Ok

So i'm going to bite the bullet and replace my stock HU. Now ideally I would get one of those awesomely fancy touchscreen DD units. But I would also ideally have waaaaaaaay more money than I do have. I'd like to spend no more than $180 for this upgrade.

That being said I am going to use Crutchfield b/c I can't seem to find any better deals on the interweb w/o sacrificing not getting the assorted attachments thrown in and i'm tired of DIY'ing stuff. (trust me, electrical and me are NOT a good mix...)

So far some options I've seen are as follows:

JVC Arsenal KD-AHD59 Sony CDX-GT920U Kenwood KDC-MP442U
Clarion FZ409

Any ideas/thoughts/opinions from you guys/gals out there? Anyone had any luck with any of these units? Something else catch your eye that you thought might look better?

I'm really partial to the smooth looks of the Clarion but I've never dealt with Clarion. I've had experience with several Blaupunkt units, some Pioneers and some Alpines but I'm out of loop as to what is good/gooder/best at this point.

Any help is much appreciated

 

really, it comes down to your personal needs. if your not going to run an external amp to the speakers you might want to make sure that u get a headunit with a nice equalizer. i would try to stay away from sony headunits. i heard really good things about kenwood and clarion.

when i was looking for a headunit, i was looking to spend 200 bucks like you, but i ended up spending 300 on the eclipse cd3050, which is really nice. the headunit is the main sorce of your whole audio system... so u might as well have a nice one.

lastly, if you order from crutchfield, youll get the 2 wiring harnesses for free, and the dash kit for half price (25 bucks). i have a "refer a friend code" that takes 20 bucks of to any first time customer that spends over 200 bucks... id be happy to help ya out if i could dig it up.

as long as you stay away from dual and other knockoff brands.... your fine. i always find picking a headunit an extremely hard desicion.

 

I went with a JVC KD R800. It had the ipod control and bluetooth I wanted, at a much lower price than other units with those features. I've recently realized the EQ may not be as tunable as I would like.

If I were to do it again, I would save up some more, and spend the money on a more adjustable head-unit.

MetalHead says it best: "the headunit is the main source of your whole audio system"

 

cool

thanks for your thoughts/opinions

i went with what i think will be a good unit. i'll post up pics when i get a chance.

almost went all digital media but i figure between my mp3 player, my thumbdrives, and everything else having an actual cd player might be useful every now and then

between the info here and the info i garnered elsewhere, thanks!

 

Also

Just a heads up if you do decide to order and pick crutchfield, let me know

I have a coupon code for $20 off of a $100 purchase

and $20 off $200


I ordered my stuff Monday at 4:00 est and it will be here ready to go tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

I'll post up pics once i get them, i'm getting excited