I've got about $275 to spend on car stereo stuff and I can't decide whether to upgrade my speakers (stock right now) or my headunit. My current headunit is an alpine 3de-7886. Its about 4 or so years old and its the one with the 3cd magazine in the dash. It doesn't like to play some burned cds and cds will occasionally get stuck in the unit. It only plays CD-Rs too (not CDRW or mp3). It also only puts out 35 watts x4. The only thing keeping me from replacing it is that its specs are pretty damn good for something that is 4 years old. 94 DB signal to noise ratio, 5-20000 htz for cds (thats better than most current units ive seen). Would 35 watts x4 be enough power to make some infinity components sound good?
Im debating whether to get a unit that plays mp3 cds which would elimate the use of a 3 disc changer. Maybe a pioneer or blaupunkt that puts out 50 x4 watts...what do you guys think the best mp3 cd units are for under $250? So should i get the components and stick with my alpine or go with the new head unit and components later?