Eclipse vs Alpine - Low/mid end Headunits

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by IronWolf

And that it wont pick up certain Indian FM stations?!!?!?!!

Why am I beating the cow ? Cause I asked someone to pick up the 9881 from the US and its on its way.

You are flogging a dead horse & not a cow as the esteemed DerAlte pointed out. Moreover, there is no need to even kill that horse, relax & chill man, it is not the end of the world. Keep a smile intact, all of us MCCians do. cheers.

[blueraven316]

I installed a pretty decent system with a P80RS yesterday, the head sounded good and very crisp indeed, better than any Pio I have ever heard, But in terms of SQ it can't even hold a candle to the Eclipse CD7100. The eclipse is far superior and natural sounding. So I think the CD7200 will be my next head unit upgrade.

[ece2k2]

Originally Posted by blueraven316

I installed a pretty decent system with a P80RS yesterday, the head sounded good and very crisp indeed, better than any Pio I have ever heard, But in terms of SQ it can't even hold a candle to the Eclipse CD7100. The eclipse is far superior and natural sounding. So I think the CD7200 will be my next head unit upgrade.

Hi Satya & others,

I am not able to conclude on which HU (with USB) I am going to buy. I am to buy it from US thro my friend and so I cannot audition all the options either. Since I am going to get my ICE installed at your EVO showroom, I feel that I have the privilege of getting your suggestion. Here are my options:

1. Eclipse CD1200 - with USB and 4 sets of preouts for US $130 - Advantage is the presence of USB, cost effective and being an Eclipse I hope to get the good sound quality even in its entry level HU. Disadvantage is that this does not have the sub preout and I am okay as I am not going to add a sub to my ICE

2. Eclipse CD3200 - with USB, inbuilt bluetooth and 6 sets of preouts for US $220 - Has all the options I am looking for, but unfortunately is not in stock for the last one month across all the US online stores (including Ebay). Not sure when this will be back in stock.

3. Alpine CDA-9886 - with USB and 6 sets of preouts for US $235. Pricier compared to Eclipse CD3200/CD1200 with the other features nearly the same. Not sure if it is worth to pay the premium price for Alpine instead of Eclipse.

4. Eclipse CD3100 - no USB, but it is available for US $158 and has all other features that are available in Alpine CDA-9886. This being a 2007 model, I am sure that someone would have experienced its sound/build quality

My price range is US $100 to US $250. Though I have Alpine CDA-9886 in my options, I would not want to pay the premium if Eclipse CD1200 will do the job in a good enough way. In other words, I do not want to pay a high premium for a fractional improvement in sound/display/build quality, if that is the case.

The other components that will make up my Maruti Swift's ICE (if this will help in suggesting the appropriate headunit) are:

1. Hertz DCX690 coax speakers for rear (bought)
2. Illusion electra EL6.1 for front (planned)
3. Eclipse XA4000 4 channel amp (bought)

Regards,
SKB.

[CaliforniaKnight]

the eclipse 7100 has reported mecahnical errors happenin in the UAE. priced at AED1800 its not something you would expect to happen all of a sudden..

[blueraven316]

The CD1200 is not so great sounding, as I had tuned a system once which had it installed.
I cannot comment on the CD3100/3200 as I have not installed any till date.
The CD7200 rocks and CD5200 too is nice.
Anyhow, among all the options you have I think the 9886 is a pretty decent buy, and it does not have the normal HORRIBLE and confusing Alpine interface. This one's pretty easy to get used to.

[akbaree]

Originally Posted by blueraven316

I installed a pretty decent system with a P80RS yesterday, the head sounded good and very crisp indeed, better than any Pio I have ever heard, But in terms of SQ it can't even hold a candle to the Eclipse CD7100. The eclipse is far superior and natural sounding. So I think the CD7200 will be my next head unit upgrade.

OT: I would exchange my CD7100 with your CD7200. When are you getting it?

[akbaree]

Originally Posted by ece2k2

Hi Satya & others,

I am not able to conclude on which HU (with USB) I am going to buy. I am to buy it from US thro my friend and so I cannot audition all the options either.

Regards,
SKB.

Another suggestion I have for you is to consider Clarion HU. I have personally not heard them but from the gurus on this forum and some of my friends who have used Clarion HU, I believe that Clarion HU are very good and they are not available in India. You can read reviews on Crutchfield. You may like to consider DXZ585USB or DX&785USB.

IMO Options:
1. If you want to stretch your budget, Eclipse CD7200 is the one. If you chose CD7200, everything will need an external Amp as there is no internal Amp.
2. In your budget, Clarion is VFM.
3. If you don't want to consider option 1 and 2, buy the HU from India.

[akbaree]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

What is the prevailing price of the 7200, boss? Who is the distributor / service agent in India?

Some couple of months of back, when I face facing issues with my Eclipse CD7100 and wanted to get it repaired. I had noticed a full page CD100 advertisement in Autocar magazine (Jan'08 or Feb'08 issue) from Preethi Trading Compmany (Mumbai). When I called this guy, he told me he is selling Eclipse in India for past couple of years. I have his numbers, if you want, I can PM them to you. The pricing for CD7100 he gave me was 41K.

I am not sure whether he would have started importing CD7200 though.

[akbaree]

Originally Posted by navin

the most significant difference is the fewer pre outs (usually only 2) in the CDE. The CDAs have 4-6.

I may be wrong but I belive that there is no difference between the CDE and CDA series except the FM Reception. CDE series is for European markets and CDA series is for North American markets. They have two different series perhaps to mitigate illegal trade.

[ScarySkulls]

No interest in the 9887 then?

The 9886 doesn't come with a built-in EQ, so it needs the IMPRINT hub to access these features. Without IMPRINT, the only thing you can adjust on the 9886 is Bass/Treble Center Frequency. On the 9887, you have full access to either a 5 band Parametric EQ or a 7 band Graphic EQ without the IMPRINT hub.
The 9886 does not have the capability to run active, ...but the 9887 does not have USB input? Right?

so it's EQ/Active vs USB then...

[Limpid]

@ece2k2- I have CDA 9886 with illusion 6.1 in a Swift. I've got it installed from Satya. As of now it’s a Plane Jane system with no amp and no sub woofer. You may PM me if you want an audition. Get your CD for audition.

[ece2k2]

Thanks for the invite Limpid! I have now decided to go for the Alpine CDA-9886 (Thanks a lot Satya for driving me to a decision) and have given the web links to my US friend to place the order.

Btw Limpid, how does Alpine HU go with Illusion components ? The front components are the only one that I have to decide once I have all the other stuff from US.

So, here goes my current configuration:

Alpine CDA-9886 CD/MP3/USB headunit
Eclipse XA-4000 Class D full range 840 W amp (4 channels)
Hertz Deici DCX690 coaxials acting as rear ovals
KnuKonceptz Kolossus Fleks 4 Gauge 4 Channel Amp installation kit
Illusion Audio or Hertz or Ground Zero front components for less than Rs.8000 - Yet to be decided

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

- SKB.

[ece2k2]

Originally Posted by ScarySkulls

No interest in the 9887 then?

The 9886 doesn't come with a built-in EQ, so it needs the IMPRINT hub to access these features. Without IMPRINT, the only thing you can adjust on the 9886 is Bass/Treble Center Frequency. On the 9887, you have full access to either a 5 band Parametric EQ or a 7 band Graphic EQ without the IMPRINT hub.
The 9886 does not have the capability to run active, ...but the 9887 does not have USB input? Right?

so it's EQ/Active vs USB then...

Hi SS,

For me, USB matters more than the sound tuning functions. So I guess it is 9886 for me.

- SKB.

[ece2k2]

Originally Posted by akbaree

Another suggestion I have for you is to consider Clarion HU. I have personally not heard them but from the gurus on this forum and some of my friends who have used Clarion HU, I believe that Clarion HU are very good and they are not available in India. You can read reviews on Crutchfield. You may like to consider DXZ585USB or DX&785USB.

IMO Options:
1. If you want to stretch your budget, Eclipse CD7200 is the one. If you chose CD7200, everything will need an external Amp as there is no internal Amp.
2. In your budget, Clarion is VFM.
3. If you don't want to consider option 1 and 2, buy the HU from India.

Akbaree,

1. Unfortunately, CD7200 is way out of my budget and its best price as of now is USD 490 whereas my budget is max of USD 275.
2. Can you please elaborate if Clarion is VFM compared to Alpine. From all the reviews that I read in the US car audio forums, I see most of them tend to choose between Eclipse/Alpine/Pioneer. Does Clarion sound quality exceed that of the Alpine's equally priced models ?

If Clarion DXB785USB can exceed the Alpine CDA-9886 quality (both are around the same price point of around USD 230 in EBAY), then I can given a serious thought about the Clarion. Currently, I lack this Clarion DXB785USB vs Alpine CDA-9886 comparo knowledge. Anyone can shed some light on this ... Please!

- SKB.

[IronWolf]

The Alpine CDA-9884 CD/MP3/USB headunit arrived and I aint an 'Audiophile',
but all I can say is that is has brilliant sound quality.

Frankly I personally did not see the real need for anything over the 9884 in the Alpine CDA series in terms of SQ.
I dont care for the biolite display so 9884 made the cut.

alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/compareProduct.php?c=Alpine&model[]=CDA-9886&model[]=CDA-9885&model[]=CDA-9884&source=/US-en/products/series-c.php&category=AV_HU
(copy paste please)

In regards to the radio stations issue we were talking about,
I just hit auto tune and it selected the first 6 radio stations without missing a single one.
91.1, 91.9, 92.7, 93.4 et all. so radio tuning is a breeze.

The 9884 is 'currently' directly running these speakers

• Rear: Scosche eFx HDC6900 6X9 Coaxial Speakers.
• Front: Hifonics Atlas AS6.5CI 6.5" Component Loudspeaker System.

Thanks Satya for installing it and for the demo cause I didn't have a clue about the Alpine controls.
Not too confusing over the Pio once you get hang of it.

Anyone with an Eclipse CD7200 in Bangalore? I have never see one in action.

Some night pics: