Pbone

Could somebody tell me if Alpine do a mini disc head unit? Costs etc. If not what alternative would be best?

mattski

I just got rid of a Pioneer Minidisc, it
was quite an expensive one that came with
the car. Sounded pretty good and stuff,
although I just didn't get on with having
to record everything and the lack of support
in the music shops.

I managed to get hold of a Pioneer DEH-7100R OEL cd head unit and it is superb...do you
have to get minidisc as the cd headunit
is much better imho.

I think that the pioneers can be grabbed for
about £350 if you look.

chiark

Alpine do make a MD head unit, though I can't recall seeing a review.

I've got the Kenwood MD970 unit which I'd highly recommend. On the other hand, I like minidisc in car, as I find the quality close to CD and the format much more convenient.

I scratched many many CDs using an in-dash unit through my mishandling. The unit was good, but the way I used the CDs was bad

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

Alpine do one for around £250, can't remember the model number, I have a review of it at home, I think they said it was fine, just no better than the Sony and Kenwood ones, which are £50-100 less.
If I remember I will look it out over the weekend and scan it is for you.

I am in favour of minidisc in the car, it means I keep all my CDs at home, for listening to there and copy them to minidisc for the car, where you cannot tell the difference in sound quality anyway, (well I for one am not will in to spend thousands on a stereo for the car where there is a lot of background noise so you can't tell the difference).

RonaldoH

Been there myself with an Alpine MD unit. I just think that Alpine have struggled to get the correct sampling from their own playback (where as pioneer/sony etc have home based MD and portable MD experience)....They have added BBE to most MD units (Barkus Berry Electronics sound enhancer) and this does increase the range of sound that you get. I would have to say that the Alpine IVA (the retractable screen model with Mini Disc is probably the best sounding unit but costs around £1200.00 (unless you hit tottenham court road and pay £800.00 cash )

If you have lots of copied MD gear then get one. It would be beneficial for you to try the various units in a car (not in a showroom of a car stereo shop) and also its gonna depend on the speakers you use.....and so on and so fourth.
Hope this helps.
Ron

Pbone

The reason I ask is that i have a cd multi-changer in the boot. I currently have an Alpine CDA 7842R cd head unit, Using an MD up front means I can have the best of both worlds. My whole system is:

Pheonix gold components with pheonix gold amp(in front).
Rockford Fosgate 6x9's (head unit power only).
2 x 12" Alpine ZR subs (bridged to 600watts each using Kenwoods KAC PS401M 1200 watt mono amp).

[This message has been edited by Pbone (edited 10 November 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Pbone (edited 10 November 2000).]

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

PBone I have e-mailed you the review.

Pbone

Thanx Robertio, had a look at that unit at the week-end, not bad for the price. Have also just seen a JVC unit that plays CD and MD in a single DIN unit.