Pioneer DEH 9400MP // Kenwood KDC-X959

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Does anyone own / know someone who owns either of these decks? and what do you think of them?

I'm tossing around the idea of selling the alpine 7864 and getting something new. more system shaping options would be a plus. I like howboth of these decks look on paper, and i've always been partial to pioneer / kenwood / alpine decks and nothing in the new alpine line really peaks my interest. i kinda like the kenwood... but i love the pioneer (on paper, i emphasize)...

any opinions??

sntnsupermen131

i havent seen either of these in person
but ive seen the pioneer on the internet
is that the premier one?
if it is thats the one i had my eye on for a long time but i ended up getting a much cheaper one b/c im "money challenged"
but yeah that one looks AWESOME on paper
-Cody

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the pio is like $775.00 retail... 500 ebay. The real thing that won me over is it has an adjustable digital BBE processor just like teh alpines... now when you consider that it's got alpine's big "gun" as well as all its own super tuner III features, you've got a hell of a deck... on paper...

wonder what i could scrape outa somebody for the 7864...

Jstas

I have earlier iterations of both head units. Granted the newer stuff is not on these older units but my Pioneer has everything you have mentioned except the adjustable digital BBE processor. But Pioneer has always made spectacular head units loaded with features. I do recommend getting a crossover though if you are going to run multiple amplifiers because Pioneer tends to be over-zealous with sound stage control.

I have a Kenwood KAC-955X which is the tape deck version of the 959X which they have carried for about 5 years now I believe. The Kenwood posts impressive numbers and they aren't lying. They have a lofty price but worth every penny IMO. My head unit is old though so I imagine teh newer models will outperform it. Mine is one of the original MASK units and very much contrary to the popularlly held opinions, I have found it to be very durable and of exceedingly good quality.


My Kenwood is currently attached to a Kenwood eXcelon KAC-X650D and I am running Polk dB components all around. I used to get compliments when I was running of the head unit and a set of Pioneer 6x8's and now I get flat astonishment. I have had people tell me that my stereo sounds better than thier multi-thousand dollar home theater systems.

The Pioneer is running with a 5 channel HiFonics Class A/B and D Zeus amp. Class A/B for the stereo channels and D for the mono sub channel. It is running Clarion ProAudio components up front with Pioneer 6x8 3 ways out back. They have the IMPP cones and everything. The sub is a Polk DX 10 inch. The system sparkles and since my grilfriend likes the boom boom, it's setup to do that well and it does. The operation of teh Pioneer can be confusing but once you have it setup for the vehicle, you don't have to touch anything but tuner controls and to turn the volume up ear bleeding levels. I got a cherry deal on it too. It was 489 new and I paid about 225. I wanted another model that a guy told me was in stock but wasn't. To make me happy, he sold me last year's top model for the price I was looking for for the old model.

While it is solely up to you and your tastes, I recommend the Kenwood over the Pioneer. The Pioneer is an excellent unit but it has been my experience that Kenwood has always had top notch electronics, especially form thier high end lines like thier True-Wattage and eXcelon lines.The Pioneer is an electronic marvel as always and they have very distinctive and tailored sound. They have a very strong power base behind them so they always perform well from the head unit or an external amplifier. That's more than can be said for the Kenwood head unit, it likes to over-heat and start clipping. I have had no issues like that since I installed the seperate amplifier. However, the Kenwood is older than the Pioneer but still outperforms it, even with the tape deck.

Judging from you posts here, you are not going to run off the head unit power so the over-heating issue I have experienced would not be an issue for you. Keep in ming that my unit is also 5 years old now. The issues I have may have been fixed in the newer models.

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thanks for the reply --- ya Ive always considered KW to be second in quality construction / reliability only to the Alpines. I've got a low end 5000 series pioneer in my old man's truck and that's what got me thinkin Pio.. so I started hunting that 7400... coudln't believe the specs...lol.

I'll be getting a new deck sometime in the next month or so... i'll let ya guys know what i end up choosing and how it performs.

thanks again!

btw -- u're right, i wouldn't run speakers off deck power ... ever... never... ever...lol... i've gotten tothe point where i refuse to do other's people's installs for them unless they agree to buy an amp for highs. the frequency response is VASTLY difft.