I like the factory stereo but no aux or usb, plus I'm adding an amp/sub.

What head unit do you like the best?

 

Have had 2 Sony's in my life, returned both cause the CD's skipped over the slightest bump. Pioneers have always been good for me, had a couple Kenwood's that were nice as well, always wanted to try Alpine though cause folks say they just sound better.

All my HU's have been in the $120-$150 range.

 

I've only had kenwood HUs in mine and they sound great, only issue i have with mine is that it didn't come with a subwoofer setting, just overall bass but the sounds is very clear.

 

I always go for a jvc arsenal. Only have needed 2 in 10 years.

 

Same here. I have had JVC's in all my vehicles for last 25 years. Have never been disappointed by them and have never had one go bad. Only time I replaced them is to get newer features.

 

Kenwood all the way... period.

I've had 'em all....

My 2c

 

I love my Alpine. Easy to use, reliable, looks nice, and I figure it sounds great; however, any potential improvement in sound over other brands is negated by the fact that it is an XJ going down the highway.

 

I have had my alpine for years and still love it. Also a note about alpine; they make an amp that plugs in behind the headunit that boosts speakers up to about 45 watts rms without rewiring anything. Very convenient if you plan on upgrading the speakers.

 

Alpine and Kenwood both make nice HU's, but I love Pioneer more.
Ive also had em all.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...DEH-80PRS.html

EDIT:
One of my favorite mid-range component choices are the ID CTX65CS's, if you were looking for a really killer set of components. Super smooth and more refined than anything in the sub $300 range IMO:
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...CTX-6.5cs.html

And make sure the head unit does at least 4v for the pre-outs as well.

 

That Pioneer headunit ticks all my boxes apart from one - Apt-X support in Bluetooth. I can't seem to find any HU that do it, even though phones have been doing it for years. 256k lossless over BT is nice.

 

I've always been partial to Alpine but I've been hearing their antenna sucks for radio, and come to think of it the last few have had poor reception so I'm open to others....

This Kenwood looks pretty good..
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDC3...84#details-tab

 

Yeah, I dont know why they haven't adopted APT-X, regular bluetooth sounds like crap to my ears.

So I went with a standalone bluetooth unit. Sounds really damn good for bluetooth (CD is always the best), and I hate having wires connected while driving. Wired it into the switched 12v radio power lead so it turns on/off with my car.

 

That one is one of the more budget HU's, very basic features. With standalone amps, I would highly suggest something with a better DAC and pre-amp.

If you dont mind refurb, this one is way better (4v preouts, plus bluetooth built-in).
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_613KDCX...84#details-tab

 

That doesn't look too bad.... is the other one too weak to run these?

I plan on running this amp and sub...

 

With a higher pre-out voltage, you are able to run less gain on your amplifiers which helps with overall sound quality. Having the gain turned up higher will introduce static and noise into the loop, which essentially degrades sound quality.

On a subwoofer, its not going to make a huge difference but you may end up wanting to upgrade the rest of the system with high quality components + a standalone component amplifier. I would get a high quality head unit now so you can basically drop the rest of the system in place as you decide to upgrade.