Need help selecting a head unit. Options

[Zimluura]

so by now every light in my interior has been swapped out for a blue led accept my stereo. it's an alpine and performs very well for what i need. it was sold to me based on it's ability to change it's lights color. but when you select blue only the buttons turn blue, and everything else is green (exactly the color i was getting away from). i was going to change the back lighting, but there are like 30 surface mount leds in there and i don't think i have the dexterity for it.

the requirements i have aren't too difficult
* must be blue to match the rest of my interior
* aux input
* mp3 cd support.

two things that i don't care about at all
* ipod support
* sat radio

the two i've been looking at the most are
the pioneer DEH-P6800MP
and the premeir DEH-P680MP

both of these look like the same thing really, just with a different label on them.
so here are my questions
1. does pioneer make good head units?
2. are there any other (blue+mp3+aux) head units that anyone would recommend?

thanks in advance
Ny

[massbrandon]

in my opinion pioneer and alpine are the best you can buy. i have had both and i love my pioneer. i would say go with the pioneer. you cant beat the cost either. theyre cheaper than alpine and they look better

[snapshotgt]

Kenwood

~snap

[dlx742]

there are a lot of things to consider (and i dont know a lot about it)
but...
-if you are not going to run an amp to the speakers you are going to want a higher wattage HU
-if you are going to be running a subwoofer now or later on you will probably want a HU with good sub controls and sub preamp
-an equilizer that you can tune yourself (and presets are nice too)
-and cool screen graphics and motorized face plates are always nice to have

but you usually get what you pay for so dont cheap out and do it right the first time

[Zimluura]

cool, thanks for all the help.

unfortunately one of the pioneer DEH-P6800MP pictures i found on the web had green lights on most of the controls. i read something about dual button illumination, but couldn't find a description of the feature in the manual i downloaded. looks like i've gotta go to a local shop (to make sure i get the right revision) for this one which probably means no awesome web discounts.

thanks again,
ny

[Stomper]

check out the clarion dxz655mp, it can change color, and blue look good!

[Sh0gunkid8721]

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=35355

this is the one i have. its on sale at best buy. 200 dollars

[CelicaZR]

I've a JVC one in my car, I love it, havent had
any problems with it.
But Alpine and Pioneer are really good too.

[dustinkemp]

i know poineer has great hu, i have a jensen dvd player with everything you needed but i dont think you wanna put out the money for one tho lol!

[Zimluura]

went with the pioneer premier thing. it was at the car-audio store so i could make sure it was all blue. paid listl price of 270 though.

need to install it now. never done a car stereo before, the guy at the shop said i could use the car kit from the alpine i had in there. is that really the case? do all aftermarket head-units use the same kind of plug to go into the head-unit?

thanks in advance
ny