Jebus'Protegé

I'm looking into buying a new head unit for my '01 ES, of course there are so many head units and I have'nt the slightest idea of which is the best bang for the buck. I value first hand experience so if anyone has anything good to say, or what to stay away from, it would be much much appreciated.
Thanks,
-Jebus

kcidmil

Well now, hmmm. I have to say that alpine is the latest in top of the line units. But of course, the question is, what kind of unit are u looking for? Double or single din? DVD capable, built in screen....etc. Makes narrowing the field alot easier.

Jebus'Protegé

Just the basics, I'm not looking for DVD, just a single din with mp3 and/or cd-r/rw playback.

Ummm while we're being narrow, how are JVC products?

kcidmil

Well I have a JVC KD-S700BU. I haven't had any problems with it. The menus are semi easy, and take some getting used to. But once you know what does what, it's a breeze. Didn't cost too much, I believe they sell around $180. But I bought mine last year so it might have dropped. The remote is great, u can easily switch stations, tracks, adj. volume, change sound style, and it even has a ATT feature that basicly mutes when you need it to.

The preprogrammed sound styles suck though, and you don't have much variation. I believe it was OFF, ROCK, POP, and JAZZ. They each have a certain loudness and bring out certain bands of sound. And you can't adjust too much outside those parameters. So you kinda have to program the OFF for what lvl you want the Bass and Treble.

Alpine has been making great stereos for the past few years. But what you get what you pay for with alpine. They're expensive, depending upon the model.

Clarion has been coming out with some neat decks for the past 2 years. They offer a deck (model # DXZ545MP) that has the same face plate, but 3 different models. Each one has a one touch sub control. The lowest model offers the choice of 7 colors I believe with a direct change in colors. The mid offers 12 or 13 (not to sure about it) and a few more sound options. The highest model offers plenty of color choices, and seamless change in color, with even more sound options.

Those are the decks I know of. I know sony has a few ok ones out there.
But in my opinion, if walmart starts to carry it, the company is starting to look toward cheaper decks for fast sales.

BOOSTD 7

Unless you have to have the newest stuff, get a last years model right when the new ones come out. They typically knock 10% - 20% off ... more if you buy it online. www.thezeb.com is a good place to buy stuff online.

Jebus'Protegé

I did a search and someone mentioned Rockford Fosgate. I went to their homepage and I'm thinking about the RFX9120G model.

RFX9120G

Heres an idea of the price, might be able to find it cheaper somewhere else.

http://www.audio-warehouse.com/web/m...20G/detail.asp

hdlo2025

I agree - the stereo in the Protege5 stinks. But I didn't want to put in a new head unit because that screams "STEAL ME!" So, what I did is I bought 4 Kenwood KFC-1668S 6 1/2" speakers, a nice alpine 4 channel amp, and a streetwires power wiring kit. Although I'm using speaker-level input instead of RCA connections, it still sounds really great. And, it's totally invisible.

I have since then put in another 2 channel alpine amp, a .5 farad lightning cap capacitor, and an alpine 10" type-s boxed subwoofer in the back, and wow, it's awesome. I've never had a stereo this nice before, and it's extremely clean. I've tested it with some calibration CD's, and it's got a very nice response curve.

And the best part of all this, is that without turning it on, no one would ever know I've done anything to my stereo.

Nathaluc

I have a JVC KD-AR300 with MP3/CD-RW playback, removable face, etc. See kcidmil's comments above, the AR300 has mostly the same functions. Listed at Crutchfield.com for US$160, I paid C$199 a few weeks ago. Good buy, I am very satisfied. I installed it in my SHO with stock high-level speakers, a great improvement.

Jebus'Protegé

Thanks for the advice guys- I Think I'll go with JVC, seems alot of people are pleased with their units.

Thanks again!

-Jebus

loozisprotege

alpine baby, served me well the past 2 years, just bought a new one 2day

Da P-Funk!

Bump!
The base Alpine unit sounds great and if you don't need the gee-whiz 'mote, and other fluffy assy.s - why pay more for features vs. sound?

The alpine tuner sounds much better than any other i have heard (i used to sell car audio for circuit city) and the CD units are robust and accurate. Remove the facepplate and they look the same anyway... Just don't leave the faceplate in the car...

Just my $.02 worth.