Hey fallaz, I bought a CD8454 about a year ago cause it was the best on the market and had 8v pre-out. I couldn't be more happy with the sound of this unit. My only dillemma right now is that it's broken (someone tried to steal it and failed). Somehow the people stealing it managed to do something that now prevents a disc from feeding in all the way, it hits the CD spindle which i'm guessing is suppose to be lower than it is. That means i will try to have eclipse service it but I may end up getting a new head unit too. I bought my CD8454 from cartoys and now they don't carry Eclipse. They say they have taken a turn for the worse in quality, but there may be more to it than that. The CD5000 has about the same specs as the CD8454 did, satellite radio, mechanical face, 8v pre-out, 11 band EQ, memory stick etc. Can anyone verify that the CD5000 is in some way less good than my CD8454? And is this rummor about eclipse getting bad true and in what ways with reguard to the CD5000.