Eclipse CD7100 HU
 

Anyone here using this new HU? Am hearing great things about this unit from other forums and I am keen on it. Would like to hear users opinions before I take the plunge. Thanks.

Go to The Eclipse website CD7100 Is a great sound quality Deck with soo many options and add-ons.

goodluck.

I am a new owner, installed it Friday. The features are VERY easy to use... but finding them can take a little while. I had the 'demo mode' stuck on the display for 4 days. SQ is very good in the mids and HF through the internal amp. Phenomenal AMOUNT of EQ and TA, with a generous 8v pre-out. easier to use the advanced SQ features than many of its competitors. I cant say it is the top dog (not having done a side by side in my car with other top notch units) but it is a very good player with every thing you could want in a CD HU. I would put it in the NEARLY THE SAME realm as the best from Pioneer, Alpine, Clarion, McIntosh, Denon... for a lot less then their very best. To be significantly better your looking at a lot more money. I think it is easier to use than the 8053, and lives up to the Eclipse reputation sonically.

So far I would only call the radio so-so

Bottom line: I paid retail and I do not think I over payed.

Picking one up this fall, maybe Sept or Oct, depending on the time frame from other work on the car to be performed...

Eclipse CD7100
 

Oh dear, my wife likes to listen to radio, is the reception quality bad or just poor sound quality? :dunno: Is there a better option of a good radio? We don't have satellite radio here, just the usual FM

Nice looking head unit, don't think i will be upgrading though. Just got my Eclipse CD4000 :)

be careful. If I'm not mistaken NTOXXKD fried his at the 3X in niagara falls. Try not to push out the full 8 volts...:smokin:

Say what? I have never had one fail in this fashion....

Looks like a very nice HU, its defiantly on the list for me.

The radio sounds OK... not as good as the McIntosh HU radio in SQ or reception, actually I am coming to the conclusion it is less then so-so in reception but I have only used it for 10 to 20 minutes total (mostly to listen to kowabunga uber alles on Fungus 53). I am not sure but I think the Pioneer brands may be the radio reception kings. I used to buy radios based on their radio reception.

That HU is like one of my dreams. I tested it at our local car audio store and it is crazy. But i'm content with my cd3000. Eclipse is such AMAZING quality.

I fried a cd8443 that was mounted in the back of the car without a podium. Hardly a proper install. It probably saw a bad ground as all the wires were everywhere.

I fried a cd8443 that was mounted in the back of the car without a podium. Hardly a proper install. It probably saw a bad ground as all the wires were everywhere.

I just double checked my wiring and the antenna adaptor was loose so that is why the reception was poor. Please disregard my concerns on the tuners sensitivity and selectivity, it is much better on AM and FM then the stock Ford unit (stock units are usually quite good at radio reception).

Now the SQ of the radio was the other question I had, but it is fine the reason for the concern is that the EQ of the radio is quite different than the CD. The radio stations tend to EQ their signals to make the music they play more appealing. So now I have to EQ for the radio or the CD... I wonder if this sucker has EQ presets like some Alpine units?

Eclipse CD7100
 

So with the antenna properly fixed, you find FM performance at least decent? Radio quality is very important as I spend a lot of time on it compared to CD. That's reassuring to know that.

Hmm, I find Alpine 6 presets useful but not sufficient. Perhaps 12 would be better. Then I can Eq for all my favourite FM stations?

For Eq of radio stations, I don't think Eq can make up for poor broadcast equipment. Some stations sounds compressed.

I live in a metro area so there are lots of stations, but even the ones that usually come in crappy are doing well, I will try to tune some FM stations 80 miles away and if it doesn't perform I will post to that effect. I am not singling out this HU as a super dooper HU with super human SQ properties, I just find it's performance exceeds its price point, I would check out the upper range Pioneers as well since they are less expensive. The other natural competition is the Clarion and Alpine both of which are quite good as well. I think we are in a equipment Renaissance at the moment with lots of very good stuff for not a lot of money, this is the up side to a down market.

Also the Eclipse doesn't skip when hitting pot holes or during SPL burping

Just curious, here in town, we have a station that is quite powerfull, how does this unit deal with nearby strong stations overloading it.

Get SIRIUS - no AM/FM issues then :) Had mine for like 5 years I think now.. Love it

Long distance FM listening is average on this deck, AM is better, the tuner is not its best feature.
No signal rejection issues so the stronger signals dont really over power the nearby signals

I dont have experience with this model. I currently have 8445. I like it, but it does do weird things on its own sometimes. Dont want to get into it right now. Before that I had a lower model from same year, which went all haywire on me electronically. Cant say I had a good run with Eclipse reliability. Me and my friends have gone through many brands, and the only ones I would recommend these days are Alpine or Pioneer. 7100 looks beautiful though.

any detailed info about he USB support?
 

Hi there

Since the eclipse site is really scant with details, and I can't seem to find a decent review on the net, can anyone here with this deck (or the lower models with the USB feature) tell me what the capabilities of the USB input are?

By that I mean, is it possible to access files on a hard drive running in an external case hooked up to the unit via USB? are there limitations on the number of folders, levels of folders etc, and naming. How about playing VBR mp3s or things like that?

Any info would really be appreciated. I would be just great to be able to run a hard drive straight into a headunit and use the (pretty nice) dac of the CD transport to do the D/A stuff, instead of taking my iriver h340 and going into the anlalogue input of my CD5444 via a line driver (monitoring input levels is t-ricky)

Cheers

Rob

By that I mean, is it possible to access files on a hard drive running in an external case hooked up to the unit via USB? are there limitations on the number of folders, levels of folders etc, and naming. How about playing VBR mp3s or things like that?

Supports
MPEG:
⋄1- 32 44.1 (khz) - bit rate 32 to 320(kbps)
⋄2- 16,22.05, 24 (khz) - bit rate 32 to 160(kbps)
⋄2.5- 8, 11.025, 12 (khz) - bit rate 32 to 160(kbps)
⋄audio layer II
⋄VBR (8-320kbps)
⋄does not support free format
⋄supports: monaural,stereo,joint and dual.
⋄WMA 7, 8, 9
⋄freq 8 to 44.1
⋄bit rate 8 to 192
⋄does not play drm
⋄monaural, stereo
USB:
Format to ISO9660 level 1 or 2
max directory lenghts 8 layers
max characters 128
number of files 3000
folders 999


Any info would really be appreciated. I would be just great to be able to run a hard drive straight into a headunit and use the (pretty nice) dac of the CD transport to do the D/A stuff, instead of taking my iriver h340 and going into the anlalogue input of my CD5444 via a line driver (monitoring input levels is t-ricky)

Harddrive should work - But powering the unit will be the issue since the usb does NOT have enough current to power a HDD and the 1' & 0's

Cheers

Does Anyone know how to shut off the deck amp? I'm using preout only so no need to have it on.

Manual states nothing!

Julian

Thanks for the info
 

I really appreciate it. powering the hard drive from the battery will not be a problem.