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Alright I didn't want to be that guy since I've read these kinds of posts many times before, but I figured you guys know better and new stuff comes out all the time so I thought it doesn't hurt to ask.

I want to buy a new head unit. The car is a 04 civic and currently has a stock cd player. The headunit will run rear fill only, front speakers are (or will be soon) amplified along with the sub. My question is, if you had $300 +/- some, what would you buy? Then if you had $400 +/- some, what would you buy, and is it worth to spend the extra cash over the $300 unit.

I'd like to stick with either clarion or alpine (I think eclipse is a bit more expensive) as I heard some negatives about jvc and pioneer but I'm welcome for arguments supporting your pick. Anyway let me know what you guys think. Thanks in advance.

What kind of features do you need?

I'm not very picky on the features. I do want 3 pre amp outs but that's pretty much standard on these new units. Equalizer and Mp3 playback would be nice but like I said I'm not looking for anything special. All I want is nice clean sound and good radio receptionl.

I bought a JVC KD-AR7000 for $335 shipped.

It has all the features your looking for, plus more.

4V Outs- 3 pairs
7 Band EQ- works wonders!
BBE
24 Bit DAC

plus it is cool as hell....

Thanks for the suggestion Ryan. You obviously know what you're doing so I value that opinion. A quick question, I was looking into buying a headunit last year and it seemed like clarion and alpine were the cream of the crop, more alpine the clarion, for this price range. What happened? Did JVC step up their game or did alpine fall of a bit? Also do you see any negatives from that deck? Finally where did you buy it for $335 shipped, ebay??, I'm ready to buy, maybe even install it during thanksgiving time off. Anyone else have any other deck they like? Thanks

Alpine and Clarion are :s_thumbup also look into Eclipse and Pioneer Premier.

I think if I were you id go with the DEH-P960MP...All the features you could ever want.not to mention looks great. Read the review William from NOLA posted on the site http://www.caraudiocentral.net/forums/s ... .php?t=262.