Later I will add the DVD changer so I can watch movies on it but right now this stretched the budget pretty far. (Not going in my car but in my wife's 2005 Hyundai Sonata that I drive most of the time now because of fuel prices.) It's not that I'm a huge pioneer fan but I liked the navigation and screen on this unit quite a bit and honestly, the drop in speakers I listened to (6.5 and 6x9) these were the best sounding to my ears. They just sounded very smooth and airy to me, spacious, I was greatly impressed in my auditions. Also, there will be no sub in the system and the 6x9's had a nice bass kick. So I guess a Pioneer amp was a no brainer, good value, enough power for our needs, no reason not to get it. I'm putting it all in over the course of this week a couple hours at a time.

 

pioneer makes some good products. it will sound better then stock

 

Love that screen and the Navigation!!

 

What made you go with the Pioneer unit over the Eclipse AVN5435?

 

Same here....you spent a lot, why not Eclipse or Alpine?

 

I liked the features on the Pioneer better, the screen was also brighter and more clear. The navigation, my primary need, is handled best by Pioneer in my opinion. Plus the Pioneer cost several hundred dollars less. I didn't like any of the Eclipse dealers I visited, they all had attitudes. I like the Pioneer head unit a great deal so far. Is there something wrong with it? I always heard that Eclipse head units have questionable reliability. Alpine does not make a comparable product, I wanted Double DIN with 6.5" screen and navigation.

I can add a DVD changer for movies later and also a TV tuner if I want.

 

I can't imagine where you would have heard that. In my limited experience, I've always heard that Alpine and Eclipse were tops in their fields. Pioneer and Kenwood better than others, but still second tier. Alot of people haven't heard of Eclipse, so they shy away from it. Kind of like McIntosh amps, or Focal speakers. The general public might not be aware of them, but audiophiles know about them.

In the end, you got what you wanted and that's all that matters. The reason I asked is because my AVN5435 is being installed tomorrow. I'll post my thoughts in the next week or so.

It's true that Alpine doesn't have a competeing product, but I can only assume it's a matter of time. I'm sure it will be a sweet piece when it comes out.

 

I like Alpine stuff a lot and would have certainly looked at anything they offered. Basically the only two options I had was Eclipse and Pioneer (With navigation.) and the main two reasons was I liked the navigation interface/look better on the Pioneer and price. (Plus I've had excellent experience with reliability and Pioneer products.)

Had I been wanting a SQ system I certainly would have gone with the Eclipse and a good set of separates up front. (Not to mention a sub.)

There was no point in Eclipse's history where reliability was an issue? Broken ***** and failing screens, stuff like that? I don't know where I heard that but it was only in the far back of my mind anyway.

 

I've been in car audio for over 20 years. I've owned and installed many different manufacturer's head units. First of all, I've had nothing but problems with Kenwood, this includes home stereo. I know they share componets with other manufacturers, but still
Alpine was a awesome unit back in the late 80 and 90s, they did not have much competition then (except Nakamischi, SP?). Now, Alpine has several lines from crappy (Best Buy) to above excellent (F1 series). Pioneer is the same, several lines (Pioneer, Premier, and ODR). Clarion was good but I have had no experience with them for quite awhile (anybody remember Clarion's hi-end units, I owned two of them....you get bonus points if you know the answer ). McIntosh units head units are great but look blah to me. I've heard nothing but good things about Eclipse. Personally, I own two Pioneers, five Premiers (only one installed at this time ), and one Sony. Sony sux except the one I own. It is the CDX-C90 with the XDP-4000 processor. It was their ES series, list price about $2600 for the two units That Sony was part of a system in my car that won the USAC world points championship in the 0-100 watt class.
I believe you made a good choice on your purchase of a Pioneer headunit. Your choice on a Hyundai...major

 

We love the car for what it is, a boring every day family car. Shopped around and drove everything. Sonata with V6 and 10 year/10,000 mile warranty was $14,500. Camry and Accord were $5-6,000 more with 1/3 the warranty. Hyundai makes good cars, I was hesitant at first but other than the name it's a great car. Personally I think it looks better than the Honda and Toyota too but I do realize it's not as good a car as those, but it costs a heck of a lot less to make a difference.

 

Like I said, my nav unit is going in my daily driver too. 2003 Protege5. Cheap to buy, cheap to insure, cheap to maintain. I too was most concerned with the Nav, as this car will see upwards of 20k miles a year. Oh, and it looks great parked next to my C5... I'll post pics of the install soon.

 

 

I'm just giving you a hard time but I'm a firm believer in buying products made in America Sometimes it is near impossible, trying finding electronic equipment (not too expensive) made in the USA, nearly all is made over in the Far East, even if it has an America company name. Same with toys, clothes, and shoes. I just got fooled buying a pair of steel toe boots. On the box it said steel toes "Made in the USA" Inside the boots lip it says made in China. Turns out only the steel toes were made in the USA
In car audio, nearly all head units are made in Japan. My PPi amps, USAmps, JL Audio subs, and Image Dynamic subs (I think) all all made in the USA. I'm really not sure about my JBL amps and Infinity speakers?? All four of my vehicles were made in America but even the Vette is not all American. Two winters ago I painted the Corvette's calipers and rotors. Calipers were made in Brazil and the rotors were made in Australia I have recently seen a commercial that Hyundia now makes a car in the USA, which model I do not know.
Anyhow, enjoy your new system

 

i personally buy products because i like them not because of where they are made, but hey thats just me

the pioneer is a nice unit, much easier to use then the kenwood

 

I have to agree with knew regarding Kenwood .... have never seen anything but problems from their head units / home audio stuff. Pioneer has always had the best FM receivers IMO over the 15 or so years I have been into car audio. (Have had 3 Pioneer decks and 2 Alpine in that time) This topic seems to be just like anything else if you spend the $$$ you get a good quality product 99% of the time. I would never dream of putting anything Sony car audio in my car but a $2600 Sony set up I would think is nice

I have an Alpine 9815 in my current car and if you do not want to put in an external crossover or eq componentry of any kind it is really a great deck .. solid 4v out time correction and pretty decent EQ adjustability. I have never bought an Eclipse deck but there are a lot of people that have a lot of good things to say about them. When I was really into it rocking Atomic subs and USA amps the Eclipse units were crap IMO

Me personally I will always have either Alpine or Pioneer in my cars as I have never run into any performance or defects with them.

Fej