New HU for the truck

nadams

I'm partial to Pioneer units, so that's what I went with. Picked this up for the truck so I can give my old one to the GF for her car.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UyMKsHePDvz/p_130P4100UB/Pioneer-DEH-P4100UB.html

I don't have an iPod, but I'll be getting a nice big flash drive to dump my music on and have tons of shuffle.

chu

you can always use your mp3 player to plug into the hu.

audiobliss

Congrats! Let us know how you like it!

nadams

Okay, so... initial impressions - the USB option is awesome. I haven't used the aux input yet because I don't have an MP3 player. But, I started out with an 8gb Flash drive and moved up to a 30 gb mechanical laptop drive. Using a USB->ATA6 laptop adaptor, which powers the drive off the USB bus. Couldn't get a standard 2.5" laptop drive to spin up from the HU, so I went down to a 1.8" and it works fine. A little more delay when using the HD than a flash drive, but that's because the HD is not immediately available.

My biggest complaint so far? The shuffle "feature". Does it shuffle? Yes. But only if you listen to the whole song. It will then pick a random song. If you get shuffled to a song that you don't want to listen to? You can hit next track, but it will just give you the next track in line. It won't "shuffle" to a different track. This is a really big pain in the butt if you're using the USB input, get shuffled to an artist you don't want to hear at all, and then have to go skipping through the folders until you find something acceptable.

This is almost a deal-breaker. I bought it for the USB input, and having to listen to a crappy song (or just one that doesn't agree with me at the time), just to get to the end so that it will shuffle, is not an option

audiobliss

Bah, that would be quite annoying.

fj_az

Get a kenwood your shuffle problems will be answered well at least the Excelon brand I can vouch for.

concealer404

fj_az wrote: »

Get a kenwood your shuffle problems will be answered well at least the Excelon brand I can vouch for.

He just got a new head unit.... Like... JUST got it.

fj_az

If he still has his receipt he can still return it to crutchfield. I forgot how many days they take returns. Besides he said "its almost a deal breaker" If you're having doubts now just think how it will be in a couple of months when its driving you crazy. That's my opinion.

nadams

A valid point. I'm going to have to look into the return policy, and the pricing on Kenwoods. I really hate to have to tear everything apart (and unsolder my wiring harness). I love Pioneer head units, but I'd hate to be disappointed for the next several years.

concealer404

nadams wrote: »

A I really hate to have to tear everything apart (and unsolder my wiring harness).

Ugh. I hate that. That's why i won't replace the Kenwood in the Escort with anything but another Kenwood. I already rewired the whole damn car once, don't want to do it again.

exalted512

Kenwoods are good radios, but man, they can be a PITA to use.
-Cody

concealer404

exalted512 wrote: »

Kenwoods are good radios, but man, they can be a PITA to use.
-Cody

Eh... it's easy to use, it just doesn't have the features that i need on it. Namely... a sub out. D'OH!

Don't kill me, but out of the radios in my three cars, my favorite is a Sony Xplod. I've got a Kenwood in the Escort, a decent Pioneer in the MX6, and the Xplod in the Celica. It sounds the best, is the easiest to use, and doesn't look like an alien infestation in my console.

exalted512

concealer404 wrote: »

Eh... it's easy to use, it just doesn't have the features that i need on it. Namely... a sub out. D'OH!

Don't kill me, but out of the radios in my three cars, my favorite is a Sony Xplod. I've got a Kenwood in the Escort, a decent Pioneer in the MX6, and the Xplod in the Celica. It sounds the best, is the easiest to use, and doesn't look like an alien infestation in my console.

Have you ever tried any other radios in the celica? It might not be the radio that is making it sound better...but the speakers already in the car.

We get more customers complaining about kenwood's interfaces more than any other manufacturer. Even though pioneer's has some somewhat hidden menus like the kenwoods do, the hidden menus are all accessed 1 of 2 ways in all their radios for the last 10 years. Kenwood, on the other hand, has hidden menus on hidden menus on hidden menus and even if you can work one model, another model from the same year can vary greatly.

I cant remember what model kenwood screen i was working on the other day, but it had a sub menu with a sub on/off control...yet you had to turn it on in another hidden menu before you could toggle it on/off in that menu...and that was the default. Pissed me off to no end.

Kenwood makes great quality radios, but man, i wish theyd be easier to use. We'd sell a lot more.
-Cody

concealer404

Yeah i've had others in that car. It's got stock speakers up front, and old school JBL coaxs with the inline crossover in the back.

The Escort's Kenwood is feeding a Punch 160 feeding Kicker components. I've found all the menus on it. The Escort's stereo as a whole sounds the best right now. (i think, haven't heard the Celica in about 4 months.) I've just always been impressed with this particular Xplod.

The pioneer is infuriating. It's got hidden menus out the wazoo, and they insist on using different values/units than anything else i've ever used. None of them seem to make anything sound good. It'll be replaced as soon as i can.

punk-roc

nadams wrote: »

My biggest complaint so far? The shuffle "feature". Does it shuffle? Yes. But only if you listen to the whole song. It will then pick a random song. If you get shuffled to a song that you don't want to listen to? You can hit next track, but it will just give you the next track in line. It won't "shuffle" to a different track.

I have a pioneer deck in my truck and the USB sound is far superior to the AUX input via a Zune/iPOD. I've also been annoyed with the shuffle, but to get around this, i just rewind "back" into the previous track if i dont like it and it shuffle to another random song, rather than just the next song..

Not sure if this helps.. but it's saved my love of my Pioneer..

Jason

MOTOJAK

Just installed the pioneer 4200dvd with some polk speakers and amp. What are the hidden menus on these radios because right now im a little dissapointed in the lack of options it seems to have? Thanks for any inputs.

exalted512

Have you tried the manual?

danger boy

what truck did this go into? I like Pioneers too.. have had about 5 of them in different cars over the years.. but I recently heard my friends Alpine and I like that a lot too. maybe more.

MOTOJAK

Yeah i looked at the manual. Was under the impression that these menus were ones that they didn't show in the manual.

exalted512

lol. No, there's no secret menus for adjustments. What's in the manual is what you get.
-Cody

bigaudiofanatic

danger boy wrote: »

what truck did this go into? I like Pioneers too.. have had about 5 of them in different cars over the years.. but I recently heard my friends Alpine and I like that a lot too. maybe more.

X2 on alpine, i gave up on pioneer a while ago."to many problems"

MacLeod

danger boy wrote: »

what truck did this go into? I like Pioneers too.. have had about 5 of them in different cars over the years.. but I recently heard my friends Alpine and I like that a lot too. maybe more.

Yo Al, dont buy a head unit for its sound quality - there aint gonna be a difference. However there will be a big difference in the feature set. The upper end Alpine have outstanding tuning features with time alignment, 3 way crossover and soild EQ. This will be the biggest set of differences between the brands.