Clarion DRX4575

Price Paid:  $160.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1999 Ford F150

Strengths:
Sounds ok at lower to mid volume levels. Minimal CD skipping.

Weaknesses:
No Bass/Treble controls. Ugly color illumination. Tiny control buttons.

Summary:
The sound is ok but the unit did not have Bass and Treble controls as advertised(by Crutchfield). Instead it has 3 worthless EQ presets - Bass boost, Treble boost and Bass/Treble boost. You can't turn up the volume with the Bass or Bass/Treble boost since the 1% THD this unit puts out at the speaker level outputs make the higher volumes distort extremely. Can't say I really care for the Pee Green illumination either, which doesn't even come close to matching my true green instrumentation cluster. I would advise anyone who's thinking about purchasing this unit to plunk down an extra $100 or so for an Alpine instead.

Similar Products Used:
None

Price Paid:  $140.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1990 Celica

Strengths:
Sounded good, looked good, cost was good.

Weaknesses:
Had no bass/treble controls, couldn't control pre-outs, CHANNELS BURNT OUT OF CD PLAYER AFTER 2 DAMN WEEKS!!!

Summary:
Had this for 2 weeks in my car, and loved it. I was running polk audio 6x9's off of it and I had an 800watt crunch amp driving 2 12's. I loved my stereo until the damn cd player broke and I hate clarion for it.

Similar Products Used:
My left nut.

Strengths:
sound, never skips, CD-R compatable, good ergonomics (all
the main controls are on the left side)

Weaknesses:
sometimes I have difficulties in plugging in and unplugging
the detachable control panel

Summary:
My unit is the DRB 4575R, a european model, which has no
changer control, but I think the rest is the same.
I bought this unit to replace a 4 year old Pioneer cassette deck. I'm very satisfied. The cd section is very good: excellent sound (better than Sony which has a boomy bass), it never skips (and I have an Alfa Romeo with sport suspension) and it reads all sort of CD-R (the Sony doesn't).
The radio section is good, but I didn't find it better than the Pioneer. I don't know about the power as I use an external amplifier.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer KEH 5200, Sony CDX 4180R