Good head unit without built in amp

[Mikael Abdellah]

Is there a good head unit without built in amplifier and animated dolphins?

I have just bought a car and is currently planning some kind of audio system for it. Nothing too insane but i want it to sound reasonably good. I had planned to use a Dell X51v together with a compact flash to usb converter and an external USB hard drive. However this may not be such a good idea. The disk access from the USB drive will be very CPU heavy since the converter cannot use DMA. I had hoped I could use the PDA for both navigation and music/movies.

Are there any reasonably priced head units without all the extra cwap?

 

[Clipped]

clarion 9255...hx-d1...hx-d2

im pretty sure these are mutes, not 100% sure though.

 

[Mikael Abdellah]

WOW! That 9255 looks really nice but i think it might be abit too expensive. I have also found Becker units but they are also not exactly what I am looking for. I still lean towards the Dell PDA as long as I can get everything to work ok. I will keep looking. Thanks for the clarion tip.

 

[Clipped]

if youngo with the pda, id really suggest using it with a pre amplifier(eq) with a built in line driver...the pda will have a pretty low output voltage...you may want to boost it a bit.

 

[Mikael Abdellah]

I was thinking about maybe go with interstage transformers to isolate it completely and also to amplify signal level.

 

[Clipped]

hmmm..sounds complicated, but if you can get it to work..go for it!

 

[meepers]

alpine 7949. none of the extras, all of the bling. to bad the damn thing will not play cdrs.

 

[alphakenny1]

why do you want animated dolphins? freaking ugly IMO. eclipse 8053, clarion drz9255 and alpine 7998.

 

[variable]

Alpine 7998 is a good one.. But I m pretty sure it doesn't have a built in amp. If I were you I will upgrade my front speakers as first priority.

 

[richie00boy]

Just a point of consideration - all these ampless headunits are going to be far, far better quality sound than the mediocre sound capability of a PDA.

 

[alphakenny1]

Alpine 7998 is a good one.. But I m pretty sure it doesn't have a built in amp. If I were you I will upgrade my front speakers as first priority.

well thats what the OP asks for, something without a built in amp and i listed HUs without a built in amp .

 

[Mikael Abdellah]

I am very aware that high end HUs will be FAR better than my PDA soundwise, but that is not the primary target anyway. Cmon, its a car. Its noisy. I do not need as good audio quality as in my living room.

I have done a few tests with my PDA and so far I am ok with it. I have started modyfiyng a pair of smallish car amplifiers that will drive my tweeters and mid-woofers with active crossovers. I have contacted a company about making custom transformers but they need some parameters that I am still unsure of. I have contaced Dell and they are very helpful bot I still haven't got the final piece ofthe puzzle.