New Deck For My Truck
 

I am going to buy a new cd player for my truck and I wanted to get some oponions on what brand I should buy.

I have been looking at the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X969.

SO what do you guys think?

I have a pioneer in my truck. i like it. it has never given me a problem. it also depends on what you are doing with it. are you putting a full fledges system in your truck? or just a deck to the original speakers?

Pioneer Premier - looks awesome and sounds incredible. Makes crappy speakers sound good (my car)

Nice choice, I've got the 869 in my Ram, it's really sweet.

Pioneer makes a good H/U. I use the 7300 in my car, and it sounds nice, and has the features I need. The Premier line is overpriced. Kenwood Excelon is high priced relatively speaking as well, but actually has an improvement over the "normal" stuff. Just stay away from Sony, and you'll be OK.

In regards to your specific choice...looks nice. I would actually look at the 'x869, as it seems to offer most of the same features, just a different control panel. Actually, the only thing the 'X869 won't do that the 'X969 will is WMA files. If those are THAT important, then that's fine, but I know I'd save the $120, and use the MP3 format.

Kenwood Excelon KDC-869:
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/pro...KDCX869-f.jpeg

Kenwood Excelon KDC-969:
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/pro...9-f_green.jpeg

I just got the new Crutchfield catalog tonight, and was looking through it. I'm not a big fan of Alpine, but their CDA-9815 look sharp, and has a strong built-in amp.

Aline CDA-9815:
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/pro...cda9815-f.jpeg

I used this model, as it fits the price point of the Kenwood you mentioned. There is a really nice step up, but at $800, it may be out of your price range. Clarion Pro Audio is good stuff as well. They don't have anything at the $480 price point, it's either $400, or $550. Neither one strike my fancy in appearance, but the $550 unit does have Dolby Pro-Logic II.

Clarion Pro-Audio DXZ935:
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/pro...0DXZ935-f.jpeg

Car stereo stuff can be fun...and addicting. How far do you plan to take the system? You gonna add amps and subs later, or what's the plan there? Good luck, and have fun.

My plan is to buy the deck and then with the next few paychecks buy an amp and some subs, I just dont know what brands are good quality and what not.

The thing that might be expensive is I wound like to get the subs mounted in my doors, if thats even possible.

I got a for door extended cab and I dont want to lose the back seats.

I plan on spending between $1000-$1500.

Thanks for the quick replys.

What kind of truck do you have? Crutchfield has some custom enclosures that fit a pair of subs AND the amp under the rear seats. You even gain a cupholder.

yeah, my buddy just put a pair of 12" subs under the seats in his dodge ram. they sound amazing.

Good speakers for your money are...


JL audio - these speakers, have the most clean crisp sound i have heard out of most speakers that are within a normal budget.

the Alpine's are great as well, they have a thick foam outer edge and are very very loud, just not as clear as the JL's

I had a pair of kenwoods. they were okay, but i would not suggest them, and as already said, STAY AWAY FROM SONY!!!

IMHO - a recap on the deck's. if you CAN afford a clarion deck, do it! they are worth every penny, especially if you like eye candy. they sound great and have all the bells and whistles...

hell.. the clarion that i had had an attatchment for my cellphone so that whenever it rang the music would mute or pause(whichever you set it to) and your phone would ring through the speakers in your car(you can set the volume it does that as well)


Now. as far as Amp's go...

i ALWAYS suggest Zapco, they are an amazing company and they have amazing WATT area's
dont believe all these companies that say they are 1200W and 800W BullSHIT!

get an amp that tells you RMS (Root Mean Squared) is a measure of the amp's ability to supply clean power over a continuous period. This rating is important because it is used to indicate the realistic power handling capability of a speaker. Ideally, the RMS ratings for the amp and for the speaker should be similar.

Zapco, Rockford Fosgate, both GREAT companies... do a little research...

the best thing you can do is walk into a car audio store and pretend like you are about to spend 8 grand on a system. they will tell you EVERYTHING you should know. (ignore the bullshit they feed you about how you NEED 500 Watts to power 2 12" subs)

to power 2 12"subs properly you only need about 300 - 350 watts

UNLESS you really wanna be heard 3 blocks away and be hated by all your neighbours. but then you gotta go spend money on better speakers that are capeable of withstanding that kind of abuse...

after subs you will find you will need tweeters, mids blah blah blah... we will get into that once you realize you need these things... but your Truck speakers will be fine if you stick to a moderate system. if you go overboard when buying subs you will find the rest of your speakers are not good enough for you.

so.. lesson learned, the less money youu spend, the less money you will HAVE to spend.

any more questions... just ask :)

Alpine makes awesome decks. I have a CDA 7995 in my car and love it. As far as subs and the rest of your system goes. I have been one of the BIGGEST fans of JL Audio. I had a rockin' W7 system in my car just a few months ago and sniveled like a child when it had to come out. Now there is a full Alpine system in there. I will say that I am quite impressed with their Type R subs. They don't go as naturally deep as my W7's but for $200 retail, I can't complain. Alpine Type S subs are very reasonably priced, like $120 for a 12", and they aren't too hard to push. I would go with 2 Type S 12's on an Alpine MRP-M350 amp, and you'll be rockin in no time. You should have plenty of scratch left over to replace the factory speakers too.

Best of luck to thee.

Eclipse

nobody steals those

and they kick ass

mine is only 44 watts (more than a few years old) and it is still kicking ass with my other 'attachments'

I've decided on the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X869 (I dont need my cdplayer to play wma). I'll be buying the first part of next month.

Next question how easy is it to install? should I go ahead and have some one do it for me or is it easy enough that I can figure out how to install it?

Its Really easy, you STILL havent told us what kind of truck. i know Dodge and chevy like to make it a bitch, actually come to think of it, so do the new fords... you will have to bu a mounting kit as well as a harness. each are 20$ canadian.

it comes with instructions, if you have half a brain you can figure it out.

otherwise, pay a guy 70-90$ plus parts to install it for ya


believe me, i did it right MY first time, ure was easy, all the wired are colour coded and the harness just plugs RIGHT into your existing plus in the back of your stock deck, the only tricky part is figuring out how to get your stock deck out of your truck without damaging its surroundings :D

I have a 2002 Ford Ranger.

If you get the stuff from Crutchfield, they supply you with the mounting kit, and wiring harness for free. You don't have to pay tax, unless you live in VA, and shipping is reasonable. They also give you vehicle specific instructions. Very good place to do business with.

JVC is the way to go if you want a good deck that wont break the bank... Their ~$100 options from www.ikesound.com, but if you are looking for something with multiple preouts and additional options take a look at either Alpine or Eclipse. I had a 5441i deck in my Jeep for a while, and that thing could play the crappiest, most scratched CD's ever. It was great. That's an eclipse deck btw. Anyway, I think that a good thing to do is go to your local retailer and check out their decks, then order the one you like best online, that way you get to play with the deck, try everything out and make sure there are no stupid things that annoy you and will make you regret the purchase. Stuff like EQ settings, volume control type (i like knobs better than buttons) and even the resistance each of the buttons has to being pressed. I hate the cheap feeling plastic buttons and prefer the rubber type ones, etc. Eric

So true....I've never been happy with any of sony's car audio products made within the plast few years.

Re: New Deck For My Truck
 

I got a Kenwood also....almost same make.....good deck, I have always liked Kenwood.

I put the 869 into my Ram, very easy, literally took me maybe 15 minutes.

Pioneer Premier DEH-P850
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pi...P850MP_big.jpg

i got one for my car and it rox for many reasons
a. the preouts on it are better than most other decks resulting in better sound quality

b. it looks cool, and it plays mp3/wma

c. did i mention it looks cool? :D

I am going to have to agree with arcane on this one. I had the previous model year of the Pioneer DEH-8400MP it has a ton of features. Strong preouts, and it looks awesome. Every cd player should come with a dual motorized face for it. I recently bought a new car so that one is gone with the old car, so now i have decided after careful delegation to go with a clarion dvd player. But thats just me. I reccomend Etronics.com for H/U's.


mysterhe

It may be a mystery but you know its a guy