What the title says. I'm looking at doing a much better quality install in the new car (Audi S3).

I was looking at the new ampless Eclipse, but the Blaupunkt Bremem also caught my eye.

Seems to be relatively good value for what you are getting, or am I getting conned by the advertising?

The other thing I'm liking is the seamless integration with the interior styling of the car - I need this to see clients so want to keep everything nice and subtle.

Cheers.

Personally I would go the Blaupunkt Bremen for sure, very nice headunit and exceptional quality

I'd go the Eclipse, Eclipse have always turned out exceptional HU' with proven reliability over the years, Blaupunkt is a bit of a hit and miss, you can get good ones and bad ones, I've had two in previous years one was crap would constantly skip a very common problem which wasn't really fixable the other perfectly reliable and basic. Now apparently the newer ones are meant to be better but I played with one in someone's car the other day (model below the Bremen but uses the same face plate), issues were face gets stuck and won't fold down, skips on light scratches which won't bother other HU's and it had dead sections on the display.

Having owned them I'd avoid Blaupunkt HU's there's just too much history of unreliable, troublesome HU's that doesn't seem to have changed. Buy the Eclipse you'll NEVER look back, I bought a 8443 (US spec private import) and was blow away by the quality of that unit in comparison to my previous Blaupunkt's.

The Eclipse 7200 is an excellent unit, and is currently the hot favorite along with the Alpine 9887, just depends what your after, do you want something that will do an okish job (good enough to make plenty of people quite happy) at tuning your system get the 9887, do you want a unit with got a bit more manual tunability get the Eclipse.

Of course the have there other things like Bluetooth and ipod stuff, but I don't look at that when I buy a HU so thats something you may want to weigh into your decision aswell.

Hmmm, fair enough

I used to have a Nakamichi CD400 so know all too well the whole hit and miss approach. Had a good one, but others didn't.

I was running a blaupunkt amp and Velocity Comp series sub without a problem before hand, but what you have said is definitely something to consider.

The problem is I want to run the rears off the head as simple fill - with the Eclipse I'd have to amp them to get any sound, right? Which means I would need another amp, which has space concerns for me as I'm looking at running a 4ch with the fronts running off that and the 10 sub running bridged off the other 2.

Both are reputable brands. Personally the look & layout of the Bremen would suit more Dashes than the Eclipse. Having said that, the Bremen is a hi quality unit as is the Eclipse. The problem for me is the Eclipse feels japanese (honda like) were as the Bremen feels German (BMW like).
In the end I don't think you will be upset with either purchase. Look at $$$ Vs features you need.

has onyone got a review on the bremen in an sq point of view??

Saw a review in Incar magazine as a highly reccomended unit under $1000. FHRX reccomend it in better systems so it can't be too bad.

It's going in a German car so like keeping it German

Thats the stickler isnt it. Good point your raise. Its easire to do amp & speaker reviews and comparo's. But headunit is a just that much harder.... from DIY pov anyway.

There is no comparison between the two units IMO

Bremen

DSA Max (DigitalSoundAdjustment)
Dynamic Noise Covering (DNC)
Self-calibrating equalizer
Number of channels/bands 4/27
Sound-/ Hall effects
Runtime adjustment
Active 2-way frequency devider
High-pass filter separate for front/rear
Source-specific sound settings
Sound presets (music)
X-Bass with variable center frequency
Preamp-Out 4-channel (5 V), gold plated
Internal power amp on/off
Aux-In 2
Sub-Out: var. gain/frequency
Center out (adjustable)
RMS power (DIN 45324) at 14.4 V 4 x 26 watts
4 x 50 Watts Max. Power

Look at the specs

It only has 4 channels for starters (the Eclipse is 6 channels) which is near useless for getting decent control over a system (for a unit that's aimed at SQ setups), means if you want to run rears you'll have to use RCA splitters and set your sub xover through the amp no biggie but can make it a pain when wanting to fiddle with settings quick and easily.

It has no ability to run a bandpass from what I can see.

The Eclipse has 24 bit DAC's

The Eclipse has Time Alligment, no mention of this with the Bremen.

The Parametric EQ in the Eclipse is alot more flexible in my opinion.


Thing is the Bremen has been out for several years now and there's a reason why you never see anyone using them, although it can look good at first glance, the unit IMO is fundamentally flawed by basic things like no Time Allignment and not having a proper 6 channels out and not to mention a poor CD mechanism, which cannot be argued because Blaupunkt have always had a CD mechanism that is below average at best they skip notoriously, and are extremely bad with scratched cd's, and they've been like this for years.

Luke





It's a magazine, and FHRX are a Blaupunkt dealer there not going to call it bad.

All Blaupunkt stuff of recent years comes from Thailand and the like, so not what I'd call German.


Don't take me as a Blaupunkt hater, I actually like the brand, my first Car Audio gear was Blaupunkt, and the amp I have has been through hell and back, and I actually was quite excited when they first released the Bremen, to be dissapointed when I did more research and it appears the CD mechanism still has it's fault, I wish they would release a unit that isn't flawed in some way.

Sorry double post.

Luke; rather than insinuating I'm only interested in making a quick buck, why not have a look into why I say the things I do? There are actually many brands we don’t deal that I still endorse such as Alpine, Eclipse, Pioneer and Clarion (which also I use in my car). The reason I recommend the Bremen is that despite its shortcomings it is equipped with quite an advanced EQ for its price.



They do have time alignment functionality that Blau call 'stage effect' (a.k.a channel delay). Page 43 of the booklet explains it further.

I've always found Blaupunkt to "color" the sound unnaturally. Great build quality, but not great sound quality.
I haven't used any Blaupunkt products for about 3 years, but prior to that, I had done back to back testing with other units.

I'll admit I haven't read the magazine or the article, I did buy them for awhile, So I have an idea how most of the tests read.

That's great that you recommend brands you don't stock good for you, it doesn't mean you can deny that you are a dealer and it's in a magazine, so your not likely to talk the product down and say in the article buy this product instead it's better and cheaper, since I can't really think of an article in a magazine ever that said a product was bad or focused around a products bad points rather then concentrate on the few good points.

Is it a full manual adjust TA, or a average position selector or auto calibrating type setup?

Luke,

When speaking to Marty about a new HU, the Bremen came up in and I considered it but rejected it for my personal reasons, but it was never pushed. Marty in all my dealings has never pushed any brand, but allows you to come to your own conclusion and will give an honest opinion when asked. He will also supply any non authorised brands if you wish to use it.

Btw the Bremen is ugly as hell in real life. IMO that's probably why you don't see many in Aust.

i studied the bremem, i also took the manual home with me over a period and read it.
To be rather short on this topic , the bremen dont have the crossover selection that it should.

This has nothing to do with real life, I'm talking about an apparent magazine article that talked the product up, and my point is don't take anything you read in a magazine with any seriousness, it's a magazine article they aren't going to point out the shortcomings and give a product a bad review. There is no such thing as a poor product in a magazine test!!

It's like the RACQ calling the Hyundai Accent the best small car or something like that, do you seriously think the Hyundai is the best built, best handleing most reliable car in the tests, I doubt it, sure there may be nothing really wrong with it but I'd be surprised if it got the best marks in any of there test catagories that count. Except for cost and that's where car's like that end up winning because when they factor cost in, it makes it supposedly better!! Sorry I'll spend the extra $1000-$1500 and actually buy what I consider the best car in that catagory.

Luke

I used to love blau gear 8 years ago. Now its pretty average. It has a huge eq but that shouldn't be needed anyway. I have listen to them when judging and was never impressed. And also there a noisy unit in the operation of the face

Obviously you have not heard of the term 'value for money'

That's relative to the individual, some people buy $200 RCA's is that value for money in my terms NO, in there's YES, I bought the the roughly $60 RCA's is that value for money for me YES for someone's else NO they'll buy the $20 ones.

Where's the value in buying a product the Bremen, when it's main competitors the 9887 and 7200 both of which are in the $600 to $800 range are IMO and I'm sure alot of people would agree are alot more capable for what you pay.

As for my car (Fiesta) I paid roughly $1000 more then most of it's competitors yet IMO I got alot more for my money, I got things like power windows and mirrors, leather steering wheel, by far the best drive in it's class, and quite good serviceing costs. Some people look at the purchase figure alone, and thats only where they see value they don't look beyond that initial price. A $20 RCA is more likely to fail then a $60 one, yet a $200 one isn't likely to be any more reliable then a $60, but for $200 it looks nice it's got a fancy connector wih all these great things they can sprook on about with it, and some people see value in that. It's like a Kia vs a Falcon vs a BMW there all cars except the Kia's a cheapy and is quite likely to be the most likely to have problems, the Falcon IMO is value for money you get some nice touches and it's going to be pretty reliable, the BMW really isn't any more reliable then a Falcon yet you get all these fancy bits you can sprook on about and feel all warm and fuzzy about.

I noticed that with the unit in the car I was in, though it had obviously seen better days.