysler sold an in dash record player as an option on their cars in the late 50's, early 60's.
I am also a big Kenwood fan, glad to meet another one. Now for the MP3 thing, I use an Ipod interfaced on my Kenwood and I have no problem with Sound Q. First our ears are not that good. I doubt seriously if you or any one else can tell the difference between a CD and an MP3 at 192 bit rate or higher. One other thing, not all MP3 encoders are created equal. Windows Media Player has one of the fastest encoders I've ever seen, but the sound is not quite right. Two really good encoders that I use are Lame 3.96 and BladeENC. All you need to locate is a ripper that will allow the use of an external encoder. I have had many customer say the same thing about MP3 files and yet none have ever been able to tell the difference, using the same song on the same system and properly encoded.
