Eclipse (Fujitsu Ten) 5504

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from 400

Year / Model Reviewed:
1998 5004

Strengths:
5V Pre out No Built in amp Rotary NOB for volume, push button for track. Sharp characteristics ESN Motorized face/non-detactable daisy chain cd changers Incriments of 1 for volume 0 - 80.

Weaknesses:
People say the sun light puts a good glare on the face, not denying, but there isn't anything to really "look" at. All the functions are visible if not you can "hear" the difference. I don't care for visual effects, I bought it sound awesome, not to look pretty. If there is 1 weakness, it's the bass level 1 - 16, but not 0/off ? But you most likely have bass level independant with the amplifier.

Summary:
5504 Excellent unit. Simple, easy functions and excellent sound output. 5504, RF800A4 & fanatic p's, rf100a2 & (2) Alpine Type R 12's SVC. Very very clear sound. You're buying an Eclipse because of sound quality, not because you want dancing dolphins on your screen.

Price Paid:  $450.00 from second hand

Strengths:
looks, 5 volts pre-out, clean sound better than any other cd unit i heard before. if you have the money buy a unit like this or any other model from eclipse.

Weaknesses:
watch out for the cd key¡¡ can not read the screen in sunlight.

Summary:
Excelent cd unit 55430. very nice 5 v pre-out, 330 ohm impedance. no skipping problems. best unit i have owned. move to mexico, got it stolen from someone who locked, fortunately i got it back. but now i can not unlocked it since i do not have the cd key the thief used. if anyone knows the famous six digit new code to unlock the unit would be of a lot of help since i call the 1-800 number and i got no help from they. they ask me for some info i do no have, for it is a second hand unit. please help¡

Similar Products Used:
sony, pionner, alpine, jvc.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from From Ebay

Year / Model Reviewed:
1999 Eclipse 5504

Strengths:
It's an Eclipse; 8 Volt; Clean look; Display function that blacks out/displays only track no. and time after ~5 seconds (good for rolling incognito so as to not attract a lot of attention and keeper the car stereo jackers away); red "OPEN" led as opposed to green on everything else; Reads track titles; Remote feels good and has that illuminating button; ability to add the Commander (which I hopefully will be getting soon); as for sound, I listen to most of my music flat, so I don't adjust the bass/mids/highs too much, but the 8 volt makes a difference.

Weaknesses:
Nob Control: Need to push down for volume, volume goes up in incrememts of 4; spec analyzer accuracy, but not a big deal.

Summary:
I was looking at this model way back when it came out. But, decided to go with a Pioneer with parametric EQ built in. It lived for 4 years w/ a face replacement at 2 years (thanks, Jerk...to the person who stole it). I thought it was time, so I did some research and decided on this one. It's an older model, so I got it fairly cheap. I popped it in in about an hour and damn...such a difference. That 8 volt vs. my old 2.7 is awesome. Some people comment on skipping and not reading cheap CDs, but I've never had that problem. I burn on crappy $7/spool CDs and they play fine. I've put in scratched CDs and new CDs and it's all good. They scratched ones skip where they're suppose to and all, but they still play, so that's that. This not all that feature rich, but it does what it's suppose to and does it well. Also, I like how none of the buttons are that rubber covering crap. That's another reason I replaced my old headunit. I was getting holes in all my buttons; all thrashed up and stuff. My other comments are below. I don't want to repeat them. Also, I had a chance to Call Fujitsu Ten to ask about a wiring issue. Tech support will answer your questions. The guy I spoke to was pretty much a jerk, but I didn't want to make his attitude even worse by being an ass, so yeah, I hope no one has to ever talk to that guy. If you want to get service on the thing, it's a $167 flat fee. That's $17 more than I paid for it, so I probably will never fix this thing if it breaks. But for those of you who are attached or will be attached, that's the price. While I was searching online for specs and other info, I didn't really find that much info that helped me out. If any of you that are reading need specs from the manual or any other info, let me know. I'll email them to you. That's about it. Oh and you can hook up that Commander thing to this unit. Dope.

Similar Products Used:
n/a

Price Paid:  $195.00 from ebay

Strengths:
8V output is by far awesome.

Weaknesses:
when the sun hits it you can't see anything on it.

Summary:
This product kicked ass,that's all i have to say. I have ran different subs with it and it feeds power to the most power hungry amp. I would definitely reccommend this deck to anyone out there it is worth the money. I'm glad I activated my ESN because some dumbass stole it out of my civic, so now it is useless to that ass. Lots of features and very cool display

Similar Products Used:
Sony CDX-6853

Price Paid:  $275.00 from eBay

Year / Model Reviewed:
 Eclipse 5504

Strengths:
ESN Security, Quality, and Sound....Excellent sound, especially when played through a Soundstream amp into some MB Quart Mids and Highs...very bright sounding.

Weaknesses:
This unit is known to skip even new CD's. This is not some phenomenon...it is a defect that Fujitsu Ten has posted a notice about. The units have to be sent back to be repaired but once the repair is made they play like a charm.

Summary:
As most of you have put in your reviews this is a really nice unit....of course its Eclipse. I used this unit for a period of a year and a half before it was stolen out of my civic. So some lucky shmuck just got himself a nice, expensive, paper weight.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer DEH-P825...the indistructable, unskippable headunit...that sucker rocked!!!