It's down to these for my purchase.

[BoxingBuffalo]

I've been running the 993 version of that Kenwood for about 4 months now. I can't stand it. It's the best SQ deck I've ever owned, but it's lack of intuition sucks, the stupid Iphone bug (the thing is advertised as being MADE FOR IPHONE) where if you have it plugged in, the phonebook downloads, it cuts audio to the deck and you have to unplug and plug the phone back in everytime, and it's general lack of ease of use sucks.

If you look in my earlier posts I did a thorough review of my 993. If they fix the bulk of the user complaints about that deck then it's going to be one of the better parrot bluetooth handsfree decks you can run. Period.

But the way it sits now, no way. It's too complicated combined with Kenwood's manual sucks nuts.

[mbdblue]

The clarion has the most processing abilities. dont know about their reliability. But they have time alignment, the ability to go three way and has 6 volt pre outs.

The kenwood has the second most capabilities, not sure if its 3 way but it has time alignment which is nice if you're going active.

The pioneer is good for the money, but falls short in sq capabilities. dual usb is pretty sweet though.

The 5100 lacks general features and is pretty unfriendly to use. same format as my cd7000, but has way less features. other than a strong pre out voltage and nice guts inside, this unit offers nothing compared to others on the list.

the alpine has good user features and has blue tooth which is nice, but lacks sq features unless you get the imprint which will cost extra. I never understood why the hell alpine is sticking with 2 volt pre outs....

but yea i would choose clarion first then kenwood second....good luck with everything

would agree with your statements about alpines and the 5100...I liked my 5100, but it just had too much general stuff and not enough specific...and no pause button

[finkster]

i like the eclipse of all those

I was downing the eclipse because i thought it didnt have a usb too but i just checked and i was wrong.

while it doesnt have bandpass capabilities like the clarion it does have a hpf and lpf settings with other useful features. no pause button is kinda weird lol.

But theres no question that the internal build is more stout than any of the other decks mentioned. again user interface sucks.

OP if you're really looking for an sq deck then none of them are really it lol. the cd7000 is the lowest model from eclipse that i would consider "sq".

Damn I wish i can sell my 7k and find an mkII for a good price

PS that clarion deck is ugly as shit.

[AI James]

the point it if you want to bandpass and stuff use a damn processor

[Nirvalica]

Can you set the illumination to a pure white color?

I don't think so, but I haven't tried all the colors. I like a blue screen with orange accents.

[dugee81]

like JVC HU'S? i just ordered the JVC KD-R900, I expect good things from it. i had a JVC KD-LH810 (i think), was a beautiful HU for its time, lasted me about 5 years.

Edited January 17, 2010 by dugee81

[dugee81]

stupid double post. but off of that list, i think i'd go with the kenwood, they have been pretty reliable for my close friends, though i have never used one personally.

Edited January 17, 2010 by dugee81

[Mosin]

Can that clarion be set to a white color? I mean pure white with no hint of other colors.

Yes you can. You can set it to pure white, blue, red, green, pink, purple, and whatever in between.

[JayP]

I went with the Kenwood x693 and installed it yesterday. So far so good and it sure in the hell beats that piece of shit I had before.