I was looking at this head unit too and was wondering if panasonic even makes a decent product for car audio. This deck claims to produce 70 x 4 watts peak and 60 x 4 watts rms, that seems a little far fetched. Has anyone owned a panasonic period and what is your guys' take on panasonic in general for car audio.
they make a good little unit.... one thing to consider is that any of these HU's that have lots of built in power also generate a lot of heat .... this effects the APC circuit of many optical pickups and you may find them skipping like heck or not playing discs (shutting down thermally ) during extended driving periods ( like on a highway drive when you need it most )..... i tend to recommend a separate outboard amplifier for these reasons....
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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer
Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979
Being a Panasonic dealer, i have to put my $.02 in. The new lineup is awesome! They have been making solid units for the last 3 years i've carried them.
And contrary to what kgerry had to say, this radio will NOT generate a lot of heat. This is due to their new DIGITAL amp design. I'll agree that MOS-FET type amplifiers are very inefficient and get hot, but not this one.
I'd go for it !!!
Panasonic is a VERY good radio I have been selling and installing them for 10 yrs
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MECP Certified
Panasonic makes ok head-units but i've seen annoying problems occur on them. Stratusfear69 is correct, the digital chip will produce barely any heat (that is why blaupunkt used a plastic cover on their digital class T amps).
i iwsh i did.... i got a JVC b/c the store was all out of the 9800 i wanted....damn basterds...but any way..after seeing my buddies 9800 ... im bout to sell me JVC and get what i wanted......slick little POA