I've heard of Eclipse before and I know that they make really good speakers and amps. I just never knew that they make good head units.

 

Well you heard it the wrong way.
Their speakers and amps are "ordinary", they specialise and are known for their in dash receivers.

 

I'd say that Eclipse had top end head units before amps. In my opinion it al started with the Eclipse 5303 back in 96. But as for amps, for SQ they were always pretty good, but they couldn't build a sub amp until the invention of class D.

Lyle

 

In the last while, I keep reading that Eclipse and Alpine are neck to neck for SQ at the top of the food chain.

What about Clarion and Nakamichi ? Are they in the same league ?

Are Pioneer and Kenwood same-same and a notch below the others as far as SQ. I do beleive that they did do their homework better than the others for the features, menue and looks.

I'm thinking of a flip-up video player as a gift from me to me by end of summer. I'm not that impress with Eclipse's menu, but it's ok. For sound, I haven't had time to rig my setup to test it yet, but feel confident that it'll be top notch. I do insist on a volume rotary **** though.

Opinions ?

 

Excellent write up bro. You should put it in a separate thread so it can be stickied. Maybe ones for amps and speakers as well?

 

^^^^^^ I was not aware that we had a new vendor on the site.....

 

I just want to add that when I had my first real system put in (Hertz speakers, JL Audio amp and sub) I stuck with my Blaupunkt Hamburg head unit. I was impressed with the new sound but thought it should be WOW. which it wasn't. I went back and had my installer put in a Clarion DXZ785USB as the write ups on this unit are impressive for an inexpensive sq unit. Well, I could not get the smile off my face or believe the detail now coming out of my Hertz speakers. To this day 6 months later I am still awed by this unit for only $229.

 

I sold Nick some wire the other day and had a listen and hot damn, that deck is damn nice. sure puts shame to my Alpine CDA-9886...

And Stephane, I agree, Rotary Volume Control is a must.

 

^^are saying it sounds better or just has more bling? I think it would be hard to compare two different decks in two different systems in two diferent cars...how do you know it wasn't the speakers or the tuning that made it sound better? Don't get me wrong, i think most decks can sound pretty damn good if set up properly, and quite frankly, the deck is the last place I look to for SQ. I just happen to like Alpine because they've been bullet proof for me over the last 25 years. I've absolutely never had one bag on me, in fact I still have a fully functioning 7390 tuner tape deck from 1990.

 

And you probably still have the box, manual, remote and those nifty pieces of styrofoam it came packed in, right??.....

Judging by your sig. line it looks like you've done a major re-fit since the last time I saw the 300...........you going to bring it around to a show this summer so I can drool on your passenger seat again??.....