[Micro1394]

As a birthday present to myself today, I decided to upgrade my Elise's head unit.

I'm considering these two units and wanted to see if anyone had opinions on either. Mainly I wanted BT that works with Android, XM radio compatibility, clean sound output, and rear AUX is a big bonus. Opinions on differing units are okay too!

Alpine CDE-HD149BT
Alpine CDE-HD149BT CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

and

Kenwood Excelon KDC-X998

Kenwood Excelon KDC-X998 CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Currently I have OEM size JBL speakers but will be uprating to 6.5 rear and 5.25 front Hertz when I find a set of front speaker rings that will fit.

I am also considering an Alpine power pack, rather then run a full size 4 channel amp. Thoughts on those guys?

Thanks.

 

[KWYK]

IM RUNNING AN Alpine CDE-HD153BT in the exige,in fact all my cars run Alpine
Very happy with the quality and bluetooth features on Alpine
Kenwood i wouldnt bother with ,had a few in the past,wasnt happy with either the quality or features ,binned most of them

Alpine power pack is useless,dont waste your money,either buy a proper amp (eg pdx) or dont bother
Plenty of reviews online about the powerpack ,check them out

 

[gooberschnot]

Look at my sig for my rig you can put a usb stick inside or ipod...no need for cd, plus you dont have to store any cds in the car.

Cd slot= antiquated tech IMO

Info here cop and paste link manually if it doesnt work

discover.store.sony.com/mobileaudio/receivers/dsx-s310btx.html

 

[SLKado]

Went through the exact same problem. I ended up buying the: Alpine CDE-SXM145BT. Has built in bluetooth and SiriusXM (no additional boxes needed). Very easy, does the job, not too flashy.

 

[Micro1394]

Qwikk - That is a nice looking unit with the exception of single line display, how is it for sunlight viewing? Does the screen wash out terribly? And I did look at reviews on the power pack, for the most part they were positive so it seemed like a nifty add-on that isn't too heavy and saves a few hundred dollars vs. buying a PDX. I would like a sub later on, like an 8", so maybe I'll hold off for a PDX-V9 down the road.

Goober - I personally do not like sony (bad experiences in the past). As for getting a digital media receiver, I'm not against them, but having a CD slot is still convenient as I still own numerous CD's. May as well make use of them I feel. One bonus to DMR units is larger screen real estate which is nice and opens options for LCD displays that are back-up cam compatible.

SLKado - Not a bad looking unit but the display isn't multi-line like the first one. Looks like it will only display one piece of info at a time.

Thanks for the thoughts so far. As for brand wars. It seems all the companies that used to be considered top end have their functionality issues with their flag ship stuff. Back in the day it used to be easy to choose the "best", Kenwood, Alpine, Eclipse, Diamond, etc, were sure bets. Kind of sucks to see so many negative reviews on the big boys.

What the hell happened to Eclipse anyways?

 

[gooberschnot]

Im with you, im not a sony fan, but the sound and power is clean. Since I am using an external amp to drive all 5 channels, the head unit is basically a preamp. If you are doing the same then head unit power should not be a concern. I used to develop speaker docks so I am not just speaking on my tastes. The bluetooth connects quick, and it has internal and external usb to power or play. I also have a lot of cds. I use them on my other cars. Thumbdrives are are getting cheaper with gb of capacity. You can practically hold all the music you need on one.

 

[KWYK]

Qwikk - That is a nice looking unit with the exception of single line display, how is it for sunlight viewing? Does the screen wash out terribly? And I did look at reviews on the power pack, for the most part they were positive so it seemed like a nifty add-on that isn't too heavy and saves a few hundred dollars vs. buying a PDX. I would like a sub later on, like an 8", so maybe I'll hold off for a PDX-V9 down the road.

headunit display text doesnt matter,the ipod is the display ,as its bluetooth you can control via the ipod or the headunit or both
I have music videos bluetoothed to the headunit and running visual on landscape mode on the ipod
i just have a kenu airframe on the vent holding the ipod ,works perfect
Kenu Airframe - Kenu

with bluetooth technology,you may as well throw cds in with grandpas vinyl collection