Looking to get a HU with good subwoofer controls and three preouts for less than $250. Don't really care for bells and whistles, just good sound. I will be using amps to power all my speakers so don't really care about power. Any recommendations are welcome.

 

Your thread title says >$250, which leaves a lot of options

Id vote for Eclipse. CD3000 for example. 5v preouts ftw, since your using external amps. Not many bells and whistles, great sound for a mainstream deck...subwoofer controls arent great but its still worth it.

 

Indeed.

 

greater than 250? theres many.... haha jk.

yeah eclipse, assuming you want a brand new unit.

 

Sorry, I was in a hurry. I meant less than $250. I would like to spend more but have to save money for front speakers. I've heard good and bad things about the Alpine CDA-9856. Would the Eclipse comparable be a better choice? I have an Eclipse EA4000 that I want to power some Rainbow SLC's.

 

Eclipse would **** on the alpine.

 

That would be a nice match up for ya. The CD3000 is my best selling mid level HU by far..

 

you will be happy with that setup, its exactly what i have.

alpine cda-9835
eclipse EA4000
Rainbow SLC comps

 

What I'm really interested in is subwoofer volume control. I looked at Eclipse's web site and could not find any information on this. Does the cd3000 have this option?

 

kenwood Kenwood KDC-MP5032, only like 200 and has 3 4 volt preout and sub control, you can step up to the 700 for 250 with an eq and a few more bells and whistles. Eclipse is a great unit, if money is not an object buy one of the high end units, but they dont offer a whole lot of features on the low end stuff

 

Okay. I think I've decided to go with either the cd3000 or cd5000. Is the cd5000 worth the extra cost? I'm on a budget and could use any advise out there. Like I said earlier, I'm mainly concerned with sound quality and subwoofer control.
Is the time alignment function useful. The 8v preout is a bonus. Anything else to consider?

 

Youll be fine with the CD3000, expecially with the 5000 being about double in cost and you most likely wont utilize all of the offerings it has.

 

my friend got a pioneer deh-p740mp for his accord and it sounds great. My girlfriend has a kenwood x480 and it sounds pretty good too