looking for a good 2 din multimedia unit

Ok, so piece by piece I am planning a new stereo install for my next car, I am going to begin putting money aside for it...

First up, I cannot "listen for yourself" - the local stores only carry low-end merchandise at heavily inflated prices. I will most likely be importing or special ordering everything for the install.

I therefore need all the help I can get from you guys.

I have only a vague idea of what I will do for the rest of the system so far, so I'll begin with confirming the head unit first.

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I am looking for a 2-din multimedia touchscreen unit, and my priorities are:

- Good ipod functionality & navigation of the head unit. My cda-9887 is terrible for navigating the ipod library. It is impossible with such a large library to "just find an artist/song" and play it. I hate my head unit for this reason. It is ESSENTIAL that library browsing is easy and quick to navigate, and that the other functions on the unit are easy to navigate and simple to use.

- Decent RCA pre-outs levels (for feeding good sound quality to separate amps). A good signal/noise ratio is also preferred. Main use for the head unit will still be a SQ head unit system - I don't intend to watch many DVD's or do much with GPS navigation - my focus is on sound.

- A large & clear touchscreen (6.5" or 7" preferred) with decent resolution - cheap blurry screens are not OK. AV-in for reversing camera/other source would also be nice.

Units that I currently have my eye on are:

Alpine IVA-W502EV

Alpine IVA-W203

Clarion VX709

Clarion NX409

Eclipse AVN6620

I am not really familiar with who else makes decent 2-din receivers - at the moment I'm leaning towards the Alpine IVA-W203 or maybe the IVA-W502 (if I can stretch the budget to it) as the Imprint seems like a good idea (haven't tried it on my 9887 yet, will get around to it).

Can anyone recommend one or the other? any input on other brands or units?

Thanks in advance.

Just bumped into the JVC KW-AVX830:

It has 5 volt pre-outs, which would be better for sound quality - but the signal/noise is only 80db... It's also cheaper than the Alpine by a mile. What's the go with this???

Eclipse has recently exited the consumer car audio market.  I am sure that they will support and warranty their products for the year or 2 that they offer.  But after that there may not be much you could do with a broken unit.  About the JVC being so much cheaper, remember you get what you pay for.

Eclipse has MOSTLY but not completely exited the consumer car audio market. The double din navigation units and accessories are going to remain in the line up for this year and next. There will then be a rebranding of the line back to Fujitsu Ten from the news I have been told. The Eclipse units are solid performers, find a AVN726e model if you can.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

Check out the Kenwood DNX9140. I have last years DDX8120 and love it. Been a great piece.

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Wow, thanks for the help

If Eclipse are discontinuing their car audio lines, would you guys expect the market price of their units to go up, or down? Being top-quality units, I'd have thought the demand will still be around, but the supply is dropping... so the prices would go up in a basic economic sense, right?

I looked into the AVN726EA... 5 volt pre-outs with s/n of 88/90/94 (cd/dvd/usb)... I think this one is a winner.

Kenwood's DNX9960 also has 5 volt preamps, but they do not list any technical specs for their units ... I'll try and find out some more about them.

The AVN726e will be in production for the next 2 years, it is not going anywhere. It is and will continue to be an in demand item.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

I've worked with Clarion head units for the past 10 years. The VX709 would be a good choice for using an IPOD. When your IPODs plugged in the scroll wheel comes up on your touch screen making usage exactly as if it were in your hands and you were using headphones. The NX409 might be overkill if your not looking for a navigation system and give you some extra cash you could use elsewhere. If you are looking for a navigation system the VX709 would still work, you would just need the NAX980HD. If you are looking for a good deal these might be the way to go since they are 2009 models.