new HU to replace my stolen eXcelon... [Archive]

sunrunner_pei

10-31-2004, 04:30 PM

I've been on the hunt for a new HU to replace my stolen Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X659 CD/MP3 HU, and I finally decided on a Clarion ProAudio DXZ845MC CD/MP3/WMA/Music Catcher. It's not near as 'flashy' as the Kenwood, but it has many of the same features and close to the same specs. Plus, the added Music Catcher is a real bonus. For those that don't know what it is, it's a built-in flash memory that allows you to record several hours worth of music directly to the player. Pretty sweet stuff.

All I have is a promo pic for now, but I'll get some install pics once it's in the car. Hopefully that won't take me too long. I just need my mount kit and Metra data retention harness.

VanishingImage

10-31-2004, 07:19 PM

nothing wrong with not being flashy,it looks like its a sleeper type of player, nothing flashy but has all the goodies. If I didn't get the Pioneer one that I have I prolly would have gotten the one HU that flips to a flat black screen which makes it look like nothing is there.

tdub4life

10-31-2004, 09:23 PM

Good choice, Clarion = quality ;)

nice96gt

10-31-2004, 09:24 PM

Awesome HU Shawn! I have the DXZ835MP and I love it. It really has more features than I will probably ever use but I got a deal on it so what the heck. I definitely like the music catcher feature on yours, but it was just a little too pricey for me. You will love it. :D

eblend

10-31-2004, 10:41 PM

i heard from this pro shop around my work area from this old man who drives a caddy with some crazy sub setup (the shop owner) that clarion is not good? he said some japanese audio maker...can't remember the name is like the stuff that is the best...anyone know the name? i always thought clarion was good too..but this dude said its at the bottom of brand names

99GrandAMSE

11-01-2004, 07:38 PM

Good stuff Shawn :)

saltystix

11-01-2004, 10:36 PM

Kinda reminds me how I was "Cawwing" at the crows today at work and the lady came out and was like "you know the indians talked to the birds" and at that moment I was going to say "and we see where they are" but I didnt say that...

My friends HU looks just like that. How much was it and is it the one that changes into like 40 colors?

I'm gettin a new HU after Circuit City gives me a replacement one for the one I have now. I'll check out some Clarion stuff.

sunrunner_pei

11-02-2004, 07:08 AM

Originally posted by saltystix
My friends HU looks just like that. How much was it and is it the one that changes into like 40 colors?

Actually, 80. ;)

Motorized Detachable Face
Plays CD-R and CD-RWs
Plays MP3- and WMA-Encoded CDs
Music Catcher Digital Recorder
Sirius Satellite Radio Ready
CeNET Control of Optional TV Tuner, Sirius Satellite Radio
Receiver, DVD Changer and 6-Disc CD Changer
CD Text, CD Titling, Station Titling
2-Band Parametric EQ (Z Enhancer Plus)
Subwoofer Volume Control
Built-In Low-Pass Crossovers (off /50Hz / 80Hz / 120Hz)
6-Channel RCA Line Level Output
2 Zone Control With Dedicated RCA Line Level Outputs
Magna Bass EX
ADF
2-Channel Aux. Input
Adjustable Display Contrast
IR Remote Control
212-Watt (53W x 4)
Magi-Tune+ Tuner With 18FM /6AM Presets
80 Variable Color LCD and 80 Variable Color Buttons (9 Presets and 1 User)
Retractable Rotary Volume Control
Full-Dot (65x7) Matrix Display
Screen Saver With User-Programmable Message Information
Aluminum Faceplate
Detachable Faceplate With Blinking LED for Anti-Theft
Built-In Amplifier Bypass Circuit

sunrunner_pei

11-03-2004, 12:44 PM

I got the HU installed last night... Only to discover that the thieves ruined one of my RCA cables as well. So my driver's front component set doesn't work at the moment. I'm going to try to pick up another cable after work today.

The Deck is OK... I still like my eXcelon better... but I think this one will do. :)

2001GAGT

11-03-2004, 01:19 PM

Looks nice Shawn.

sunrunner_pei

11-03-2004, 01:30 PM

Thanks Greg. After all the issues I had getting the Kenwood, it's a real piss-off that it was stolen. The Clarion is nice, but I miss my old HU. :(

2001GAGT

11-03-2004, 02:50 PM

Kenwood probley still has your First one on the self at the Repaire Dept. give them a call. :lol:

saltystix

11-03-2004, 08:31 PM

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
Only to discover that the thieves ruined one of my RCA cables as well. So my driver's front component set doesn't work at the moment.

When I was putttin my rca's in I accidently Drilled through the one. So I was missing the signal in my front left speaker. I drove around like this for a few days til I figured out what I did.

sunrunner_pei

11-03-2004, 09:34 PM

Originally posted by 2001GAGT
Kenwood probley still has your First one on the self at the Repaire Dept. give them a call. :lol:

Now that was just plain cruel! :lol:

99GrandAMSE

11-04-2004, 02:21 PM

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
Now that was just plain cruel! :lol:

... but funny as hell!! :roflmfao:

2001GAGT

11-04-2004, 02:38 PM

Thanks Kelly. :lol:

sunrunner_pei

11-05-2004, 06:29 PM

OK, I think I've decided that I no longer care for this deck. After having it in the car for a few days several things annoy me:

No attenuator
Poor display - hard to see unless you look directly at it.
Small buttons for forward/back
Need to press the SRC button after re-attaching faceplate
1.8V pre-outs (My eXcelon had 4.5V) They really do make a difference!

Anyways, I think I've decided to go with an Alpine CDA-9835 (http://iweb.alpine-usa.com/pls/admn/item_info?p_item_name=CDA-9835&p_category=10&p_subcategory=45&p_main=10). It's a little mroe expensive, but I think it's worth it. The controls are much better laid out, and the display is amazing. Probably the clearest I've ever seen on a car deck.

Anyone have any opinions on the Alpine?

saltystix

11-05-2004, 10:15 PM

You just gonna return that one you have in there now?

sunrunner_pei

11-06-2004, 09:24 AM

Originally posted by saltystix
You just gonna return that one you have in there now?

Sure am! That's the one good thing about big-box stores: A good return policy. :)

car audio dave

11-06-2004, 09:57 AM

the alpine is a great choice. that came out when i used to sell car audio stuff...i wanted that one so bad. just keep in mind, however, that alpine manufactures in mexico versus malaysia.

either way...those buttons can be changed in color to match your GA.

sunrunner_pei

11-06-2004, 02:03 PM

Originally posted by car audio dave
just keep in mind, however, that alpine manufactures in mexico versus malaysia.

Thanks for your comments, Dave! One question though: Which assembly location would be better? Neither one seems like the ideal place to me. :shrug:

On a related note, I called one of the close Alpine Dealers this morning. I was telling him I just bought the Clarion and didn't really like it. He explained that he has had 3 returned to his store for the same reasons I posted above. :lol:

The Clarion is a great deck, especially for the price. It just wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I jumped too quickly.

Oh, and for the record, the Music Catcher is a great idea... Their execution of it though isn't great. The SQ (Even at so-called 'HQ') is terrible. I'd compare it to a 96 kbps MP3. :(

sunrunner_pei

11-08-2004, 08:16 AM

Update!!!

I just ordered the Alpine. I hope to have it in hand by the end of the week. Realistically I should have it Wednesday. Anyone that has it or a comparable model: Do you really have to connect it directly to the batt with 10ga wire? Yikes! If so, I'll have lots of fun fishing yet another wire through the firewall, right along side my 4ga power wire for the amps and the signal wire from my oil pressure sending unit.

2001GAGT

11-08-2004, 09:27 AM

WOOHOOO Shawn, Can't wait to see a pic of it in the car.

tommyboy22481

11-08-2004, 10:38 AM

Personally, I dont really like Alpine or Clarion, they are supposedly good decks but they've never really impressed me. The button layouts are confusing, and the screens are not that cool. Plus if the deck doesn't play MP3 it's not worth buying. They have a few decks that play MP3 but they are way overpriced. To me it seems Clarion and Apline hasn't really done anything new to their decks in a long time. And music caching ? Am I missing something, what good is that? So you can store a couple hours worth of music in the deck, you can fit the same amount on an MP3 cd and not have to mess around with the deck to do it. Now if there was a 40 Gig HD in there it would be a different story but a couple hours worth is worthless.

I love Pioneer's decks, especially their Premier (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/album/compare/0,,2076_4041,00.html) line. About half of their decks will play MP3's, and the faceplates are much cleaner and easier to use. You can buy an XM expansion module for about the same price as you will pay for any XM reciever and it's designed to intergrate flawlessley with the deck so no extra controls to deal with.

birdhouse

11-08-2004, 02:05 PM

So, just because it would take longer than a day to figure out, you wouldn't even give it a shot? Did you ever look at the what Alpine has to offer in it's supposed "upper end" decks? Come on, man. There's more to CD players than a cool display and MP3 capability... Notiably, power (Alpine have some of the most powerful decks out there), features (Soooooo many diff. things to play with on an alpine deck, and I LOVE the seperate channel equalizer), and just the look of the decks. That's cool that you like Pioneer, but I guess I'm all go before show when it comes to my CD player in my car.

sunrunner_pei

11-08-2004, 02:06 PM

Originally posted by tommyboy22481
Personally, I dont really like Alpine or Clarion, they are supposedly good decks but they've never really impressed me. The button layouts are confusing, and the screens are not that cool. Plus if the deck doesn't play MP3 it's not worth buying. They have a few decks that play MP3 but they are way overpriced. To me it seems Clarion and Apline hasn't really done anything new to their decks in a long time. And music caching ? Am I missing something, what good is that? So you can store a couple hours worth of music in the deck, you can fit the same amount on an MP3 cd and not have to mess around with the deck to do it. Now if there was a 40 Gig HD in there it would be a different story but a couple hours worth is worthless.

I love Pioneer's decks, especially their Premier (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/album/compare/0,,2076_4041,00.html) line. About half of their decks will play MP3's, and the faceplates are much cleaner and easier to use. You can buy an XM expansion module for about the same price as you will pay for any XM reciever and it's designed to intergrate flawlessley with the deck so no extra controls to deal with.

Both HU's are capable of playing both MP3 and WMA files. The ability to play XM radio is nothing new, the Apline will support both XM ans Serius. That's of little matter though, as neither service is available legally in Canada.

As well, have you ever seen the display on the Alpine CDA-9835?

Personally, I've hated every new Poineer I've seen. The large volume knob in the middle of the deck? Yuck! Just goes to show that we all have our opinions and our preferences. I've never owned an Alpine before, this is a new experience for me. But I like what I see so far.

sunrunner_pei

11-08-2004, 05:29 PM

I finally found a decent photo of the Alpine. The pic still doesn't do the display justice, but it gives a better idea of the clarity.

tommyboy22481

11-09-2004, 09:51 AM

From what I've seen, the Pioneer's Premier line is just as powerful as the other high end decks. As for looks, thats ultimatly a personal preference. There is only one deck with the knob in the middle that I know of, the rest have it on the side. I don't like Alpines button layout left of the knob, and the fact that all their decks look almost exactly alike. Once you've had any type of video display you'll never want a dot matrix or LCD display again, they just seem so crude in comparison. The ability to play XM has been around quite a while obviously, but I just admire the way the Pioneer system is integrated. I imagine they arn't the only mfg. that does this though.

Its mostly a matter of opinion, they all play CD's, MP3's, XM or whatever reasonably well. I think Alpine and Clarion are overpriced and ugly, but thats just me. I did spend a large amount of time looking for my last deck and I checked out what everyone else offered, but I kept coming back to Pioneer. They just had the features I wanted in the price range I was willing to spend.

sunrunner_pei

11-19-2004, 07:31 AM

FINALLY!!!!!

After a bit of a delay my new HU finally arrived yesterday. Karen and I went to Charlottetown to use my brother-in-law's garage, and I got the HU installed. :yippee:

First thoughts: this thind is AWESOME! I still have not had any time to really play with it, but so far I'm loving it. Everything is exactly how I always wanted it, with the exception of the rotary volume. But I can get used to that. :)

The install went pretty much like any other, with a few small exceptions. The deck requires a 10ga lead direct to the battery. When the car was in getting the alarm installed on Tuesday night, I had the installer run a length of 10ga through the firewall for me. So at least that part was done. All that remained was to install an inline fuse close to the batt, and solder the 12V+ constant lead from the HU to that 10ga wire.

The only other new experience was the DC/DC adapter for the display that must be located away from the signal wires. I managed to tuck it off to the driver's side, since my speaker wire and RCAs run down the passenger side.

Once I ran a new pair of RCAs to the trunk for my front components, I was off to the races. The theives damaged the RCAs that I had in there from before. Luckily my new cables were just long enough. Only 1.5" to spare.

Anyway, the deck worked flawlessly on the way home. The display is amazing, and dims nicely at night. The amber for the buttons matches the car perfectly. :) The MP3 browse feature is fantastic!

I'll post more thoughts and pics as time goes by. I haven't even gotten to set the crossover up yet, or adjust the gains on my amps again. Damn that deck has a lot of settings to adjust!!!!

If anyone else here has one, can you let me know what you're currently using for crossover settings? Specifically with regards to slope and db settings. :)

saltystix

11-19-2004, 10:26 AM

Good to hear you love it.

On another note, does your mp3 browser start to play the folder while you are browsing... or can you still listen to your song while you are searching for the folder you want? Mine cuts the music off and opens the folder when you want to goto the next folder... and going from folder say 1 to folder 5 takes prolly 8 seconds, when I wish it took like 3.

Anyhow, I hope you have alot more fun with it, the first night I had my deck, I went back up to the mall with my girl and her friend just so I could see it more.

sunrunner_pei

11-19-2004, 10:36 AM

Originally posted by saltystix
Good to hear you love it.

On another note, does your mp3 browser start to play the folder while you are browsing... or can you still listen to your song while you are searching for the folder you want? Mine cuts the music off and opens the folder when you want to goto the next folder... and going from folder say 1 to folder 5 takes prolly 8 seconds, when I wish it took like 3.

Anyhow, I hope you have alot more fun with it, the first night I had my deck, I went back up to the mall with my girl and her friend just so I could see it more.

The file browser works while your music still plays. You can browse folders, then the files within the folders, all while still listening to your MP3s. And it's surprisingly quick. The browse opens up immediatly, there is no delay. There is also no delay when changing folders, etc. There is only a short delay when first inserting the disc. I'd guess about 3 seconds before the music starts to play. I'll try to take a short vid of it sometime soon, hopefully it'll better show what I'm talking about. :)

saltystix

11-19-2004, 12:26 PM

Mine takes about 10 seconds to load the mp3 cd at first. About 3 seconds at start for a regular cd. You're making me wish my mp3 player was better!

I'm gonna get a new one this winter...

1992grandam

11-19-2004, 05:15 PM

i abslutely love my alpine cda 9807...best 250 ive ever spend i think

2001GAGT

11-19-2004, 05:59 PM

That's Great Shawn I am glad you got it in and you like it.

BiH

11-19-2004, 10:35 PM

I've had aa Alpine deck in my old GTI, and alpine componenets for front and back, and alpine 4 chanell amp and alpine 500D digital amp, and alpine 14 badn EQ and alpine subwoofer control center (nifty thing), and alpine alarm (also top of the line at that time, $400 alarm :eek: )
You can say I liked their stuff, too bad I sold it with the car! I think I spent over $2K on the stuff just to sell it 6 months later. MP3 player was awsome, I only made one CD since I had a buttload of regular cd's!
Glad you like it!

sunrunner_pei

11-20-2004, 06:54 PM

Just had a small roadtrip, the deck performed flawlessly! I'm liking it more and more all the time. One thing I don't like though, is that it's not easy to display the clock. Unless I'm missing something. :lol:

zero53121

11-21-2004, 08:05 PM

go to alpines website and check out i-personalize its cool and u can burn ur settings on a cd
http://www.alpine.com/e/i-personalize/index.html

sunrunner_pei

11-22-2004, 06:50 AM

Been there, but I'm still not sure what I should use for crossover settings. :) Although, I did some adjusting at the deck yesterday I I think I have the x-overs set to where I want them. Not to set the time correction, etc.

I took some pics and a couple vids. Problem is the vids are over 200MB! LOL I think I need to shrink them B4 I can post 'em. I'll try to post some pics when I get home from work tonight.