Are there many pre-amp only head units?

[WannaKatana]

Since I have no plans to use the built-in amps and it seems there are
many others who do the same, I would think there would be more to
choose from. Without the built-in amps there would be less heat, less
cost and more room for other goodies.

Just curious.

Joel E

[MOSFET]

The funny thing about this is that there USED to be MANY HU's available with
no internal amps (around the heyday of IASCA when SQ was king). As you
correctly pointed out, by eliminating the amplifiers, heat could be reduced
and more resources can be dedicated to sound quality. For years, Alpine
always had at least one or two HU that did not have any internal amps (you
could always tell which ones because the second number of the model was
always a "9". like 7909 or 7949). But I think as the costs of incorporating
amplifiers into the HU's have gone down AND miniaturized, I think most
manufactures these days feel like by eliminating the onboard amplifier they
are narrowing their target market. Instead, many HU's these days have
provisions where you can turn the internal amplifiers off. My Alpine 9853
has this function and so I set it so all the internal amps are off (I use
four outboard amplifiers in my system). This helps keep the heat down as
you had already mentioned.

As far as any HU's these days that have no amplifier, I believe Alpine's F1
series still has no internal amp, but that unit is very pricey. I know
Sony, Clarion and Eclipse used to (10 years ago) have HU's without amps, but
I think you will find it is rare these days. Again, I think the best you
can hope for is the ability to turn off the onboard amps.

MOSFET
"WannaKatana" > wrote in message
ps.com...
> Since I have no plans to use the built-in amps and it seems there are
> many others who do the same, I would think there would be more to
> choose from. Without the built-in amps there would be less heat, less
> cost and more room for other goodies.
>
> Just curious.
>
> Joel E
>

[Matt Ion]

MOSFET wrote:

> For years, Alpine
> always had at least one or two HU that did not have any internal amps (you
> could always tell which ones because the second number of the model was
> always a "9". like 7909 or 7949).

Yes... like my 7904! (The 7804, I believe, was the version WITH
internal amp). I had one back then, and when I finally rebuilt a good
system in my car, I tracked down another one... they're a great old deck!

(It also has REAL analog volume/fader/balance/bass/treble controls,
which I love).

> As far as any HU's these days that have no amplifier, I believe Alpine's F1
> series still has no internal amp, but that unit is very pricey. I know
> Sony, Clarion and Eclipse used to (10 years ago) have HU's without amps, but
> I think you will find it is rare these days. Again, I think the best you
> can hope for is the ability to turn off the onboard amps.

Likewise, it's almost impossible now to find anything with actual analog
audio controls without spending a pretty penny too. Or for that matter,
find something that doesn't have some gaudy overwrought animated
display... blech.

[WannaKatana]

This is great info. I didn't know that. There doesn't seem to be any
easy way to track down these units other than contacting the
manufacturers unless anyone has a better idea :-) I've never seen that
as a criteria to search with on any of the websites.

Joel

MOSFET wrote:
> Instead, many HU's these days have
> provisions where you can turn the internal amplifiers off. My Alpine 9853
> has this function and so I set it so all the internal amps are off (I use
> four outboard amplifiers in my system). This helps keep the heat down as
> you had already mentioned.

[Luda]

most higher end HUs have this feature if im not mistaken.


--
Luda

[TalNLnky]

hard to find in sub $800 units.

alpine has/had a few specifically the phantom face one 7998 i think it
was, and the F1 gear too.

Dennon & the fosgate rebadged version of the denon (7250ti, 7200)

Sony c90

its not hard to find them really. If you can do a search for decks with
balanced or optical outputs you could drastically narrow down your
selection. Just about every BIG company has made one from time to time,
and many of these decks come with copper chasis instead of the plain
steal.

i personally own the fosgate/dennon (often refered to as the
dennonford). fosgate liquidated them on ebay a fews years back
because they couldn't sell a $1600 deck in the states.


--
TalNLnky

[Francious70]

Ahh the Denford. That's a great unit.

But most companys will offer their top of the line HU's without
internal amps.

Clarion's top of the line dosen't have an internal amp, neither does
many Eclipse decks, or Alpine's for that matter. I know some top of
the line Pioneer decks don't have an internal amp.


--
Francious70

[TalNLnky]

yeah.... i was wondering about the pioneer P1R, and didn't they have an
ODR deck as well.


--
TalNLnky

[Matt Ion]

wrote:

> Whats next, spinners on the dials?

Shut up, don't give them any ideas!!!

[Antispammer]

think nowadays Preamp HU are all damn $$$$$$$$


"WannaKatana" > wrote in message
ps.com...
> Since I have no plans to use the built-in amps and it seems there are
> many others who do the same, I would think there would be more to
> choose from. Without the built-in amps there would be less heat, less
> cost and more room for other goodies.
>
> Just curious.
>
> Joel E
>

[vfootballphs]

Yep, but the pre amp only units are alot more expensive as they are
usually of much higher quality with more features:)


--
vfootballphs

[Jamie Pruden]

Also the Sony CDX-C910 (which also has the copper chassis)... this is
the head unit I use and it's going strong...

On 2006-07-13 13:18:29 -0700, TalNLnky
> said:

>
> hard to find in sub $800 units.
>
> alpine has/had a few specifically the phantom face one 7998 i think it
> was, and the F1 gear too.
>
> Dennon & the fosgate rebadged version of the denon (7250ti, 7200)
>
> Sony c90
>
> its not hard to find them really. If you can do a search for decks with
> balanced or optical outputs you could drastically narrow down your
> selection. Just about every BIG company has made one from time to time,
> and many of these decks come with copper chasis instead of the plain
> steal.
>

[KU40]

yeah, you only see the non-powered head units at the top of the model
line. you would think oh, no amp inside, should save some money there.
but no, they take the space up and add onto the cost with lots of
features like vfootball said.

Pretty sure Eclipse makes/made one. i'm sure there are others, that's
just the one I know about.


--
KU40