Going to be getting a new head unit that will be running 2 kenwood and 2 pioneer speakers and one 12" sub and 500 watt amp this is what im lookin at right now. Im also thinking about getting a more powerful amp and 2 more subs but im not sure how or if i can do that thanks for the help.

panasonic MXE CQ-C7401U

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UaQMxE5...300&I=133C7401

Kenwood KDC-MP628

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UaQMxE5...300&I=113MP628

Alpine CDA-9851

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UaQMxE5...0&I=500CDA9851

 

Judging by what you want to do...the choice out of those three becomes pretty clear. You want to hook at least a sub amp up to the head unit. So you probably want a sub preout. That narrows it to the panasonic or the alpine. Then you have to look at preamp voltage....the panasonic has 5 volt preouts, while the alpine has 2 (and the kenwood only has 2.5). This makes a huge difference in sound....especially if you think you will ever be getting a 4 channel amp for speakers...it makes a world of difference. In my opinion all of the brands listed are quality. In my opinion kenwood is the lesser of the three. I'm not too sure about panasonic's rep...but I used to have a panasonic deck and they make some good ****...their units look great and have tremendous features. You can also never really go wrong with alpine. If you were going to only use it as a radio and no chance of hooking any amps to it, I might say go with alpine, but for what you want, the panasonic will fit well.

 

i have a alpine(cda-9831)
sounds great, never skips also looks good
i have it pumping a alpine v12 amp with 2 type s 12" subs, sounds great
imo i would go with alpine

 

alpine makes an awesome head unit, they are expensive however. i have a friend that has an alpine and also have another friend that has a panasonic. personally i have a jvc. all three are competent head units. the panasonic is your best bang for your buck. my friend that has the panasonic is pushing 2 twelve inch kove armagedons off of a 650 watt jbl amp. it hits HARD and the cd player never skips. the friend that has the alpine head unit is pushing 2 twelve inch kicker squares (doo doo) off a 1000 watt amp (forget what brand) they hit well but arent near the quality of the kove's. anyway the alpine does not skip either and pushes his alpine highs earpiercingly loud. i would go with panasonic based on the price to quality ratio, it is a very good buy. kenwood is not what it used to be, back in the day that was the brand to have, today it just isnt all that compared to the competition.

 

For $200 on ebay you can pick up the panasonic cq-8300 which is a better head unit than that one, i got mine on ebay about 3 months ago and i paic $179 buy it now and it shipped out of philly and i got it in like 2 days. hell of a deal....

 

how are you liking the 8300? Thats what i am swaying toward sometime in the near future. I am disappointed in alpine, the only decks of theres that have 4 V preouts instead of the 2 V are 400 bucks and up. A few years ago I seem to remember there $250 units having the 4V preouts