Head Unit Questions

I have a few different vehicles, mostly "classic", that I'm going to start building systems in. Pretty much all will be geared towards sound quality, maybe some SQL. I've read that older Alpines and Nakamitsu were good headunits and I think it'd be fun to keep the similar era or at least less modern looking equipment. So...

1. When did the Alpines/Nakamitsu/Insert other brand here take their downturns from SQ towards profits?
2. Kind of piggy backing on the above, what other brands and/or specific models would you recommend? I would prefer something I could adapt an AUX IN to, possibly using a CD changer input if possible. I have a vehicle or two that have 2 knob decks, wouldn't be against a quality tape deck if I could rig an aux cord into it.
3. What qualities should I look for in a head unit? I've been leaning towards getting an Astell and Kern lower end unit with dual DAC and I want to make sure the HU can "keep up".

I have an 86 burb that I ran a US-740 deck in and it's terrible. I don't want to repeat that mistake again, so I figured older units will probably have better quality and I can try to create an aux in.

TIA!!!

Eclipse

Any particular generation or any thing from any time? I'd love to know why as well.

If they are classics, why not just keep the factory HU and go directly into a dsp from some stand alone device (your phone, FIO, etc). That way it keeps it "original" and you still get the best sound.

I will look into that! The suburban did not have a functioning radio originally

Hello, one of them doesn't have the original radio already, so it would be fun to do a period correct install

There's a "classic builds" section in the builds forum, here... and there's lots of 80's and 90's installs - magazine features, most of them. So for whatever year your cars are, you could probably go find some builds of that era, and see what head units were hot at the time. If it's used in a magazine feature car, it's probably top end for the day (of course, just tune out the manufacturer-specific installs, since of course they'd use their product).

I also wouldn't go too much further back than the 90's. You'll at least want a CD player, right?

Really all you are buying though, are cosmetics. I've seen classic installs done, going back to 1950's and 1960's cars, where they've taken one of two options:
1) There's companies that make (or at least made) radios that emulate the old looks, fit the old dashboards, but have modern guts.
2) Lots of people leave the existing head unit in the factory location - and it's just not hooked up to anything. Or maybe it's hooked up to an old-school single speaker. Then, they either make a simple panel inside the glove box, or something more sophisticated like a motorized drop-down under the dash, holding the actual, functioning, modern head unit, that powers the "real" system.

You might consider the latter, because you could even find a touch-screen head unit that really doesn't have any sort of "look" at all, if you are worried about period correctness.

Some really good advice here already.
I've installed a "classic" looking radio in an old 1960's Impala that has modern electronics inside it. Works great!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Theslaking

Eclipse

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If you want to try a period-specific model, I have an Eclipse CD7200mkii for sale. Just add a period-specific iPod classic and you'll be golden! The 7200 is worth a look since it has a really strong built-in dsp for it's time. It doesn't have any speaker outputs though so you'll need an amplifier for sure.
https://www.caraudiojunkies.com/show...literature-etc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Justin Zazzi

Some really good advice here already.
I've installed a "classic" looking radio in an old 1960's Impala that has modern electronics inside it. Works great!

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Custom autosound, that's what it is. I was blanking on that name before. :lol:
https://www.customautosoundmfg.com/

Justin's 7200 is probably the best feature and function unit Eclipse made. You would not be disappointed with performance. Even the Bluetooth function is pretty good.

I was thinking about their ECD lineup. They started making CD players with auxillary in during the late 80's which is spot on for your vehicles age.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by geolemon

Custom autosound, that's what it is. I was blanking on that name before. :lol:
https://www.customautosoundmfg.com/

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I have the custom autosound 740... I'm not very happy with it. It's like the subwoofer output changes differently from the rest. I roll it from 0-45 and from 20-25 the high end gets louder but the sub doesn't. It's a seemingly basic setup, but it works well enough for now... just looking for different options in the future!

I have an older eclipse in my stash somewhere... I'll have to see which it is! IIRC, a 7000 from 2006ish...

I don't want a hidden unit, I'm kinda picky and want to have the ease of just reaching to the radio and cranking it up. I'll definitely check out the period correct builds here... I have some Kicker subs from the late 80's that I want to find a similar era amp for!

CD player is important only if I can't find a way to add an Aux in to it. I'm very mechanically inclined, and slowly getting there with electronics. I generally don't make modifications that I can't put back, like I'm not going drill a hole into a nice vintage unit...but if there is an existing hole I could pass a cable into and solder an input on, ya bet!