fast_freddy

All head units suck... Better said all amps in head units suck. The primary driver for selection should be its pre-amp and "transport" capabilities and whether it has the functionality you want/need. A seperate amp is largely what drives the sound quality in concert with the speakers. However, a good/great amp will make even ****ty speakers sound pretty good.

RallyJon

How do you find out about pre-amp quality?

ferdie993

I got an Blaupunkt hamburg Mp57 it has everythong in it, MP3, USB & ipod ready. and it you can sync with your mobile phone. if theres a incoming calls the music automaticlly mute and turn into handsfree phone thru your audio system. Go Luck!

fast_freddy

With your ears.



I know it's not the easiest thing to do in the car but in a reasonably well equiped audio shop they should be able to have one amp drive a variety of head units with either the speakers you have or a reasonable facsimile of them. While I know one could argue that the differences are infinitesimal and to some they might be, I "think" I can tell the difference. I have a Kenwood head unit simply because I couldnt tell the difference between that and a McIntosh one (both driven by a McIntosh amp), it looked OK and did all the things I wanted it to do. The amp in the McIntosh head unit was significantly better than the Kenwood amp but not nearly as good as the seperate McIntosh amp and I wasn't going to use it anyway so who cares. With all that being said at WOT I can't hear a thing coming from the stereo unless I have it turned up to ear splitting levels.

bart1

The Alpine 9886 also gives you the option to bypass the internal amp as well as the display for supposedly better sound quality.

I agree that the air cooled flat six sounds better than any of them, though!

travanx

I just put in a Pioneer DEH-p700BT. I replaced the alpine 9857 i think that was in there. The pioneer matches the black interior really well. It also does USB, Ipod and all that and comes with a mic for bluetooth. Its also pretty cheap to buy on ebay. The menu system is much better than alpine, which is nice while scrolling through songs on an ipod in traffic. =)

six gun

I like music as much as the next guy and have what I feel is a good, not great, set up at home. I have the stock radio and sspeaker set up in my car.

I guess my question is, given the geomerty of the 911 why would you go to such great lengths, not to mention expence to modify the sound system?

pedsurg

fast-freddy: What amp would you rec to augment a standard cd 220 ??
Thanks
Jack

ste993

+1.

Plus my ears are so screwed up from too many live gigs and night clubs I probably couldn't tell the difference anymore between a high end system and the Nokia hi-fi setup that I have.

Barney1

Let the Alpine blast....It was a lyric in a rap song....HAHAHA

samsnead

I used a premier unit in my 3.2, it looks good. Very simplistic and it can be used with ipod, has the cables included and you can control your ipod through the head unit.

fast_freddy

For "budget" (relatively speaking) I like the Eclipse stuff. For ultimate sound I really like McIntosh. I am an audio geek, so perhaps take the more extreme nature of my recommendations with a grain of salt. If you are not the type to make sure your home theatre speakers are aimed properly and use a sound pressure level reader to set your system up too the Eclipse stuff is terrific. My set up is with a McIntosh amp and Dynaudio speakers.

fast_freddy

Because it makes me feel good about myself and impresses the gang bangers as I crank out the heavy beat with the volume turned up to 11.


I like music and nothing makes me cringe more than flat sounding distortion filled music, I'd rather have nothing. For just a few hundred bucks more I eliminate the feeling of regret of not spending it to begin with.

Surj-993C2S

Summertime...

Surj-993C2S

Btw, I have an alpine in mine. Its the worst sounding system I have ever heard. One day I'll rip that cr@p out!!!