New HU's tested

 

Bronze Member
Username: Germanguy

Post Number: 64
Registered: May-04
Since everyone is interested about the new HU generation, here's a professional review of the most popular new HU's. It's about the following top candidates:

1. Alpine CDA-9835
2. Clarion DXZ948
3. JVC KD-SHX701
4. Panasonic CQ-C9800
5. Pioneer DEH-P8600

Since radio tuner features vary from US and Euro models I only name what all units have in common on both continents.

true Power rating RMS:
1. Alpine 13w
2. Clarion 12w
3. JVC 19w
4. Panasonic 31w
5. Pioneer 15w

pre-out Voltage:
1. Alpine 4,4v
2. Clarion 3v
3. JVC 5,1v
4. Panasonic 5,8v
5. Pioneer 7v

access times:
1. Alpine
read MP3-CD: 12 sec
skip MP3-track: 3,5 sec
read norm. CD: 12 sec
skip norm. track: 1 sec

2. Clarion
read MP3-CD: 10 sec
skip MP3-track: 2,7 sec
read norm. CD: 5 sec
skip norm. track: 1,5 sec

3. JVC
read MP3-CD: 12 sec
skip MP3-track: 3,4 sec
read norm. CD: 10 sec
skip norm. track: 3 sec

4. Panasonic
read MP3-CD: 10 sec
skip MP3-track: 2,5 sec
read norm. CD: 10 sec
skip norm. track: 1,5 sec

5. Pioneer
read MP3-CD: 6,5 sec
skip MP3-track: 1,3 sec
read norm. CD: 6,5 sec
skip norm. track: 1,3 sec

CD-Signal Noise Ratio:
1. Alpine 91
2. Clarion 87
3. JVC 96
4. Panasonic 88
5. Pioneer 88

On a scale of 1 to 6 where 1 is best the following was said about Sound Quality:
1. Alpine 1,2
2. Clarion 1,3
3. JVC 1,4 (no time correction)
4. Panasonic 1,4 (no time correction)
5. Pioneer 1,3

SQ was calculated by following aspects (1 is best, + outstanding / in 0,5-steps):
. .base / neutrality / transparency / position / dynamic
1. Alpine 1,5 / 1+ / 1,5 / 1,5 / 1,0
2. Clarion 1,5 / 1,0 / 1,5 / 1,0 / 1,5
3. JVC 1,5 / 1,5 / 1,0 / 1,5 / 1,5
4. Panasonic 1,5 / 1,5 / 1,5 / 1,0 / 1,5

interesting features:
1. Alpine: Amplifier-Link
2. Clarion: Dolby Pro Logic II / touchscreen display
3. JVC: quality foto-display
4. Panasonic: digital internal amps (31w rms !!!)
5. Pioneer: auto-self-adjusting EQ


Alpine & Pioneer were awarded winner of this competition, while Alpine was ahead in SQ.

Hope this helps some people in their decision.
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

NorthWest, Michigan USA

Post Number: 3464
Registered: Dec-03
note Alpines with the V-drive amplifier internally offer 27 watts x 4, and units using a digital amp tend to have very poor sound quality.
It's an inherant drawback to the relatively slow switching speed of the transistors in a D/T class amp.
a good class D full range amplifier costs about $2,500 US.
 

p88l
Unregistered guest
Please provide the notes on SQ for pioneer...
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