How important are high voltage pre-outs as far as sq goes? I am looking at a bunch of different hu's right now, and I'm on a super tight budget. one of the units i was looking at was the alpine 9856 thats on sale from crutchfiled for $180 and of course the advantage of buying through them is the 30 bucks or so of intalation stuff that they send for free. Also the kenwood excelon kdc x590. Either will be connected to a 4 channel amp that will be powering some decent components from the 300-400 dollar range (Quarts, i think, but i dont remember which they are, buying from a friend for cheap)

My other options are the lower end offerings from eclipse that have 5v preouts, but i just dont like those.. their higher end stuff is great, i'm just not sure about the cd2000 or whatever it would end up being. I had heard Alpines are good for sound quality compared to others in the price range (like pioneer, and others)

What it boils down to is this:

Alpine 9856 or Kenwood Excelon KDC-X590

Alpine:
+better ipod integration
+better sq..? (i'm not sure about this)

Kenwood:
+way more features
+4v outs
+better equalizer controls
(and using the optional auxilliary input would be fine with me vs. the kenwood ipod integration that isnt as good..i wasnt sure about the alpine's either actually)

both are on sale for the same price of 180 bucks on crutchfield and i am planning on purchasing one or the other very soon. I just want some opinions-- i am leaning towards the kenwood after writing this, but if the alpine is significantly better in quality, which for some reason i thought it would be but i'm not sure why, then i will go for the alpine

any input is appreciated- thanks

 

another option: the kenwood excelon kdc x790..

this one is similar to the x590 but with the upgraded color display, g-analyzer (quirky, i know, but it sounds a little interesting) and an extra volt on the preouts, making it 5v, and (the biggest one as far as i'm concerned) it has a separate pair or auxillary outs besides the changer expansion plug, which would allow me to hook up the ipod interface and stil retain auxilliaries, as i often have frinds riding wiht me who have non-apple music players). its on sale for 250 from crutchfield after savings of 100 dollars.. any thoughts? worth the 70 bucks more?

 

Eclipse>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Alpine>>>>Kenwood

>'s are proportionally utilized.

 

haha thanks. does the "kenwood excelon" top kenwood at all? or just a name pretty much?

 

I've owned eclipses, alpines, pioneers, kenwoods, sonys, jvcs. the only ones i would ever buy again would be alpine and eclipse.

 

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.