Author Topic: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers? (Read 3498 times)

willhaven · « **on:** September 30, 2007 - 09:27:08 PM »

I'm just wondering what the audiophiles think are the top brands.

I know lots of guys go Alpine for the head unit, though Pioneer looks like they make some nice stuff as well. I may consider getting a NAV unit. Either one that ejects from the face plate and bends into position, or one built into a custom console sometime down the road.

Not sure about amps or speakers at all.

And yes, if I did an install, I'd likely have some custom kick panels made, I might even consider removing the rear seat and putting 2 10s or 12s there instead. Not entirely sure how far I want to go at this point, but it doesn't hurt to start thinking about it I guess.

Carlwalski · « **Reply #1 on:** September 30, 2007 - 09:58:57 PM »

I have been very happy with Pioneer. Owned an Alpine once which was decent but a little tacky. Pioneer have a huge range and cater mainly in the head unit/audiovisual market. Speakers up to 6x9" are about there limit. I use to be a big Phoenix Gold fan (still have 2 x 12" X-Max PG subs in storage) but compared to today's market they have slipped a little IMO.

"Apparently" the new boys on the block are Eclipse. Been around for a little while but they've made a name for themselves as the new Phoenix Gold. BIG Sound, bass etc and good quality product. Of course, you could go buy a custom Bose unit so it's really up to you on what you want. I wouldn't put any subs etc in my cars, extra weight & not quite my scene.

bb71challenger · « **Reply #2 on:** September 30, 2007 - 10:37:57 PM »

Alpine right now would be my choice but there are several good companies. Pioneer as stated above has their Premier line which is pretty good. I hear Kenwood is making a comeback with good quality units. Eclipse up until about a year ago was about tops for me, they had top tier performance and you could take a cd that was nasty scratched and they will play it, no skips either. They sold out about 1.5 years ago and their quality really suffered. I have one of the last high performance models in the 8053 unit. I also have an eclipse 8051 which is the deck right before the 8053. I would start checking out units specs and see what pushes your buttons as far as features, ergonomics and performance go. Narrow down what you want to listen to and then try to hear real systems to get a feel for what they sound like. Personally at this time If I did not have the 8053 new in box I would be looking hard at some top Alpine decks especially because they offer the only surround sound processing amp/deck combination I know of. If you really want to go over the top they have their top tier F1 line. Good luck, do some homework and you will not be let down later on.

Autophile · « **Reply #3 on:** October 01, 2007 - 01:43:04 AM »

I have been a fan of Eclipse since before they were Eclipse. Eclipse is owned by Fujitsu Ten, who used to market headunits under the Soundstream brand. Does anyone here remember the Soundstream TC301? Anyway, Fujitsu Ten makes consistently high quality products, so I usually try stay with them when I look for certain electronics.

My Cuda doesn't have a stereo right now, but for my truck I just bought a new double-din sized Eclipse headunit with navigation, Bluetooth, and a front-side USB MP3 port. The model is the Eclipse AVN2210p. It has worked out very well. The Tomtom navigation has been a great help getting around traffic jams and searching for my next house in the Santa Clara region. The Bluetooth is easy and consistent, but the microphone quality is kinda poor. The USB port is the greatest! I have all of my songs (currently ~2650 songs) on one 16GB USB flash card, so there is no need to lug around all of my CD's everywhere nor worry about losing my collection from theft. Anyway, I recommend Eclipse by default, although I have not followed whatever business changes they may recently experienced.

As far as high-end amps, Zapco is good. For signal processing, I recommend Audiocontrol. For speakers, Boston Acoustics, Diamond, MB Quartz are all good on the top side, and JL Audio makes good subs. There are other good brands out there, but these are my picks.

bb71challenger · « **Reply #4 on:** October 01, 2007 - 03:01:55 AM »

I would say you have some experience with some great brands autophile. I have never owned a zapco but their reputation preceeds them, they are top notch according to everyone I know of who owns them. I have personally had great luck with boston acoustics speakers, I started with a boston pro setup and moved to the z-6 when they came out. I also like most JL products. I have a 450/4 a 300/2 and a 500/1 all great amps. I have a 12w7 that I love. I also replaced the boston z-6 comps with a set of JL zr's. They are pretty nice too. I also own audiocontrol stuff and they a quality product as well. I have a JL 3 way component set waiting to go in my Challenger when I get that far with the rebuild. Nothing better in the world to me than the cruising the open road and nice clean tunes played loud as hell.

willhaven · « **Reply #5 on:** October 02, 2007 - 09:03:44 PM »

Anyone have any idea if a NAV screen like this would fit in the stock mounting hole? It slides out of the head unit and then flips up when activated.

Not sure what the clearance from the radio to the gauge cluster is (assume it's a Rallye cluster).

Otherwise I'd probably have to have a custom console made I guess.

I'm definitely going to take a look at Pioneer and Alpine head units when the time comes. I'll probably get my car completed without a radio of any kind and go from there.

gomopar440 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 02, 2007 - 10:05:36 PM »

I don't think it would clear the overhang from the gauges above. You might be able to find one that flips down instead. It's been a while since I've seen one like that, but I'm sure they are still out there.

MJS73 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 03, 2007 - 12:37:38 PM »

I have a Pioneer 690 in mine. I love this unit because it has a USB port on the back and it controls iPods from the head unit. Powers the iPod, too. I have an iPod cable run from the rear USB port to the glove box, so the iPod just sits in there like a big hard drive. I have Rockford speakers, but Infinity makes great speakers, too.

Mike

RDF · « **Reply #8 on:** October 03, 2007 - 12:53:41 PM »

I've always used Precision Power Amps, MB Quarts for component speakers, and Boston Acoutics for 6x9's. Currently, I've got an Eclipse Desk (about 13 years old) and it still works like a charm. It's the old pull-out style and a CD player, amazingly it plays MP3's and any other CD that I decide to copy.

I've got 2 PPI Art Series amps (the same age, 13+years old) and I've never had one issue with them, not one. They are currently being used in my Expedition to power a 10" sub and 2 rear-door speakers without any problems what so ever. My front speakers (in the truck) are MB Quart component speakers and you guessed it, they're 13+ years old as well and still cranking out the power. And trust me, I LISTEN to my music, I'm not one of these who puts it on 15 and likes to hear music. I LISTEN to my music at a high volume level and put my system to work.

Times and technology have changed so there's obviously alot better stuff out there, but I stick with things that never fail me.

1BADFISH� · « **Reply #9 on:** October 03, 2007 - 04:34:39 PM »

Haven't been into stereo's for a while, but the best sounding speaker I ever owned was a component set made by Canton. They make some $10K plus home audio speakers...i'm not sure where you can buy them but they come from west Germany, I bought them from a specialty dealer who went out of business and he ordered them for his show car. They are a 3 way component set with crossover, 6 1/2" sub, 3"mid/1" tweet combo.

For head units I agree with Eclipse, I always liked Clarion stuff and Eclipse was like their higher end stuff. For subs, I had a PPI 8" sub that would out do any 10" brand on the market, PPI = Precision Power mobile audio.

http://www.precisionpower.com/

http://www.canton.de/en-produktdetail-car-qs3.28.htm

Ornamental · « **Reply #10 on:** October 22, 2007 - 04:31:14 PM »

The "best" headunits, amps, speakers is highly subjective.
It all breaks down to what music you listen to, e.g. there's some brands/models that are better at electronica than rock'n'roll.

I had a decent stereo in my previous daily driver (A mix of Sony headunit, Denon 4 ch amp for the Orion speakers, Hifonics monoblock for the Hifonics sub), but i have'nt bothered with installing it into my current daily driver.
It'll break down and die not too far into the future. I like hardrock, punk, metal, and some electronic music, but i'm mostly into hardrock and metal. So i would choose a stereo that favors that kind of music.
To do that, i would bring a few favorite CD's with me to car-stereoshows where vendors bring their democars so i could test-run the combinations. It's been a few years since i did that last, at that time i found that Blaupunkt's Velocity series were ok for my tastes, Planet Audio too had a few sweet amps and speakers, and some other brand i just cannot remember.

If this is way too much dedication for what's basically just a wish for some ok sound, check out product reviews. A decent car audio magazine should write what music a product is best for. At least they used to, have'nt bothered to pick up a car audio mag the last seven years. I would'nt think too much about reliabillity, most brands have their act together.

Because i love heavy guitarbased music, i would definetively check out Butler Audio: http://www.butleraudio.com/car.php
I have'nt read a current test of their products, but i once read a review where one of their amplifiers were said to perform poorly with R'n'B, techno, but it kicked ass when it played AC/DC, Guns'n'Roses, and such. I've wanted a Butler in my car since then.

Author Topic: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers? (Read 3498 times)

willhaven

So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

Carlwalski

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

bb71challenger

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

Autophile

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

bb71challenger

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

willhaven

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

gomopar440

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

MJS73

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

RDF

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

1BADFISH�

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?

Ornamental

Re: So, who makes good high end head units, amps and speakers?