Iv'e owned and used most the top decks,
I listen to all types of music from almost any genre.
I only run Soundstream reference or PPI art amps on components and a Phoenix Gold M100 or Kicker ZR600 on bass. My front end consists of a pair of vintage Boston acoustics Pro components and a vintage 10" Kicker solobaric in a small sealed enclosure.
I also use an audiocontrol line driver and that's it.
If you want an easy to use, and easy to navigate deck with clean audio and good stereo separation plus detailed sound with reliability I would go for
My top 3
1 Alpine 7638r cassette deck with CD combo - Yes its cassette + CD
Self cleaning head, the last of the Alpine legends. No silly processors and gazillion DACs etc. Anyone could hook this up and achieve great results. The sound on high quality cassettes is to die for. I prefer to hear music recorded on it's original format, so if it was released on cassette I want to hear it how the artist recorded it.
2 Alpine 7939r CD Max, the successor the 7909 best dedicated CD tuner by far. Has stood the test of time and won't fail the minute you drop a cd in or need a million $$ rebuild unlike it's big brother 7909. My all time favorite CD tuner.
3 Pioneer P9 head unit standalone with no processor, hook this up to some decent oldskool amps and it's almost as slick as the 7939r
All the above can be had for pennies compared to some of the previously mentioned units and in a blind test I would choose my top 3 all day.
These are my own opinions based on real world testing conditions, trust me if you get the opportunity to own or try any of the above, you won't be disappointed.
I listen to all types of music from almost any genre.
I only run Soundstream reference or PPI art amps on components and a Phoenix Gold M100 or Kicker ZR600 on bass. My front end consists of a pair of vintage Boston acoustics Pro components and a vintage 10" Kicker solobaric in a small sealed enclosure.
I also use an audiocontrol line driver and that's it.
If you want an easy to use, and easy to navigate deck with clean audio and good stereo separation plus detailed sound with reliability I would go for
My top 3
1 Alpine 7638r cassette deck with CD combo - Yes its cassette + CD
Self cleaning head, the last of the Alpine legends. No silly processors and gazillion DACs etc. Anyone could hook this up and achieve great results. The sound on high quality cassettes is to die for. I prefer to hear music recorded on it's original format, so if it was released on cassette I want to hear it how the artist recorded it.
2 Alpine 7939r CD Max, the successor the 7909 best dedicated CD tuner by far. Has stood the test of time and won't fail the minute you drop a cd in or need a million $$ rebuild unlike it's big brother 7909. My all time favorite CD tuner.
3 Pioneer P9 head unit standalone with no processor, hook this up to some decent oldskool amps and it's almost as slick as the 7939r
All the above can be had for pennies compared to some of the previously mentioned units and in a blind test I would choose my top 3 all day.
These are my own opinions based on real world testing conditions, trust me if you get the opportunity to own or try any of the above, you won't be disappointed.
best i used only Sony CDX-GT300 and one cheaper sony and in both cases if cd burnt from flac or originals and not using its integrated amp,and eq turned off just lpf for sub on, both sounded same(i think most of headunits sound same in this way of using them, and dont think that difference in sound is drastic as people here do)..
and for amps i used modified square inverter under hood ..220v from hood to trunk and my 220v lm3886/75 combination one thing i dont like was 5 meters of rca cable
edit: never heard artists recorded on cassettes and never heard of high quality cassettes
and for amps i used modified square inverter under hood ..220v from hood to trunk and my 220v lm3886/75 combination one thing i dont like was 5 meters of rca cable
edit: never heard artists recorded on cassettes and never heard of high quality cassettes
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.