# need advice from audiophiles



## 99.se.ltd (Jun 21, 2002)

from the unfortunate break-in incident a while back, i'm almost finished deciding how to use the big insurance check. 
i'll have roughly $1,300 to work with, and as much as i wanna throw it towards performance....i'm SICK of not have tunes in my car. i should have some left over tho....i hope. i have a pretty good hook up through a friend-of-a-friend, and here's the basics of what i'll be getting.

-i know i'm getting an alarm system (all sensors w/ trunk pop) $175 installed
-aftermarket replacements for all 4 factory speakers (unsure of what brand but i'll try not to scrimp)
-i've narrowed the HU choices down to 2, and THIS is where i need opinions and experiences
the Pioneer DEH-P8400MP, and the  Panasonic MXE CQ-DFX972U.

Here are the main differences:
-the Pioneer plays mp3/wma (edit: it DOES play cdr/rw)
-the Panasonic plays mp3/wma/cdr/rw
*does this mean i wouldn't be able to play any of my burned cd's on the pioneer?*

-pioneer has 4-volt front/rear/sub preamp outputs
-panasonic has 3 sets of 5-volt
*i assume they have the same amount of outputs, but is 4-volt a big diff. from 5-volt?*

-pioneer is 22 watts rms/50 peak x 4 channels
-panasonic is 25 watts rms/50 peak x 4 channels
*again, i assume the panasonic is better here too, but will i notice it?*

-pioneer-1 year warranty
-panasonic-2 year warranty

remember, i'm NOT an audio guy, i just want good looks AND good sound. i know if i just wanted sound quality i'd buy eclipse, but those don't look good. i haven't seen the panasonic operate yet, only on a shelf in a case....i have seen the pioneer, and i love the look of that one. (the EL display is smaller but takes the cool factor with the motorized front plate) there's a demo of the 3D dot matrix that's on the panasonic i want, and it looks great. i'm hoping to see it in a guy's car in a few days though. oh yeah....the pioneer is $550 in stores, but it's on ebay for $330, and the panasonic is $400 in stores, and $250-300 on ebay.
what do you guys think? any other suggestions?


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## SentraStyleEMW (Aug 15, 2002)

My vote would be for the Pioneer. I have never really been too impressed with the overall sound quality of a Panasonic unit yet. I am not saying the Panasonic is a bad unit...just not quite as good as far as SQ goes (in my opinion). The Pioneer will also give you so much more control over your music and is undoubtably much easier to use. You have to have an engineering degree to use some of the higher end Panasonic pieces.


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## cranium (Oct 8, 2002)

i would have said eclipse (thats what i run) but you put the disclamer in there about that. of your two choices i would pick the pioneer. had an old one and it was pretty good (abiet not as good in SQ as the eclipes though)but what ever floats your boat.


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## 91SR20DE (Nov 25, 2002)

I have the Pioneer, I love it. I previously had an Alpine, but for my tastes, it was far to harsh on the highs. Some questions you should probably ask yourself are "do I plan on running an amp to my mids/highs?", "Do I plan on adding a sub amp later?", "where will I draw the line at for crappy sound quality?" . The one volt different probably won't do you much good if your not into sound quality, it only really helps on keeping the amp signal clean. But all your really looking to do is have a cool looking radio, take a look at the Sonys in that price range, they're pretty nice and they play MP3s. For a little backround on me, I'm currently a Designer for Roush, but I did the car audio Installation thing for 4 years prior to me getting into my current line of work. If anybody has any car audio related qestions, I can pretty much answer it all. But my specialty is sub enclosure design, give me the specs and I'll get back to you with box dimensions AND every cut you need to assemble the thing. Hope this helped.


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## cranium (Oct 8, 2002)

> *But my specialty is sub enclosure design, give me the specs and I'll get back to you with box dimensions AND every cut you need to assemble the thing.*


BassBox Pro?


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## 91SR20DE (Nov 25, 2002)

Nope, good old fashioned experience and good use of math/physics.


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## cranium (Oct 8, 2002)

i know the physics of speakers but the equations i leave up to bassbox.


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## 91SR20DE (Nov 25, 2002)

aww, what fun is that?


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## cranium (Oct 8, 2002)

is not but when it comes to port length and dia. and how it effects frequency responce and excurtion then it get a little too complicated so i leave that up to bassbox.


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## 99.se.ltd (Jun 21, 2002)

bump

back on topic-----any other opinions?

the comments on this thread and the ones in the same thread on the sr20 forum are helping me realize that my first choise is probably the best one. (the Pioneer)


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## Binger (Aug 29, 2002)

Just remember, you get what you pay for, for something cheap I would go with the pioneer, I put one in my moms car and its not to bad. I like them because they have a lot of adjustability on the EQ


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