Head Units

Everything is helpful. The great thing about this forum is everyone helps everyone to the extent of which they can. I for one appreciate everything I have gained from this site and the people responding to the forums.

There is alot of really good brands in the industry, why I recommend Eclipse is simple. At the end of the day after wading through all the BS about "specs", the Eclipse is a solid performer that is backed up by a great warranty and theft deterrent system. Alpine is probably my second choice of a head unit and I don't sell Alpine.Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

It depends what you are using the head unit for. If it is for a system, i would go with Alpine. They have nice features such as bass boost, sub level and a nice mp3 file search button on the newer models. However, with so many features, it is hard to get the hang of using them and knowing what all the features do. Eclipse is more of a simple head unit that is nice if you are just wiring full range speakers and no external amp. That is just my opinion, but for 300 big ones, you can get a real nice alpine, CDA-9807, would be the choice i would pick. Eclpise also tends to be more expensive for comparable features found in alpine.

I would say the Eclipse 8443 for around $350 to $400 depending on where you are.  Nice tight unit, exceptional quality.  But finding a dealer can be bothersome in some areas.