pioneer vs. premier? other brands? need new hu

[lotas]

hey im just wondering what the main diff. between pioneer and premier is. I know pioneer owns premier or vice versa. Ive always thought/heard pioneer is the better of the two, premier is their lower end. so just wanted to get that cleared up, lemme know the truth.

i need a new hu, i need 3rca preouts (front/rear/sub). Im looking to spend no more than 400$. I dont need anything real fancy, i dont need a video playing on it or anything, although i do need MP3.

brands im considering:
1.) pioneer/premier
2.) alpine
3.)clarion
4.) eclipse

lemme know if you know of any good quality HUs that would fulfill my requirements, thanks.

[Ryan from Ohio]

Im gonna reccoemnd the same HU I have, the JVC 7000

Premeir is the better pioneer BTW

[Jszar]

clarion proaudio is very good, and failry cheap on ebay brand new. bought mine for less that 50% of the retail price (which was $600).

[71buickfreak]

I would go eclipse or Kenwood excelon. the features of the Excelon mixed with the price and quality are well worth it. I used to run Eclipse, awesome stuff, just expensive.

[Scarrell]

Pioneer's Premier line is their highest end series :p the Premier is pretty good, the Premier cd players are :s_thumbup , you should definately be able to find what you are looking for, for that much money... although i am not a big fan of anything Kenwood, their Excelon cd players seem to be reliable... but id still take Alpine, Eclipse, or Clarion over Premier and Kenwood... Crutchfield seems to be having a good deal going on, the Clarion ProAudio DXZ845MC fits all your needs it seems!
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7G8s3J179Gw/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=020DXZ845&wm=cl

and also the Alpine 9830(awesome cd player!!) is on sale too!
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7G8s3J179Gw/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=500CDA9830&wm=cl

[lotas]

hey scarrell do you know if that clarion has 2v or 4v preouts? that is so awesome how it has 128mb of space so you can rip songs onto it to store...thats an awesome feature and i realyl like that.

I dont realyl like the look of the alpines with the green buttons, i like the blue ones though, but thats just a cosmetic thing, that comes last.

hey ryan-- where did you buy yours from? its 400$ on crutchfield...but thast crutchfield.

i do want to buy from an authorized dealer...sounddomain....crutchfield, etc.

[Scarrell]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-w0vbrSpzdge/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=62700&id=features_and_specs&i=020DXZ845

[Ryan from Ohio]

I bought mine off E Bay. Cost about 350ish with shipping.

I really like mine. Has many features that are useful, especially the 7 band eq.

THe one I have can display a picture or screen, it is very cool. Grab alot of attention from people riding in the car. It sounds awesome! No doubt one of the best HU's I have ever had.

[jonnyb]

i own the pioneer deh-8600, got it for about $350 from sounddomain. has all the features you need, plus 24bitDAC, high/low pass filters, 13bandEQ, and multicolor OEL. (i think ryan's has 24bitDAC too)- very well worth the money. link! (http://www.cardomain.com/item/PIODEHP8600MP)

[lotas]

thanks for helping guys.

im incredibly dissapointed to find out that that clarion has only 2v preamp outputs....i loved the feature of the built in hard-drive where you can rip songs onto it and store theml.

can someone please tell me the benefit of having 4v vs. 2v. My guess is that it supplies more power to the amp and in return the amp performs better. let me know?

but yeah im taking a close look at :
Clarion ProAudio DXZ845MC
Pioneer DEH8600MP
JVC - KD-LHX500 (Ryan or anyone, what do you guys think of this amp? it has a ton of features, almost too good to be true for 320$...here are some)
-Touch LCD screen
-uploads images and full motion
-plays mp3s/wmas
-7bandiEQ
-4V preamp

that seems like a shitload of nice features for 320$. so let me know if thats a cheap model or something.

ryan, does the 700 have the touch screen feature? and what other HUs have you owned?


sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help.

[William from NOLA]

can someone please tell me the benefit of having 4v vs. 2v. My guess is that it supplies more power to the amp and in return the amp performs better. let me know?
The higher the voltage, the cleaner the signal reaches the amp by rejecting noise and interference, so it in turn becomes the dominant wavelength.

Now for the amp's other viewpoint, it does not have to boost the signal (adding distortion and noise) to give decent output. However if you give the amp more than it can handle, the signal clips because the amp is being given more than it can handle.

[Ryan from Ohio]

The KD-AR7000 Does NOT have the touch screen. I was looking into that model but decided against it.

-I dont like the idea of poking at the screen I have to look at.
-I like the display better (Color OEL screen)

The 7000 Has 5V pre outs.

[lotas]

i was looking forward to it but i think the Clarion DXz845MRC is out because of the 2v preouts...i didnt know they played that big of a role in the sound.

I want to have this ordered by friday...looking at:
pioneer deh-8600mp
that jvc700
Alpine CDA-9847 or Alpine CDA-9851

although the alpines dont really jump out at me too much, or appeal to me too much...seems like they just have the basic features...except for whatever BassEngine is.


how important exactly is a good HU? you always hear how the best speakers in the world can sound horrible unless you have a nice amp. does the same apply to the HU in the sense that the best amp in the world will sound horrible without a decent HU?

what im trying to get at is I only want to buy one headunit for the next two years or so...so direct me that way

[Ryan from Ohio]

I think all choices listed are good ones.

After owning Alpine, Clarion, Kenwood, Pioneer and JVC Head Units I like the JVC the best.

Clarions were alright, but I just like the sound of the JVC better.

[lotas]

do you think its worth it/neccessary to upgrade to the premier 860 with the higher voltage preouts? the pioneer has 4v but the premier has 6v. what do you tihnk?

the only problem is i cannot find any trusted store that sells the premiers. crutchfield/sounddomain dont sell them. i want to buy authorized.

[Mithrandir]

Eh personally i like the 8600 better than the premier, it like the features more, thats what im gettin for my next deck

[Ryan from Ohio]

For premeir you will have to goto an actual store.