Looking for installed photos of any of Pioneer's current DEH-series head units or the Parrot RK8200 or Jensen HD5212 (HD5112 as well) or Eclipse CD3200 .

Also, should I care what the RMS and peak power ratings are, if I'm keeping my stock amp and speakers? The HD5212 is rated at 13W RMS and 40 peak.

 

click for install details

The true watt output matters but if you get the mid-and high-end Pioneers, you will have good clean sound going into the stock amp and speakers.

 

WOW there are alot of crazy gizmos in that picture

 

Wow.
Just wow.
That installation write-up kicks a tremendous amount of ***.

Thanks!

 

I owe most of the info in the write-up to snippets of info throughout this forum, the factory manuals, and the parts suppliers' info.

 

Here's my Pioneer DEH-P5000UB.

Sounds Great!

And I AM aware that it doesn't match.

 

i have Pioneers in my jeeps, want pics of those?

i, too, am less worried about a stereo matching the dash. i would rather have it work correctly. after getting jerked around by the factory navigation in the SRT-6 a few times, i am ready to put something in that will actually work, and to hell with what it looks like.

 

So how will a new head unit improve sound quality? What's the difference? Same amp; same speakers.

 

Actually, thanks very much for that. The photos of the Pioneer head units at Crutchfield suggest that the silver **** and silver banding would match well, but your pics show that, once installed, the appearance is dominated by the black.

 

additional inputs.

 

I guess it comes down to input quality.

It seems as though the new Pioneer I installed has much greater dynamic range (the ability to reproduce widely different frequencies at the same time-believe it or not, George Thorogood is some VERY complex music and a good test/demo for this) and frequency response than the Becker head. Using the equalizer and Bass Boost/Loudness controls this unit can drive the OEM subs enough to impress even the panel-rattling JL Audio fans that my son runs around with!

And it does so very cleanly-no rattles or buzzes (unless I go overboard) and ZZ Top sounds like...ZZ Top. Only really loud.

I do wish it matched better-the photo in Crutchfield is misleading, but I figure that any high-quality head unit (Alpine, Sony, Blaupunkt etc.) will produce equally pleasing results.

A great way to spend $189 and 20 minutes for the install.

 

This isn't a high-fidelity forum. Get a good book that explains hi-fi and this will start to make a lot more sense.

Basically, you start out with all the music sounds in the studio.

• Some is lost during recording
• More is lost during media production (CD, Tape, MPG files)

When played

• More is lost in playback (yes, even CD is not "perfect")

• (If Radio) More is lost in broadcast (remember, they use gear to reproduce the signal before broadcast, and radio signal seriously reduces the frequencies that are reproduced)

• More is lost in pre-amp (head unit)
• More is lost in power amp (head unit and external unit)
• More is lost in speakers
• More is lost in listening environment
• More is lost in ear (not all people have perfect hearing)

So by swapping head units, you affect the part involving playback (radio or CD) and amplification (pre-amp, head unit power amp)

That's a big part of the formula. Get a book and do some reading!

 

Oh well. Pioneer is out for me.
Finally got a chance to try out some of these head units today. The USB port on Pioneer does not interface with my Crative Zen. However, JVC head units do. I'll have to check out a few other brands to verify compatibility before making a purchase.

Criminey. This is taking much longer than I'd planned!

 

The more I looked at the dash of my car with all the "crazy gizmos" on there, the more I thought maybe it was time to consider a different approach.

I found Pioneer CD-IB100II iPod Adapter for a fraction of what it's worth. Since it works with my head unit, a Pioneer DEH-980BT, I figured it was worth the fiver to see how it compared with the Drive + Play.

I removed the Drive+Play and Roady XT XM Tuner, and all associated bracketry, wires and power leads.

In a nutshell, the control box goes in the ample space under the passenger floor, power from my auxiliary fuse box, IP-BUS connector to the back of the head unit (with another socket to add other Pioneer IP-BUS compatible devices), and the iPod cable tunneling to the console box under the console.

The display on the DEH-980BT supports all the info displayed on the iPod display. The **** on the DEH-980BT acts just like the iPod control pad so operation is very intuitive. The sound is as good as it gets.


I liked the idea of hidden gear so much I ordered the XM box for the head unit and will be taking all the "crazy gizmos" off the dash, leaving only the GPS unit. That will really clean things up.

I will move the Drive + Play to the Jeep (which is full of "crazy gizmos" anyway).

Thanks for making me really look at the mess I had made of my cabin!

The write-up for my Pioneer Head unit install has been updated here with the new wiring diagrams and additional comments about the install.

6/19/2008 - Here is a picture of the updated install with both the iPod and XM units integrated into the Pioneer Premier DEH-980BT via IP-BUS connections. The head unit display provides access to iPod and XM operation. Fewer crazy gizmos!