alright, i've been reading older posts for the last hour trying to find insight on what headunit to pick up, but everything i read is contradicted by another post. hoped i didn't have to be the 10000th person to ask this.. but here it goes
I'm now looking at spending around 200 on a headunit, up 300 at most, but cheaper the better. The most important thing is sq for me and ipod cababilities w or w/o adapter. seems like pioneer or alpine is the way to go in this price range, but i can't narrow it down from all the mixed reviews. went to best buy and they said alpine is much more advanced in features and sq, but i know some of you would beg to differ.
a little help please?
oh yeah, right now i'm running stock(nonbose) in my 96 a4, i found an adapter that will allow me to hookup most units. i plan eventually replacing everything piece by piece(unit, fr and rr speakers, amp, and then throwning in a sub), starting with a headunit(to replace my tapedeck...)
Honestly, you can't go wrong with either Alpine or Pioneer; both are great units in that price range, both offer a lot of features and both have great SQ.
Alpine has always been a higher-end leader, but the Pioneer has better access to some of the most useful features (ie.: direct access to subwoofer control without going through menus...).
The best thing to do is demo them at the store and see which one "looks" and "feels" the best for you, and check the specs like how many pre outs and what voltage (most in this price range from both companies run about 2 volts but you can get Pioneer's Premiere brand versions with 4 volts out for about the same price as the non-Premiere versions).
A lot of the sales people and reviews will be colored by brand bias, but you can also read reviews on Amazon and such to get a view from those who have bought the units.
I personally grew up on Alpine and there was a time when Alpine = high-end while Pioneer = low to mid IMO. But now, I just bought the Pioneer 7700 and I LOVE this head unit more than any Alpine I've owned or compared it with. But that's me.
You can't really go wrong with either brand. Pick the one that "feels" best to you!
