Head Unit I Bought, Your Thoughts?

[Assyrian]

I considered Alpine/Premier/Eclipse/Panasonic.

I ended up chosing the Alpine 9851:



and the iPod Adapter.

They haven't been installed yet... but I'll make sure to post pictures once I do.


Reason why I didn't get the Premier:
I actually went in to buy the Premier... but after thinking about it, I realized that a lot of what I'm paying for in the head unit is the nice display... which I never cared for in my past two Premiers. I've been reading that they've been having more and more quality control issues recently, so I went towards the Alpine.

Reason why I didn't get the Panasonic:
Again, the quality control issues. Also, I had an awkward feeling in messing around with the display model... it didn't seem to be as intuitive as the alpine or the premier... and again, the display that I'll never take advantage of.

Why not the Eclipse?
Well, the Eclipse that I liked was out of my price range. Also, the setup functions were too complicated for my liking... I'm not a stereo tuner, nor do i care to listen at high volumes, unless it's Carmina Burana. I just want a stereo that produces a natural sound.

All of those factors made the Alpine a pretty clear solution for me. Plus, from what I am reading, they are reliability kings.

So what do you all think? Will I regret this in the long run, or did I make a decent choice?

[QuickSEV6]

They make different flavors of ice cream because not everyone likes the same flavor. I am set on my ways with my audio options. Since you asked for my opinion, I'll tell you. Alpine is the absolute best head unit you can get. Thats my opinion and anybody would be hard pressed to convince me otherwise. So I'll give you a thumbs up. Do you want to ask me about speakers?

[Assyrian]

haha sure... why not. what's your opinion on speakers??? please keep it cost conscious.


But speakers are actually a low priority at this point. Next come installing my Apexi, getting an Injen, some Eibachs, installing the subs/amp I already have... then speakers hehe.

[i20solara02i]

very nice unit. can't complain with the features it has on that unit

[Assyrian]

Thanks! I'm looking forward to the installation this weekend.

[QuickSEV6]

haha sure... why not. what's your opinion on speakers??? please keep it cost conscious.


But speakers are actually a low priority at this point. Next come installing my Apexi, getting an Injen, some Eibachs, installing the subs/amp I already have... then speakers hehe.

Ok, since you asked...
Diamond Audio.
http://www.diamondaudio.com/
No matter what head unit or amp you have, your sound quality is limited by your speakers. Just remember that.
Good speakers are the key to a good sound system. The Alpine deck is just a good start.
Good luck with your system.

[Assyrian]

thanks! I'll make sure to look into it.

[lilm]

haha sure... why not. what's your opinion on speakers??? please keep it cost conscious.


But speakers are actually a low priority at this point. Next come installing my Apexi, getting an Injen, some Eibachs, installing the subs/amp I already have... then speakers hehe.

Ok, since you asked...
Diamond Audio.
http://www.diamondaudio.com/
No matter what head unit or amp you have, your sound quality is limited by your speakers. Just remember that.
Good speakers are the key to a good sound system. The Alpine deck is just a good start.
Good luck with your system.

its good to hear of someone who doesnt think a head unit will make you music sound 100% better

[Assyrian]

I'm sure that most people realize that a better sound can be found by replacing more than just the head unit....

and I don't expect a drastic improvement over my stock sound with just the alpine... but I'm sure there will be a significant improvement.

[i20solara02i]

also check out helix

www.audioaffinityusa.com

or

focal

www.focal-america.com

and

lotus

www.mobilesq.com

all have great speakers

[Assyrian]

also check out helix

www.audioaffinityusa.com

or

focal

www.focal-america.com

and

lotus

www.mobilesq.com

all have great speakers

damn! those all seem a little to expensive for me heehhe... maybe something a little more cost conscious?

[QuickSEV6]

also check out helix

www.audioaffinityusa.com

or

focal

www.focal-america.com

and

lotus

www.mobilesq.com

all have great speakers

Which do you have in your car?

[i20solara02i]

i had the focal utopia for a while.

now im running the helix s6 and i'll probably change it out to the helix rs 6.3

[theprodigy79]

In my opinion you made a very good choice on your headunit; there really isn't much to compare from the other units you looked at... I've run Alpine units for more than 10 years and have never been let down, you just can't beat 'em.

As far as stating "no matter what head unit or amp you have, your sound quality is limited by your speakers"... This is only partially true, as your speakers can just as easily be limited by your amp or source... Everything in the system works in harmony, and the bottleneck can form anywhere within... You can have the best speakers in the world running on a crappy headunit and they will sound like crap... or you can have the worst speakers in the world running on the best source and it will sound no better... You can have the best source and the best speakers but a crappy amp and still sound horrid... And finally (something that not many people think about), you can have the best of everything (source, amp and speakers) and play a 96Kbps MP3 and it will STILL sound like crap (garbage in, garbage out)... As a matter of fact, playing that same 96Kbps MP3 on a crappy system would, in most cases, sound BETTER than playing it on a high end system (on higher end systems you run into issues of hearing TOO MUCH detail, such as recording flaws, etc... not to mention poor compression).

Anyhow, enough of that... Choose speakers that YOU think sound good... Everyone hears differently, and nobody has the same taste / preference in music or what they expect from it...

Simply going by your headunit, you may want to check into the following (I don't believe you would be disappointed with any of them):

Alpine Type R series (probably the best bang for your buck... great speakers, better when powered properly)

Eclipse SP series (I'm not a fan of their current source units, however they still have a solid line of speakers... the SA series 3-ways are way too bright, so stick with the 2-way SPs)

Boston Acoustics SL series (VERY tight speakers, great sounding but can be a bit bright at times)

You can't go wrong with any of the above... Diamond Audio is a good company, as are Focal and Helix (I'm personally not much of a fan of Lotus) but as you saw the prices ain't exactly a match for a $200 headunit... The speakers I mentioned would work very well with your source, and would sound even better with a good amp.

The above is assuming you're going to stick with 6"x9"s... If you decide to convert to 6.5"s it will open up a few other doors of consideration...

Good luck with your hunt... any way you go I'm sure you'll be happy.

Take care,

James

[Assyrian]

In my opinion you made a very good choice on your headunit; there really isn't much to compare from the other units you looked at... I've run Alpine units for more than 10 years and have never been let down, you just can't beat 'em.

As far as stating "no matter what head unit or amp you have, your sound quality is limited by your speakers"... This is only partially true, as your speakers can just as easily be limited by your amp or source... Everything in the system works in harmony, and the bottleneck can form anywhere within... You can have the best speakers in the world running on a crappy headunit and they will sound like crap... or you can have the worst speakers in the world running on the best source and it will sound no better... You can have the best source and the best speakers but a crappy amp and still sound horrid... And finally (something that not many people think about), you can have the best of everything (source, amp and speakers) and play a 96Kbps MP3 and it will STILL sound like crap (garbage in, garbage out)... As a matter of fact, playing that same 96Kbps MP3 on a crappy system would, in most cases, sound BETTER than playing it on a high end system (on higher end systems you run into issues of hearing TOO MUCH detail, such as recording flaws, etc... not to mention poor compression).

Anyhow, enough of that... Choose speakers that YOU think sound good... Everyone hears differently, and nobody has the same taste / preference in music or what they expect from it...

Simply going by your headunit, you may want to check into the following (I don't believe you would be disappointed with any of them):

Alpine Type R series (probably the best bang for your buck... great speakers, better when powered properly)

Eclipse SP series (I'm not a fan of their current source units, however they still have a solid line of speakers... the SA series 3-ways are way too bright, so stick with the 2-way SPs)

Boston Acoustics SL series (VERY tight speakers, great sounding but can be a bit bright at times)

You can't go wrong with any of the above... Diamond Audio is a good company, as are Focal and Helix (I'm personally not much of a fan of Lotus) but as you saw the prices ain't exactly a match for a $200 headunit... The speakers I mentioned would work very well with your source, and would sound even better with a good amp.

The above is assuming you're going to stick with 6"x9"s... If you decide to convert to 6.5"s it will open up a few other doors of consideration...

Good luck with your hunt... any way you go I'm sure you'll be happy.

Take care,

James

Great writeup! All advice is greatly appreciated... especially advice as thorough as yours! I'm really looking for a natural sound reproduction, so overly bright speakers aren't going to be very appealing. I'll make sure to check out the alpines and Eclipses.

thank you James! good karma coming your way.