im alpine all the way. i have an iva d900 in my truck. but i do like the avic-n1, although its voice assisted not voice activated. got the pioneer in the hd. just look around, i got the pioneer for 1200 from electronic express. you could prolly pick up a clarion vrx 925vd or 935vd pretty cheap.

 

I have an older pioneer 7300 w/9000 processor. Have the Dolby 5.1 and 7 inch screen. However, it is old now and time for a new one. I was looking at the AVIC-N1 and it is a great value. I actually really wanted it at one time but I changed my mind because I didn't want a 6.5 inch screen. The AVIC also seems to run slower than the Pioneer unit I have now. When you load a CD, it takes awhile for the unit to read the disk, DVD, CD, or MP3. As far as the picture quality, I think it is great. Can't speak for the other unts though. Kenwood makes one that is fully integrated with a tuner and a TV tuner ad all. It is an Excelon so it carries a 2yr warranty as well. I know Alpines and Eclipses are very expensive though good quality. Good luck. Let us know what you get and how you like it.

 

If you are going for sound quality then by reputation Eclipse wins this and they have some cool warranties. I have never heard the Eclipse in-dash DVD so Im going by their cd HU's they are the ****. Alpine and Pioneer are really close as far sound quality on their HU's and Alpine may have the edge but others will say that Pionner does. I personally am a Pionner Premier guy(850mp) and went with univeral screens mounted up front. The only reason i say the AVIC-N1 is because it is all around the best buy in my opion with all the features. Your gonna buy what you want. If I were you I would go to www.Sounddomain.com and get int their forums and ask those guys. They will be another source along with this site. That is a good forum site!

 

FWIW, this is somewhat F8L Z71 area of expertise. He has the opportunity to see not just the deck that he may or may not bought every day, but, he gets to see a lot of the decks that are on the market every day.

 

Yea, The 7500 is better sound quality wise and feature wise then the AVIC N1. The AVIC is more for Navi and doesnt have high pre-amp outputs...

 

Even then you're still getting Pioneer sound quality. Which is not bad but not on par with the Eclipse head units.

I recently swapped out a brand new DEH-P8600mp with the 24bit DA converter, high voltage/low impedance outputs and it still didn't sound as good as the Eclipse CD8454 I replaced it with even the specs were nearly similar.

That being said, I'd still take the Pioneer over the Eclipse just because of the glitches I have witness in this years Eclipse lineup. Plus the double din Eclipses are actually very low voltage decks with minimums in the SQ department. They were designed for the Lexus crowed who wanted an all in one unit (no brain to hide) with great factory integration.

Slammed, see what you can find online and hit me up on Fri. I have a 6500 display unit that I bet I can make you a killer deal on since it's almost the end of the year. You'd still get the 1yr warranty from the factory since you're local and me and my boss are the only ones who touch the thing which is pretty rare.

Golden, thanks bro

 

6500, or 7500?

 

7500... The upper model.

 

FYI, Eclipse AV products are not up to snuff. I know first hand, trust me, do a search.

If you want Eclipse, at least wait until their 05 stuff comes out in Jan.

 

Kenwood Exceleon is the way to go..... 1 1/2 din touchscreen, dvd,cd,mp3 all that stuff, backgrounds, a bunch of stuff....... buddy got it on ebay for about 900 brandnew in box, all the hard ware everthing, it is a flushmount monitor.... 6.5" retails for almost 1700$
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...732578146&rd=1