The other day I posted a message asking for recommendations for an in-dash radio-cassette-CD changer for my "new" 1991 420SEL. Thanks to all of you who responded with some great ideas. This weekend I went to the local Al & Ed Sound store (a California auto stereo chain). There I was shown a radio-cassette-changer combo by a company called ECLIPSE (Fujitsu). The salesman highly recommended it, saying it was high end and better quality than Alpine or Blaunkpaunt (spelling?). The unit sounded good (but it is always hard to tell in the store, because they add amps and the conditions are artificial--for example a top end unit sounds as good in the store as a low-end one, so go figure). The unit also looked good and "dignified" (without all the flashing lights and funky displays). But I have never heard of ECLIPSE. Do any of you have real life experience with these units? Can anyone give me some info on the ECLIPSE line? I'd greatly appreicate your help. Thanks in advance.

Eclipse is the Fujitsu-TEN brand, an OEM supplier to Japanese car manufacturers. Some of the Eclipse units are pretty great sounding, but they have garnered a reputation on the car hifi review boards for skipping CDs solved only by replacing the head unit.
http://www.consumerreview.com/categories/categories_2.asp
http://www.carreview.com/reviews/index_car_audio.shtml
A Fujitsu-TEN was the up scale head unit in our Celica GTS, it failed because an internal plastic gear split in half, and the Toyota and FuJutsu repair facilities said the only fix was to replace the head unit!

The Nakamichi head units seemed to have better reviews, cost about the same, and have a reputation for reliability. They also are even less flashy than the Eclipse units. The new Clarions are not overly flashy, but several people have recommended against Clarion due to reliability.

Good luck on your hifi install!

__________________
John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E

I wouldn't recommend an Eclipse deck to anyone for the reasons that JCE mentioned. I'm not sure what model you were looking at, but all the ones that I have seen have a glued together chassis (as in no screws), that would make repair not just not worth it, but not possible. I'm not sure what your price range is, but I would recommend the Kenwood Excelon series. I believe they range from $299-$479. They look nice (no flashing lights, just a glossy black face with chrome accents and pale blue display lights). If you are planning on adding an amp to your car, they all have 4.5volt pre-outs, so you get a MUCH cleaner signal to your amp. Also (my favourite part), they can either be detached (face), or flip around to hide completely. The flip around feature is great for day time parking when the theft risk is low and you don't want to carry the face with you. The flipping mechanism is motorized, so when you turn off the ignition, it flips automatically. When you start the car, it just flips back! Oh, so nice!

The problem with motorized faces - long term reliability is pretty shaky. I prefer to have a direct slot... it makes things a lot easier. Alpine decks used to be pretty good, but they aren't as clean as they used to be. Clarion and Pioneer are pretty decent, but I'd stay away from Sony. Kenwoods are pretty well made, but their user interface and button layouts are a nightmare.

usually once you get an eclipse deck that works, you're pretty satisfied, but there are just too many that skip and have motorized face problems. Nakamichis great too, but they had some problems with the 45 recently if I remember correctly. Clarion and Pioneer both make excellent decks; pioneers are very flashy, but have more features than just about any deck out. I would stick with alpine, clarion, and pioneer.