I think we had the debate about DACs less then a couple mothes ago... and I'm beginning to tire of kicking that same dead horse...

Ive never owned an aftermarket deck I really liked... I haven't bought a new deck in some time, but I doubt much has changed...


Next car will definatly be a stock deck or possibly a mid line MP3 unit and Ill impliment a modded behringer EQ or similar... [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

Edit: If you want/need a high level preout voltage you can get one from basically any deck out there... just use the speaker outputs..

[ December 03, 2005, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: Haunz ]

 

It wasn't a matter of knowing how to set the gains correctly. Rather, the stock speakers were running off the deck, and the sub was driven off an external amp.

In order to have a reasonably balanced audio spectrum, it required the gains to be turned up very high, otherwise the bass was being drowned out by mid and high range frequencies by the (stock and crappy) coax speakers in the car.

Bottom line was it was a cheap system, but the point I am making is that high(er) end HU tend to have high preout voltage, low THD's, and other useful features that combine to produce IMO a better sounding system compared to a low end HU.


np

[ December 03, 2005, 09:03 PM: Message edited by: np ]

 

You are absolutely right... It wasn't much, 2 JL audio 10W1-8, ported box and an old Pioneer 100 X RMS @ 1 ohm load 1.0 THD @ 1khz. Probably higher THD with actual music. Certainly not an SQ setup.

As long as volumes were kept at reasonable levels it sounded fine. Crank it up and it was garbage.

Same subs and amp with my nak sounded far better in my vehicle, but vehicle acoustics may be a factor...

Other features could be HPF/LPF, 24 bit DAC's for really high HU's, Alpine seem to have many time equalization and parametric eq's, though I don't know the details.

I am not saying that you cannot put a great system together with moderately priced HU's. It can be done if one chooses equipment that complement/work well with each other.

My personal preference just happens to be plain, but very capable headunits like Nak, Denon, etc.

 

Alpine does not seem to think high pre-out voltage is that important as all their new decks with the exception of the 9855 and higher($600.00 plus) are all back down to 2volts. All of the installers I've spoken to have said that it has not affected SQ or output.

 

^^^ Did the voltages really get reduced, or is Alpine just being more honest about their ratings now?

 

Is it that hard to make a deck with 4 volt outs? Seems to be fairly easy and relatively cheap to do. Anyway, it would make the case even stronger as most would agree that Alpine is high end, therefore low voltage outs are sufficient.

 

Lineout voltage is one thing but you also have to check what impedance that number is rated at.
Four volts output rated at 1,000 ohms is probably not going to outperform two volts at 100 ohms.

The product is only going to be as good as it's weakest link. The bottom line would be to get the best unit in your budget. Things to consider would be DAC(s), any sort of transport micro adjustments, line out voltage, built-in amplifier & processing. For some people that's going to equal a $99 JVC & for others a Pioneer Premier DEX-P9/DEQ-P9 combo or Alpine F#1.