pioneer deh-p4300
Written: Jun 25 '01
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Pros: features
Cons: kinda hard to use equalizer, basic interface
The Bottom Line: if you like the rotary knob for volume and want a reciever with a lot of features for a good price, get this one.
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| geoffreysnow's Full Review: Pioneer DEH-P4300 Car CD Player |
looking to update my car audio, i have searched many brands. from my observations, the majority of the brands out there all offer the detachable, fold down face that allows you to insert a cd behind. these include the similarly priced kenwood, sony, ect. this is just an alright feature, but not many companies offer otherwise.
so next i looked for the features offered. this pioneer has 22 watts of output to each speaker channel RMS, which is just alright. but the nice thing is that there is a 50watt max output. that is above the others and is a really nice extra.
originally i was looking at the p3300, which offers most of the same things that this one has to offer. the only difference is that there is a second preout which will be nice to have for an amp for the front speakers if i ever did upgrade. i already am using the rear for the amp and i lucked out because the amp doens't have an internal crossover, but this reciever has one built in so i didn't have to pay extra for an external.
the other difference between this and the 3300 is that this one has a remote too. the remote is very thin and is convinent for the passengers in the back seat to have control. but otherwise it's useless to just a driver. but just the second preouts were enough for me to upgrade to this one.
so the overall decision maker that made me go with pioneer was the rotary volume knob. i enjoy being able to just twist and turn the volume down or up. but i'm sure that if i did go with a different brand with the button volume, i would get used to it and there would be no difference. but i chose this one.
when first turning it on, the radio tuner is pretty easy to use. to set the presets, you just tune to the channel that you want and hold down the position that you want it in.
the cd feature is pretty simple too. the arrow keys adjust the foward and back tracks and that's about all there is to that.
now onto the audio adjustment. the one thing that i didn't like is that since i am using the built in crossover, i have to have the setting on "front/sub w." what this does is make the fade adjustment go away, but it allows me to use the crossover. the rear speakers are a little bit quiet and the fade would fix it, but sitting in the drivers seat, i really don't notice.
the equalizer is nice. there are different preset equalizers that do the basic job. but if you want to adjust either the high, mids, or lows to fine tune to your music, there are 2 custom settings that you can control and chose just like one of the factory sets. there is also an adjustment that adjusts the bass and trebble overall which is nice.
overall the adjustments are frightening to a beginner, but once you get used to it, it's not that bad.
another feature that i liked was the clock. i know this is just a personal thing, but i thought it was a nice touch. it doesn't even have to be used if you already have a clock in your car that you enjoy, but just knowing it's there is nice.
there is only one other thing that i don't like very much. to take off the face, you need to put it down then pull gently. that's not all that bad. but to put it back, you have to reverse and it takes many times when first beginning. i have had this for about a week now and it still takes me a couple of trys every once in a while to get the face to go in right. in a month or 2 i should have it down flat, but as for now, it's just kinda annoying.
i am giving this 4 stars because it is what i expected out if it. i found it online for about 180 and that was pretty cheap. the features are nice, but it doesn't impress me. i think that this is one of the better deals in the market and do recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 180
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Epinions.com ID:
geoffreysnow
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Member: geoff snow
Reviews written: 25
Trusted by: 1 member
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