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Car Audio

Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:00 pm
by FireFox
I'm looking to get a MP3 player for my car. What would you all recommend? At the moment I'm thinking of a flipface frontloader or whatever you call those. (me = nOOb at these things)

PS I'm not looking to make my car a disco on wheels, just something funtional and "funky" that will fit with the dash display (black dash and light green backlight). I am open to suggestions thow.

Thanks

EDIT: Budget is about $ 200 -250

Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:31 pm
by BAAL
Can you give us an idea of how much you want to spend? that way we can offer suggestions in a price range that u can handle.

Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 6:03 pm
by Sage
XM Satelite radio. I don't have it but I heard tis good!

Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 6:44 pm
by MD-2389
Sage, XM isn't mp3. ;) Try to stick to what the guy wants, mmmk?

Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 8:06 pm
by kurupt
i reccomend clarion or kenwood if you want to stay cheap but still get good stuff. if you wanna spend some serious loot go for a nakamichi. i love mine, but i bought the one that doesnt play mp3's because the one that does is like 1200 bucks ;p

Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 8:09 pm
by STRESSTEST
my current and last decks were Kenwook Excelon models. I'd say get them. Sat radio is the sh!t also!!!

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 12:05 am
by Sting_Ray
I have a Pioneer DEH-P7600MP in my car and it's pretty good. It cost me about 300 bucks, and it works like a charm. Has all the connectivity you'll need. Front/rear internally amplified wire leads, front/rear/sub OUT RCA jacks, remote wire for whatever you run with it. It sounds good too.

Doesn't hold a candle to my Pioneer A/V system though (AVX 7390 or something)... well, until my p8000R unit went out... God rest it's soul (/me crosses himself)

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 12:25 am
by SolidAir
I have a Pioneer Premier DEH-P760MP, which is basically like Sting_Ray's but it has higher quality parts, a steering wheel remote and a 2 year warranty instead of one. I bought it for $214.50 about a month ago, but the price has since gone down to $209.90. If you need a link I'll hook ya up.

Either way its got great MP3 capability.

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 8:09 am
by Pun
I'd raise my sights a bit on budget and grab an Alpine. They have the best mp3 players.

Take a look at the CDA9835. Should be under $400 by now. CDA9830 should be under $300 by now, with less bells and whistles.

Oh, and STRESS? How's that Kenwook runnin for ya? I've never actually heard one, but I hear they're awesome. :P

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 2:48 pm
by kurupt
I had an Alpine CDA-3985 before this current Nakamichi cd400 of mine and i can vouch for its awesomeness. it only had one drawback for me, and that was that it could get so loud without getting distorted that the treble would give me a headache after about a half hour of driving. it seemed pretty high pitched compared to most units. but that is one awesome deck if you're willing to pay for it.

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 3:07 pm
by STRESSTEST
Vince, I've been pretty big into car audio since I got my first driver liscense.

I've had JVC, Clarion, Panasonic, Technics (the origonal chameleon maker), Alpine, Pioneer and a POS Fosgate, and after all of those, I'm staying with the Excelon line from Kenwood and not looking back.

This was my last deck:
http://www.carsound.com/reviews/hd_units/Z828.html

This is my current pictured on this page with movie clips:
http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/car_a ... index.html

Buttons are switchable between green or red. I prefer the blue accents with the red buttons myself :P

to show you all the graphics / modes / settings it would require a clip at those compression settings they used in the neighborhood of 200 megs... There is a ton in it, and they all are added to once I hooked in the satalite module..

Here's the main componants:
http://stresstest.2y.net/images/Tunes/tunes.html

For the subs I'm using a pair of Boston Pro 12.5 subs in the 2ohm model, not 4 ohm :)

Rear deck is outfitted with Eclipse (Fijitsu 10) 5.25 / 1" silk seperates

Front doors are outfitted with Precision Power M5 6.5" / 1.25" Aluminum seperates.

That's drive to Diablo for pictures I posted was loud :)

So firefox, if you can afford it, go with the highend Kenwood (Excelon) series. The MP3 control is the best I've ever used and they were the first on the market that allowed FF and RW of tracks encoded in MPeg3. Something you will find is important if you have 600meg MP3s :)

Another note is @ 192Bit you can get about 7~8 hours of play time on one CD-R

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 3:24 pm
by Fusion pimp
I second the Nakamichi- I also have one and while they're simple and don't have dolphins jumping across the screen, they spend the extra cash of quality parts.

They're very costly and very simple when compared to the items the large chain stores carry, but I've had mine almost 10 years and it's never skipped a beat.

Nakamichi's rule. I have 4 Nakamichi amps too, 2 in my boat and 2 in my car.. awesome! Again, costly, but you get what you pay for.

http://www.bigbangelectronics.com/produ ... f_id=CD700

It's only a bit over 1400.00 at this place. :)

Trust me, it's the best 1400+ you could spend in car audio.

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:04 pm
by kurupt
i have this nakamichi deck and i paid almost 400 for it. they usually want 800-900 retail if you can even find a place that carries them.

the one B posted is the one i was talking about earlier. i said 1200 and he found one for 1400, and mine was just a guess so there you go. you cant go wrong with nakamichi, but you do have to pay for them.

i prefer the look they have, its simple, everything is right at the drivers fingertips, and it wont hurt your eyes with its bright flashy colors. its focused on sound and it sounds incredible through my infinity perfect components and they aren't really that high-end.

so until you name a price, my vote also goes to the nakamichi cd700.

;)

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 10:22 pm
by SolidAir
I'm excited...

I'm going to be buying an Adire Audio Brahma 12" sub, powered by 800 watts @ 4 ohms from a Cadence Z9000 amplifier. It's going to sound sweet :)

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:49 am
by Fusion pimp
K,
how many times have you had someone get into your car and ask you why you have a fleamarket deck?
They do it to me all the time.. I just smile and crank it up. They have no idea.

heh

B-

edit- 400? you stole that thing.

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:26 am
by kurupt
i paid $375 for it actually, brand new in box. i just rounded up. one could i say i practically stole it from him. ;) to my knowledge it wasn't stolen by him though.

and its plain looks are one of its perks imo, potential thieves see it and go "ack, thats not even worth stealing." i dont even have to take the faceplate off.