Head Unit recommendations?

[Nouse4aname]

Looking at replacing the head unit, but keeping the stock speakers and subwoofer. Not a big audio buff but just want some more modern features like bluetooth, sd card input and a usb jack. Not looking to spend more than around $200.

Is this a good option? Recommend some others?
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KWR800B/JVC-KW-R800BT.html

 

[kms1990]

kenwood excelon or kenwood decks in general are my go to headunits they have lots of features and good internal amps (especially excelon series) for the door speakers. the next would be an alpine but i really enjoy my kenwood x596 i currently have it has a usb (not may under $200 have sd anymore) hd radio and many audio tuning features a non exelon version is what my dad got w/ bluetooth hd radio usb but not as many tuning options and a lower powered amp

 

[tweety2300]

Alpine or kenwood excelon or pioneer are the big ones to look into

Sony sucks I have 2 ( I bought one the other came with my civic) and I hate them after 2 years the flip down has a bad connection on the face and bumps will make it cut off. The one in my civic isn't bad but the internal amp sucks

 

[David1206]

i have a pioneer that i bought at best buy for 140ish and it has a usb port and all the buttons and the face change color and are customizable

 

[mp5la]

Alpine or kenwood excelon or pioneer are the big ones to look into

Sony sucks I have 2 ( I bought one the other came with my civic) and I hate them after 2 years the flip down has a bad connection on the face and bumps will make it cut off. The one in my civic isn't bad but the internal amp sucks

Same thing happened with a sony unit I had. After a while the prongs on the faceplate don't make a good connection.

 

[pkane]

For the price and that fact that your not an audio buff, you selection is fine. it also fits without having to remove the rear support which many others require.

 

[hornsfan10609]

I do highly recommend replacing at least the front pair of speakers, it will sound far better especially with the head unit installed. A $50 pair of wal mart pioneers will sound better than the stock 10 year old paper speakers.

 

[Nouse4aname]

Yeah...I'd only do that when/if the factory ones get blown. It's just the wife's around town-mobile for the most part. Have the dynaudio package in our gti and the only difference she can tell is that it's not a fancy touch screen with Bluetooth and sd card.

 

[tweety2300]

Blue tooth is over rated

 

[Prafeston]

I've been considering this one. Pioneer FH-X700BT Looks cool. Color changing. Fits the double din. Though I do have a nice Alpine headunit that's a single din and only like a year old. I can't decide if I just wanna buy the kit for that one or get a new one that's a double din. The cool think about the single din kit is you get a little more storage for things like your phone or wallet.

 

[Nouse4aname]

I went with the JVC KW-R800BT. Will be installing this weekend, looks like it's pretty straightforward.

 

[zackmac]

Nice choice! I'm a car audio freak and went with an all-alpine system in my car. Normally I recommend 3 brands for headunits: Alpine, Kenwood, and Pioneer. But it seems like you made a really good choice. I got alpine's equivalent of yours and I'm very happy with it! Looks and fits great, you may need to pick up a dash kit in case the one it comes with doesn't fit (very cheap on amazon/ebay).
You'll be happy with the front USB and AUX inputs! Good luck!

 

[Nouse4aname]

Yeah main thing I like about it is the features and not needing to modify the car for it to fit. Screen is a bit small for a double din, but hard to argue with the price. I ordered it from amazon and then the ford removal tools, dash kit, etc separately. Which only saved me like $2 over just ordering from Crutchfield in the first place...heh.

 

[zackmac]

Exactly! What I was looking for was a doubledin, non touch screen (I hate touch screen even on my iPhone, I wouldn't want to have to touch my headunit especially while driving!) And I wanted it to look, not exactly stock, but low profile. No flashy lights and all of that, so I ended up going with this
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500W235BT/Alpine-CDE-W235BT.html?tp=5684#details-tab


I think you will be very happy with your choice though, it is very aesthetically pleasing!