Panasonic MXE CQ-HX1083U


anyone have one of these, or any opinions?

Key Features:
detachable, fold-down face
"Ghost" touchscreen faceplate
7 display colors
spectrum analyzer
plays both MP3 and WMA files — for greater compressed audio flexibility
plays CD-Rs and CD-RWs
Alphatuner V
18 FM/6 AM presets
seek tuning
Super High Definition Bass
Sirius Satellite Radio controls
MOSFET50 internal amp
auxiliary input
5-volt front, rear, and subwoofer preamp outputs
80/120 Hz low-pass filter
wireless remote
clock
25 watts RMS/50 peak x 4 channels
CD frequency response 20-20,000 Hz
CD signal-to-noise ratio 95 dB
FM sensitivity 10.2 dBf
2-year warranty


the 2083 is the same, but has the MOSFET60, yielding 1 extra watt RMS... i don't think its worth the extra cash...


i notice a lot of highend headunits (like alpine) use MOSFET... but very few have 5V outputs... most only have 4... only some sony and nakamichi ones seem to have 5V...


all the reviews i read were great... and it has a digital face with selectable color to match my interior...

about $220 on ebay... i'm thinking i might go with this... any comments/advise?

AFAIK the Technics branch of Panasonic audio makes thier highest quality stuff.

My 2 cents,

If your car ever comes out of your garage I wouldn't expect that headset to last too long, not sitting your car at least.

do they release car audio under their "Technics" branch?


i know they make one of the best turntables on the market (tech 1200's)

anyone have this deck? or have any opinions?

Hi joeq; Let me first say, I've spent the last 30+ years in electronics in some fashion,
some of those years in audio, and more specifically, in car stereo repair/installation.

I only say that because I notice that you seem to have focused on the 5V output
thing. IMO, thats the least important spec you should care about. I have a couple
of older Am/FM/Cassette units, before they even started talking about 4V outputs
that will drive any modern amp to full power easily.

I just hope you're not operating under the assumption that this spec has anything
to do with volume or quality. It doesn't. I would be more concerned with whether
or not your going to get the two-year warranty buying it from eBay.

Again, my personal preferences are to shy away from the motorized gizmo's, especially
on a potentially second-hand unit.

Having said all that though, Panasonics are nice units. (Although I prefer Alpine or JVC.)
No particular reason, I just like them.

Good luck, Dex

I bought a a panasonic head unit (CD) a few years ago when they first came out. It seemed nice until it was installed and the internal amp clipped horribly at even moderate levels. Maybe this has since been addressed, but that's my experience...

I usually buy Eclipse stuff myself. The ESN and year guarantee against theft is nice. I also find that I can bounce all over the place in my Jeep, and it won't start skipping on me. They also usually have very clean output from the pre-outs for my amp.

Other then Eclipse, I like Clarion and Nakamichi. Alpine and Kenwood are good decks too, and better priced then my first 3 choices.

- Agent 86

ahh, thank you... this has definately been informative...


i'll definately check on the warranty, good point.


i don't know if i'll be using the internal amplifier yet, but its supposed to be the same of that in the alpines and highend pioneer's (MOSFET)...


what specs are usefull in comparing sound quality between the headunits? they all have an outragous frequency range (like 10hz-30khz), most of them are around 95db SNR... what should i look for?

Actually joeq, strange as it seems, you probably won't find anything
in the "specs" that will help in determining sound quality. As long as you select
a "brand-name" unit, ie., Panasonic, Pioneer, Alpine, etc., I doubt you'ld hear much difference between any of these units.

In the long run, you'll probably be better off selecting the one that has the features
that you want.

Dex

hmm... good advice...



the main reason i picked this unit was that it was a perfect match for my interior (in red), and it played mp3s...


can anyone confirm that it will play lame APS files without a problem?



thanks for your help, everyone!

If it can play MP3, then it will play APS.
(you might need to use -F option if it doesn't support very low bitrates)

The only problem might be seeking and time display - I don't know how it detects the length of MP3.
It it uses only FhG header, then you have a problem.
(but maybe there exists a tool which might add such a header)

/EDIT\ Corrected -f to -F. Very large difference. \EDIT/

Not necessarily. Some MP3 players only support bitrates up to 256kbps. In this case, you would have to limit Lame not to output 320kbps

& I have found some may not support JS correctly & VBR at all. If you search the board you will find many, many reports of problems with all types of hardware MP3 players using APS.

My original CD MP3 player ('Classic' brand) would not play most VBR (maybe it only played ABR properly, it was some time ago) files at all, but worked with any CBR file I threw at it.