best HU for under $200?

Based on your experiences what brand or specific head unit (@ least CD AM FM) is best? Power, skip protection, quality, appearance, and yes price are important. Keep it under $200 and be specific please. Everyone is invited to post just state your reasoning.

Thanx

i think that any LANZAR product will blow u away... and the price it great to

-Bergwin

Pioneer DEH-6500..Awesome head unit. I absolutely loved it. Great looking display, easy to use, good sq...all around great unit in my opinion. This can be had on ebay for $135 on buy it now for the refurbs. Definitely look into it. You wont be disapointed.

another good choice ... thanx for the tip

yeah, that clarion packe a lot of punch for the scrilla, but....

all the major manufacturers make "stripped down" models like the ones typically in your price range. after years of experience i have found that most customers will dramatically increase their satisfaction in the end result of a new system by carefully analyzing the benefit to cost ratio and spending just a little more, sometimes $20 makes all the difference in the world.  that said, i will make my recommendation of the kenwood excelon kdcx579!  this units got a lot of pluses like the clarion (three preouts w/ sub control, high pass and low pass crossovers) but also adds the sound quality of a 24 bit burrbrown DAC. thats the processor that takes the digital info from the disc and converts it to analog music we can hear.  you wont get the auxilliary input, but if this feature interests you, you could add the kenwood ca1aux adapter ($20) to create an  input from the changer control of the unit.  youll spend a few bucks more @ $239.99 MSRP from a dealer, or prob get a lower price on ebay.  but the difference tin that price is worth 40 or 50 bucks easy for all the service youll get from the dealer over the life of your new toy!

good luck on building up your system