Preferred head unit?

[cerdman]

Pioneer also makes a very affordable unit with usb and aux in the front. It's a DEH-2200UB They sound good are easy to use and are reliable. The other headunits that you looked at are decent as well as the alpine and clarion that others were saying but alpine will probably run you a little more plus I think with alpine you have to use there ipod cable for the deck to recognize the ipod so they can take you for more money. Their cable has a resistor in line I beleive that causes this. You can modify a cable with a resistor though to get around buying one.

The Civic had an Alpine with iPod cable. It worked great, but did not offer an upgrade to bluetooth and the iPod cable did not want to work with my iPhone. If you are buying a deck, get one with USB. You can't underestimate how great it is to hook up an iPod or Zune.

 

[mymmeryloss]

alpine.

clarion or blaupunkt for cheaper head units...

 

[Osiris19]

Okay thanks. I'll probably see about picking one up in two weeks.

 

[Raabe]

ive rocked a cheap ass Dual unit for a while. works for me

 

[Osiris19]

Haha. I don't wanna go cheap with sound. ALthough, I am short on cash and need a stereo asap or I'll die.

 

[xWIREMANx]

Well if you are not going with usb pioneer also makes another model DEH-1300MP. You can get them for around $70 and it's a solid good sounding deck with fron aux.

 

[NighthawkEm2]

I have an alpine in my em2 and I love it! A lot of new tuning features like measure how far away each speaker is from the driver and it delays the sound according to how far away the speaker is. Sounds like surround sound! Alpine makes some of the best head units in my opinion.

 

[eggyhustles]

Look on ebay for a used kenwood x693 or x993

best bang for buck

 

[Osiris19]

Don really wanna deal online just gonna go with the kdc-138

 

[LemonC]

http://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-Kdc-Hd545U-Dash-Receiver-Built/dp/B00383HMES/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1289511280&sr=8-1


look at the kenwood KDC HD545U, i just picked one up, has USB and Aux port on the front, built in crossover for you sub, HD radio... i got one for 120ish from GadgetTown on amazon.

i like it, i think its voltage out is a little better than my previous kenwood too. good features, low price.


if you were in dfw i could sell you my kdc - mp532u, has usb port, still works great, just doesnt have an AUx port (i wanted to plug in my laptop)

 

[Osiris19]

Getting KDC-145 for my birthday next week.

 

[LemonC]

Getting KDC-145 for my birthday next week.

Doesnt have a USB port! If you arent familiar with a USB ports function, please consider this, With a USB PORT you probly wont have to burn CDRs anymore, you can use most flash drives and load them with your mp3s, plug into your deck, and play music quick and easy - no mp3 player, ipod, etc neccessary!!! Flash drives are cheap these days.

I listen to lots of podcast etc, i tried a cheapo usb head unit a number of years ago, but it wouldnt save the track position, so everytime i turned my car off the track would start over from the begining which is a major annoyance when trying to listen to 2hour long tracks (podcasts, dj mixes etc).

If its a gift i would def ask for a kenwood with a usb port.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001P7TYTK/ref=sr_1_2_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1289593893&sr=8-2&condition=new only a little more, ive ordered from discount jungle before, no problems...

 

[Osiris19]

It has an AUX port. I don't care about USB. I just need music and don't wanna break my mom's bank. She's already getting me new headlights and ADTR junk so I figured this would be nice, and I hear great things about the 145 model.

 

[eggyhustles]

Dude, from someone who's been in the industry, the last thing you want is entry level kenwood.

Wait it out a extra month or 2 and save up and get this http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22936_Kenwood+eXcelon+KDC-X794.html

I promise you won't be disappointed

There's alot more to headunit's than usb, and aux features.

You have to look at the eq, the dac, the s/n ratio, etc etc

Atleast with the x794 you'll have a solid foundation for a system in case you ever decide to go that route in the future.

 

[Osiris19]

Well, I'm not worried about quality right now, I just need a cheap system to listen to because I'm about to die. There's too many other problems I have to get out of the way first.