So, To start, I was just thinking, about my next headunit, and what to purchase. Over the years I have owned a few.

The first I owned was a pioneer deh 12, then I moved on to the pioneed deh-14. Both of those headunit's are still going strong. As my car audio knowlege, and interest in good sound quality grew, I have upgraded many times. I simply came to the conclusion that I needed bass, So I needed more than one pre-out. So I bought the pioneer deh-p9400mp. As soon as I hooked this baby up to my components, I was astounded in the sound quality difference. Also I had 3 sets of 4 volt out's to play with. This is probably one of the nicest headunit's I have ever owned. Now as soon as I started doing some research, I Found out about DAC's and how they effect you're music quality. So after this research, I decided to purchase the pioneer Deh-p8600mp, This paticullar unit sports dual 24 bit burr brown dac's. WOW hugh sq potential! I enjoyed the quality of this headunit for about 6 months, that is until the pre-out's started giving me trouble. I however discovered that it was simply a set of output cables that needed to be replaced. So, as you are reading this you probably are thinking "gee this guy sure like's pioneer" Well I do. There build quality is awsome, and they are a great company. The reason that I have purchased so many pioneer's Is because my favorite company out there: SONY, has stopped producing super headunit's like they used to.

I however, realized that in there earlier years, they produced h/u's of such quality That they simply walk all over reference cd players of today. Two examples to be given:

First, The Sony Mobile ES CDX-C90

Second, The Sony XES Z50 System.

In my opinion, or should I say epinion, I think that the 2 of theese setup's are better than anything out there. Especially the XES Z50.

Anyway, I guess my goal is to ask all of you what you're preferance is? What has worked out for you? What Has sounded the best for you, and lasted the longest?

Interesting post. Yeah, you get stuck on a brand and the more it works the more stuck you get. The crossover to components I think surprises most folks, but even if working with a single 5-way, the difference is always quite noticeable, not only in fidelity but punch as well. This is all assuming the system was sized and set up properly. As I know I have parroted before, poor signal management will kill a system faster than a competition pass.

I have to agree, I had been a Sony pimp for god knows how long, but their h/us are simply not what they used to be. The MEX series was I think the last hoorah. Even a few of the tray loaders after that seemed to show someone in their mobile division still cared. But now? I don’t know, I find myself installing fewer and recommending them less. Some still have the bling factor to some degree, but many of their current offerings leave much to be desired and seem reminiscent of JVC and AIWA styling from a while ago. I will admit though, in classic Sony style, the current units, for the most part, are chok full ‘o features, even if they aren’t fun to look at.

I have never been a poo poo-er of Pioneer. They made some very good home components for years and had the reputation early on of being a company that produced a highly reliable product. Now the same could said of Sony at the time as well, and was, Sony has always spent astonishing amounts of money on advertising.

Pioneer went through a phase in the late 90s/early 00s. The Pioneer font changed (annoyed a lot of loyal Pioneer fans….even me, a little) and the styling took a semi focused dive at smooth and sleek. This works (and has worked) quite well for the Elite line, even back to when both Pioneer and Sony used wood side panels, but quality seemed down. That is absolutely not the case now. I know many a person that is a very satisfied owner of an Elite receiver. I think the same, although to a lesser degree, happened with their car lines.

I have no dislike of the Pioneer mobile selection. Premier or not, you get what you pay for. If you want basic, for $180 (at big box prices)… well six of one, half dozen of the other. Don’t be annoyed if it fails or sound quality degrades in 2 years or less. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, one of my old Sony h/us is still in my middle brothers VW and at 9yrs of age, doing well, but that was then... What I am saying is tech is getting so cheap in the form of labor, product cost, country of mfr, etc that (understandably) many of these companies simply can’t afford to do it on their home turf and still be competitive, except in the high end. So, on the low end, quality suffers.

So, anyway, I remember the C90 well. It was a truly outstanding piece of work. My current preference….that’s tough, I have no words.

I know what you mean... It is a hard decision choosing betweent the different brands, and so on.. I tend to like to go with things that nobody else seems to use, or have any respect for. Common brands for car audio fanatics seem to be eclipse, alpine, nakamichi, dennon, etc... I think that most people into car audio theese days, don't even know that brands like sony used to be the best of the best. They look at their new stuff and turn up there noses. I find it interesting that they would suddenly decide to stop making the stuff they used to, as they could probably straight out own the car audio market. I mean, look at the cdx-c90! mixed with the xdp-4000x digital signal processor, the system has been said to be as good if not better than the alpine f1 system!

But we must not forget, that sony still makes a good product line. There new h/u's are so so.. but they still have some great features, and great price tags. There home audio/video is still top line as well.. 2 words: Elevated Standard. Why can't they re-introduce the mobile es series??

I am open to anybody's opinions's on what they like, and while we are at it, why not talk about speaker's/amps as well...

Hey!

Well , i will say the Sony XES-Z50 unit are the BEST OF BEST! The are just make 250 unit in the world!!

This unit are very good build and have great sound. This are the best of this tree unit / system:

First model :

Sony ES (P1=dsp , C1=cd-changer , X1=crossover 3/4ways , T1=RDS radio)

Other: model:

Sony CDX-C90R (singel cd/radio + Sony XDP-4000X dsp (3/4ways network , dsp)

Last model :

Sony XES-Z50 (build in dsp)

I have try they two frist model and have now Xes-z50 player in my car.

Likes the sound this have , very warm - natural - very much detail sound!

I know one man some have both this system : Xes-Z50 and Alpine F1 system!

Him have try both very good in the car and say to me the Sony Xes system er much better than Alpine F1!

Xes have more detail sound than F1 have..

Kind

I know what you mean about the cdx-c90, and quality going down hill over the years. I am a victim of this with several dead beat Eclipse units one after the oher. Finally, just recently I got a diommond in a ruff, a cdx-c90 that was never installed in a car, which was basically like a brand new unit. I got it off EBay and I love the thing. I have to say that it seems to be a bit better than the Eclipse 5 volt decks, but pretty much inline with the 8 volt ones like the 8455 that I had before that ine died. The only real problem with the C90 is the display, it is a minor one, but it is hard to see in daylight sometimes.

visibility was a common complaint with that unit, but considering what went into it, absolutely worth it. What'd you pay for that little gem?

I picked up the c90 for $370.00, included all accessories, manuals, and box. The previous owner had a stereo shop, and had it laying around for a few years. I just picked up a spare working unit for parts that is a little beat up, since the parts for the C90 are outragously priced. Having a unit like the C90 makes you think "oh no, what do I do if this wonderful sounding unit breaks"

I loved the 8V Eclipse decks, but I had way too much bad luck with them breaking down. The C90 is an amazing unit, and with the DVOL on, it truly produces outstanding sound that is so simple to adjust, because there is no adjusting, the bass and trebble are disabled. I love it. I am running the system in my Honda Element with Focal 165K2P's, JL stealthbox, and Eclipse amps. Definite thumbs up for the Eclipse PA series amps, very clean and reliable.

As of today, I would think a good alternative to the C90 would be the Clarion DRZ9255, looks like a really nice deck. Does anyone have any experience with this deck?

I have an original ES system including head unit, tuner, cd changer, crossover, remotes, etc. for sale.
Anyone interested?
email mikesossie@yahoo.com
cell 541 979 6095

pioneer is shiit man get jvc with 2 kicker 12's and 800 watt amp dumba$$