ElwayLite

I know you sell em, but looking on pioneers website they are almost the same but besides the warranty the premiers will have 1 or 2 better options than the pioneer, or more indepth tuning settings but I dont see where its worth all that to use a different name. I did some searching late last night and found the Pioneer DEH-P4600MP on ebay for $130. Im gonna go with it, it has everything I need and plays mp3's. Thanks guys for all the input.

Andyman

I put in an Alpine 9813 a few months ago... Awesome head unit. I have a 9811 in my other car, again, its great! The time delay really helps set the sound stage and I haven't found it on any other units yet. Most people don't appreciate it because you test listen in that "booth" most stores have set up. The car environment needs more tuning. As for reliability I haven't heard it skip or miss anything.. Go to a real store and talk to the sales guys. Ask what they have in their cars and see if you can listen to them. Most of them are really into audio and have no problem with that... my .02 ...

-Andy

aviator

I've noticed that around here there is a problem with signal fade out. A lot of the stations i like are not local so their frequency has "faded" (wandered off the precise number (ie. 104.3) with an old style analog tuner you could still bring them in tuning 104.350 for example. Euro spec tuners will do this because they offer more stepping in the tuner then do the NA spec tuners. can I use a euro spec tuner here? Also who is best for sound quality (pef. with a cassete deck ? Thanks Aviator

Mystickal

You don't want a European tuner because the frequncy steppings are different from North American frequency steppings. On the FM side, you should be OK, because US frequency steppings are in 100 khz increments while European freq steppings are 50 khz (so you'll be able to tune into all of your stations) but the AM side is drastically different - in the US, it is 10 khz while in Europe it is 9 khz. So when you see the flashing sign on the side of the road that says "Tune radio to 740 AM for important traffic info" your tuner will hit 738 and 747, but not 740.

There are some tuners that you can purchase that are selectable between US and European freq steppings that alleviate this problem.

While most of the lower end premier units are identical (except for warranty) to the base Pioneer units, the high end ones are not. These are descendants of the original ODR (Optical Digital Reference) that used optical connections between the headunit and the eqs and the amplifier. Check out the DEX-P9 along with its sibling, the DEQ-P9. There's nothing comparable in the baseline Pioneer models.

~Bill

fourunnabilly

First of all, Alpine is nothing special (as already mentioned)...I wouldn't even consider buying one. I have owned both pioneer and kenwood decks, and though i feel neither is phenominal, I would choose a pioneer over a kenwood. DON'T GO THRU CRUTCHFIELD...ENOUGH SAID. Eclipse has made some huge strides in their head units lately, and I would promote them for sure. I am running a pioneer right now, which I am content with cause I only had about $800 to spend on the deck at the time, and the rest of my setup comes anywhere from Focal and Earthquake, to Eclipse to my 13.5W7's, and lol, 2 MTX 1501's that replaced my Xtant's...so i guess I am all over the board...my caps are Stingers, and yeah, I am running some Kappa's too. I am probably no help here.

Billy

aviator

Thanks Mystickal! Does anybody know which tuners out there are selectable between NA / EURO stepping? I think some of the blaupunkts are but not from the face plate. What about a custom set up any Heath kit nerds out there?

Mystickal

Most manufacturers have models that are capable of NA/European switching - Clarion, Kenwood, Rockford Fosgate, JVC - even Pyramid! The list isn't short enough for me to reproduce here. Your best bet is to look on Crutchfield's website (look under the "features and specs" for each head unit, the tuner section - it will say European Tuning Yes/No) or to go to the manufacturers web site and look there.

While every unit doesn't do it, you should be able to find several that have the capability as it is by no means a rare feature.

~Bill

kford

EWW kenwood--- Between the 2 original choices i'd choose pioneer, but i LOVE alpine. My cda-7893 is my baby. mp3, powerful, reliable, and it has a cool mechanized face that is nice in 4runners because the space for the radio is so low in the cabin so it can tilt up toward you. Alpine is somethign special. Kenwood = crap though, i have a 5 speaker kenwood cd player in my house and it isn't that great. lots of problems.