Head Unit/Receiver Advice

[red325]

Ok, complete audio noob here looking for some advice.

I am looking to buy a new head unit, but I would like something that would flow with the interior of the car. Maybe light up amber/orange?

The only things I would really need for my head unit to have would be a CD player and maybe IPOD compatibility.

I am not planning on running and subs or 6x9's but will probably be installing better quality speakers in the near future.

Thanks in advance, any advice is appreciated. :)

[StereoInstaller1]

New decks that look even semi-appropriate?

I got nothing.

Kenwood is decent and has features, Blaupunkt seems to have decent looks, dunno about the performance. They have sucked balls in the past for reliability, who knows today.

Better quality speakers simply do not happen in E30s without some kind of bass, as the stock locations SUCK no matter what you put in them, and believe it or not, the stock "Premium Sound" speakers are just about the best sound you can get...without a sub.

As far as installing, my shop is in Redmond and I work cheap.

Well, not cheap, but pretty damn reasonable for the level of work I do.

If you want the car to actually sound good, check out the sub boxes I build for the E30. A small 4 channel amp, with half running the front speakers and the other half running a single 10" sub make some amazing sound and takes up very little space.

[red325]

New decks that look even semi-appropriate?

I got nothing.

Kenwood is decent and has features, Blaupunkt seems to have decent looks, dunno about the performance. They have sucked balls in the past for reliability, who knows today.

Better quality speakers simply do not happen in E30s without some kind of bass, as the stock locations SUCK no matter what you put in them, and believe it or not, the stock "Premium Sound" speakers are just about the best sound you can get...without a sub.

As far as installing, my shop is in Redmond and I work cheap.

Well, not cheap, but pretty damn reasonable for the level of work I do.

If you want the car to actually sound good, check out the sub boxes I build for the E30. A small 4 channel amp, with half running the front speakers and the other half running a single 10" sub make some amazing sound and takes up very little space.

Interesting...

I researched blaupunkt some and it doesn't seem like they're very reliable and aren't highly rated.

As for your advice about the sub, although you seem EXTREMELY knowledgeable about audio, I feel like a subwoofer in a 20 year old car would simply destroy it. I have friends with 12 and 15 inch subs in their 'new' cars and they lose parts a couple times a year. One of my friend's cars trunk can hardly open.

You say for better sound quality, bass is needed. Would 6x9's suffice?

Seeing as your shop is in Redmond, I may be stopping by later this summer for installations on speakers and a deck, and possibly a sub if I choose to take that expensive road.

Thanks,
Thomas

[StereoInstaller1]

Thomas, the idea that 120 to 160 watts RMS on a single 10 would do ANY damage to your E30 is just absolutely silly. We are talking about HALF of a $200 amp running the bass, not some 1200 watt behemoth.

Yeah, it makes nice clean deep clear bass you can actually feel, but it does not rumble your insides and move your hair like my car, but will not stun low flying ducks.

All of your buddies will be pissed off that your box actually FITS you car so it takes up very little space...and kicks their cars ass in sound quality!

Your buddies and their new cars, well yeah, they are junk. ALL E30 drivers know this. Cars today are simply not built like classic old BMWs. How many people get 300,000 miles without EVER tearing into the motor?

And, last but not least...sub, amp, woofer all together are about $375...which does NOT include labor, but we can talk about that later.

A pair of 6X9s does basically nothing in an E30. It makes very little useful bass AND still drowns out the front.

Luke

[red325]

What kind of 10' sub are you thinking? I'm somewhat familiar with alpine, but that's about it.

Thanks,
Thomas

[StereoInstaller1]

What kind of 10' sub are you thinking? I'm somewhat familiar with alpine, but that's about it.

Thanks,
Thomas

The cheap Sony woofer from Walmart makes AMAZING bass in my box, or for a few bux more I can get you an Infinity or CL whatever.

Here is the big secret: don't look at the label. These days, stereo crap is made by the Chinese or whoever, and the label means basically nothing.

Expensive gear (ARC Audio, Butler, Dynaudio...even Morel has cheap Chinese crap) is often 100% quality, but seriously, it is up to the consumer to discern what is what.

The other side of the story is that the quality of the enclosure is 95% of the quality of the sound. A cheap woofer in a well designed cabinet will sound better than a top notch woofer in the typical cheeseball pile of crap that happen in 99% of the installs of today.

Can you tell I am a bit picky about what I produce?

Luke

[red325]

The cheap Sony woofer from Walmart makes AMAZING bass in my box, or for a few bux more I can get you an Infinity or CL whatever.

Here is the big secret: don't look at the label. These days, stereo crap is made by the Chinese or whoever, and the label means basically nothing.

Expensive gear (ARC Audio, Butler, Dynaudio...even Morel has cheap Chinese crap) is often 100% quality, but seriously, it is up to the consumer to discern what is what.

The other side of the story is that the quality of the enclosure is 95% of the quality of the sound. A cheap woofer in a well designed cabinet will sound better than a top notch woofer in the typical cheeseball pile of crap that happen in 99% of the installs of today.

Can you tell I am a bit picky about what I produce?

Luke

Very very good information, Luke. I leave on a two week trip in a few days, but when I get back you can expect to hear from me. I'll start researching for subs and a deck in the meantime. If anyone else has ideas for a good head unit please post them.

Thanks,
Thomas

[red325]

Can you tell I am a bit picky about what I produce?

Haha, yes I can

[lylefk]

I have an Alpine cda-9887 that matches pretty damn well...red/amber, at night it looks great...during the day, it's pretty ok...but I'm suuuuper picky.

[bmw325csi]

ECLIPSE. Mine lights up amber (or any color you want). The only thing thats whack is the display is in white but you can turn that off. Ill post a pic tonight, it has all options including built in bluetooth and i pod with an adapter

[bmw325csi]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FeHZBz5MpOl/p_099CD3200/Eclipse-CD3200.html

[red325]

I have an Alpine cda-9887 that matches pretty damn well...red/amber, at night it looks great...during the day, it's pretty ok...but I'm suuuuper picky.

That alpine looks great but DAMN its expensive

[red325]

ECLIPSE. Mine lights up amber (or any color you want). The only thing thats whack is the display is in white but you can turn that off. Ill post a pic tonight, it has all options including built in bluetooth and i pod with an adapter

Crutchfield is no longer selling them, do you know how much they retail for? \

Thanks

[bmw325csi]

I got mine for 150 when circuit city went out of business

[Eric Giles]

If you don't mind buying used equipment, one of the head units that I personally recommend is the Alpine CDA-9835. It has switchable amber illumination, the excellent Biolite display, very good sound quality, plus it has built in 2 or 3 way active crossovers and time alignment if you ever decide to really start playing with your setup. You can also connect an iPod thru the optional Alpine interface as well as a satellite radio tuner. The 9835 was replaced the next year with the 9855, which is almost the same unit with the same features, but they utilized the 'Glide Touch' pad instead of normal preset buttons for multiple functions. I have one and although the performance of the unit is fine, I cannot stand the Glide Touch feature-and from what I have read a lot of other people couldn't either.

These were the last head units Alpine made that included the active crossovers, bass management and time alignment built in until the current 9887 came out last year.

The Clarion DXZ-785USB is also a good head unit, especially for the money if you can find one. It has fully adjustable illumination, active crossovers, time alignment, great D/A converters but the drawbacks are a hard to read display and the face of the unit sticks out a bit from the dash. Otherwise, it's a nice head unit and if i didn't already have my Alpine's I would have possibly kept the one I bought to try out.