Head Units
- Thread starter kerph32
- Start date
btw i think you're making the right choice with alpine. they have always been considered to be the industry's top in regard to making head units. whether you were to get an eclipse or an alpine is really nit picking. no one will ever question the sq of an alpine HU. just remember to get at least the alpine 9813, 9815, or 7998. the lower models of alpine don't nearly give the same capabilities of sq and sound control (equilizer and digital crossover).
I agree with everyone else on the Alpine being one of the best HU but also I have heard the sound of my friends Pioneer Premier sumptin and damn it sounds good also. It has more options even that many Alpiones that I have seen. Justy bringing up another great possibility. Dont't know about the price about the Premier but it sure sounds great!
hi there guys.
any entry level Pioneer, Alpine or Nakamichi will do ya.
You can get them as low as $125 up to $1200 depending on the features you need/ want.
shop around and you might find a great deck on sale.
I do car sterio as a buisness so if your nice I might be able to get you a deal and more bang for your buck!
any entry level Pioneer, Alpine or Nakamichi will do ya.
You can get them as low as $125 up to $1200 depending on the features you need/ want.
shop around and you might find a great deck on sale.
I do car sterio as a buisness so if your nice I might be able to get you a deal and more bang for your buck!
Entry level stuff just doesn't cut the mustard for me. Like I said, your higher end Alpines, The Pioneer Premier (I amlost forgot about them) are an amazing unit, sometimes a little on the pricey side, but you'll know where your money went. I like some of the stuff that Eclipse and Clarion has to offer, but I just havent been satisfied with the over-all product.
Just a thought , have you concidered the forgotten and under rated Blaupunkt?
You see I just got a 86 325e and I plan on putting in a Blaupunkt unit. Their mid level and High level units are great Hi out put rca's and the whole nine yards.
I am opting for the IVDM-7002 a 7" fold out monitor and DVD all in one. and the best part is that this unit decodes DTS!
Like I said earlyer you can spend $150 on a no frills high quality Pioneer or go up to a $2500 unit. Find what you want and spend the cash.
BTW the blaupunkt unit I am looking at retails for $3000 but my cost is $1400.
One of the perks of being a dealer.
You see I just got a 86 325e and I plan on putting in a Blaupunkt unit. Their mid level and High level units are great Hi out put rca's and the whole nine yards.
I am opting for the IVDM-7002 a 7" fold out monitor and DVD all in one. and the best part is that this unit decodes DTS!
Like I said earlyer you can spend $150 on a no frills high quality Pioneer or go up to a $2500 unit. Find what you want and spend the cash.
BTW the blaupunkt unit I am looking at retails for $3000 but my cost is $1400.
One of the perks of being a dealer.
I agree with bahn...
I agree with Bahn on this one- The SQ of the Nak's is just unbeatable- highly reminiscent of the OLD Alpines, which are far and beyond, my favorite. I still have my alpine 7940 which treats me great and still puts out a super clean signal and never had a problem.
In SQ department, the new alpines are still good, but not as good as the naks- no doubt
I say:
Nak
Alpine
top two for sure.
Alpine has substantially better customer service though, and for this reason, I'd take the alpine still. PLus, you gotta remember, your system is only as good as it weakest link! I laugh my ass off when I see guys insist on spending the bucks on the nak and then they use the shittiest cheapest interconnects they can get their hands on- prob'ly cause their broke from the HU!!! I just gotta laugh, it's like, "what's the use?!?!?"
I'm having enough trouble now trying to figure out how to keep the stock business CD unit and get some kind of RCA outputs from it!!! Anyone, please feel free to chime in here!
I agree with Bahn on this one- The SQ of the Nak's is just unbeatable- highly reminiscent of the OLD Alpines, which are far and beyond, my favorite. I still have my alpine 7940 which treats me great and still puts out a super clean signal and never had a problem.
In SQ department, the new alpines are still good, but not as good as the naks- no doubt
I say:
Nak
Alpine
top two for sure.
Alpine has substantially better customer service though, and for this reason, I'd take the alpine still. PLus, you gotta remember, your system is only as good as it weakest link! I laugh my ass off when I see guys insist on spending the bucks on the nak and then they use the shittiest cheapest interconnects they can get their hands on- prob'ly cause their broke from the HU!!! I just gotta laugh, it's like, "what's the use?!?!?"
I'm having enough trouble now trying to figure out how to keep the stock business CD unit and get some kind of RCA outputs from it!!! Anyone, please feel free to chime in here!
Re: I agree with bahn...
You can get a high/low pass filter and get the signal from your rear deck speakers(+wire), thats what I did with my car....you can see the install by click the link on my signature. It is on page2! Oh yeah and Alpine is def. the best but Pioneer and Clarion are also pretty good.
You can get a high/low pass filter and get the signal from your rear deck speakers(+wire), thats what I did with my car....you can see the install by click the link on my signature. It is on page2! Oh yeah and Alpine is def. the best but Pioneer and Clarion are also pretty good.
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Re: I agree with bahn...
My friend is an electrical engineer and he built one using some resitors ans some other stuff. Total cost from Radio Shack was like $5. I don't know anything about any of it, but if you have friends who are geeks or are going to school aspireing to be geeks, have them make one for you.
My friend is an electrical engineer and he built one using some resitors ans some other stuff. Total cost from Radio Shack was like $5. I don't know anything about any of it, but if you have friends who are geeks or are going to school aspireing to be geeks, have them make one for you.
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Hey, of you like to DIY, thats just another challenge. Me I replaced the deck. Curious as to why you didnt, with all of that done up in the trunk....
Anyways, I have the Clarion unit in there and with the Cerwin Vega 5.25 components up front and the stockers in the back with 2 10" subs and an Alpine M300 amp, it sounds pretty good. Good enough for the second car anyways, especially since I dont drive it!
The Deck belnds in BEAUTIFULLY with the dash. The illumination is a little off, but looks decent, at least it isnt blue or green! Smooth operation, lots of cool features, and from what I get through the speakers which I am not very impressed with, decent SQ. I'll have some pics up tomorrow night.
Anyways, I have the Clarion unit in there and with the Cerwin Vega 5.25 components up front and the stockers in the back with 2 10" subs and an Alpine M300 amp, it sounds pretty good. Good enough for the second car anyways, especially since I dont drive it!
The Deck belnds in BEAUTIFULLY with the dash. The illumination is a little off, but looks decent, at least it isnt blue or green! Smooth operation, lots of cool features, and from what I get through the speakers which I am not very impressed with, decent SQ. I'll have some pics up tomorrow night.
I didnt change it because it is not necessary the BMW head unit is actually a pretty good head unit...the major problem with BMW stereo systems is that the speakers cannot perform as good as the head unit can put out. Also in the 5series it is a real pain in the buttocks and would have probably costed more than the subwoofer installation. Not to mention trying to retain bord-computer functions and whatnot. Any deck I would have used to replace the nominal head unit would not have made a big enough difference to justify the cost. The only thing I regret is not having full-spectrum equalizer control.
refer to this if you dont believe me about the stock head unit:
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/5series/messages/archive/msgsy1999w52/34221.html
I did at least months worth of research before I got the sub enclosure built and decided not to change the head unit.......
refer to this if you dont believe me about the stock head unit:
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/5series/messages/archive/msgsy1999w52/34221.html
I did at least months worth of research before I got the sub enclosure built and decided not to change the head unit.......
I just dont like the set up of the entire network. When I did this project, I re-wired the entire car, by-passed the amp and ran my own crossovers and new amps, that were to MY specs and MY prefence. If its working out for you, sweet, but I dont like being locked into something just because a bunch of people in Germany thought it was a good idea. Plus, now I can play my .mp3 CDs.