I found one of car audio's holy grails

Mark Nixon said:
Stereos? WTF are those?
IF I lsten to it, I'm just happy if it makes enough noise to be heard above the Dakota's loud exhaust. :D
I barely even listen to the dash box, even on long drives. :hehe:

Mark.
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BigPapa said:
Sports talk and audio books FTW......
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You guys don't know what you are missing and how much enjoyment you can add to your drive with an audiophile quality sound system... I remember coming home and sitting through a song or two in the driveway just enjoying it!!! I miss those times!!!
 
4x4dually said:
Thanks to this thread being alive again...it prompted me to finally google why my AudioControl EpiCenter wasn't working. I switched the LPF off....and holy Lord! Lower octaves may require active rear view mirror stabilization. :hehe:
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An Epicenter can be a fun but dangerous toy!!!

When I was installing, I remember customers coming in on Monday's and Tuesday's with blown speakers after they got beer-ear over the weekend and cranked it up till it stopped playing!!!
 
Chris Tobin said:
Back in the day when I was competing in IASCA I used a Sony A100 CD changer as the source unit in my 1967 Camaro. I competed in the Pro 1-100 watt class with an Orion 425 HCCA then swapped it out for a pair of hand tweaked Orion 225 HCCAs.

From my days of audio testing at Car Audio & Electronics magazine I still have the copper chassis Alpine CDA-7949 that I used as well as most of the rest of the speakers and amps I used as my baseline equipment.
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The 7949...was that the one that Mark Eldridge and others were using? Or was that a 7909? I can never keep them straight.

Chris Tobin said:
You guys don't know what you are missing and how much enjoyment you can add to your drive with an audiophile quality sound system... I remember coming home and sitting through a song or two in the driveway just enjoying it!!! I miss those times!!!
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I'll vouch for that. I used to take longer drives just so I could listen to music longer. Makes it much more enjoyable.
 
CBlack said:
The 7949...was that the one that Mark Eldridge and others were using? Or was that a 7909? I can never keep them straight.



I'll vouch for that. I used to take longer drives just so I could listen to music longer. Makes it much more enjoyable.
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The 7909 was the original "super" CD-transport head unit. Alpine resurrected the essence of it in the 7949 with additional features, modern looks and higher output voltage. The 7909 was a no-frills unit with great sonic performance while the 7949 yielded great sonic performance with added creature comforts... one of the 7949 features was even to disable the display to reduce induced noise from the lighting circuit... On the test bench and to most ears it was superior to the 7909, but the cult following of the 7909 held strong for a long time...

The Clarion 9255 was Clarion's answer to the Alpine 7949.

For me the moment I knew Car Audio was headed downhill was when I received a Crutchfield catalog in the mail and they had a Clarion 9255 on the cover... The manufacturers started selling their "exclusive" lines like Clarion's "Pro Audio", Kenwood's "Excellon" and others through mass merchants at discounted prices and the downward spiral started!!! It was wild to me that the exclusive stuff that won the world finals the year before was now available through mail order catalogs and mass merchants...
 
Chris Tobin said:
The 7909 was the original "super" CD-transport head unit. Alpine resurrected the essence of it in the 7949 with additional features, modern looks and higher output voltage. The 7909 was a no-frills unit with great sonic performance while the 7949 yielded great sonic performance with added creature comforts... one of the 7949 features was even to disable the display to reduce induced noise from the lighting circuit... On the test bench and to most ears it was superior to the 7909, but the cult following of the 7909 held strong for a long time...

The Clarion 9255 was Clarion's answer to the Alpine 7949.

For me the moment I knew Car Audio was headed downhill was when I received a Crutchfield catalog in the mail and they had a Clarion 9255 on the cover... The manufacturers started selling their "exclusive" lines like Clarion's "Pro Audio", Kenwood's "Excellon" and others through mass merchants at discounted prices and the downward spiral started!!! It was wild to me that the exclusive stuff that won the world finals the year before was now available through mail order catalogs and mass merchants...
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I had a 9255. Loved it! Wish I had kept it now.

I agree with the downhill slide of Car Audio. I think it's making a come back but only in the more "elite" brands, such as the Focal Be, Dynaudio, etc.

A shame really as there used to be some top notch kit out there. I always thought Eclipse head units were the chit.
 
CBlack said:
I had a 9255. Loved it! Wish I had kept it now.

I agree with the downhill slide of Car Audio. I think it's making a come back but only in the more "elite" brands, such as the Focal Be, Dynaudio, etc.

A shame really as there used to be some top notch kit out there. I always thought Eclipse head units were the chit.
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Eclipse was hit or miss... When they worked they were good, but there were models from the early years that didn't last long at all... The main thing that set them apart was the high-voltage RCA preamp outputs when other manufacturers were less than a volt they were 1.5-3V and I believe they were the first to 5V and 8V as well.

I worked for Eclipse as the tech support manager for a few years before moving out here to Tennessee. It was a very weird company. Very Japanese focused internally!!! I designed and helped build the Red and Black Dodge Magnum demo vehicle... We built it in just over two weeks from start to finish including suspension, paint and bodywork in addition to the big sound system with all the custom fiberglass work!!! Building that car and being on OverHaulin' were the highlights for me of my time there!!! The lowlights were sitting in meetings when they started speaking Japanese and I could only sit there and wonder...
 
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