tuners

danger boy

which head units are known for having really good tuners in them?

here where I live. there are lots of mountains. and i need a tuner that is sensitive and selective.

How does Pioneer Supertuner III rank?

thanks

bknauss

Most aftermarket head units suck with tuners. I used to live in southwest VA, and once you hit the mountains on the interstate, good luck keeping a signal for more than a couple minutes. Its so bad that they have different frequencies for the same station every 20 or so miles. If 96.7 wasn't working on your way to Roanoke, hit 96.3 and hope you're close enough to get the signal.

You might want to drop the money for XM or Sirius instead.

neomagus00

i concur on the satellite radio thing; unless you want or need a radio station specifically, make the plunge into satellite; yes, it'll cost more, but it is so totally worth it it's not even funny... sirius vs. xm depends upon what headunit you get... xm has partnered with the bigger/better names, so sirius kinda got screwed there... definately look into it...

AustinKP

I've been VERY happy with my Alpine 9815 HU. It made a world of difference over my factory Ford HU.

Joelsbass

pioneer is known for having one of the best tuners in the market, i've consistantly found pioneers to be louder and cleaner (less fuzzyness) than other HU's i've heard with regards to radio signal.

neomagus00

if you don't wanna jump to satellite, check out crutchfield's selection. for nearly every HU they've got there's a tuner sensitivity spec, and it explains how to use it (i think it's lower=better, but check). that'll give you a good idea of what brands are better for this.

LittleCar_w/12s

My older R.Fosgate unit works wonders. I could swear there's a Dennon under there somewhere...

I have heard that blaupunkt makes the best tuners, but that does not say anything else about the unit as a whole.
-Jerry

p.s. edit: Though I have a perfectly tuned stainless whip for my radio antenna... well, that's relative given the FM band is so wide, but it was worth the time nipping and tuning it...

danger boy

i don't spend enough time in my car to get XM or Sirius radio... it would be very cool.. but not worth the cost for me.

thanks guys... i'll prob go with a Pioneer again for my Neon. I'm almost hesitant to try any other brand.. i'm familiar with the Pioneers and have never had any problems with em.

I was just curious if there was any HU with as good or better tuner than the Pioneers.

Follow up ?

I want to add an amp to power two fronts and two rears.. for pre outs.. how many do i need from the HU? do i need 2,3,4 pre outs? Please explain... which pre outs go to which amp. In home audio.. each pre out would go to one amp for each channel to power each speaker.

LittleCar_w/12s

All you have to do is get one of those mobile Sat. tuners that have a base in your car and in the house. That makes it worth it. Almost worth not having the 40GB MP3 library... Only a few bucks a month, but the only thing I worry about is my taste in music. You know that the music industry releases about 100 songs a week? how many of those do you think you have the chance to hear? That's why I download, and that's why I am eventually spending the money for a full PC in my car. But from what I hear Siruis is better on that note than XM, as XM is more geared towards the 'dumb' buyers who just go with the comercials on TV....

LittleCar_w/12s

-Jerry

neomagus00

i've never heard that about xm, but hey, business is business, so it might be true; like audiobahn is geared towards the i-wanna-bumpin-system "teenie-bopper" (as mac refers to them) crowd.

danger boy - like jerry said, you could consider the mobile tuner that you can switch between car and home.

also, if you're going for sound quality, you don't want rears at all - all they do is muddy the sound. especially when amplified. as a thought, consider spending the money on that amp for an upgrade elsewhere, maybe up front, i dunno what you've got...

in any case, each preout goes to one set of amplification. so, if you were to amp only fronts, you would need only one set of preouts. bump it to two if you're going with subs. if you're amping the rears also, then you need three. however, you can do more interesting things with them. subwoofers always only need one, so that leaves one or two for the rest of your system. generally, you use one for the rest, but if you biamp, you could concievably use two - for example, my pioneer has a 3-way mode, wherein the low, mid, and high frequencies (the ranges being defined by you) are sent to the three sets of preouts, in order to recieve separate amplification.

exalted512

XM is geared more for the older crowd whereas Sirius is more for the younger crowd
I would rather have Sirius, my dad would probably rather have XM
but i have a Pioneer hu, so i basically have to go with XM...
either way, go Pioneer:D
-Cody