Anybody know how this head unit sounds in terms of quality/volume without the H701 processor???? its going to run to a 500/1 JL W7, and Diamond s600's... with no equilizer am i going to get $1000 more volume/quality over the Stock H/U???? can you use any other processor with this H/U????

 

There is no point to use any other sound processor but PXA-H701. PXA-H701 you can control directly from W200. However, W200 sounds good and can be used without processor.

 

The W200 sounded good by itself, but I was getting distortion at high volumes on the preouts. Because of this I had the gains on the amps all the way up (which I would normally not do) and still there was distortion on the input side.

Once I hooked up the H701 using the fiber optic cable all the distortion is gone. And I was able to lower the amp gains to a more reasonable level. Now it goes much louder w/ no distortion. Sound quality at low volumes may be better, but I have everything set at flat, and all DSP disabled, so it should be the same.

 

did you have good quality no-noise RCA's + ground????, i'm only changing my H/U because my W7 sounds average with the stock non-bose.... and i dont really want to spend the extra for the H701...... just yet!!!!

 

The IVA-D310, D100 and W200 are 2v pre outs, using the PXA gives you 4v outs. Very worth it if you're going for SQ.

 

Do you need a processor if you are going to be using stock sub and stock speakers?

 

... you dont need the processor at all... its just an added extra that gives you the 4v outs... Dolby... and the ability to fine tune your system from the H/U's screen.... as for the stock speakers... if your thinking of changing just the h/u.. i would suggest keeping the stock head unit and getting some good speakers... IMO

 

I want the DVD...and the novelty, lol.

 

I think the built in parametric leaves you wanting more tunablility. Maybe it's just me.

Wanted to add, I'm not ragging on the out of the box set ups from these Alpine units. Once you open the door, you kind of want it all. It sounds a world better than the Bose, as said above the stock speakers would be holding back the sounds quality at that point before the tunability did.

 

2v or 4v doesnt necessarily make any diff in terms of sound quality. A piece of equipment that has a higher maximum output voltage is not necessarily going to sound better than one which is only capable of 2 volts output. The higher output will allow you to reduce the gains on your amp (or any down line signal processor) which will lower the noise floor of your system. If you are not having trouble with noise (alternator, hiss...), you may not benefit from the extra output voltage. You also need to realize that the voltage may be more than your amplifiers can handle. The extra voltage will not damage the amplifier but if the lowest sensitivity (gain setting) on your amp is 2 volts, and you drive it with anything more than 2 volts, it will cause your amp to clip.

 

the problem i was having was distortion on the outputs from the w200. It was partialy due to not having a Subsonic filter in the HU. ultimately I ended up Running fully active through the H701.