What HU to use

Systems

I recently bought two stereo head units for my Jeep and My 65 Mustang. One is an Alpine CDA-7892 and the other is a Pioneer DEH P6400.
I originaly bought the Pioneer for the Mustang and the Alpine for the Jeep. The jeep has crap speakers (ones that I won't mind so much if they get stolen it's a Jeep!)

The Mustang will be decked out with Polk Audio goodies two 6.75's two 6X9's and two 10" Subs. I haven't decided what Amp I am going to use. Once I deside what head unit I want to use, then I will decide the Amp.

First, I need to decide which head unit to use. Second how I'm going to connect the speakers ect.

If I use the Pioneer, I only have two preouts. one is for the front the other is a sub/rear selectable. Both are 2.2 volt. So basicly I would have to run the 6.75's and the 6X9's of the head unit and use the Sub preout. The Pioneer has 22X4 amp RMS. The Pioneer has a pretty good EQ and a fancy display. And I think the Pioneer looks much better then the Alpine and will look great in the Stang.

The Alpine on the other hand, has three peouts one for front and rear and a 4 volt sub preout. I could then use an amp for the 6.75's and the 6X9's and have a seperate amp for the Subs. And maybe use the Alpines speaker out for tweeters? The Alpine also has time compensation so that you can tune the speakers to all meet your ears at the same time.

Basicly I don't know if I should use the Alpine and hook everything up to amps or use the Pioneer and have only the subs fed by an amp?
Also the Pioneer matches the Mustang interior where as the Alpine is kinda minimalist and plain, like all Alpines are.

I could handle the ugly Alpine for the better build quality and features if it will out perform the Pioneer by a wide margin....? LOL, I dono?

If anyone can help or has an opinion I would appreciate it!

PoweredByDodge

id' use the pioneer in the mustang -- the pioneer has more features. i'm an alpine fan -- but i still think that model pio will do ya better.

Systems

Thanks for your help!
I'm not a huge audio guy but I like my cars to have good sound quality..and I like it loud! I'm at a loss on how I would hook the Pioneer if I amped the component speakers?

In the past, I have always used the head unit to power the component speakers. My past two setups went like this:

Alpine deck, two 6x9's two 6's and a 10" free air powered by an Alpine 4x50 amp bridged.

The second a Pioneer deck, two 6x9's two 5's and a 10" sealed box with the same Alpine amp. I also ran a bandpass with this setup for a while.

I still have the alpine head unit and amp I bought in 1997! Only problem I have ever had with the head unit is it takes forever to find tracks on CD/R cd's. But it was never designed to do so!

The Pioneer I had was free, a middle of the line unit and it worked well but I absolutly hated the search/track selection had to be switched back and forth..it was a PITA! I owned it for about four years with no problems.

I've never had a deck with 22x4 watts the above two decks where 4x8 and 4x11 watts respectively. My two old decks where plenty loud, but they did cause distortion at high levels.

Do you think I should just use the head units power or use an amp for the components? Is the added sound quality/loudness worth the extra expense of another amp?

I'm not going to compete in any sound contests or anything. I just want an above average system with minimal cash outlay. realy all I have left to do is deside what deck and to buy amp(s) and I'm done.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it very much!

CPHILHOWER

Personally, I would use the Alpine. It does have the 3 pair of rca output. So this way you can get better system control. Then I would use a 4 channel amp and a big 2 channel of a Mono Bass amp for the subs. Just my opinion. Thats how I have my current set-up. If you wait a little while, Polk has a line of amps coming out this summer (I think) You could get a litle creative in the trunk of the Mustang. Build some walls around the sub box and amps. Like a show car.
Chris

Systems

I'm realy pretty torn!

The Alpine is apealing because well it's an Alpine and I love em. But it will look like I cut a hole in the dash and installed a stereo.

The pioneer is neat to look at, and matches the Mustangs dash layout pretty well, it's symetrical so it would look more at home in the dash. LOL, this is probably the toughest decision I have had to make so far, and building this car from the ground up, I've had millions of decisions to make!

I built the box for the GXR104's this weekend. I came out with a measurement of 1.1 cubic feet for each, which is a little too big but I'll give it a try before I fill the box. I think I will seal the box to the trunk with brushed aluminum backed with dynamat to finish it off and mount the amps through the aluminum to the box.

Systems

I have your fix. I have Pioneer HU, DEHJ-P76DHit, 2 pair pre-outs, into a MTX Road Thunder RTX02A Electronic Crossover, with input voltage regulation, contiuously variable crossover points for 32Hz to 400Hz, and continuously variable output. Outputs F/R High Band Pass pairs, + a low band pass to drive the subs.can boost bass 12 dB at 45 Hz.

Systems

Thanks for the info, I'll look into a crossover. As I understand it I would use the front/rear preouts and the crossover would have an output for the subs?

C-Man

My opinion... Use the Pioneer. Get a 4 channel amp and run all 4 "satellites" off that amp and hook it to the front. So you won't have a fader... Do you really need to fade? I actually have a pair of Crystal cPe components and a pair of Infinity references running off a 2 channel Soundstream reference 200s. Sounds great, but no fade for me. I don't care, but that's just me.

Systems

Problem solved! Took the Pioneer back and bought an Alpine CDA-7894. 60X4 watts, MP3 and 4v preout. I've always put function before form.

Thanks for all the help!