Head Unit

swerve

Im looking to up my HU to something that plays MP3's for my Bday. My birthday is june 18 but my mom usually will go half with me a month earlier. I'm looking at this kenwood
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ibLce3C3j3h/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?s=0&c=3&g=62700&I=113MP825&o=m&a=0&cc=01&avf=N
but the last place i buy from will be crutchfield, any other suggestions? I'm really sick of having nearly 100 cd's in my car so im putting this over the new amp. thanks

-adam

exalted512

my only complaint is the 2volt pre-outs...and theres only 2...
whats your budget and ill tell ya what id get
-Cody

swerve

yea, i saw the pre-out thing that was an issue with the one i have now too, but i didn't have a choice then.
since my mom is going to give me 150-200 for this id say in the 300-350 range. She went half with me on my amp too, alot of my friends get the cold shoulder when it comes to their system and their parents. i must be the lucky one... lol

-adam

exalted512

yeah...my parents actually help me out LESS now that i have a system
my dad's mentality is "If he can afford to put all that 'crap' in his truck he can pay for everything else as well"
which is true though...but every cent of my system has been paid for by me
ill look up something this weekend and try to get you a variety of different HUs you can pick from
all you want is MP3 capability?
are you looking into getting XM or Sirius ever?
if so, do you prefer one over the other?
anything else?
-Cody

swerve

mp3 is basically all that is required, I doubt I'll want XM or Sirius ever but it'd be nice to have compatibility just in case.

-adam

neomagus00

the kenwood excelon kdc-x579 does mp3, has three preouts, looks cool, supports sirius, and costs $280. i like my x469, which is this thing, from last year, minus the mp3 capability. good stuff. i especially like its eq.

swerve

nice, ill bookmark it and see what Cody comes up with for me.

-adam

exalted512

eXcelons are really nice decks
give me til saturday night and ill have something up
-Cody

swerve

sounds good, thx for your help. Tomorrow im going to a few local shops so I'll be looking there as well.

Systems

How about Alpine CDA9827 ? Its played every mp3 disk I've ever stuck in it and it's only 240 or less.

neomagus00

that one, here, does mp3, has 3 4-volt preouts, and is xm-ready, and has more extensive subwoofer controls than the kenwood. it seems to have a less extensive eq, which is the only bad thing i can find with it. list price is $260.

swerve

Yea, i was checking that one out last night.. thanks for all your suggestions.. im going to a few shops tonight hopefully.

-adam

exalted512

aight, ive been looking around a little bit
mind you, the 9827 is a nice head unit--it is the only Alpine I'll recommend because I've never heard anyone having any problems or complaints against it
but I am no fan of Alpine in general
I know I said I'd give you a list, but after some searching I remembered this kenwood was in your price range
truthfully, spec for spec, its just better than the 9827
better warranty
higher voltage pre outs
but theres much more to a head unit than pre outs though
here's a comparison of them head to head
im pretty sure John(Jstas) runs eXcelon amps and a head unit
i saw that head unit on www.speedsound.com
i dont remember the price, but its worth checking out
itll probably be around $270ish there
i believe speed and sound are authorized dealers for everything they sell, but call and ask to make sure
so my nod goes to the Kenwood
-Cody

swerve

Should I order from speed and sound if they are? What if I can get it locally from somewhere? thanks

-adam

jamas33

for just a lil bit over 280 I can get you the Excelon 859. Great Deck. I had one and traded up to the DVD 911 KVT. I love my excelon matched w/ the amps.

exalted512

go with whatevers cheaper
most internet sites have free shipping now--especially if its over $200 worth of equipment
speed and sound IS an actual company--they have their own store and everything
they just have an internet store as well--so theyre reliable--ill be ordering amps from them within the next year or so
but if you can get it at your local store--then by all means get it from there
-Cody

jamas33

I found this on ebay
the Kenwood Excelon 869
for 269.99
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39751&item=3093343591&rd=1

And here's another link for Excelon Deck
http://www.discountjungle.net/carcdplayer.html

My friend is a manager at the Kenwood Outlet store here in California so he gets me most of the Kenwood at cost.

swerve

aight, once again thanks for all of your help

-adam

swerve

guess im ordering online cause ive been to all but one of the shops around here and no one carries excelon stuff. central IL is so lame when it comes to finding stuff you want.

-adam

MacLeod

Ordering online just scares the **** out of me. Pretty much the only company I would order with would be Crutchfield. Theyve been around for centuries and started off as a mail order catalog joint back in the day. I used to browse thru their catalog back in high school (86-90) and drool over all the cool **** I was going to put in my car.......well once I actually got one!

If youre going to order from somebody I highly recommend they be an authorized dealer. This means youll probably not pay the lowest price out there but you can be assured youre not going to get a remanufactured unit or worse and the manufactuer will back the warranty!

Just my 2 cents.

Oh and heres a thrid cent, Excelon is awesome gear! Its up there with the best you can get. Im partial to Alpine myself but I would be damn proud to own Excelon.

swerve

I'm not a fan of ordering online either. I might call some stores up north around Chicago to see if they carry it eventhough I'm not a fan of driving up there either. hopefully it will pay off in the end

swerve

Any of you deal with Speed and Sound before?

exalted512

MTXMan has
he bought his tube amp from them i believe
-Cody

mbdyer12

No one here is a Pioneer fan I guess =( I love mine.This head unit is the one I have but newer (prettier, plays wma/mp3 well, the EQ is great, 4v pre-outs I do believe, hp/lp filters, etc), just check out the link. Ohh did I mention its awefully good looking?

exalted512

im usually the first to recommend pioneer but they dont really have anything i like in that price range when you compare it to others in the same price range
that HU only has 2V pre outs
id take the eXcelon over that one
-Cody

mbdyer12

Yeah, you're right. Ignore me Mine has 4v... I actually remember seeing the model with an extra 0 in the model name has 2v preouts instead of 4.. When I bought mine, the deh-p750mp had 4v, but the deh-p7500mp had 2v preouts. I suppose you're right about what it offers vs price..

LittleCar_w/12s

Yeah, the extra '0' must denote the 'cheapo' model....