Alpine - Eclipse - Pioneer

but I have had a hard time with Apline radio reading certain disks ie (dbjams cd)

alpine-pioneer-eclipse-kenwood...I have no luck with sony. Alpine's been the best for me since 1984, never had a problem. Pioneer and Eclipse about the same, both required repairs after the warranty period, and Kenwood needed repairs (2 times) and had oddball issues like shuting down for no reason, and lcd blips. Only Sony has had more failures as far as decks are concerned. All my Alpines worked for years, and were working until I sold them or the car. I still have a fully functional 7390 tape deck from 1990, and not only their decks, I'm currently using 2-3502 amps from 1990 as well in my system. If used as intended, they can last a long time.

Kenwood,pioneer/premier,JVC,dual

I picked up my brand new eclipse CD7000 + ipod adapter off ebay for 299.

The same guy has a CD4000...
eBay.ca: NEW ECLIPSE CD4000 CD MP3 WMA MOTORIZED IPOD RECEIVER (item 180171322502 end time 26-Oct-07 10:53:46 EDT)

Lol sony.

i bought a sony explod DCX-F7715X almost 3 years agao and it is by far the nicest deck i have ever owned, its designed to be user friendly in every way i can think of, it has all the features i could ever want, it looks very nice but at the same time it isnt too flashie, it has never skipped due to the head unit, the sound output is very nice with many different eq. settings. i honestly dont think theres anything bad i could say about this deck and i wouldnt trade it for anything. i know sony xplod has a bad reputation for thier subs and some amps but this deck is definitaly one of the best bang for your buck deals. i paid a little over 300$ for it but that was from a specialty shop not on sale so its going to be more expensive. just thought id voice my oppinion on xplod
:)

Agrees i owned a sony deck several years ago and paid near 250 for it, adn it lasted me a good three years and changed it just for something new, gave the sony to a friend and it still works perfect after buying 5-6 years ago. Its not how you play it its how you misplay it.

Both Sony decks that have been in peoples vehicles that I know are POS'

Id never consider sony car audio.

( and yes at one point I did have an amp too, one of those X shaped ones think it was 760 watts, or claimed.)

honestly it's personal experience that leads me to my choices. My sister has had an Xplod in her car for 6 years now and it's still like new, and she has never had a problem with it either. I've had bad luck with them since back in the day, so I won't risk it, but if you've had good luck with them...why not. They sound as good as any other deck!

I'm A sony hater but.... for a 200 dollar budget it is a very good option - its all about bang for your buck right? they can be a very good option for people with a budget (or any common sense - sorry im bitter, my deck is fubar right now) i have run sony in the past and have never had any problems and all my sony products lasted for at least 5 years. That being said it is still low end in comparison to other brands.