What double din head unit should I buy?
 

I’m in the market for a new double din head unit. I looked at Alpine’s flagship, the IVA-W505/P1 and Kenwood’s Excelon DNX9960 but they only have 3 pre-outs. I want 6 pre-outs with at least 4V. I also want Pandora, HD radio, voice activated controls for navigation, iPod and iPhone. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know Pioneer has a double head unit that has Pandora, but I have read opinions in this 370Z forum that Pioneer head units are unreliable. Is this true? I have a couple of months to make a decision. Any suggestions?

Have you considered JVC..??

Awesome quality in products and great pricing... Check the JVC KW-AVX820..

JVC KW-AVX820

I've had two Pioneer DVD video system in 2 vehicles with no complaints. It's just a matter of opinion and personal experience. I plan on putting in their new AVIC-110BT; should I decide to get one this year; which I'm in no hurry to replace the head unit for now.

Thanks, I’ll check it out! I’m also looking at the Eclipse AVN726E. I have 2 months to decide, so I’m really not rushed and have time to do my research. Thanks for any and all advice.

Thanks. I though Pioneer offered plenty of good features for a decent price, but when I read on this forum it had reliability problems, it sort of made me rethink on what to buy! Like I said before, I have 2 months to do some research before I make a decision. I really appreciate all the recommendations.

What in the world will you be doing with 6 preamp outs? I can't imagine finding room for 6 amplifiers in a Z. :)

OP just to let you know 3 SETS of outputs so they do have 6 outputs. I would recommend the kenwood or the alpine. But keep in mind unless you are running rear speakers their is no reason for 3 sets of outputs. OR if you can wait kenwood and alpine will be releasing new models soon

Thanks, that’s good to know. Does the new Kenwood or the Alpine units have voice activated controls for navigation, iPod and iPhone? Do you know the model number(s)? I did look at the Alpine double din head units earlier and was kind of turned off by having to dock a nav modular unit and it only had 2v outputs on the pre-outs. Has this changed at all for the new units? I’m looking for something that looks natural and integrated as if it came with the car! Not a single din with a silly storage shelf if you know what I mean! Having Pandora integrated into the head unit is a must, since I use it now more than Sirius.

"Which" lol :stirthepot:

A friend of mine is looking at the JVC and I did some research. They actually look pretty nice :tup: Just make sure you get one with hi-volt pre-amp outputs.

I don't meanto beat a dead horse, But Realy if you can afford it gowith the DNX9960 get in the pre-order and you can always cancel it if you change your mind. You might get some free stuff for your car in the mean time.

DNX9960 will do Voice commands like the 9160 used to.
As Bigaudiofanat pointed out, It has 3X5Vpreouts meaning 3 Pairs of Outsputs.
This unit has a very advanced i-Pod control with the Album art search option.
That to me alone is worth the difference.
Not to mention GARMIN Nav is unbeatable. Specialy with the lane change assist and junction info. Navteq traffic is alos now built in to the DNX9960. You also get exclusive 3D mapping for major cities.

i've had my pioneer avic D3 for almost 2 years now and it's worked flawlessly and i consider it the best HU i've ever had (granted that's not a bunch). i highly recommend their products. www.avic411.com is also a great source of info about their products and how to hook them up if you decide to do it yourself (took me about an hour following an install guide i found on clubfrontier.org to do mine, first time ever doing a dvd/nav system)

I agree, OP the lower or higher pre outs only means your going to have to adjust your gain up or down on the amp itself. To some people they prefer the higher pre outs I am happy with 3 or above. The alpine yes I agree it is a bit of a turn off for the docking of the gps. That is why I prefer the kenwoods of the alpines. But I have not heard from alpine on what they are coming out for double dins this year. I will keep you posted on that. Also I am not sure about the voice controls that would be something to look into.

wow, that JVC has 5V line outs too. :p that remote has to go though, reminds me of old VHS remotes. hahaha. :D

i run a 3100 dvd player from pioneer. i think im going to get th 4100 next for my G. :)

actually pioneer released their new line up at CES.... 4200, 3200, etc. might do the 3200 instead on the G. it can now take SD cards which is very convenient.

yup i just saw that posted today, should make life super easy, especially if you organize everything into folders. that's how i have my cd's broken down on a dvd disc of mp3's

JVC is awesome and it's really underestimated... I have a JVC on the car I used to drive (my sister owns it now) and it works great..!!

I also have that JVC I recommended (KW-AVX820) sitting in my room waiting for a freakin' adapter so I can install it on my Touring 370Z...

Crappy Bose systems.... But that aside, again, JVC, two thumbs up...

Thanks, I’ll have to check out the new lineup. I like having a SD card slot, I could mix up some tunes on my laptop and transfer them to the SD for a mood moment! That would be so convenient!

You know, I totally agree with you! SD cards are so inexpensive today. I wonder if this will allow showing photos and movies etc.?

Thanks, the features on the new Excelon sound really impressive! Do you know if it has a SD card slot and Pandora? This would be a big plus!
I would like to mention that I’m uncomfortable about pre-ordering!
Remember John at Spawn!!

Thanks vipor and pty370z. l read about the JVC KW-NX7000BT and it looks impressive! I like the fact it has a SD card slot. This makes it very versatile. I only wished it had Pandora! I might have to accept the fact of buying a head unit w/o Pandora! Maybe more units will be released soon with all the features I’m looking for before my new car arrives!

if you have an internet phone you can open pandora on there, then headphone-jack it in. that's what i'm gonna do with my Droid in my truck. pandora is definitely FTW, although i can see cars incorporating pandora into factory stereo's in the near future, i don't know about aftermarket equipment.

depends on how they set the system up, i could only speculate at this point. i know my player will play divx files burned onto a dvd and it will open images if i am trying to change my desktop image (i tooled around with that for a while and ended up finding a "factory" desktop i liked better due to the buttons covering most of it anyway). but with the new decks being more multimedia and having no disc drive at all, i'm sure there will be some way to open pictures if nothing else, to skin the desktop screen

The Eclipse Avn 726 is a nice head unit as well. 3 sets of 5v preouts
Very fast loading
3d navigation in major cities, I love it
The blue tooth audio synched with my phone plays mp3's fanatastic
7"video screen is awesome, very bright and clear
ipod compatible ( need to order special cable to play video)
HD radio optional
Sat radio optional ( I added for like 100 bucks)
dvd player
Best part is it can be purchased for around 900 bucks right now online.

only negative I would give it is the fm reception isn't great in my unit. Could be something with my antenna adapter, but I don't really care because I never listen to it.

Sirius Sat.cds/mp3's

Thanks SlikNik. I’ve read some great reviews on the Eclipse, especially the AVN726E. I was originally thinking about this head unit and the Avic-Z110BT. Then the Avic-X920BT arrived and now I thinking about buying this head unit because it has Pandora and a SD card slot for additional versatility. I also like the fact it is a fixed, non motorized LCD screen. If anyone has listened to Pandora, you’ll know what I mean! It’s incredible!! The one think that concerns me about the Pioneer Avic series is that it was stated on this forum it has reliability problems. Does anyone know what specific reliability problems it has? Since the Avic-X920 is a new unit, maybe all the problems have been fixed. One of my friends has the Avic-X910 in his Z3 and has no issues at all. In fact it looks and sounds great.

I forgot to mention that Eclipse is leaving the car electronics aftermarket after a run of 21 years!

I would like to ask everyone if they ever had any problems with the Pioneer’s Avic series. I’m looking for a double din head unit and it appears Pioneer has most if not all the features I’m looking for. I did read some negative comments in this Forum which stated Pioneer was unreliable and had poor quality. Is this true? What kind of problems? I don’t want to buy a lemon!

Or you could simply use a ipod or a usb thumb drive just as easy. Actually I would prefer the ipod route that would be easier to have play lists and keep favorites. Also would allow you to tag music you hear on the radio.

Pioneer from what I have seen and installed almost all have problems. I have seen the fallowing with all different models. CD's stop ejecting, ipod cables going bad within the first few days, screens going bad, motorized faces going bad, internal amps failing, alternator noise because of the internal pico fuse blowing and so on. Yes people do have luck and say they are reliable but from what I have seen in the past 2 years I am not impressed with where they are going. Just my .02 but I would stay away from them.

Thanks bigaudiofanat. I have the 32GB iPod touch that I would connect to the head unit. One of the features I’m looking for is voice-activated controls of my iPod and iPhone. Another feature I want is iTunes HD Radio Tagging. A friend of mine has it in his Z3 and its awesome! I need the SD option because my co-workers are always mixing and sharing music and it adds flexibility in addition to the USB.

Thanks bigaudiofanat. Are any of these problems associated with the newer Avic series? Do you remember which models? I have two friends who have the Avic-X910 and the Avic-F700. They have no problems or issues. You mentioned problems with the motorized face, this is one of the reasons why I’m looking for a non-motorized face! I figured the less moving parts you have the better. I once bought a highly recommended home CD player and it broke down one month beyond the warranty period! I never want anything like that to ever happen again if you know what I mean!!

Are there any other Forum members besides bigaudiofanat that have these types of problems with Pioneer? If so, which models?

Grin sorry but one of the newer models had a dvd playback problem from the ones I installed. I am sorry to say that I would not recommend any pioneer head unit.

Do you remember the model number? What was the problem? How was it fixed?

All the problems you have to take it to a licensed pioneer repair place and than they ship it to pioneer. Most of the people just sent them back to places like crutchfield and went with another brand. I do not remember the models as there are to many to remember.

Also PM sent

And to counter, I have done almost always Pioneer double din or Alpine single din units and never had any issues. Friend has the top of the line Pioneer double din currently in his Si with zero problems, not sure which model is top currently as they just did the refresh but the one that just came out that is the full screen unit.

Edit: All electronics are going to have issues with X% of people, I have seen people go through 5 different of a certain product(s), mouse, keyboard, hard drive, laptop, etc. and then another 20 people have the same unit with zero issues.

Thanks Dreamer. I really hope that everyone who had/has problems with the Avic series to let me know! I like the features the newest head unit has and the last thing I want to do is to buy something that is unreliable! Bigaudiofanat had some serious problems with Pioneer. I think he is the only one in this Forum who has had so many problems! I was told I have 60 days before my Z lands, so I have some time to be inquisitive without being intrusive.

In my opinion, if you hear anything bad about a product, especially a $1000 unit your going to be putting in your beautiful Z, you should not research it more or take a second look, and maybe decide to give it a shot. $1000 and your Z are a lot to gamble with. Stick with what has said to work time and time again. Kenwood seems to be the best and most reliable head unit you can buy right now, at a good price, with no one at all complaining about them. Maybe pioneer will produce better products in the future, but for now, do your Z a favor, buy a respectable good quality product. The 370z is no saturn sky or honda civic Si, spare no expense...

...just my .02 :)

P.S. go to amazon and buy your headunit off there. I've been looking at headunits too and am thinking of going with the Kenwood DNX6140, BestBuy.com sells it for $950, but at amazon.com you can get it for $698, plus they give you good deals on ipod cables and backup cameras and PAC converter for steering wheel controls at good discounted combo prices.

or you can go with the newer Kenwood DNX7140, bestbuy.com $1,599.99....amazon.com $1,059.99!!! (Note these are all brand new in the box systems, and amazon.com being the largest corp on the internet, you know you wont be scamed at these prices!)

Hope this helps! :)

^^ every manufacturer is going to have products that end up having errors or hardware issues. it happens. having said that, i've put 4 pioneer double din's in, one being mine, one avic-z2 in my friend's nismo 350, and they have been flawless in performance and sound. now i haven't kept up with the newer models of pioneer but they've been getting good reviews and look nice.

long story short, i recommend pioneer, as i stated earlier. if you find another brand on sale that's got what you are looking for and you feel comfortable with the brand name, go for it instead (kenwood, alpine, etc)

I've been doing this since the XM trial ran out in my Z.

Pandora works great, and from the Droid sounds better than XM did.

Thanks Reaper. I’ve read a lot of good things about Kenwood and Pioneer. I did look at the Alpine head units but having to dock a navigation modular unit is really old school. The features I want really point towards the new Avic line. Having Pandora is a must. I have a lifetime membership to Sirius but I have been listening to Pandora lately and think it’s really an innovation that’s worth the extra money. By the time something better comes along, I’ll most likely be driving a different sports car with a head unit with the newest technology. Having SD and USB is a major plus that I explained earlier in my post. Another feature that only the new Avic has that is really ingenious is the iTunes plug-in software that will analyze my entire music library and create specialized playlists based on various musical attributes such as feeling (bright, energetic, gloomy, relaxing calm), rhythm pattern, Beats Per Minute, year of the song and/or date added to the device. This feature is something that will keep my girlfriend happy if you know what I mean! You always have to keep them happy, you will receive double rewards!! I definitely agree with you about Amazon. I shop with them all the time. My only experience with Pioneer is the home theater AV receivers and I had no reliability problems so maybe the problems that were mentioned earlier are just an isolated case!

I totally agree with you! Today’s technology allows us to upgrade to the newest software. I recently bought a new Sony HDTV (KDL-40W5100 from Amazon) for my bedroom and the software in the TV is upgradeable. Even new HDTV’s are upgradeable to fix any bugs! It’s reassuring to hear that you had absolutely no issues with your Avic head unit. At this point, my options are pointing towards the new Pioneer Avic series because of the features I want but I’m not ruling out Kenwood just yet! I really appreciate everyone’s input.