Audio Head Unit Reputatione

[snshami]

Hi this is a simple poll. What's your head unit brand of choice for your beloved MX-5

[barfridge]

Out of that list I voted Alpine, but Eclipse is also worth a look. I find Alpine to be really good quality, but am not that much of a fan of their aesthetics and layout.

[Jeo]

Pick by features, usability, and cost; brand is practically useless.

It's like trying to argue that Holden is *better* than Mercedes because a Statesman is better equipped than an A-Class

[Entice]

NAKAMICHI

[project.r.racing]

Eclipse?
Panasonic?
Blaupunkt?
Jensen?
Other?

Poll is pretty poor with highly common consumer brands not listed. Enough with the polls already!

[snshami]

NAKAMICHI

I have never seen Nakamichi here. They would certainly be my favourite.

[Entice]

I had a Nakamichi CD45 in my 99NB8A... a very, very nuce deck, and understated.

AFAIK they are still available locally.

[lee]

I bought a Kenwood KDC-X8016BT for mine. It does look a bit flashy, but I make sure I take the face plate off when I'm in a rough area. It works great for me; it has a CD player behind the face plate, Bluetooth for hands-free calls, and a USB port at the back. I've wired a USB to iPod dock cable though the centre console into the glove box so I can have my iPhone in there.

It's on the expensive side of the market, but it works a treat for me.

[mazdatenfive]

Ferris?

[SuperMazdaKart]

Not Sony. Having issues with a Sony Xplod one at the moment, although in it's defense it is quite old by now & was a DIY home hack install from a prior owner.

Not Sound4 either lol.

[slimx]

Nakamichi
to rare, the girls dont know it.. nither do alot of the boys, people that see it will assume your a cheap case. They are CRAZY in quality but dont look very nice.

Bose
Stock..

Pioneer
Wide range, Great SPEED in response time, change a song takes 1 second, make sure u grab a HIGH END unit something with a really quick processor. Dont give a sh*t about watts, in pioneer only things that are important is how many RCA outs it has cause pioneers are very well known for WINDING NOISE in future. So you want to be able to swap over RCA ports.
DVD Decks, Pioneer is the way to go, there the best in the business you could say VALUE FOR MONEY, there the cheapest and best quality.

BEST WARRANTY (from my OWN EXPERIENCE) waited 1 DAY, they DIDNT fix the issue, so they REPLACED my deck. maybe i just got lucky.

KENWOOD
there LOW END cheap ass headunits are very reliable, tend to be very plastically, slow response times, sh*t processors, but they come with every feature alive for the cheapest price. Horrible warranty/repair/service (6 weeks wait MINIMUM). Blue lights : you got the good one, RED lights : you got the sh*t one.

SINGLE DIN flip out decks, are probably the most value packed by KENWOOD, for $1600 you can get the one of the best units on the market with every feature alive. Where as a PIONEER or SONY deck would be $1800-2000 for the same features.

Sony XPLOD
Single DIN normal head units, they are the BEST looking in deed, SONY is loOKS, they have crap EQ very sh*t design, it distorts, so NEEDS AN AMP to run. DONT PUT A SONY AMP there even SHITTER.
Sony looks the best, if u want looks def. go for them, A little over priced in my opinion

JVC
RIP OFF PRICE, but the best.
They are always first to release things, first TOUCH SCREN single DIN was made by them, first INBUILT AMP and EQ was JVC etc..
JVC is high quality but not for LOUDNESS, they have great EQ, extremely accurate and very customizable.
Not value for money though OVER PRICED

Alpine
this is the most expensive brand, they have built a name over the years. Head units they have the fastest response, but the slowest startup. They are prone to future problems however when they are brand new they're the best. So just avoid second hand i guess.


These are all based on my own experiences. I havent had any of the other brands. I've had an EONON head unit. that fake sh*t ass ebay brand, honestly its quite good. But not 4 convertibles (the SCREEN MELTS) lol