alpine or eclipse & random question

Im finally picking out my new headunit to order, and I was going to get the "CDA-9827" model for $260 plus whatever s&h costs, straight from alpine1.com, but numerous people told me to check out the Eclipse headunits instead. I just want to get some extra feedback before finally deciding. Would you choose the alpine cda-9827 or an eclipse headunit. if you choose the eclipse, can you give me a link to their products? i want to get the best that will give me better sound, or will I win either way? I know alot of people are concerned with the preout volts, and the 9827 is "3 PreOuts (4 V PreOut)". Is that good? Any tips would be gladly appreciated. I don't want to spend over $400 on a headunit, since my stuff is for daily driving only.

Last but not least, this question has to do with a friend. he doesnt have internet, so i told him i'd ask for him. he's got pioneer door speakers (not sure what model) and if you turn the volume up so far on the headunit, the sound cuts out and all you hear is static. he said it just started doing it today. could it be the headunit going bad or a loose wire or wires touching on one of the speakers? I told him to check the wires on the speakers, but I wanted to ask first to make sure, so I can have reasonable info to give him.

thanks

you got a link to eclipse products? or any certain kind that's worth the money?

Plus, anyone got a sollution to the 2nd problem my friend has?

Eclipse's website is www.eclipse-web.com

I'm back, and I have some more info and questions to ask you guys. About my friend's headunit, and the static. We checked the wires behind the headunit, took the door panels off, checked the speakers and the speaker wires. So I sold him my old Pioneer speakers and we installed them, and the static was gone. So we figured it was the bad wiring or bad speakers. Then yesterday the static is back, and it's even worse than before. Here's what happens and when the static starts, maybe some of you might know the problem. I'm guessing his headunit is going bad, but I'm not a pro about this.

The static only starts when the bass hits. Now, what I was thinking, if it was the hu, wouldn't all the subs be static, too? Or not? If you turn the volume up so far the static starts, but if it's down low, to where you can barely hear it, the static stops. But you can turn it up full blast when it's just words (like the beginning of a song where it's just talking) it sounds loud and clear, but once the beat/bass hits, it's static and the music from the door speakers shuts off and static starts, but the subs still pound. But sometimes he can turn it up a little ways and no static, only for a few seconds, or minutes if he's lucky.

Now, does it sound like a bad headunit? Or does it sound like something else, like a bad wire? But we checked the wires and they didn't make the static stop. Any ideas of what else we can check into? Thanks again for helping.

I've thought this one over today while working, and I'm with Rob on that.  Not necessarily a bad head unit, but one that is being driven to too loud a level and into clipping.  And it sounds like there is some bass boost being employed, too.  Could it be that your friend is expecting more out of a deck than it is able to give?

I think the "static" noise is most likely distortion of the cone caused by clipped signal.  Remove any bass boost control, and adjust crossover on the deck (if there is one) to attenuate bass below about 80 Hz.  And we don't know RMS of the door speakers he is using.  Is that something you can find out?

(My post hit after yours, kgerry, but it reads that the static noise is not intermittent but consistent with the bass...)

Well, here's the thing. The hu is old. few years old. so it's pretty much wore out, but the static never happened the whole time he had it, till last week or so, it started. i remember we had the volume up to 27 (goes to 40) and it sound really good, but now you're lucky to get it over 22 without hearing static. It doesn't static all the time, just once you play it for about 2 minutes or so then static starts. If you turn the bass down the static stops, (but the subs don't hit as hard, where it's kind of pointless having subs and amp if you can't hear them) then you can turn it up a little more. But, the bass has always been on number "3" on the hu (it goes to 12) and no problems before. just recently. it did it to the old speakers and the ones he bought off me (that were basically brand new). So it can't be the speakers. So him overpowering the HU isn't the problem, when he had it on the same settings before, and nothing happened, lasted years like it, just recently it statics.

Hopefully this helped a little. Any more advice or ideas? Thanks again

Oh, I didn't realize there were amps and subs involved, too.  No noise at the subs?  Try running new speaker wire, and try it first without actually "installing" it) after disconnecting the original wire.  Are these speakers run off an amp, or off the head unit and just the subs off an amp?

the way i read this the "distortion" is only heard on your satellite speakers... yes or no?   not on the sub/pre outs? yes or no?

since you've replaced the speakers with the same result, that tends to leave a problem in the HU after the pre/outs and before the actual speakers... i wouldnt suspect a "wire" problem ( although for the 3 minutes it takes i would meter them for any shorts or pinches to ground ) this leaves you with my first suggestion of a intermittent connection/cold solder connection in the HU or a problem in the internal O/P stage itself......

unless i'm totally reading something wrong here... and god, that's been known to happen.....

have you noticed any type of a temperature correlation?  like the problem is worse when the unit is cold.. or is ok until the unit heats up a bit??

speakers are ran off the hu and subs off the amp. static starts all the time, when it's cold and when it heats up.

and no noise at the subs, subs still sound good. and i dont believe the speakers are distorting, when the volume isn't even up all the way on the hu. it's on 21 when it goes to 40. you can barely hear anything.

the way I see it. It can't be the wires, if it were, then the static would stay the whole time even if you have the volume low. Correct? Cause it doesn't static when the volume is low. Like I mentioned before, you can turn it up to 40 when there's just talking at the beginning of a song, and it sounds loud, but when the beat starts, all static and bass (from subs). It's weird tho how it works. Any other info I can look into? Thanks

The Pioneer speakers are 100watts max, 20watts rms. it's not those speakers tho, because his other speakers were perfect, til recently when static started happening. so i doubt it's the speakers

so all of the info provided from my posts, does it sound like a bad headunit? I wish I could take mine out and hook it to his, but I'm picky about removing my equipment to other people's vehicles. So I'm trying to get info instead.

So any last advice or information you guys can give me?