Which Car Stereo Head Unit is Best

[GAbOS]

Unfortunately quality changes vastly over the years with any manufacturer. It's a pretty bold statement that Everyone hates a particular brand though. I wish I still had my old school Clarion Pro HU's. Those things were the best I've ever heard. Had zero options because they put every dime into the sound.

I currently have a Kenwood Excelon series that is the tits.

[StereoInstaller1]

Basically what it comes down to is this: there is a tremendous amount of competition is what has become a very difficult market to maintain market share in.

Bummer for the manufacturers, great news for the consumer.

Pretty much all decks today have incredible features and performance for very little money.

Personally, I have yet to find a deck that does everything well or has all of the features I would like, so to me, it is a matter of deciding which is least objectionable.

Now if there were a motorized face deck (visibility is greatly improved from my seating position when "tilted") that had 3 or 4 USB ports, dual-channel bluetooth and full 24 bit audio capability that played FLAC and Ogg Vorbis, did full-face color change and had a knob for volume and subwoofer level control I would jump on it...but those are my wants, not necessarily yours. Shoot, I don't even need a tuner, just give me a 4 line display and a logical file system with the ability to use say 80GB of music easily I would be 100% down.

Good luck on the hunt

Luke

[kung fu jesus]

Thanks so far. Oh, I forgot to mention that Bluetooth is a necessity, hands free driving these days is a must, and I refuse to be one of those people wearing an earpiece, lol.

I installed two different JVC headunits in my Miatas over the last 2-3 years. They were both mechless. The 50BT in my NA and the 80BT in my wife's NB. My NA was pretty loud inside with an uninsulated hardtop etc. The BT mic worked very well at picking up my voice and cancelling the background noise. I could speak so softly where I could barely hear myself over the car and people could hear and understand me just fine. My wife's HU is a bit more feature-rich and works just as well. She takes phone calls from her office on it quite often and likes how the system works for her. The ipod interface is pretty good as well.

The JVC units are a pretty good value and the BT features work well. I even installed a third in my daily driver I use for appointments (Acura). I use mine paired with my phone for turn-by-turn directions. All three had microphone adjustment menus in the interface. The color display options are also very nice.

[profbooty]

As a Electrical Engineer myself, I would hesitate calling oneself an engineer or offering engineering services to the public without a PE credential (or degree) as it may open yourself to legal troubles. Of course this depends on what jurisdiction you are in and the nature of one's actual profession, though it may be akin to putting an Esq. after your name and implying you can provide legal services.

Of course a technician with considerable experience may be considered a peer to an engineer (or may know far more and treated with due respect), but that doesn't matter in the eyes of the law.