I saw in you sig that you have this deck, as i'm seriously considering buying this i was wondering what your review of it would be? Pros, Cons?
VERY pleased with it. I'da had an eclipse long ago if they played nicely with MP3's before. Actually that's kinda one of my gripes. MP3's take FOREVER to cue up (I'm usually out of my driveway before the music kicks in) Normal CD's and radio still take a bit as it seems to like to think a good bit before it starts up. But you just get used to that... As far as performance, etc. I'm rather pleased. Sound quality is Quite impressive. and 8v pre-=outs are AWESOME. Really cut some background noise outt amy system when I switched to this from my Clarion. The control you have with it is AMAZING. Not many things speak of it, but it DOES come with a mic and a Memorystick so you can record a pinknoised profile of your system, then take it back to your computer, slap it into Eclipse's E-Iserv and tune and tweak onthere, upoad the new profile to your memstick, and drop it back in your deck. There's room forlike 5 diff profiles, so Say one for driver-only, one for both front, etc... Timedelay, eQ crossover, etc. all can be controleld thatway AND from the deck if you don't wanna run back'n fourth to fine-tune. I just find it's alot easier to mess with things when it's all big and moreeasily accessable. Ergonomics gripes... The remote is WORTHLESS for volume control. THe rotory thing is cool, but only if you want to adjust your volume one notch every 2 seconds or so. The normal volume knob actually responds slower than I'd prefer as well. It IS nice to have such a fine control (1-80) but a way to more rapidly get through the range would be nice. Also, the rotary skip is something that takes getting used to. I can't really think of alot off the top of my head at the moment, Feel free to ask me any specifics. It DOES have an outboard dc-dv converter which is about the size of a pack of cards or so that is hardwired to the uit that'll need to be placed somewhere in your dash (prefrably away from speakerwires or RCA'S)
I should also note that at this point I'm using the "pro mode" which turns the ouputs form front/rear/sub to high/mid/sub, and has slope and freq adjustable crossovers for each. This essentially allows you to run an active biamped setup without an external active crossover. however they do limit you a bit on frequency. (low is 63/80/100/120hz, mid is from those to 200,250, and a couplefew other steps up to about 4khz I believe) I'm currently running it to a 3-way setup where I use the passive crossover to seperate my midrange and tweeters, and then run my midbass from the mid-line. All that said I may eventually get an outboard active crossovers, but this provides you atleast some control and the ability to play with it a bit. Actually as much as some cheap actives allow. Cool thing is I was driving a friend over the the coast last weekend, and was able to play with my crossover points/slopes right there from the deck while driving, listening for things, and with him listening and giving me feeback from his seat as well, it was AWESOME! Got my setup Dialed thatmuch better and it was easy, almost too easy. Also there's 3-level attenuation and timedealy (tweet/mid/midbass) left and right, with quite a bit of range for each.
I have the 8443 which has the same Xover,outputs, and 8v pre-out. WTF were they thinking when the excluded the sub output from the Parametric EQ? :bash: Aside from that Eclipse decks sound killer. Even the 3443 I have in our minivan sounds great for a 2.7v deck.
A good friend is selling his Eclipse 8454 because after a *light* 3mos. of use he bought the Alpine F#1 Status HU (7990) and Processor (h900) Mainly he wanted the Processor... but he wanted to keep a "theme" for competition (SQ), and the 7990 also offered TOSLINK output, whereas the 8454 is component out, and as such, to use the h900 processor he'd have to find a RCA to TOSLINK adapter. Not easy nor ideal. Aside from that... theres no reason to dislike this HU. I've auditioned it on a few occasions, and it's feature-packed. MP3s don't take very long, IMO... and the CD player is excellent with all formats. The unit is *Mint*, like perfectly new. Since it was purchased from an authorized dealer, the warranty should be able to be transferred to the new owner. http://caraudiotalk.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=3191 He's a good trustworthy guy, and this deck is a beauty. If you'd be interested in the Audiocontrol DQX with DDC controller for it, then a nice package deal could be arranged.
Man, sounds like that Eclipse has a LOT of features.... I wonder how much it costs up here.. I should try one out edit: I found the price... $1,069.00 a teeny bit prohibitive, but i guess i can check it out in-store... Good reviews of it, guys.
WTF???? no freakin way! it shouldn't be anymore than like $650... If you want, my local shop's got one brand new for $550 I believe. I could hook you up with their info. Certified dealer, etc. It's cool, but not a grand worth of cool...
Yeah, poseur, i'm pretty used to delays actually, i've been running a tube amp for a while now and that always takes a few to kick in. I'm glad to hear such a glowing review from someone who has one, i'll be pinching my pennnies and hopefully be getting that by the end of winter
LOL... I'm in Canaduh, buddy.... So you know... prices are a little bit more than in the states.. sucks, eh? I'm sure if I went and talked to them, I could probably get it down to $800ish... I know some people working at the shop... I really don't think I'll be getting a new HU anytime soon though.
Whoever quoted you that price quoted CDN retail pricing, man I wish I could sell at retail, wouldn't that be nice. This is an awesome cd player. The warranty is fully transferable to a new customer, however, if the customer who originally purchased it is in the US and the new customer is in Canada, warranty is now invalid. Sorry for the bad news dude, it's always nice to find a deal. As far as finding one for $800 CDN, not gonna happen either. An Eclipse is one expensive unit up here in the Great White North. What province are you in anyways?
Sorry, $800 range was just a guess... maybe $900ish? What's it go for average here? I'm in Vancouver, BC.
The one i mentioned is in Ontario already, purchased in Canada, from an authorized retail store $450 USD = $573 CDN warranty would be good, unit is as-new does'nt get much better than that. I'd already own it, except here, i really want (need) a detachable face.
^^^^^ I wish. In Canada we are held hostage by our distibutor who of course is a business and marks up what they buy the product from Eclipse USA. End result is the retail pricing that he found online. Interesting that my dealer agreement says I cannot advertise Eclipse on line and the big box guys can even thought the dealer agreement is the same.
