Another Head Unit Question...

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:22 am

Remember the good old days?

I had a Pioneer KEX-M900RDS with GEX-T70 (radio), CDX-1 (CD-player) and a 6-cd magazin CDX-M30 back in '94/95...

That was an expensive MoFo, but I worked and saved my ass off to buy a used one... Damn, I was proud to have this HU.

I wonder if I should get one for myself, due to old-school reasons. Anyone in here that owns one, or have opinions about it?

I would have gone for this one, but there is something in this add... I do not know...

I'd also prefer to have a box etc to this piece.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-top-of-line ... 2305aad56a

Gotta love this unit, I remember that it was fantastic... I was so happy and proud... God damn, those were the days....

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:53 am

I have also looked at the Pioneer DEX-M88RDS... Cool unit, but no memory lane - since I have never owned one...

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:05 am

If you're looking for an ol' school HU... hunt down an Alpine CDA-7909. That is viewed as one of the best units ever to be released

I had the 7949E before I got the one I have now.. 7998R

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:31 am

No Tiger, I am NOT looking for a Alpine Headunit. I never liked the Alpines, I was a Pioneer guy. Late 90s, I went over to Clarion, but as my install has a early 90s theme - I prefer to stay there. I enjoyed my Pioneer KEX-M900RDS so much back then, and I wonder if I should track one down, and install it.

Or maybe go for a similar one, the DEX-M88RDS? I guess it have to be between those two...

oldschoolfan · Post by **oldschoolfan** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 12:22 pm

Pedi do it. Why not? I am still in love with the Alpine 7618 tape deck. That thing was bad ass back then. Complete your theme properly the way you want it! It will be a great feeling when you power it on for the first time and the placement and use of the controls come back to you like you were never without that head unit. Time warp in a good way.

Post by **stipud** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:29 pm

Reminds me of my DEX-P1r... that deck did EVERYTHING, and was easily the best sounding HU I have ever owned.

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:02 pm

stipud wrote:Reminds me of my DEX-P1r... that deck did EVERYTHING, and was easily the best sounding HU I have ever owned.

Yeah, it sure is nice. But that unit is too new for me...

Which one of the KEX-M900 or the DEX-M88 would you prefer? Or are the SQ way too bad neverthe less?

I remember when I did sell my KEX, I ordered myself the new model from Sony with CD-changer with the new innovation: ESP. But I had to wait a month or two, and I bought a Pioneer DEH-790 while I was waiting... That was a non-expensive CD-player, BUT GOD DAMN !! That player sounded nice compared to the top-notch KEX I used to have...

But I wonder if I buy myself a KEX or a DEX from early 90s, and use the AUX-in - would the sound quality still suffer? Any thoughts?

I could "easily" put in a P1R ofcourse, and be safe - but I feel better about going down the memory lane? I think...

Please, any inputs here?? Am I stupid, even thinking about such an HU??

I do not need SQ like Z1-players. I am not going for an SQ install, but neverthe less - I want my amps to have a clear signal.

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:16 pm

oldschoolfan wrote:Pedi do it. Why not? I am still in love with the Alpine 7618 tape deck. That thing was bad ass back then. Complete your theme properly the way you want it! It will be a great feeling when you power it on for the first time and the placement and use of the controls come back to you like you were never without that head unit. Time warp in a good way.

I had an alpine 7618 deck it was awesome, Also had a pioneer 8550 it was not even close to as good a deck as the alpine was.

Post by **ttocs** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:56 am

if you are going old school I am suprised that you do not want an old alpine with the 6 green buttonw. That screams old school to me.........

Post by **stipud** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:24 am

Hmmm I have no personal experience with those headunits, but I think if you are going to go through the hassle of running a classic... you should probably go with the one that you used to love the most!

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:27 am

ttocs wrote:if you are going old school I am suprised that you do not want an old alpine with the 6 green buttonw. That screams old school to me.........

yeah, I know what you mean. But to be honest, I really hate the looks of the Alpine head units. So I won't use a hu in my install just for sq reasons. I want the looks and the good feeling, and the coolest HU in the early 90s was the Pioneer flagships...

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:34 am

I still have my pioneer 8550( sell cheap) if you would like to use that and run a cd changer with it. Its actually a nice looking head unit. I used to have 2 changers with it but sold them on ebay to BMW owners. BMW factory changers were tha same one,so they are a little pricey.

phonixx · Post by **phonixx** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:07 am

Those were the days

My first "high end" player was the Pioneer FX-K5 cassette deck with a separate FM-tuner. Fantastic radio recieving from very far away but not very good sound quality as far as i can remember.

But it didnt matter, i was king of the road, i guess it was back in 90-91 and the price for a Pioneer cd/radio for the car was approx $1500-$2000 as far as i can remember.

I had it hooked up with a Pioneer GM 120 amp and later i got me a GM1000 amp and that was a monster together with the Pioneer ts-2080 speakers.

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 1:11 pm

Wow, the 4-way TS2080... I cannot remember that you had such speakers installed? I guess that was a couple of years before I got the honor of becoming a friend with you...

I had one pair of those aswell a small period, back in the red BMW. They were blown to pieces, and I replaced them with the Boston 797s...

BTW... Do you still have theese nice pieces? The pics look so "up-to-date"...

Haakon · Post by **Haakon** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:09 pm

If you can stretch your timeline to 97-98, I have this sweet P99R laying around.. Upgrading to a P99RS for my new system

evo9 · Post by **evo9** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:19 pm

That is the same as the DEX-P1R, USA model

Haakon wrote:If you can stretch your timeline to 97-98, I have this sweet P99R laying around.. Upgrading to a P99RS for my new system

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:23 pm

I remember that unit ^^^^^NICE!!! That was when I had a thing for Pioneer. Actually, one of my fave old Pioneer decks was the DEX-P88R

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:22 am

that was back in the time with the resistor pill/chip on the switched wire that needed to be cut out to keep it from failing later, and the loading/unloading mech always locked up. These were nothing close to the caliber of those decks they had the same chassis, I would never dream of owning one as I spent too much time as an installer replacing them for customers.

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:28 am

ttocs wrote:that was back in the time with the resistor pill/chip on the switched wire that needed to be cut out to keep it from failing later, and the loading/unloading mech always locked up. These were nothing close to the caliber of those decks they had the same chassis, I would never dream of owning one as I spent too much time as an installer replacing them for customers.

Which decks are you referring to, ttocs? Thanks for info, btw...

phonixx · Post by **phonixx** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:44 am

Pedi wrote:Wow, the 4-way TS2080... I cannot remember that you had such speakers installed? I guess that was a couple of years before I got the honor of becoming a friend with you...

I had one pair of those aswell a small period, back in the red BMW. They were blown to pieces, and I replaced them with the Boston 797s...

BTW... Do you still have theese nice pieces? The pics look so "up-to-date"...

Yes Pedi i guess that was some years before we first met. I`m quite sure that it was the summer of 1990 because i remember i was just started working at Hydro and i started there in May 1990.

I had in in my first car, Audi 80 1976 model, guess you dont remember that i had this car? This was 2-3 years before anyone had a Subwoofer in the car, at least here in Haugesund area. 4-way with 8" or 6*9 was top of the line

I dont have this stuff anymore, i stole the pictures from a Forum out there.

I remember i visited Roger in Porsgrund the summer of 1993 when he went to school there and he had a 12" in his Volvo 240 and that was about the first time i heard anything bigger then 6*9 in a car. And i guess that was the point of no return and here we are 17 years later and we still love the punch in the back while driving

I`m not sure when i had my first Subwoofer but it was sometime late 1993 or early 1994. I had the Denon DCA800 and a Peavy 15" sub that came from i guy i working with that plays a bass gitar in a blues band. I stopped working with this guy in the Easter 1994 so i know it was before that. Later i got the CW 15XL and so the story goes

Haakon · Post by **Haakon** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 7:31 pm

http://www.finn.no/finn/torget/tilsalgs ... e=21632561

Is this what you're looking for? Found it for sale today..

Edit: ch-changer also here: http://www.finn.no/finn/torget/tilsalgs ... e=21594162

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 11:28 pm

Thanks Haakon, but this player misses the "M" letter (KEX-M900RDS), so it is an even older model... But very nice find though!!!

k2f-gold · Post by **k2f-gold** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:36 am

hxd2 does have a classic feel and also good sq. worth to try. also not tht costly.

colbertroader · Post by **colbertroader** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:01 am

Pedi

I have a KEXM-900 complete with CD changer and fibre optic cable FM Tuner & remote. I too was so proud when I saved up and bought this piece. I think I still have the receipt head unit alone was $1599 or something like that. Last had this installed in a '93 Dodge Stealth with 160 watts total including a Rockford 18" sub. Won 1st in my class for sound quality and SPL.

Been out of the car stereo scene for about 10 year (wife & kids now) but looking to install a cheap system in my '93 Lexus.

I'll either install this or if you want it I'll buy a simple newer deck for $200

Let me know if you're still looking

Steve