WSU4runner

I'm running an Alpine in my 4runner and it's by far a better deck than any of the other ones I've used. It's easy to use and makes my speakers sound much better than the cheap Kenwood it replaced.

ranma21

Well, hope I can give a word or two here. I am a car stereo fanatic. I am more into SQ(sound quality). Personally I will go with Pioneer, I used to own a couple of Pioneer unit..DEX-P1R and DEH-P800R. Talk about sound quality, they are one of the best. Depends on what you are looking for, I personally do not care too much about all the bell and whistles such as color screen saver..things like that. If you want good sound quality yet affordable price, check out Nakamichi HU. Alpine, Denon, Fujitsu Ten are very good too. Sony used to be good, but not any more. Hope this help

ElwayLite

Thanks guys. I've done some more looking from the recommendations and Im torn between a pioneer and a alpine, will have to do some decision making over the next week or so

ElwayLite

Jus twondering, is there any difference between standard pioneer and premier?

Bumpin' Yota

Exactly what two wires are those? The money is worth it imo, I can plainly hear the differenct btwn Alpine and Eclipse (in favor of eclipse) and Alpine has a better reputation than kenwood or pioneer...but then again reputations often mean nothing...

The audiable difference was between a mid level alpine and a LOW line eclipse, when I got my old 5504 back it sound even better than the eclipse loaner deck. Also I really wasn't expecting to hear a difference btwn all three decks but it was there.

foxtrapper

FWIW, I've got a Pioneer DEH-P3500 and have been well pleased by it. Selected it based primarily on the following review.

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-.../dehp3500.html

Bumpin' Yota

Do NOT get the alpine! That is unless you like it to skip all the freaking time, the deck cutting out entirely on bass notes, the periodic shutting down for no reason at all, the frequent error codes when you put in a brand spanking new CD, it NOT going to the begining of a track when you hit "rewind"...

I could go on for hours about it. It shutting down on bass notes is what cost me placing at world finals. Do yourself a favor - buy ANYTHING but an Alpine.

The ONLY reason I still have it it is due to lack of any appreciable funds right now....

Krash

I'm partial to Kenwood mainly because its the first deck I bought and its been good to me since I bought it 4 years ago. I've been looking at new decks because I want something that will play mp3's and has sat. radio. I always liked the pioneer 6500? cause my buddy had it and it offered alot of control over his stereo. Alot more than my Kenwood.

As for crutchfield, I've had good experience with them. Actually they are the only place I've bought a headunit from since I bought my first crappy one at circuit city. I would buy from someone else now but I get a 10% discount because I work at ups and feel that I would have a better experience returning something to them than I would best buy or circuitcity. Not to mention that they have that 1-800 number you can call to get help with stuff. One of the only reason's why I'm contemplating buying a car alarm from them is because they offer that 1-800 number.

ewarnerusa

Crutchfield is a bit more expensive, but I feel that when replacing a factory stock head unit they come out as a great deal. The provide free some detailed removal and installation instructions for tearing apart your dash board, free mounting equipment and hardware, a free wiring harness that will plug directly into your factory wiring harness for zero hassle and confusion, and free 3-day shipping. I just bought a kenwood head unit a few weeks ago to replace my stock one from Crutchfield and I was very happy with it.

ranma21

They are somewhat different. The premier line pioneer is higher sound quality headunit. The low end premier are about the same as pioneer standard head unit. Normally you will find premier has more adjustment to fine tune the sound of than regualr pioneer HU.Such as more refine equalizer, crossover, soundstage adjustment, better D/A converter. I would advise you to listen to different headunit at a couple of reputable stereo shop. Trust your ear and you should be able to choose what you like. You might end up getting an Alpine or Eclipse (Fujitsu Ten)!!! hope this help and good luck.

Chuki

A buddy of mine I go wheeling with, has an alpine in his, and we rolled it and it was still playing on it's side even.... Never had problem with it cutting out, dropping bass, shutting off or error codes...

Call alpine, there customer service is generally pretty good. You may have just gotten a bad head unit. My cuz has an alpine in there Tahoe with no complaints, I like it.... My only complaint is out of the box hook up it doesn't have the best clarity as some, but with the features and how well you can tune, you can tune them so they sound great.

bobzemuda

If you're thinking Pioneer, skip a regular Pioneer and get a Premier. These days they're not much more, they have a better warranty, and they're just better head units in general. I've had 3, and the one I'm on right now I've had for several years and it just won't die. I can't bring myself to buy a new though until it does.

I originally found out about Premier because I bought an Alpine head unit for an old 89 Maxima I had, and it wouldn't fit in the dash. I asked the installers what they recomended since, at the time, no other Alpine would fit, and they said Premier.

From what I've read in reference to your exact question, the Kenwood stereos, while slick looking, don't have as clean a power output as the Pioneers do.

My tired, just woke up, early morning .02.

Bill

joegee1773

I bought a pioneer stereo for my mustang when I was in high school, more than 5 years ago. I've never had a problem with it. I've put that stereo in, and taken it out of every car i've owned sence then. The stereo is currently in my wife's corolla still working perfect. so, when I bought my truck, i didn't have a stereo. I didn't even think twice about what kind of stereo I was going to get for my truck. I did have a few problems with my second pioneer, but I think it had to do with the fact that the only one Best Buy had left, when i got mine, had been returned. After fighting with Best Buy to get a new one, I haven't had any problems. Except for when I dropped the detachable face, which was more my fault than the radio.

ejr

ruizs

I don't have anything bad to say about alpine, my friend works they and they make some good stuff. I really like the feature where you can time-delay the channels to get a good stereo image.
I would recommend pioneer over kenwood, although I wouldn't buy either if I could help it. I LOVE my Nakamichi CD-45Z, and I hear eclipse decks are pretty sweet too. For sound quality, I wouldn't buy anything else (and you can get a CD-45Z used, with its awesome 20bit dac, for about the same price as a new pioneer/kenwood)....

PoBoy

Wouldnt you like to know ...surf the net, the information is out there. I do NOT give out that information...but I do want people to know that ESN is not flawless and they are stolen just as often, but mainly because stereo theives are crack addicts just looking for $10 and have no clue what ESN is. At my shop in Detroit we would even get units without faces.

ranma21

Agree!! NAkamichi make one of the cleanest sound quality head unit out there. Highly recommend it too!!

Duffdog

NOT!!!!!!!! there is absolutely no difference between pioneer and premier except the 2 year warranty....I cornered the premier rep on this and he told me that the only reason they even have premier is so that they can have a "pioneer" and "premier" dealer right next to each other without voiding the merchant separability contract with the 2 companies. For instance, in sacto on arden way, there are no less than 8 pioneer/premier dealers within 1 mile. Premier is simply marketing, there is no difference in anything they make from pioneer---even the amps which used to look different, had the exact same internals in both series.

T

bobzemuda

The Premier units tend to have better (generally in the form of more) outputs for amps, etc

Bill

Duffdog

I dont know what you are talking about--- i happen to sell pioneer and premier head units. if you want a premier, just erase 1 of the 0's and there you go. for instance, a deh-p8400 is the same as a premier deh-p840 ( with 2 year warranty and higher price ). they both have f/r/s and 4v and mp3 and wma.

bobzemuda

Well, you learn something everyday.