head unit recomendation?

[mpower]

JVC KD-X80BT, with recessed-for-cd43 HVAC panel/HU mount.





Night shot



I'd say after using it for a year, I have discovered it has a few quirks, but nothing major. Sound is good. It works seamless with my iPhone 4s through USB or BT, but the buttons don't really do what the manual says they are supposed to do when in BT mode. It's like the firmware is messed up when connected via bluetooth, or I just can't figure how to set it up following the manual. They should honestly design a headunit with open source firmware/software capability, because they just don't have the funds to produce the perfect head unit OS; I'm just dreaming though..I've drank too much OCD and ate too much perfectionist when I was little. It would be good enough for 90% of the people out there.

BTW that link pegase posted, I like!

Looks pretty cool, color match.

[blueapplesoda]

JVC KD-X80BT, with recessed-for-cd43 HVAC panel/HU mount.





Night shot



I'd say after using it for a year, I have discovered it has a few quirks, but nothing major. Sound is good. It works seamless with my iPhone 4s through USB or BT, but the buttons don't really do what the manual says they are supposed to do when in BT mode. It's like the firmware is messed up when connected via bluetooth, or I just can't figure how to set it up following the manual. They should honestly design a headunit with open source firmware/software capability, because they just don't have the funds to produce the perfect head unit OS; I'm just dreaming though..I've drank too much OCD and ate too much perfectionist when I was little. It would be good enough for 90% of the people out there.

BTW that link pegase posted, I like!

[5Toes]

my JVC KD-R80BT at night

[mpower]

Kenwood

I installed a refurb' unit off of eBay for about $50 works great

Kenwood KDC 342U has 3 pairs of pre-outs
Has Pandora, but I just wanted it for USB and the extra pre-outs
Two Alpine SPR-60 in kick panels
Powered by Jensen 400.2 (2 ch 75 WRMS @ 4 Ωs)
Ported enclosure in trunk Infinity 1260W
Powered by Alpine MRX-M50 (mono 300 WRMS @ 4 Ωs)

Sounds pretty good, great bass.
Would like to get 100 WRMS to panel speakers
or install rears somewhere

[pegase747]

70-80 euros? Isnt that like $300 USD?

less than 100usd, but it comes with a cd player, 2 pre-out.

cheers Pierre

[StereoInstaller1]

Luke,

just to add to your comment above.

In Europe we have the basic same HU, but it comes in several colors :

http://www.alpine-electronics.fr/p/Products/cd-head-units19/cde-170r_cde-170rm_cde-170rr

No goofy blue square button. comes with CD player.
I consider the amber one in my E30.
It has 2 RCA out as well, and cost only around 70-80 euros here.

Cheers
Pierre

70-80 euros? Isnt that like $300 USD?

[pegase747]

Huh? Should do A2DP fine with your phone, gotta be a typo. I have paired 3's, 4's 4Ss' adn 5s with new Alpine, should be no issues for anything.

As far as the new Alpines like the one you showed, they are all 100% made by Panasonic. Inside and out, 100% Pana-freaking-sonic, and another part of the riddle of why Panasonic quit making car audio.

Except for the stupid blue lights, I love them.

Luke

Luke,

just to add to your comment above.

In Europe we have the basic same HU, but it comes in several colors :

http://www.alpine-electronics.fr/p/Products/cd-head-units19/cde-170r_cde-170rm_cde-170rr

No goofy blue square button. comes with CD player.
I consider the amber one in my E30.
It has 2 RCA out as well, and cost only around 70-80 euros here.

Cheers
Pierre

[aaron325ix]

well, it looks like the problem has fixed itself. I took the RCA's off the amp to measure resistance to see if maybe the fuse in the deck had blown. Put the RCA's back on the amp and no noise.. Doesnt make sense to me but I'll take it.

sure glad i didnt pull that sub rca and rerun it.

[aaron325ix]

jeebus, talk about a rush job!

lol the wires have been cleaned up a little since pic was taken. I do need to get a proper Luke amp rack.

[bangn]

jeebus, talk about a rush job!

[StereoInstaller1]

I was hoping you wouldn't say that..

As far as the amps, the grounds both splice into a bigger ground (should I be using a distribution block instead?), which goes directly to the same ground that the battery grounds. Lets see if I can get a pic of it...


you can see the grounds from the amps going into the larger grey cable in the lower right corner

Damn I wish you were still in Oregon Luke. I'll be in Portland in a couple weeks and it would be great to have you sort out my system.

I am in PDX frequently...but you could buy a new amp for way less than I charge to work on cars....LOL.

Lets spend a little time diagnosing what is happening. You know what to do first...go buy a new cable and run it up the left!

LOL

Luke

[aaron325ix]

Oh man..you might get to fix that. Pull that sub cable out and run it up the left.

Lots of guys here talking about grounding, so lets talk about that for just one minute. It is imperative that all components use the same ground point.

The ole "ground as close as possible" does not apply to car with rear batteries BTW. I HIGHLY recommend using with either the battery itself or the stock body ground point as the best possible ground points (sorry, "Earth" for the UK peeps)

My recommendation is run 2 hunks of nice fat 4GA from the point at which the car is grounded (yes, that strap behind the battery) to each amp.

BTW, if your deck is using the stock ground wire it is a likely excellent ground. Test it anyway, but it is likely good.

Don't forget decks can die too, Pioneer and Kenwood both commonly fail causing huge alternator whine. A quick test to check for that is if you get a big POP when changing stations or a weird whirring noise when changing tracks on a CD.

If you follow everything that has been written so far here and you still have noise, post your tests and the results. This is R3V, we will get your shit proper...but first, I mean VERY fucking first, get that RCA running up the left.

Luke

I was hoping you wouldn't say that..

As far as the amps, the grounds both splice into a bigger ground (should I be using a distribution block instead?), which goes directly to the same ground that the battery grounds. Lets see if I can get a pic of it...


you can see the grounds from the amps going into the larger grey cable in the lower right corner

Damn I wish you were still in Oregon Luke. I'll be in Portland in a couple weeks and it would be great to have you sort out my system.

[StereoInstaller1]

^ I'm going to try that when i get home.

I'll have to take a look at how everything is wired up. My RCA's (front and rear) go down the left side of the car. The sub RCA is the only one that goes down the right side. Battery is in trunk of course. the HU is grounded to a ground point under the steering column.

Oh man..you might get to fix that. Pull that sub cable out and run it up the left.

Lots of guys here talking about grounding, so lets talk about that for just one minute. It is imperative that all components use the same ground point.

The ole "ground as close as possible" does not apply to car with rear batteries BTW. I HIGHLY recommend using with either the battery itself or the stock body ground point as the best possible ground points (sorry, "Earth" for the UK peeps)

My recommendation is run 2 hunks of nice fat 4GA from the point at which the car is grounded (yes, that strap behind the battery) to each amp.

BTW, if your deck is using the stock ground wire it is a likely excellent ground. Test it anyway, but it is likely good.

Don't forget decks can die too, Pioneer and Kenwood both commonly fail causing huge alternator whine. A quick test to check for that is if you get a big POP when changing stations or a weird whirring noise when changing tracks on a CD.

If you follow everything that has been written so far here and you still have noise, post your tests and the results. This is R3V, we will get your shit proper...but first, I mean VERY fucking first, get that RCA running up the left.

Luke

[kung fu jesus]

I installed this JVC into my wifes '99 Miata this pst month:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDX80BT/JVC-KD-X80BT.html

I have a cheaper, previous version installed in my '92 miata and '02 RSX DD. I like the features for the price. It works great with either of our smart phones (android for her, iP5 for me). Because we both drive a bit for seeing clients we both take calls while on the road, the handsfree works great. It works great with Google maps turn-by-turn directions as the instructions are read over the stereo system. The mic is adjustable and really does a nice job cancelling most noise. I paired my wife's with a 300w amplifier and 8" Blaupunkt components in the doors only and it is quite good, even with the top down on the freeway. The interface is pretty intuitive and much better than the ones I have in my vehicles. I am no audiophile, but I love media-based headunits over CD players. I will be looking at another for my e30.

[mthaynes]

Here is my preference.