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i saw a couple of the new clarion headunits at the local audio shop, the DXZ735MP and DXZ835MP. the 835MP caught my eye, it was a really cool looking unit, then i found out the specs, and it seemed like the perfect player for me, but i never hear about people talking about clarion units. how is there past? are these quality units, or pieces of crap? is clarion a good company?

some of the specs on the unit:
728 colors that you can change on the unit ( the display and buttons all change in color, its cool )
plays mp3 and wma ( i tested it with an mp3 cd, load times were fast, less than 2 seconds, where as its close to 5 seconds with my 7400mp )
motorized face, detachable
dual 24 bit DACs
front panel sub control ( no need to go into the menus to change sub volume, there is a switch like **** on the face )
three 4 volt pre outs

msrp is $500, the shop sells it for $400, in a couple months the guy said he can probably do better, once they get more in, maybe $330-$350.

great looking player with some cool features, but i need to know more about clarion, any one?

EDIT: attached a pic of the unit.

 
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i personally have had good experience with the clarions i have installed.

 
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i had a clarion deck before, it was pretty decent

 
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Clarion has been around for a long, long time. They actually claim to have invented car audio. I have no way of verifying this, as my parents were small children at that time, but whatever. Their products are very high quality, though, and I won't hesitate to put a Clarion in my new car if they make something that will fill my needs. I've owned a couple Clarion head units in the past and the clarity and overall sound quality are rather impressive for a car setup (on par with Eclipse but with better amplification). Hmmm...got me thinking...I'm going to the Clarion website right now to look at their current lineup (I've been looking for something for about a month).

 
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thanks for the help guys.

that headunit is just awesome, i love it, and if you ever see one first hand, i think you would to.
the shop also sells pioneer, jvc, and rockford headunits, but none of those have the same appeal as the clarion. just glad to hear its a good company and most likely, a good product.

 
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I have had three clarion head units in the past and never had a single problem...go for it

 
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i would choose clarion over blaupunkt, pyle, and those other crappy brands

 
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Mohawk, since you seem pretty experienced in audio... in your opinion, which manufacturer produces the cleanest sounding headunits? I say Pioneer!

 
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I have the Clarion ProAudio DXZ825 and I am very pleased with it.

 
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youre kidding right? youre gonna put pioneer over brands like eclipse, nakamichi, mcintosh, and denon?

 
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Clarion builds some quality gear. I'm surprised more people don't use it. I've never had any issues with the Clarion decks I've owned. Built like tanks, IMO. Their high-end stuff is worthy of competition, especially some of the old school stuff like the DRX-9255.

Good choice!

 
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well, after reading the posts on this thread, and researching clarion a little bit, i decided to get it, most likely the end of next month, or april.

question, should i keep my clarion EQS-560 EQ? i'm thinking of selling it also, because the only reason i got it was so i can use the 3 preouts on it since my headunit only has 2 preouts.

 
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I have the Clarion dxz 715, along with a clarion changer. Their units are pretty good, if u are looking at a Clarion try to get their Pro-Audio series. I also heard that the factory headunits in the 7th civics are made by Clarion is this true ?

 
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Well from an overall standpoint.

Just a HU with no additional outboard processors.

I't have to call it a draw between any eclipse HU with 5volt or better pre-outs
and anything with the Denon name attached to it.

They simply have the cleaners outputs on the market period.

Now if you want to go with units with outboard processors, well
There's the P9/combo from Pioneer
Alpine F1 Status,
Eclipse 8062/3 with the balanced line converter and DSP.

The Clarion 925 is up there as well with it's great out of the box processing. But the actual output stage more readily picks up and adds noids to your sound.

That's my opinion on the matter anyhow.

How mid-level HU's I only reeccomend Clarion and Alpine. Pioneers been falling back in quality bigtime over the last 2 years and the rest just aren't really as good for the price. JVC, Panasonic, Kenwood and the like just seem to be a half a step behind

 
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Mohawk what do you mean by "outboard processors" do you mean stuff like "mosfet 50" amps etc? are outboard processors a good thing?? i want to power my Pioneer DEH3400 by an MTX 6304 4 channel amp... good idea? i have polk momos up front and cerwin vegas 3ways in the back

 
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Reason I say Pioneer is I tested the pioneer h/u's at Circuit city against all the more expensive ones, and IMO, the others cant compare in clarity. (playing same song, with similar EQ settings for comparisons)

 
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I'm gonna have to take sides with Ludlam on this one. I think that there are several tiers of car audio:
top - nakamichi, eclipse, mcintosh
middle - harmon kardon, denon, japanese sony units, pioneer (their upper brands), clarion, panasonic (their upper brands)
bottom - jvc, pioneer (their lower brands), panasonic (their lower brands), sony, lightning, lanzar, etc.
i know i've missed a few, but theres no way a properly powered eclipse or nakamichi sounds worse than any pioneer.

as for the external processors, the 8062's line adapter is not technically a processor. it simply filters out noise from the RCAs before delivering them to the amp, and although this is a good feature (despite the lack of amps supporting a 16v input), it is not like a nakamichi unit in which a gross amount of the sound processing is not located inside the 1-din HU.

correct me if i'm wrong.

 
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if you're gonna spend 300-400 dollars on a HU, look on eBay for eclipse or nakamichi. both kick ***. i got my eclipse cd8051 (the same as the 8062, just one year back, and without the balanced line adapter), for under $300 NIB from HiFi Buys. although it needs an amp, i feel that the sound is almost the best available. go to tweeter (or whatever your local store is), and take something like delerium, depeche mode, or paul oakenfold, to the store. play it on these setups:
-upper end pioneer/panasonic HU w/same brand speakers
-the clarion unit through clarion or boston acoustic speakers
-the eclipse 8052 or 8062 through a JL 300/4 or eclipse amp, and through eclipse or JL VR/XR coaxials/components
you WILL hear a HUGE difference. btw: if you need speakers to go with, i have some JL VRs that'll fit nicely in a coupe (i dont know what you have). good deal, two pair, $200.

 
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Sound boards are no way to judge a HU's performance. You can only tell bad from good. Not good from great. The sound will be soo very much different in a car environment.
I was really unimpressed with the sound of MBQ Q series on a sounding board. But in a car their a whole different monster.

I've heard ona sounding board a Bottom end Sony, playerd through the same am and speakers sound a ton better than a Clarion HX D10, Because the gains on the amp were set for a low voltage HU, so the gains were quite high.

 
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I guess it depends on where you go. My local HiFi buys has two sounding rooms. Each has all the components I've mentioned. Bad to mediocre, mediocre to good, good to great, and great to "oh, i need to change my pants", are all audible.

 
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im in love with the DXZ935 Clarion





Motorized Dual Action Detachable Face
Dolby Pro Logic II
Sirius Satellite Radio Ready
CeNET Control of Optional: Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 Processor, TV Tuner, Sirius Satellite Radio Receiver, DVD Changer and 6 Disc CD Changer
Multi-Changer Control
CD Text, CD Titling, Station Titling
Steering Wheel IR Remote Control
Dual 24 Bit DACs
Plays CD-R & CD-RWs
Parametric EQ
Built-in DSP for Time Alignment, Seat Position, Virtual Space Enhancer
4 Volt/6 Channel RCA Line Level Output
2 Channel Aux. Input
Built-in adjustable High-Pass Crossovers for
Front/Rear/Center Channels: Through/50Hz/80Hz/120Hz
Built-in adjustable Low-Pass Crossover with Subwoofer Volume Control: off/50Hz/80Hz/120Hz
Adjustable Display Contrast
212-Watt (53W x 4)
Magi-Tune+ Tuner with 18FM/6AM Presets
M Screen Saver
Aluminum Faceplate

 
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izod, how can lower number pioneer decks be in a different category when its the same cd player as the higher numbered ones?

 
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Whiterabbit,
Eh? A $150 Pioneer/Panasonic does not contain the same components as a $300 unit. Although designs may be similar, component selection (IC level) has higher quality, layout is better (to reduce noise), insulated conductors, higher bit & quality DACs, better amplifier circuits, better power supplies.

 
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agreed. read what i asked.

a $150 pioneer contains the same cd-rom as a $300 pioneer.

i totally agree tho, a $150 panasonic doesnt have the same reader at all from a $300 nakamichi. but that wasnt the issue.

the fact is, with all the "features" off on yoru fancy pioneers (which really should be off anyways, bass boosts, 3 band EQ's, etc etc etc) its the same player. again, and ill repeat, thats between models of the same brand, pioneer. but only within pioneers different model. id have to agree there would be a difference between a $150 pioneer and a $300 eclipse. totally.

but a $150 pioneer and a $300 pioneer? its the same cd player. so how can you say one sounds better? ive installed a 1400 in a car. sounded great. installed a 6400 in a car also. sounded great.

does this go back to psychoaccustics again? i believe so...........

 
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i guess i cant understand where you're coming from. albeit features are a great amount of where the cost of a HU comes from, and the CD reader components may be the same, the $150 and $300 units have different decoding, amplification, and in some cases board qualities. higher-bit dacs mean better digital sound recreation with a higher s/n (compared a 16 to a 18 to a 20 bit dac? say a stock crystal dac VS a custom?), using higher quality onboard amplifiers to keep that better quality sound better, maintaining the S/N ratio, the sensitivity, and the range, the insulation used in the components on the board, the power supply which protects the components from surges and keeps out loops. i dunno.

 
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again, i have to totally agree with you. its one of teh reasons many like clarion over pioneer, cause o the 24 bid DAC as opposed to pioneers 1 bit DAC

but pioneer, check the company website, the features on teh 9500 are the same as the 1500. its just cd titling, mp3 capabilities and such that are the difference. its the same 3 beam 1 bit DAC pickup, even across the whole band, from 1 series to 9 series pioneer. its the same player. as to the features, if it doesnt clip on the 1500 (if my 4000 doesnt, im sure the 1500 wont, but its not based on fact) surely the 9500 wont.

but check pioneers website for yourself. if you had stated lowerline panasonics versus higher end panasonics, i wouldnt have said anything, with no basis to really talk. but the fact is, with the same components, the same audio converters, same pickup, its gonna sound the same. the output voltage isnt gonna make that big a difference, and the amplifier certaily wont make a difference (if you believe it will, you can always ask Richard Clark about it [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG] )

I mean, of course you could tune one all shitty, and tune the other flat, one will sound better, but both playing at eaqual settings, there isnt gonna be an audible difference. Its the first rule of a shop audio salesman, the customer can pick out whichever radio looks the best or has the physical layout they like, because will all the bass boosts, the equilizer settings, the number of preouts, lack of onboard amplification, the number of dolphins that swim across the screen, the number of cd's the changer can hold, its gonna sound the same.

 
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have you considered kenwood? i have the excelon kdc-x859 and it is perfect!!

 
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my experience with clarion HU's is pretty good. I think that they are high quality headunits.

 
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I've got a Clarion in dash DVD/CD player... it works OK but when its cold i always get error 6 and the CD won't play.. also it doesnt have an AM/FM radio so that kinda sucks, but other than that its great!

 
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i've had good experiances with clarion HU's, they are pretty good, and their new tv is just sweet