Well, which one is better really? Clarion acts like a 6 disc CD changer with out the CD's, but Alpine has better tuning capabilites. Clarion only has 2 band EQ, Alpine has a 5 Band EQ. Since I am not going into competitions I really dont need all that tuning capabilites. So, what else is different about them? Any opinions from people who have used em both is appreciated, or anyone who knows their shizit. Or anyone with an opinion. I am leaning toward the Clarion myself.
OOOHHHH And the clarions's entire face goes red which matches my Bimmer interior! So that's a plus for me! The alpines buttons go red, that was about it
Um mate - your probably not getting many responeses as its seems that you haven't really looked at the alpine properly, its heaps better. In many ways.
Well mate, I looked at both of them and since I dont know anything about head units, they both seem the same. Except the Alpine doesnt have the colors I want. I need an extension for the Alpines input to get RCA's into it since I will be using the OmniFi system. The alpine has more tuning capabilities and more cross overs. The alpine has better screen savers (whoopideedoo). And I dont need CD's with the clarion if I use the music catcher thingy. Hence this post, asking proffesionals the actual differences since I can only read and half-way understand the manufactureers web site specifications. And I dont care about internal amps at all since I will be driving all my interior speakers with a nice Cliff Designs amp. So, is there any other differences that should sway me toward the Alpine?
The build quality - durability and general high quality of the Alpine would be enough for most people. The XO's are pretty good in the Alpine and will help alot with the final sound of the whole system. Truth be told the Alpine should give you a better final result becasue you can tune it to suite your setup perfectly. If the colours mean that much to you buy the Clarion - their both good units.
:-) Casey I can be a bit of a smart a$$ at times but I am serious about the HU's, Their both great units but I think the Alpine is a fair bit better, the MC function of the Clarion is a bit of a gimmic and won't work with CD-R or RW's which is pretty sad. Also its only 128 meg of storage for that function which is't that much either.
The layout of the Alpine is better as well and nobody seems to have probs with the buttons and such like they do with the Clarion. Still the Clarion is a nice unt and in the context of powering all of your speakers off amps and those amps possibly having some decent crossovers in them already (not sure, i don't know anything of those amps) then you can discount the excellent XO system in the Alpine.
If thats the case it just leaves you with a better screen that doesn't suffer from washout much at all, and a unit known to be of extremely high quality. If you feel that the Clarion is of the same quality or good enough for what you want and the screen will be in a position to not have to deal with much direct light, the color may very well be you main concern.
Yea, I am starting to lean towards the Alpine now. It is just a better head unit from what everyone says. I am not too worried about the music cathcer feature or the MC funstion because I will nreally never use CD's anymore. I am going to get the OmniFi system. I hate dealing with CD's now.
Casey, with that music catcher system, are you going to only be pushing MP3s through your system? If you spent all that money on those high quality audio components and you're just going to put low quality MP3s through instead of CD quality sound, that seems like a waste to me.
Kenwoods tend to be very unreliable. Casey, if you haven't looked into them yet (and haven't bought the 9835) look into the Eclipse 5444 and 8454, and also the Pioneer Premier units. Also, if you go Alpine, you can get the 9833 and have the exact same features, the only thing you lose is the biolite display and ipersonalize, and you save a hundred bucks..
I dont like the look/style of the eclipse, I have looked at them. I like the biolight display, it would be worth the extra dough to fork out for the 9835 to get the red lights.
As one member already mentioned in regards to the Kenwoods, their fairly (actually very) unreliable, and their reputation is nothing like that of the Alpine and Clarions. The Pioneer is not a bad sugestion but not as good in my opinion as the 9835. I own and use daily the 9835 and am glad I swallowed and tried the Bio-lite display and the extra config options over the 9831 and 9833. The 9835 is the way to go - you will love it.
It's all in what you like. Ergonomics and features are very important in a head unit, there is no sense in having a HU you have trouble using. I prefer the Eclipse units over the Alpines, of course the F#1 Status is an exception, but it's also $3,000 bucks retail. The 8454 offers 24 bit DACs, a 13 band graphic EQ, 5 band parametric, full crossovers, crossover function for active components, eIserv and many other features.
