Non-Pimped Head Unit

[Doug Kanter]

Who makes a good quality head unit these days, one whose display doesn't
look like a busy street in Las Vegas? Some of the ones I'm seeing are bright
enough to be a distraction when driving at night.

[MOSFET]

Denon

I believe their Hu's are still nice and boring.

MOSFET

"Doug Kanter" > wrote in message
...
> Who makes a good quality head unit these days, one whose display doesn't
> look like a busy street in Las Vegas? Some of the ones I'm seeing are
> bright enough to be a distraction when driving at night.
>

[Matt Ion]

Doug Kanter wrote:
> Who makes a good quality head unit these days, one whose display doesn't
> look like a busy street in Las Vegas? Some of the ones I'm seeing are bright
> enough to be a distraction when driving at night.

I still love my 1990-vintage Alpine 7904 - nice simple display, classic
Alpine 6-button layout, real analog volume/fade/balance/bass/treble
controls, no needing to step through 8 levels of menus for every option...

Sold off the original one I had back then (no idea why, that was a
stupid thing to do)... got another at the flea market for $50 a few
years ago, and a second for parts on eBay for $25.


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0612-2, 03/23/2006
Tested on: 3/23/2006 10:33:41 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2005 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

[MOSFET]

Also, Nakamichi makes a very simple, but EXCELLENT head unit. Here's a
picture of the Denon unit, it's VERY elegant:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DENON-car-CD-Player-DCT-A1-MINT-CONDITON-24Alpha-Proces_W0QQitemZ9702176514QQcategoryZ3293QQtcZphot oQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

MOSFET

[spongehead]

Yeah, no kiddin. I would love to find one that still uses string to
change stations, lol. But really, I too am sick of the dancing
dolphins and flip flop crap, just more that can break. My Sony deck is
pretty simple, nothing fancy, I like it. Check out some of the CDX
series. However, Sony is becoming quite the thorn in my ass since the
whole copyright music crap on their music cd's. Pretty soon they'll be
putting some kind of voo doo tracker devices in the hardware......

[Matt Ion]

MOSFET wrote:
> Also, Nakamichi makes a very simple, but EXCELLENT head unit. Here's a
> picture of the Denon unit, it's VERY elegant:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/DENON-car-CD-Player-DCT-A1-MINT-CONDITON-24Alpha-Proces_W0QQitemZ9702176514QQcategoryZ3293QQtcZphot oQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>
> MOSFET
>
>
MOTHER OF PEARL... $1400??!?!


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0612-2, 03/23/2006
Tested on: 3/23/2006 11:43:14 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2005 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

[MOSFET]

> MOTHER OF PEARL... $1400??!?!
>
Yeh! And no dancing dolphins! What a rip!

MOSFET

[MOSFET]

> The thing that really bugs me about almost every new deck out there in the
> last 10 years is that they've all gone to digital adjustments for volume,
> fader, etc., and none that I've ever come across really has a decent level
> of resolution in these controls - one step isn't enough, the next is too
> much.

I do see your point, and I'm sure this must be annoying to you. But the
last three HU's I have owned have all been Alpine's with digital controls
(7939, 7863, 9853) and I can truthfully say this has NEVER ONCE been a
problem for me. Perhaps I'm just not as fussy about those things, but IMHO,
the single knob to control volume, bass, treble, balance, and fader seems
like a perfect design to me AND it seems to me that when you have dedicated
controls for things like bass and treble (like those little bass/treble
sliders on your 7904) that just means more things that can break.

Anyway, that's my $.02...

MOSFET

[Tony F]

I think Rockford Fosgate make a deck very similar to the Denon, it's just
re-badged as a RF. They don't make it any more, but I'm sure it's available
some where out there over the world wide web.

Tony


--
2001 Nissan Maxima SE Anniversary Edition
Clarion DRZ9255 Head Unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475ti, ZX450 and Xenon X1200.1
Amplifiers, Dynaudio System 360 Tri-Amped In Front and Focal 130HCs For Rear
Fill, Image Dynamics IDMAX10 D4 v.3 Sub

2001 Chevy S10 ZR2
Pioneer DEH-P9600MP Head Unit, Phoenix Gold Ti500.4 Amp, Focal 165HC
Speakers & Image Dynamics ID8 D4 v.3 Sub

2006 Mustang GT Coupe

[Matt Ion]

MOSFET wrote:
>>The thing that really bugs me about almost every new deck out there in the
>>last 10 years is that they've all gone to digital adjustments for volume,
>>fader, etc., and none that I've ever come across really has a decent level
>>of resolution in these controls - one step isn't enough, the next is too
>>much.
>
>
> I do see your point, and I'm sure this must be annoying to you. But the
> last three HU's I have owned have all been Alpine's with digital controls
> (7939, 7863, 9853) and I can truthfully say this has NEVER ONCE been a
> problem for me. Perhaps I'm just not as fussy about those things, but IMHO,
> the single knob to control volume, bass, treble, balance, and fader seems
> like a perfect design to me AND it seems to me that when you have dedicated
> controls for things like bass and treble (like those little bass/treble
> sliders on your 7904) that just means more things that can break.
>
> Anyway, that's my $.02...

I've never had these controls "break". Get a little noisy in dusty
conditions maybe...

If your "Select" multi-controller knob goes fruity, you've just lost all
your adjustments in one shot.


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0612-2, 03/23/2006
Tested on: 3/23/2006 6:01:35 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2005 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

[MOSFET]

> If your "Select" multi-controller knob goes fruity, you've just lost all
> your adjustments in one shot.

True, but if I lost my "bass slider" for instance, I would consider the unit
just about as useless. I WOULD NOT be able to live with a unit I could not
control the bass or treble for instance (and probably fader and balance as
well). So I guess I do stand by my assertion that a single control knob
represents less that can break than multiple knobs for bass, treble,
balance, fader, etc. (of course, this really ALL DEPENDS on the quality of
the gear in the first place). So in other words, if one thing breaks, it's
all shot IMHO.

Also, my previous post was not intended to suggest you were "wrong" in your
belief that there was not enough fine-tuning in digital controls. I simply
thought about it, and realized that in the 15 years I have owned HU's with
digital controls (Kenwood before my Alpine's), I never once wished for any
more finer tuning in those controls. But hey, we're all different. ;)

MOSFET

[Brandon Buckner]

Most of the new line of Alpine HUs are rather boring in the display
until you get up to the DVD LCD HUs.

http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/products/series.php?category=AV_HU

Brandonb



Doug Kanter wrote:
> Who makes a good quality head unit these days, one whose display doesn't
> look like a busy street in Las Vegas? Some of the ones I'm seeing are bright
> enough to be a distraction when driving at night.
>
>

[Mike S]

I've always liked my Eclipse.. I had the 5303R flagship way back when and
just picked up an 8445 off ebay. It's got a nice 8 volt preout and has the
knob volume control unlike all those other decks where I have to have 10
cups of coffee and go mental on the button to turn it up really quick when a
hot girl is walking down the street! lol.. aside from that, I've never had a
problem with the eclipse lines of decks.. a little pricy, but ya get when
you pay for in my opinion.. and they are prewired like most decks now adays
for the Sirius satellite.. Shade 45 Saturday night Gomez brothers... good
times.. ha..

Mike

[Doug Kanter]

"Mike S" > wrote in message
...
> I've always liked my Eclipse.. I had the 5303R flagship way back when and
> just picked up an 8445 off ebay. It's got a nice 8 volt preout and has
> the knob volume control unlike all those other decks where I have to have
> 10 cups of coffee and go mental on the button to turn it up really quick
> when a hot girl is walking down the street! lol.. aside from that, I've
> never had a problem with the eclipse lines of decks.. a little pricy, but
> ya get when you pay for in my opinion.. and they are prewired like most
> decks now adays for the Sirius satellite.. Shade 45 Saturday night Gomez
> brothers... good times.. ha..
>
> Mike
>

8 volt preout? The line level output is 8 volts????

[Tony F]

"8 volt preout? The line level output is 8 volts????"

Yeah. Eclipse even put out some 16 volt units...don't know if they still
do. A complete marketing gimmick, of course. 4 volts is about all anyone
needs.

Tony



--
2001 Nissan Maxima SE Anniversary Edition
Clarion DRZ9255 Head Unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475ti, ZX450 and Xenon X1200.1
Amplifiers, Dynaudio System 360 Tri-Amped In Front and Focal 130HCs For Rear
Fill, Image Dynamics IDMAX10 D4 v.3 Sub

2001 Chevy S10 ZR2
Pioneer DEH-P9600MP Head Unit, Phoenix Gold Ti500.4 Amp, Focal 165HC
Speakers & Image Dynamics ID8 D4 v.3 Sub

2006 Mustang GT Coupe

[Doug Kanter]

I thought line outs averaged around 1/2 volt. Hmm.

"Tony F" > wrote in message
...
> "8 volt preout? The line level output is 8 volts????"
>
> Yeah. Eclipse even put out some 16 volt units...don't know if they still
> do. A complete marketing gimmick, of course. 4 volts is about all anyone
> needs.
>
> Tony
>
>
>
> --
> 2001 Nissan Maxima SE Anniversary Edition
> Clarion DRZ9255 Head Unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475ti, ZX450 and Xenon X1200.1
> Amplifiers, Dynaudio System 360 Tri-Amped In Front and Focal 130HCs For
> Rear Fill, Image Dynamics IDMAX10 D4 v.3 Sub
>
> 2001 Chevy S10 ZR2
> Pioneer DEH-P9600MP Head Unit, Phoenix Gold Ti500.4 Amp, Focal 165HC
> Speakers & Image Dynamics ID8 D4 v.3 Sub
>
> 2006 Mustang GT Coupe
>

[Brandonb]

Not anymore.

Brandonb


Doug Kanter wrote:
> I thought line outs averaged around 1/2 volt. Hmm.