ElwayLite

Looking at buying a Kenwood or Pioneer HU from crutchfiled for the yota for my b-day. I havent bought a HU in about 2.5 years so I was wondering if either of the two were making a better product. Both units are about the same price and play cdr's and mp3's, same wattage and close specs and all that. Last unit I bought was a Kenwood but it has since begun acting up after only 2 years. Any suggestions?

Yoter

I have always liked Pioneer over Kenwood for HU's. I have had the same Pioneer HU since 2001 when I got the Runner but it looked somewhat used so they may have had it for a couple years prior. Zero problems & great quality. I say go Pioneer but not to be a Kenwood hater I will say I do have Kenwood mids in the dash. Blue

WSU4runner

Get the Pioneer one, I was running a Pioneer DEH-9300 in my old Integra and loved. I'm actually pissed I got rid of it. I've never really cared for Kenwood.

Chuki

Total units crapped out on me.

2 pioneer
2 sonys
1 kenwood
1 white westinghouse
1 kraco
1 audiovox (rampage baby!!!!)

Alpines are my fav.... My runner has a pioneer in it, works fine, just can't stand the short feature list of it... doensn't have detachable face at all.

I'll be puting a nice alpine in it shortly.

Vato Loco

Pioneer! Most of my friends use Pioneer and have no complaints.

Scofco

As far as those 2 brands go, there isn't any black and white answer. I feel they make the same quality product. I have a Pioneer deck in my Toyota Pickup, and a Kenwood in my 4Runner. The Pioneer deck has survived a lot of abuse, and never skipped a beat. I have installed it into 3 different vehicles since I bought it 5 years ago.

I am partial to Kenwood myself, for no real particular reason really. My Kenwood deck is about 8 years old, and I had an audiophile drool over it. I don't remember why he drooled over it though, most stereo jibber-jabber goes straight over my head.

ElwayLite

I've always heard great thing about alpine but never bought one, any experience with them. They have anice unit for $170. My main thing is it also needs to be able to play cdr's reliably.

Yoter

Audiovox.

Churnd

Pioneer, but get an Alpine if you can afford it.

You sure you wanna buy from Crutchfield? You can get much better prices elsewhere.

ElwayLite

Where are good places to look besides crutchfield and sounddomain?

jtree007

Go with a Pioneer unit.. they typically offer a better bang for the buck and XM (I think the stronger of the two satalite radio companies I think)

Kennwood makes nice equipmet but it is always over priced when compared to what pioneer offers... They might have simmlar specs but the little things that most major electronic stores don't list are the inprotant indo. like Signal to noise ratio... Wattage RMS rather then max, radio reception sensitivity,.... also I think pioneer's menus are more intuitive then kennwod's.. but that is jsut my opinion...

Don't by from crutchfield either.... WAY TOO EXPENSIVE... look else where.... much better prices out there, also check with your local audio shops... you can save alot of money by not going with crutchfield...

PoBoy

JUST MY OPINION: Apline is overpriced and behind the times in technology. Pioneer and Kenwood are always ahead of the game.

Ive always like Pioneer over Kenwood. You get more bang for your buck since Pioneer produces usually 5 more models a year than the competition...making the outdated (by 2 months) ones cheap. Kenwood vs Pioneer tech/quality wise they are equals...

Where to shop...EBAY. You can get some really good deals on NEW equipment from actual stores not some kid selling his used stuff. Just make sure you figure in cost of install kit and wiring harness.

fooddude

My vote is for kenwood. I have always had good luck with kenwood, and never had any problems.

runninclean

Out of those two I'd say go for Kenwood. I've never owned a Kenwood hu but I have friends that have. Overall I just like them better then Pioneer. I'm not really a Pioneer fan. I guess I just feel that way too many people have them. Maybe thats a reflection on how great they are though...who knows. Personally I have owned a higher level Sony, an Alpine and now a Panasonic. I never had problems with any of them but I would highly recommend both the Panasonic and Alpine.

Churnd

eBay, Online Car Stereo, orThe ZEB

lee

i just have 1 word to say... alpine!

aviator

I was looking at a HU a few mos. ago I think it was a rockford fosgate ... single DIN with a cassette and single cd/cdr/mp3 and 40W (RMS i think) output. It ws last years model. As to pioneer/kenwood I don't know I had a blaupukt that was terrific, and a kenwwod that was ok, got a sony now no complaints yet. I tend to be limited because I need a tape deck (I know I'm a fossil but i've got some great music on tape...) I saw where alpine has got a new hu 60w RMS and all the goodies. Aviator

Bumpin' Yota

ECLIPSE - the ONLY name in HUs...

My alpine is a POS and sounds like trash. I will NEVER own another Alpine again - it directly cost me a LOT at world finals this past year - 4 positions it cost me....

Pioneer is ok as is kenwood, but why have the stupid detachable face when you never detach it? Eclipse solved that problem - ESN. That sucker looses 12v, you have 3 chances to put in the correct CD or she locks up and has to be sent to eclipse. Theives KNOW this and move on...

Andrey

I'm a bit partial to Pioneer. I've had total of 5 units in different cars and never had a problem. They all took a lot of abuse and all survived without a problem.

Also, in my opinion, Pioneer decks offer more of the factory look and on my DEH-P8500MP even green colors are exactly the same ones as Toyota gauges.

-- Andrey

PoBoy

ESN is easily avioded. Crack the thing open, jump two wires, reset to factory default settings The things you learn working in the gheto of Detroit I like Eclipse too, but too much $$$ and their A/V systems dont compare to Pioneer or Kenwood.