Thread: Trying to find a head unit

I am very new to car audio, heck I just got my first car 3 weeks ago, a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix. I bought the car knowing that both rear speakers we completely blown, no sound comes out of them at all and the front driver side speaker is about to blow. The speakers in my car sound terrible. I can't turn up the volume at all or else it hurts my ears with all the distortion and flub I get from these blown speakers so I decided that with my next few paychecks I'm going to be upgrading my sound system.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a $2000 dollar system that will blow away the people down the street. I want to be able to crank it but I don't want the old man next to me at the stop light to give me the finger. I would like to keep the entire system (speakers, head unit, sub, amp if needed) under $500. I don't mind going over that a little but not by a lot.

Now I know that brand new speakers and a sub will not sound very good with a stock head unit so I'm starting here. With my next paycheck I'm going to buy a new head unit. I've been looking around and nothing is appealing to me at all. Why do all these head units have to have so many flashing colors and lights. I'm driving a car not Apollo 13. Anyways, I came across this head unit because it doesn't have 200 buttons on the front like every other head unit I've seen.

Clarion CZ401

What I want in a head unit is:

- Be able to plug in my iPod
- HD radio
- Doesn't look ridiculous
- Preferably be able to use my steering wheel controls

I don't think that's asking for too much. I hate buying features that I don't use. I don't need Bluetooth or satellite radio or OnStar. Will this allow me to connect 4 speakers and a sub to it and sound good? Thanks for reading! If you need more information please ask I will respond quickly!

It will
Allow you to connect them but I can't vouch for something I've never owned. Sound quality means alot to me so I'mm gonna ask, what your replacing the blown speakers with?

Originally Posted by Jteske88

It will
Allow you to connect them but I can't vouch for something I've never owned. Sound quality means alot to me so I'mm gonna ask, what your replacing the blown speakers with?

i havent decided yet because i know if i got speakers now they would sound terrible through my stock head unit so im taking it step by step so i dont know what speakers or amp im interested in yet

Well I was in the same boat as you once. Stock stereo blown dry rotted. So I put alpine all Round and sounded ok then upgraded decks and now I can adjust things to my liking. Now I'm deciding on woofer set up. So like you are just step by step day by day lol

I compared the JVC Arsenal KD-AHD79 to the Clarion CZ401 on Crutchfield and the JVC had all the same specs but it has a 5 volt preamp which is good right?

how does the JVC look compared to other head units in that price range?

is that good or bad? lol

Originally Posted by 1LoudGrandPrix

i like it for the most part ipods the biggest issue with having 12k on it

what is the issue with the ipods?

Lol I will certainly never get that loud

I've never had that problem, I never have songs on my iPod or iPad that I dont listen to

I know I just posted a thread on a head unit but that was before I started looking around and now since then I've looked around at all different brands at my price range and so far the only thing I found that would fill my requirements is the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X995. The features I want are:

- Rear USB and AUX inputs
- HD Radio
- Bluetooth would be nice but not needed as I don't have a Bluetooth phone yet
- Single Din
- Decent sound quality options (alignment, good EQ, etc.)
- Under $300



If anyone knows of a head unit that is better than the x995 around that price with such features please let me know! Also, if anyone knows anything about the x995 I would love to hear about it, likes and dislikes. Thanks!