grasshopper

Finally got my DVD player installed and everything working "as it should." It's the Pioneer P6800, with 7" screen and 6 disc changer as it's selling features.

I'll first get the DVD playback out of the way 'cos I know that is the hottest topic with these toys. I don't know if this was how others have circumvented the DVD blockout with other units, 'cos I got lost in all the mess. Anyway, in order to enable playback at all times, I had to hook up a on-off switch on the park wire, which just completes the ground connection when depressed. You cannot just ground it, 'cos the player requires you activate the circuit after the DVD is loaded. So, you leave it off, play disc, see warning message, turn ground on, press OK on additional warning message. If you leave the switch on, just click it off and on again after playback. I mounted the switch on the parking brake adjuster access panel in the center console and grounded it under one of the nuts holding the parking brake down. Also, I initially had the park wire hooked up "legally" and it would not play DVDs at all... until I hooked up the illumination wire (?!?). It seems odd, but that's the way it went down.

The video image is smooth and sharp when sitting in the seat normally. It has all the same picture options as a regular TV for stretching the image to fit. Nothing much else to say, just a good picture.

The menu system is what I really like. The interface is very intuitive, to the point I needed to use the manual only to determine how to adjust the angle of the screen, 'cos I never thought to hold the OPEN button down. There are lots of backgrounds to choose from which definitely puts this unit ahead of the Kenwoods, but frankly I like the clock screen the best with the MP3 files listed on the left and the Artist displayed on the top.

Pioneer's 3 band parametric EQ is one of my favorite tone controls to use. I hate graphic EQs 'cos they never give me the sound I want, especially the average 2 band graphic such as the stock unit has.

The only gripe I have at this point is that it DOES NOT play MP3 DVDs. All my files are 320kbps so the DVDs would be nice, but I'll survive since it's got 6 slots to fill. I cannot comment on satellite radio, ipod or navi functionallity as I don't have those additions at the moment. But, all together a great piece of hardware, good performance, great interface and pretty pictures to look at when not driving.


Crutchfield has the unit for $1400 new, $1200 as an open-box... but I got it from greatdeals4uonline on eBay for $900 shipped and it was delivered in a timely manner and new-in-box as described.

If ya'll require pics, I'll see if I can get some that look halfway decent.

Infinity

That is inexcusable, and reason for me not to purchase it. That would've made this unit untouchable. 6 DL disks full of MP3's would completely replace my Omnifi.

Jon_Purdy

Thanks very much Grasshopper for posting this review. This same unit is on my wish list. I hope to have soon, it depends on how many overtime hours I can work. Anyway, if you have pictures, please post them as I am curious as to how it looks in the car.

Cheers,
Jon

grasshopper

I finally got a couple pics, but I couldn't do much with the lighting and I had to get ready for work...

tom281

Is the screen motorized to provide access to loading discs, or is it just hinged? Anyway you can provide a pic of the screen moved showing the loading slot?

Thanks.

grasshopper

I meant to do that but ran out of time. I will try and get that done today or tomorrow.

tom281

Thanks for taking the time !

awakeinAZ

Thanks ' hopper! Looking good. Do you think the screen is readable in bright light?

06gta

Look great. now you have me tempted to go buy one for mine. Is it tough to install yourself or do you need knowlege. If i do get one would like to install myself if I can. Ive done little car audio and dont feel comfortable slpicing and dicing wires (which I gather is only if you want it to play at anytime). Anyway looks great.

grasshopper

awakeinAZ - It is readable at all times with the only exception being dawn and dusk glare when the whole interior is glowing 'cos the sun is right in the window. But, this is true of any deck, even clock displays like the stock deck.

06gta - It was very easy to install with only two footnotes worth mentioning. One "trick" is adding the 5V voltage regulator to the amp turn on for the Shaker500/1000 subs. I soldered leads on mine and then shrink wrapped each lead, then shrink wrapped the leads together to prevent them from wiggling loose, then put a shrink over the whole regulator and leads to make it nice and snug. The other trick is the illumination wire. There is no illumination wire on the radio harness so I had to patch it to the Grey/White wire on the climate control harness. Everything else is easy and no more difficult than any other headunit install in the average car. The regulator you can do outside the car so that's not so bad, and the illumination wire I just used a "tap-splice" so it was easy too.

grasshopper

More pics...

Playing Disc - Another play shot in better light.

Source Menu - Lots of stuff to add-on.

Screen Down for Disc Access - Shows the mechanism that drops the screen.

Screen Down for Disc Access Again - As you can see there is a shutter to block dirt out of the disc slot.

View From Driver's Seat - This shows a little glare from the light on the passenger seat. This can be lessened by tilting the screen up a couple notches.

Closeup of Screen - Pixel density is probably similar to an average computer LCD, so it looks fabulous from the seating position.

tom281

Thanks- that's exactly what I was hoping for.

2L8IWON

How much is the Navigation utility?

VVVROOM

Are you still using the stock shaker speakers, and if so do you notice a sound improvement? I have the Shaker 1000, and for a stereo with (4) 250watts, I'm a little disappointed. It sounds OK, but my buddy has a single 10" sub with one 300 watt amp and it hits just as hard as my shaker 1000. He has a nice kenwood head unit, so I'm hoping I can bring my shaker system to life if I replace the HU.

Jon_Purdy

Thanks Grasshopper! I was pretty much sold on getting myself one of these systems, your write-up and photos confirmed that I've made the right choice.

Jon

grasshopper

The weakness in the factory system is the crossover point and the midrange drivers in the door plates. The subs are crossed over well above 100Hz.. probably in the 200 range. And the factory plates are either crossed internally or they just are physically incapable of playing anything under a couple hundred hertz. This is the main problem with the subs is that they are playing to high and the 100Hz+ waves are causing resonance and vibration in the sub enclosure. With the factory subs and aftermarket 6x8 coaxes crossed at 50-80Hz using the Pioneer deck, I can play louder than the factory setup and get more punch out of the factory subs with less distortion. A trunk sub would still be nice for some additional impact, but rock music sounds great now, and techno is more easily played.

It should be noted as well though, that the factory sub amps use what I'd guess to be 1V signal input, so I had to turn the sub level down to -5/-6 on the deck to make the output proportionate to the 6x8s getting 22watts from the deck.

The jury is still out on adding navi to this unit. There is not a lot of info out there as to what is compatible. However, the deck is brand new, so more info will hopefully be available by the time the holiday season is over.

Infinity

Actually, the biggest problem is drive level to the factory amps. The factory head unit cannot drive the amps to full output, but your aftermarket unit with higher preamp voltage can. Now, the factory woofers driven with roughly 65wrms on an aftermarket amp play cleanly up to about 250hz for me, although I don't need it with the other speakers replaced already. Another weird part with the factory 6x8's is that little 4.5" midrange doesn't seem to be high-passed at all. That means it can be overdriven easily. That's probably why you can get a lot louder now- the built-in X-overs on the Pioneer. Just changing the deck made my S500 actually pretty decent.

Jet

Grasshopper, that thing looks sweet! Someone get me bib, I'm drooling over here.