Hey Jon - I had the same criteria for the head unit when I changed the stereo in my almost completely stock '79...I didn't want anything flashy, I wanted it to look like it belonged there. I ended up with this:



If you're interested I can run out and take a picture of it in place.

Rich

 

Jon,

Hope this helps, this should show you just how an aftermarket headunit looks like. And, being silver, it blends in real nice with the panel, too.

 

Throw your math formulas out the window! You are getting way too technical to something that is so newbish is rediculous. It comes to down to frequency, your ear can only hear so much, and your speakers can only provide so much. Then you have to take into account the music you are listening too. Does your CD come with a warning, "should be best listened to on a blah blah size speaker running blah blah watts?" I didnt think so. You think J-LOS new cd came out of the factory to be played on a bose system only? Get REAL! They make music for the average monkey to hear it! On a STOCK setup! Stop wasting your money, which would be best invested in other parts. Go down to WALMART, yes the dirty word in electronics, and buy you 2 of thier $20 wonder sets 6x9 3 way. They have a red face cone, and I believe they are made by RoadMaster. Then Fabricate you up some kick panels to fit the 6x9, or if you want they also offer 5 1/4 for you pansies out there. Think about where your stock speakers sit, down on the floorboard with no adjustment for driver. This is the worst place to put speakers! But of course there really isnt any other place to put them! Then get you a high pass amp, nothing huge! Maybe 50X4 Watts RMS which is what most head units come with stock! If your gonna run a seperate amp for high/Mids use one that has high pass crossover, and hook it up that way! In the end it comes down to the deck not the speaker! Use a high quality deck, with 2 sets of preamp outputs, one for high, one for low. This will fix any audio issues you may have. Not to mention that when you do start driving, you lose audio quality, the faster you go, and the worse your car seals, the worse you sound. If you dont believe me take your ipod out, and sit in your car. Listen to a song, with your headphones on, and then start driving.........Notice it sounds like crap, and the volume sucks? Then come to a stop, and get out of the car........Hmmmmm Sound returns to normal, you just experienced sound loss.......... If you are that technical to get the best of the best, your gonna pay for it, and truth be told, you are only gonna get the benefits if you listen to it parked....... Best of luck man!
DROZ

 

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion DROZ, but even if my system loses some of its luster at highway speeds, I still want it to give out the clearest, most precise rendition of my music it can when all other noise is eliminated (ie:standing still). The fact that you mention J-Lo shows that you and I have very different musical tastes. I don't think that J-Lo's music could sound any different no matter what you did to it.

I like having the kind of musical reproduction where I can hear the guitarist slide his fingers up the strings to change chords. Small things like that. Accurate reproduction of sound is important to me. I don't want distortion or crackling at all, anywhere. I don't want blurry or fuzzy bass, and I don't want it to cut off the upper range either. If my ears can hear to 20,000Hz, I dont' want it cutting off at 19,500Hz kinda thing.

As for "most headunits can put out 50Wx4", that's not entirely true. It depends on how it's measured.

http://www.carstereo.com/rayfes/ampspec.cfm

So while I can see where you're coming from, if I'm going to upgrade from stock, I'm going to do it right. Otherwise I might as well leave it as stock and just make some J-Lo tapes, since they'll sound the same no matter what they're played on.

Jon

 

Stock-esque head unit = Nakamichi

Not only will it look stock, but it will be better than any head unit mentioned in this thread. Heh.

I have CDTs in my RX-7, and they sound okay. I think if I were to redo my stereo setup, I would go with a higher level CDT speaker. I got the CL-641 package because it was on sale for only $250. If I were to do it again, I'd go with on of the ~$600 CDT sets.

I have a V12 amp on my speakers, btw, with a Panasonic "Ghost Face" head unit.

 

Here yah go!


Alpine all the way around. I cannot speak for the other brands people are suggesting, but Alpine has never failed me. My head unit actually powers all my speakers front and rear. I have a small Coustic amp running my door pods, with an Alpin MRV 1507 monster running my sub.

 

Well done John!

Jon

 

Oh that is nice.

 

Why don't you just get a stock deck and get a 4 channel amp and run some nice speakers off of it. Hell, you can even throw in a couple of subs if you want. If you want it to look stock install a stock deck. You don't have to upgrade the deck just to get better sound.

 

no but you have to upgrade the stock deck to get CD/mp3 playability

it doesn't need to look 100% stock, just ... like it belongs there, instead of like it was just slapped in there.

Jon

 

He can hook-up a changer with a fm transmitter like they did when changers first came out. If he wants stock look that probably would be the best way. I have an alpine in mine and love it but it doesn't look like it belongs in there. I don't think any of the newer decks look like they belong in the seven actually.

Or maybe he can keep the stock deck and hide another deck somewhere else. My friend did this to his car a few years back. He kept the stock deck, installed a new cd player(I think it was a pioneer) in the center arm rest. He then installed the faceplate behind the sunvisor by running an extended ribbon cable from the armrest up to the visor.

 

hmm.... that's an interesting idea... I could mount the headunit in the glovebox or something

It's definitely worth considering.

Jon

 

I need to know more about those panels.

 

Any other suggestions for head units? Just throw out names and models that you really like, doesn't matter what they look like (I've decided to mount it in the glovebox).

I'm aiming for quality, but I don't know who makes the best quality headunits.

Jon

 

Found a post on another fourm saying that if you have the money go for these names:

Eclipse
Alpine
Fujitsu
Nakamichi


Any opinions/suggestions?

Jon

 

Maybe you missed it. Maybe you ignored it. Whatev. I'm posting it again. Heh.

 

lol, yup. Right over my head.

Tks for the recommendation. I'm looking at the CD300, but the fact that they leave out so much of the power spec concerns me. The only place I see power ratings mentioned is in the pdf file where they say "30watts x4 max output"... not much, but since I have an overkill amp, it'll be alright I s'pose


Jon

 

It's not the amount of power it puts out, it's how cleanly, purely, and consistantly it puts it out.

 

The reason I am against eclipse decks is the same reason I am against alpines. They are difficult to set up and every single one is different from each other. "Every one" meaning every different model. Yeah you want something that is nice, but do you want to give yourself a migraine every time you try to adjust the Q settings or even sometimes the bass or treble? I dont.

I say panasonic or kenwood, for both good sound and ease of setting. I say stay away from Pioneer as the sound just isnt the same. They seem to muffle out alot of the higher frequencies.

 

I just bought the same kenwood excellon as 64mgb, and I must say it kicks ***. It has a USB port for playing mp3's (from my cell phone), has incredible clarity and nice eq functions. Plus it looks good in the car, very understated.

My system is infinity kappa components in front, kappa woofers in rear, and driven by a 75wx4 alphasonic amp. I could use a subwoofer maybe, but I'm very happy over all with this system.

 

I have always been a Pioneer man and have never had any problems with them. Kenwood is also good, but I don't like their looks. Alpine I find redundant because I don't like how they look, nor how they differentiate the sound.