Panasonic vs. Pioneer?

[Sic03Mazda]

Hey guys, I am in the market for a new cd player. I am looking to spend between 200-300 for the cd player. I would like your input on the panasonic and pioneer headunits. I was kinda leaning more towards panasonic because they have black head units and they match my black mica sedan. (yes im anal)

Any input would be great....if you prefer a different headunit, please post why.

Thanks

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

pioneer

 

[97proLX]

http://ikesound.com/product-product_id/2597
if you like jvc ide say get this....its an awsome deck with lots of options, plus its black

 

[JCell]

pioneer

 

[RenzoMSP]

Pioneer premier.

 

[Sic03Mazda]

lol i see no love for panasonic!

 

[Sic03Mazda]

ive never seen that jvc one..first time.....but hey im not an audio man just a gear head....

 

[Sic03Mazda]

jvc one looks nice and has alot of options as you stated...but how reliable is it...do you have one???

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

For $200-300 you have more options than those two brands

Clarion...Alpine come to mind

Nothing wrong with Panasonic, there home components are great for the price, not sure about car stuff though

 

[Sic03Mazda]

so what would you recommend then??? I was looking at alpine....but i do not want the green backlight......i want everything to match...(once again anal)

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

not sure about alpine, but i have a clarion dxz845mc

you can change the color of the display, the red display matches the red of my dash lights perfectly

http://www.crutchfield.com/I-rsarc5QF/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=020DXZ845

crutchfield is good for getting info, but you can probably find it for $50-60 cheaper someplace else

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

if you want me too i can take a pic of it in my car so you can make sure it matches well enough

that is if you dash is red as well, im not sure if all proteges have a red dash or not

 

[02kllrb]

Our shop sells every Headunit mentioned on this thread. from all the HU's i've installed, i like Pioneer premier the best. for it's features, it's looks, and especially for being very user friendly. Not to bash, but Clarion and Alpine are NOT user friendly. Panasonic, for the price it's that bad too. just my 2cents.

also, ever think of eclipse??? they're black too? look into the 5425 and up.

david

 

[Sic03Mazda]

I appreciate everyones comments, they are becoming very useful in making my decision. Post pics, they would be great....although my gauges are green...I would still like to see it if you have time.

I never looked into the eclipse headunits either...but I will

To many decisions...I want something in black...looks good...user friendly...and yet I still have narrowed the field!

Thanks again guys

 

[II-Savy]

Pioneer premier = Kick ass tuner, not too too much money, excellent quality.

Panasonic = poop

Eclipse is nice but too much $ IMO. But nice.
Alpine USED to be one of the best.

Personally I woun't even consider JVC.

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

the clarion also has 4 shades of green...light green, lime-green, yellowish green, dark green so there is probably a setting that matches..if not there is a setting to make a "user" color by adding or subtracting the pallette colors(red and green, no blue)

the buttons on the face are small as hell and a b**** to hit while driving but i dont use the face buttons for much except for setup though. once it is setup i use the remote control while driving

the remote is big and easy to navigate without looking when you get used to the button locations unlike the credit card sized things

i havent used the internal flash memory cause i dont own a single cd anymore, but i have not had any problems playing any mp3 cdr's yet

 

[97proLX]

jvc one looks nice and has alot of options as you stated...but how reliable is it...do you have one???

i have the KD-LHx500 touchscreen which is a step or two under that one and i love mine, never given me problems yet and it produces awsome sound!
here is a few bigger pics and more specs on it.
http://www.crutchfield.com/ISEO-rys...2700&I=257KDA7000&o=s&a=0&cc=01&avf=N&search=
here is a pic of mine in my 97 protege LX

 

[1sty]

Pioneer. Heres why


I had a customer come in with an alpine CD Changer he had bought and he complained that his discs skipped in it. He said he work at a studio and used a very high quailty burner (wave files only).

What ever the hell he was doing, the alpine changers and headunits would skip once an again with his disc, maybe once a song. SO we played around with it. In the alpines, it randomly skipped but not often. In the Pioneers it was SOLID. The eclipse was worse then the alpine. Skipped every 10 seconds or so. The Kenwood, WENT APE s***. I thought Dj Scribles had come into the store. At that point, we didn't have panasonic.

From working with them several years ago, the panasonics were the best bang for the buck head units. They would have all the good features for #200 that the other units didn't have until $275. That was a wile ago though. There SQ and reliability was always good. I replaced very few of them. I have never replaced a pioneer.

 

[Poseur]

I too have had good luck with panasonics, Hell the one I bought my brother for his graduation in '98is still kickin strong with NO problems whatsoever, he's the type who spills s*** on it and it's never been touched, works flawlessly. Eclipse, I shall always like for many reasons, But take a look at warranties, and find another cdplayer that gives you 3yrs, hell even in home stereo that's a hard find.

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

wow good luck

its after bar and um...i love my clarion, but like i said panasonic in the home market is a great product...car audio, i dunno but the boys say they are ok and i have never had a problem with any panasonic home theater component

just pick what you like and let us know so we can argue about it

ok pizzazz pizza time


**i may edit this tommorrow to make sense