Guidance picking a good HU please?

**slushieken** · 09-02-2004, 04:33 PM

I need to pick a head unit for my system. The only way I can see going headless (and the good Lord knows I wish that I could) is if there are any good fm tuner cards for the PC. I am looking for good quality sound...

Anyway I digress. I am looking for some web sites or forums to assist me in picking a good head unit. Unfortunately I am completely new to car audio, so I don't know where people go to discuss this.

Thank you.

**ph0tix** · 09-09-2004, 12:50 PM

I've got an Alpine CDA-9835 and love it.
You didn't say how much you were willing to spend, and my best guess is you wouldnt want to spend as much as this costs (its not cheap), but you asked for some advice, and Alpine make killer head units.. It has about every feature you can imagine right down to digital time correction to adjust each speaker delay in milliseconds to adjust sound imaging. This may be a lot more than what youre looking for, but if you're willing go all out you won't be disappointed. It won Premium Head Unit of the Year 2004

http://iweb.alpine-usa.com/pls/admn/...y=45&p_main=10

Read some reviews too.. you wouldn't be dissapointed!

**Jailer** · 09-09-2004, 08:52 PM

Can't go wrong with a Kenwood Deck. Just make sure it has an Aux in, no point buying a new head unit and then having to use an FM modulator. Might also check out some of the higher end Clarion decks and the Eclipse line of decks. As was stated before Alpine makes a decent deck too. Your best bet for info is probably going to be http://www.crutchfield.com you can comparison shop there but there's cheaper places to buy such as http://www.cbrstereo.com/index.asp

**longwoodtrail** · 09-09-2004, 09:09 PM

If you want good sound quality, you could always get an fm modulator. I am sure you have read all of the posts about them and how they are not FM transmiters. But then again, for the best sound quality, just look for a premium head unit with AUX in. No sound quality loss there.

**slushieken** · 09-10-2004, 04:35 PM

Hey found out from the Best Buy salesman that ANY HU with XM/Sirius has a line level in. Not sure how hard it is to get it working, but this would make sense.

A poor mans' line in, but line in none the less... Thanks for the input guys!

**slushieken** · 09-10-2004, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by ph0tix

I've got an Alpine CDA-9835...

YIKES! a little more than I wanted to spend, but you are probably right, you get what you pay for.

BTW I am not positive how accurate this is, but I called Alpine sales service to ask which units provide a line in. While talking with the salesman, he confirmed for me that all Alpine units have the same preamp guts, so from the cheapest to the most expensive your sound quality from the aux input would be the same.

**zPilott** · 09-10-2004, 05:05 PM

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but do they make car head units with digitial aux inputs (e.g. spdif or optical)?

**binary.h4x** · 09-10-2004, 10:42 PM

the best way i see is to write down everything you want the headunit to do, then take it to a shop and tell them to match one at the cheapest price for you.

**slushieken** · 09-12-2004, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by zPilott

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but do they make car head units with digitial aux inputs (e.g. spdif or optical)?

I researched this for a while a few months ago. The answer was no from crutchfield, none they are aware of.

Since then I have found one by Clarion... I tried to find it in my history but as usual everything is there but the one thing I'm looking for. The cost; sit down before you read this; $1999.99.

If yuo want optical do a

(hint: look through some threads I have posted in). You can use a simple digital to analog converter, and some amps take optical in directly.

My thoughts after a lot of research; it is not worth the $$$ unless you are planning on a competition level audio installation.

**zPilott** · 09-13-2004, 03:00 PM

I was just thinking that a digital input would be a great way to get rid of noise on the line. I don't need optical, just digital, to get rid of the analog noise.