head unit

An Eclipse is a good cd player and does not sell at the same price as the average meat and potatoes cd players do. Expect them to be more expensive than the garden variety. Eclipse is not built to hit the price point, they are built to sound good. Much like Denon and Nakamichi as well. The other lines out there are built to hit the price point. Find an Eclipse dealer and get yourself a good deal. Just because the Eclipse is more expensive does not mean that you are getting bum raped on it, it costs more at dealer cost, thus the selling price is higher. Most dealers actually make less money selling an Eclipse cd player due to lower markup as compared to the average Joe's of the audio world. Where in Dallas, send me a plane ticket and I'll find a dealer for you. I need a road trip.

You can find Nakamichi CD400, similar high quality sound, all over the place online.  ~$300. 

On Eclipse, I really wanted one myself, so I called around and asked if they had any old models they were trying to get rid of.  I found my deck for $350 w/ installation because it does not have the mp3 or new auto adjust features like the 8454.  They cleared out some inventory and I got a great deal on a high quality deck.  Call around and don't be afraid to ask for the old model.