Getting New Head Unit, need help

Compared to an Eclipse, no thank you. Even though a cd player has a built in amplifier that will not used does not mean that you should not consider it. Eclipse used to build their cd players with no built in amplifiers, the problem here was for the person that wanted to build their system up a step at a time and buy the right equipment, they could not use the cd player until they bought an amp. Over 90% of purchasers do not use a fully amplified system, for those of us that do, ignore the built in amp, it was not put there for us anyhow.

Eclipse uses a non clipping low impedence pre-out on all channels. This means that it makes the full voltage that it claims at 0db (full volume). It further means that with a properly amplified and adjusted system, the cd player will not send a clipped signal out to the amplifier. Eclipse is one of the few companies that build this type of pre-out, why, simple, it cost more $. Low impedence improves sound quality, however the tradeoff here is noise can enter a system relatively easy, to solve this, Eclipse again threw $ at it and solved the problem. Panasonic has a 5 volt 60 ohm cd player (actually more than 1) and side by side comparison to an Eclipse is not contest, the Eclipse plays cleaner, louder and will not clip.

Stay the HECK away from SONY! I never knew what I was missing until I swapped my top-o-the-line Sony for a real head unit. "Fisher Price" quality in comparison to Eclipse. If I were you, I would get an Alpine or an Eclipse. You won't be sorry.

I have noticed that there are quite a few of the refurbed kenwood  959's going through e-bay, so that would tell me that there is a definite problem with the model. Otherwise so many would not have been repaired. Always buy where you get a warranty, but having to send it in once or five times is not cool to me. If I pay good money for a product I want it to be good quality.

The Alpine CDA 7995 is VERY NICE. It was my second choice after the Eclipse.

Private message Forbidden and he will direct you to I think "BBERMAN1" who has the US Eclipse connection.

the CDA-9830 or the CDA-9831. Either of these would be good.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-1Ce7anyJHOg/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?s=0&c=3&g=300&I=500CDA9830&o=m&a=0&cc=01&avf=N

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-1Ce7anyJHOg/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?s=0&c=3&g=300&I=500CDA9831&o=m&a=0&cc=01&avf=N

If your serious, go for the cda-9835, you can change the display colours to about 100 different ways.  It has the alpine amp link where you can control up to 8 alpine digital amps right from the deck. ( by controling i mean, playing with the x-over, boost/cut, bass width, center frequencie, , , you can monitor the temps, voltage, amp draw, and so forth, or each individual amp)   It gives you the option of turning off the internal amp so you can put more of the power into shooting a clear signal out the rca's.   It has a dedicated non-fading sub pre out, and with that you can fully adjust the boost and cut of just the subs and only the subs at the push of a button and a turn of a knob.

I would go with the Eclipse if possible because of its sound quality. The alpine is a good alternative but the Eclipse is still better I think(unless you just want a ton of features). Really though turning off the internal amp will not give you a notice able difference in sound quality that you can hear.