In the next few weeks I am going to buy a cd player for my truck and would like any thoughts and suggestions. I am going to get it from one of the mail order places and do it myself. Right now I am only going to do the cd player and upgrade the speakers later. I want to stay in the $250 range. I am kind of leaning towards Kenwood,Clarion and Pioneer. The Pioneer has an alarm on it that works through the speakers. Anybody know much about that? Also,is a remote in a truck worth it. Thanks!

98 F-150 Supercab,Longbed,Pacific green
Leer cap
bug shield

 

Kenwood, Pioneer, etc. put out good CD players. My advice is definitely get one with a high SN (signal to noise ratio). Something 92db+ is good. I also recommend doing the speakers at the same time. Because getting a CD player will not sound too well with the crappy factory speakers.

I'm not too familar with the Pioneer alarm system. Besides, what good does it do when the thief is inside your truck. The UNFORTUNATE thing is with those aftermarket dash kits for the F150. Anyone, can pull the deck out within seconds. So get a detachable face.

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1999 F250 LD S/C XLT 4x4
5.4L, 3.73, 4R100 trans.
Flowmaster 40 "DF" series, K&N, Superchip, WMS Velocity Tube, Rancho RSX shocks, Stull billet grille, 2-PIAA Pro80XT's (120W), 2-KC Daylighters (150W). 265/70 R17 BFG AT KO's on 17x8 American Racing Atlas rims
Kenwood 7007 CD, Alpine 3342 Signal Processor, Alpine MRV-F353 5Ch. Amp, Pioneer TS-A6865 3-way speakers, MTX Thunderforms. CompuStar alarm/autostart.

 

I'd say go with a pioneer head unit, they do seem to be the best overall around for the money.

As for the alarm system, I think it's okay, but to me its worthless. What it does is when you take off the face it arms, you have a wire hooked up to you dome light, so when the door is opened and the light goes on, it triggers the alarm. Then that goes off on your time setting, and it produces a high pitch sound from the speakers. The DFS alarm + lets you intergate it with the regular alarm, you just have to find the wires.

The problems with it:
1) face plate has to be taken off (not sure about the DFS+ though).
2) If all your speakers are run through amps it's no good then (which is my problem), you have to either wire it to the car alarm, or wire to a a siren w/ a rlay unit and place the siren inside the car.

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black 97' x-cab 4x4, 5 speed 4.6, black westin nerf bars, pilot ground searchers, borla SS split rear exhaust, K&N genII, bosch +4 plugs, superchip, flexalite electric fan, v-tech oval side window covers, IAS shocks

premier 720, pioneer 6cd changer, 12 premier sub, premier componets, 2 soso amps

still to come: new spark plug wires, new rims and tires, maybe a supercharger eventually.

 

Thanks for the help. I've been comparing the sn ratio of the three. Clarion had highest at 100,Kenwood 96,Pioneer at 94. Can you really tell that much difference? It seems like you get more bang for your buck with the Clarion. The detatchable faceplate is a must. I'm not considering anything without it . Thanks again