Which head unit would you go with?
 

Well after turning my sub box around I have found that it is louder and will keep the prefab box atleast until spring/summer.

How ever I have been looking at Head Units and the features the newer ones have. I bought my 7600 new back in '04 and havent used it til this install, but after looking at a few HU's I think I want something with more SQ.

I have been looking at the Eclipse 7200 MKII and the Alpine 9887, I was wondering which one of those you would chose and why?

Eclipse CD7200ii, why, it has proven itself in this model and all previous models to be a highly capable source unit that delivers stunning performance.

I am leaning toward the Eclipse because it doesnt have the built in amp and has the 8v pre-outs I forget what my current HU has.

It also has a huge amount of adjustment in the EQ.

My old HU was the Eclipse CD8455 which has a lot of the same features. (8v, similar eq, proprietary dac, etc.) At 5V and up (maybe even less), I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to tell a difference in signal noise coming from the head unit. I could be wrong, please don't flame me...

Hated the rotary knobs for switching song to song...i'd skip 3-4 songs at a time by accident. The display is very simple (could be a plus for some). Took a long time to load when playing mp3 cds. Took a few too many menu commands to get to the sub level control (it's nice to be able to turn it up and down at times). The satellite radio sounded like it was coming from a pre 1970's tin lunchbox.

The sound was crystal clear, all the way to the top. The e-iserv settings were pretty nice. Excellent control of the crossover settings, especially in pro-mode and for 3-way active setups. Time delay settings were a nice plus. The display colour could be changed to match your cars interior lighting.

All in all, even with it's faults it was a solid head unit and the 7200mkII should be even better, i'd imagine. On that note...I've switched to an Alpine Iva-W505...with the imprint box...and i'm not looking back.

ahh so it is louder firing back?

get the Alpine. I dont use anything else.

yeah, the evil eyes dont lie :hah: but I think I will get some grills because my mom still insists on putting groceries in the trunk rather then the back seat...

I am thinking Alpine after finding a price on the MKII, because the Alpine will do what I want and is like $200 cheaper.

you prolly can get the alpine + imprint and still have change.

9887 because it has about 1/3 of the imprint options already built in

oh and forget the the imprint mic, it is another $300 and it is a one time use thing, I rather take the time to tune it my self...

I like Alpine, and i've always had great luck and performance from them. Eclipse are excellent as well, but for the money, I'd go Alpine.