Opinions on Clarion and/or Panasonic HUs wanted

[B94Sport]

I am looking for a Sirius-ready HU, which (AFAIK) limits me to Panasonic, Kenwood, and Clarion. I do not have any experience with any of them, but have heard good things about Clarion and some the high-end Panasonic stuff... I do not like the looks of the Kenwood HUs whatsoever.

After some quick checking around, the Clarion DXZ835MP (below) looks pretty good... Decent specs and I like the fact that you can adjust the color of the display (and buttons) to match the dash.

I also found the Panasonic CQ-HX2083U (below). This one is a little more powerful than the Clarion and has the same adjustable color ability but a slightly lower S/N ratio.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these HUs or these brands in general? Which would you choose and why? I am not the most fanatic car audio person around, but I do care about sound quality.

 

[dark_preacher]

i have the clarion dxz835mp and i couldn't be happier. i have it mounted in my car and it's a real beauty.


great bass response and sub volume on the face. it's a real nice hu. that being said the panasonic looks really nice too.

if you want pics of my install i could put them up for ya.

 

[mhn3773]

i know its a dumb question..but is that 2nd one a touch screen or remote only?

 

[Mbrooks420]

I've had good luck with both Clarion and Panasonic. I had a Panasonic that I ran 2+ hours a day for 4 years, and 3 installs. A lot of time at work it would play cd's and some radio 8.5 hours a day. For how much people turn their nose up to Panasonic, it was a rock solid unit, and I never had anyu problems until the end(which I think was a misaligned laser that could have been fixed.)

i know its a dumb question..but is that 2nd one a touch screen or remote only?

I think the screen folds down to show another screen and buttons, but Im not sure.

 

[B94Sport]

Originally posted by mhn3773
i know its a dumb question..but is that 2nd one a touch screen or remote only?

It has the touch screen and a remote... The face is flip-down/detachable, and I do not think it has any buttons on the panel behind the faceplate. I've been trying to find more pics of it, and it looks like it has two actual buttons on the touch screen. One says "Open" and one has an arrow pointing up. It would definitely be a plus if the arrow ejected the CD without requiring you to first flip down the face, but I doubt it does this. I'm guessing the open button flips down the face, at which point you must press an eject button on the panel behind it to eject the CD, and the button with the arrow pops the display off from that one side so that you can detach it. Guess I will have to try to find a place that sells them.

Large pic of touch screen from similar model

 

[mhn3773]

thats how my friends HU is..u must push the fold down then the eject...thats kinda good because if u were shufaling cds ud have to flip it back up everytime u wanted the eject the cd

 

[typhoon43]

My VRX-935DV has Sirius and I've been very happy with it. I was an Eclipse guy for years but switched over to Clarion and I have not been disappointed.