I need to know about head units

[Jdon13]

Alright guys before I ask my question Ill give you a quick background on why I'm asking.

I work at Best Buy. ( Go ahead hate me about monster HDMI cables )

Anyway, I know a lot about car-fi. I know that every head unit we keep on display uses MOSFET amplifiers to keep it cool, cheap, and small. These mosfets put out on average 14 watts/channel and at most 20 watts/channel. Everyone knows to get better quality/louder volumes you need to utilize the preouts on the back of the headunit. By then quality will be dictated by the amp you use, and a sufficient power source. Cool.

So this guy tells me I know nothing because I say a sony will sound the same as a kenwood and pioneer and jvc etc. Because theyre all chinese mosfet amps. And because youre putting it in a '98 ford f150 with road noise and engine noise and $40 reinforced paper pioneer speakers. I told him the only differences are the sales they happen to be on, bluetooth capabilities, sirius, hd radio, usb, analog, and the ease of EQ settings. I firmly believe that radios are all capable of the same quality sound out of the box. And he told my manager to fire me.

So, my questions are for the car audio masters, I want to know

WHO makes these mosfet amps. Is it all brand X amps in brand Y head units? or is it actually sony amp in sony head unit?

WHAT are the differences between brands? Are there notable digital samplers going on behind the scenes that nobody knows about?

IS there ever an argument to take seriously when someone wants sq from the speaker outputs at 15-20 watts?? IMO you are going to distort by the time it is loud enough to drown out road noise. (ESPECIALLY IN A 98 F150!!)

ANY other info you can tell me that I cant read on bestbuy.com?? I understand that one head unit can do bluetooth and one cant... its how ive been selling the past year... I always will find out a customers needs and recomend the cheapest solution based on that. If the parent wants their kid to have hands free calling, I give them the kenwood, pioneer sony jvc or alpine that is the best price at the time. My conscious is clear when it comes to selling at best buy. I am here to learn and not to argue about overpriced services or geek squad protection, so keep those opinions off this please. Thanks.

[Noel989]

[Sutliff]

Welcome to the SMD Forums, Sir.

Like Noelito, ... I will sit back, & take this all in.

... & I have to comment on the Monster HDMI: Regardless of price, hype, etc., they work. Very well I might add. Very well indeed, ...

Especially when you did not buy any of them.

[SIDE SHOW]

for starters the sony's claim to have a built in amp that does 52w max x4... most pioneers are 50x4 some are 60x4 and same as alpine and jvc. they don't put out anywere near close to that pwr tho. you need to determine what they would like to use the unit for, then sell them a unit from there (depending on features such as Bluetooth usb 3 sets of pre-outs for amp ect)

do you honestly think a base model pioneer deck for $99 will sound the same as a top of the range unit? (only running from the deck pwr)

if you had of told me that all the decks will sound the same I woulda gone and had a chat to your boss too. if your unsure about something, don't bullshit the customer and ask som1 for some help.

[SIDE SHOW]

double toast

[SIDE SHOW]

prs80 you can run active from the headunit..... will that make my splits sound better? or should I run them with the passive crossovers from my base model deh1050. coz your saying it'll all sound the same.

or am I missing something?

[afrakes]

I think he is saying it doesn't matter which company you run when comparing similar models. But please op, correct me if I'm wrong. Because seriously, if you think EVERY head unit sounds the same ($100 model pioneer vs $1200 Kenwood) then your full of shit. Just sayin.

for your sake I hope I'm not wrong though lol. Because I'm curious of the answer to this question if discussing similar models.

[SIDE SHOW]

$99 kenwood vs $99 pioneer, alpine, jvc, denon, nak, sony = pretty much the same quality

$99 pioneer vs $99 radiostar, sound 4, fusion, gme (cheapo brands) = the pioneer will sound noticabily better

what exactly are you asking? if the mosfet units are the same in all models? then no they are not

[dolarbilz]

Every head unit will sound different even if kept In same price range.not because of MOSFETs but each deck equalization is different.. sport op you should be fired.

That's like saying every 50x4 channel amp sound the same cause made in china

[Jdon13]

What I'm saying is the base models that best buy displays which put out 15 rms will all sound the same off speaker output. You're quick to say I should be fired. But you don't have any tangible differences to list to me what makes them different, who does it the best in the $100 range, and who makes these midget amplifiers.