Choosing a stereo and a few questions

[billforde]

Is this the first time your replacing a HU? Crutchfield will provide the wiring diagrams and harness you need, but you normally have to connect the HU to the harness yourself, by either crimping or sordering the wires together yourself. They may do it for you if you ask.

 

[hyde]

Is this the first time your replacing a HU?

Yes.
If I need to be doing all those soldering, I better get ColdHead, and get ready, or I can ask them if they can make things simpler for me.. I thought they include matching harness with simple plug in interface.. 8-[ Thanks but worse comes, I can just return it, since they accept returns.

 

[jfortier777]

Is this the first time your replacing a HU?

Yes.
If I need to be doing all those soldering, I better get ColdHead, and get ready, or I can ask them if they can make things simpler for me.. I thought they include matching harness with simple plug in interface.. 8-[ Thanks but worse comes, I can just return it, since they accept returns.

Soldering probably wont be necessary; a pack or two of vinyl butt connectors will do just fine for you; for connecting the factory harness adapter to the head unit harness.
(The install of my LCD headunit gallery)

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The connection you will have to make on a standard HU will be what you see on the left side of the harness. (the red things are the butt connectors, ignore the crap on the right side of the picture, yours wont be that complicated.)

90% of the connections will match colors wire/wire, and what doesn't will be CLEARLY stated in your manuals.

 

[hyde]

thanks Miah, that "crap" scared the hell out of me.. good to know it's not that complicated.
I am hoping to get the steering wheel interface, so there will still be a few more cables to play with.

 

[jholmes]

Pioneer Bluetooth Head Unit

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-5X7dufNGd1K/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=130DEHP980


This is the head-unit I bought and installed this past weekend. I routed the mic to right in front of the temp gauge. it was a breeze, and works perfectly. When I ask others, they say it sounds like I'm "far-away" somewhat... but they also comment that it sounds like that with everyone using a bluetooth device/headset.

plays MP3's and everything else. I love it. I'll posts pics soon.

 

[hyde]

jholmes, that is a great unit! But at $449.99 a bit pricey for me although I may end up getting something crazy, and say "what the heck, If I am getting a new unit, it should be something good" but again, I thought kenwood USB was just what I needed.. Anyhow, congratulations, and I bet pioneer's got some sound!

 

[jholmes]

hyedipin:

First off: if you're looking for general suggestions as to Head Units, I've had good luck with Alpine (older models with 4v pre-outs) Clarion (Pro-Audio units) and now Pioneer...

The pioneer I picked up can also be controlled by the steering wheel controls, with the proper adaptor. It can also control an Ipod and your choice of Sirius or XM radio (adaptor not included).

The way I looked at it was this: I wanted Uconnect, or some comparable bluetooth solution, and I wanted a new HU. The pioneer satisfied both needs for me.

If you think about it that way, it makes sense to purchase one unit that does it all (provided it doesn't die on you)


As to your initial questions... here are my .02 cents

"I want to take full advantage of mp3 playback, and consider one that is DVD-MP3 compatible units, however I am confused about the power; for example the one I am considering says 52 watts x 4 peak power or 22 watts RMS/50 peak x 4 channels also it says # of pre-amp outputs 4, Pre-amp output voltage (volts) 4.0."

-> There is a world of difference in RMS power and peak power. RMS is what the HU will constantly put out, peak power is roughly double and not constant... kicks in for extremely dynamic pieces, etc.. always look at RMS and not peak when considering two different units. Preamp outputs: the more you have, the easier it will be in the long run to add aditional amplifiers .. ie: 3 preouts, means you can easily add amplifier connections for the front, rear and a sub. The voltage pre-out is a measurement of how much signal goes from the HU to the amplifier, general rule... the higher the voltage pre-out the better.

"I read somewhere else that it says about the stock speakers: "The total available power of the premium speaker system is about 160 watts". So it sounds like we are still on the safe side with UP TO 40 watt x 4 power unit? Because I am not planning to change stock speakers, and I don't really want to get anything that is over the capacity of stock speakers, or way too under it." -

> I guarantee that once you put in a new head unit, you'll want to change the speakers. But the real problem is not overpowering the speakers, it is underpowering them.

"RBQ is supposed to provide 66 watts of total power at 3% total harmonic distortion, i don't know what difference this makes, is it underpowered?"

-> the 3% harmonic distortion number is high, the lower the better.

"Last question is, I know the door speakers are powered by their own amps. Will it be a problem if the new unit sends higher signal and stock speakers amplify it? "

--> cant answer that one

If I've screwed anything up, and anyone can clarify my answers.. please do so.

Oh, and while Crutchfield's prices are sometimes higher than other places online, I go with them b/c of the 30 day return policy.. I've had ban experiences trying to return items to other online vendors, but not Crutchfield..

 

[hyde]

Thanks jholmes, i bet this info will be useful for others with similar questions. Regarding RMS, i was very surprised to see that when I did a comparison of units that range from $200 to $600 almost all of them had around 22 RMS with 50 max. So, I assume the sound output & quality is almost about the same among the same line of units. Example It all comes down the functionality & face features, and what the driver needs. I was kind of in between kenwood (with it's USB) and pioneer. But it's too bad that DVD compatible unit list is somewhat limited to JVC and Alpine that is not compatible with steering interface.

Thanks again.

 

[jholmes]

Just to wet your appetite, I believe the Pioneer I have is DVD & TV Tuner compatible, and has the steering wheel interface....

 

[hyde]

Just to wet your appetite, I believe the Pioneer I have is DVD & TV Tuner compatible, and has the steering wheel interface....

THat's great, although I have no use for videos on my jeep, screen would take up too much space, but it is still great to know that it is available. If I wanted video, I would probably go with a screen.

Have you seen the audiovox or whatever the brand it was, rearview mirror with a screen on it

anyway is your jeep steering wheel controls working now?

 

[jholmes]

Actually, I have a sport that originally came with stock radio.. so I dont have radio control on the steering wheel.. but thats fine with me, b/c the pioneer comes with a remote control..

 

[hyde]

I found out that kenwood's remote is via IR only, anyway.

Now I am trying to decide between these two units:

Sony MEX-1GP CD Receiver with 1GB On Board Memory
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-oImxo0mpU6k/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=158MEX1GP&s=0&cc=01

Pioneer DEH-P6800MP CD Receiver
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-oImxo0mpU6k/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=130DEHP680&s=0&cc=01

comments appreciated

 

[06Liberty]

I've had both Sony and Pioneer head units in the past. In my opinion between the two, the Pioneer would give you better sound. The Sony I had had no "depth" to the music so I swapped in a Pioneer and it made a pretty big difference. This is just my experience though. I have to admit, the Sony's built in memory is pretty sweet though... Anyway, I currently have an Alpine unit and would strongly recommend going with Alpine....not saying I don't like Pioneer, just that the Alpine seems like a better quality piece.

Here's an Alpine I would recommend
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-4Bih7vc4gwn/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=500CDA9856

(I have the CDE-9846)

 

[sqliberty]

Alpine wins hands down over most pioneer decks. I had a nice pioneer and thought is was great until I tried Alpine. It was a huge improvment

 

[hyde]

Thanks, alpine always has the same type of face features & I am sure it is a solid-made equipment. Normally what you get with other HUs over Alpine is the features. What's really important for me was wired remote input so I can use my steering wheel controls, easy aux connection, and good mp3 playback. I haven't read the reviews of Pioneer on its mp3-CD playback, and if there are any gaps between mp3 songs on CD, I am sure sony will be just great at that, because it will be reading files from flash memory instead of CD. I don't want to have to wait for it load songs if I am skipping through a few hundred on a CD.

 

[06Liberty]

I'm not sure about the steering wheel controls on an Alpine, but I can say this about the mp3 playback on mine....I have a few cd's with more than 130-140 songs each, you can search by the file folder instead of skipping through each song. For example, I have every Garth Brooks cd I own (12 cd's) on one cd, you can go straight to a certain cd and then to the certain song you want in a matter of seconds. The Pioneer and Sony that I had couldn't do that, you had to skip each song one at a time, but that was a couple years ago so they're probably different now.

 

[hyde]

Thanks '06,
I know, that features is great, it is called album/folder skip, if you (like everyone else) folderize your mp3s in a CD as ALBUMS it is essential that a HU has folder/album skip (most HUs consider each folder as Albums), so when you hit CD skip or Album Skip it goes to next folder.

It is also crucial that the HU plays the folder contents based on a) alphabetized b)based on playlist. If they could work with a playlist, that would of course be ultimate, you wouldn't care about folders or albums, since playlist can grab mp3s based on albums you create.

Let me dig deeper.. but I am sure Pioneer (or any newer units) have Disc/Track/Folder Repeat & Scan

 

[hyde]

As I said I am coming down to a final decision between Pioneer & Sony.

If you take a look at the comparison of two here: LINK

I can see that Pioneer's output wattage is higher, however bandwidth range is narrower 50-15kHz in Pioneer vs. 20-20kHz in Sony. I was told that the optimum range is 20-20k. Although 7 band EQ might make up for that, against 3 in Sony.

And there is much bigger difference in CD Signal to Noise ratio, 94dB vs. 120dB.

What do you think of these differences, regardless of these, should I go with Pioneer, or get Sony for it's 1GB built-in storage?

 

[06Liberty]

Based on my previous experience with both Pioneer and Sony, I would choose the Pioneer. I don't look at specs all that much, just the sound is all that matters to me really. The Pioneer has more RMS wattage and the 7 band EQ would make it alot easier to adjust to exactly the sound you wanna hear. Not to say that Sony is bad, but like I said before, it just didn't have any "depth" to the music. Basically, the one that I had the treble was really too loud with not enough bass output. Hard to explain I guess, but when I swapped it for a Pioneer there was a huge difference in sound quality. Again, just my opinion....hope it helps in your decision!

 

[hyde]

Aw man! I just went to finalize my order out of my saved chart, and all I see is that the pioneer is sold out! It is expected to be back in stock Dec. 4th. (Aeh) So I cancelled it, it is pending my credit card info now..

I also took a look at PAC-AUDIO website for the steering wheel controls set up, it seems like hell of a job to hook that up, with wires needs to be tapped in the steering column, and there might not be enough space to secure the interface in the back. So I am not sure if I am up for that. If I end up not getting the steering wheel control interface, I may not go with Pioneer.