Great system, you cant go wrong with it
Written: May 01 '04 (Updated May 03 '04)
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Pros: Great system for the price
Cons: Difficult to equalize
The Bottom Line: If you like it you cant go wrong with it
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| dtartara's Full Review: Pioneer DEH-P7500MP Car CD/ MP3 Player |
I'll split this review into different aspects I believe critical when choosing any CD player.
1) Reproduction: The sound quality you get from this system is simply unbeatable. I can't talk about its power or built in amplifier (which puts 22 Watts RMS on each output), because I have it hooked to two amps, but let me tell you this, it can move a sub by bridging the rear outputs (not many system can make those statements on the manual). The equalization is superb, it has some factory presets (flat, powerful, vocal etc) and a custom curve for each source that can be manually adjusted.
2) Sound enhancements: As I previously stated there is a user definable equalizer curve for each source that can be manually adjusted. Although the usage is complicated, the result is amazing. You can use two kinds of equalizers, EQ-EX and SFEQ (Sound Focus Equalizer). The first is the normal equalizer, and the second lets you compensate front/rear equalization according to the passenger seats. It basically enhance the vocals and highs on the front speakers and the bass on the rear ones. When selected, you can no longer operate the normal equalizer for the rear outputs. You can control bass/mid/hi for the front stage though, but the rear is fixed (I guess 'calculated' based on the front stage). You also get a variable HPF crossover that cuts lows under a user definable freq from going to the speakers. This is great if you have a sub. An independent output (RCA) is provided for the sub with a variable LPF crossover (full preout is also available). You can control the sub phase (normal/reverse) cutt-off frequency and bass boost (+/-6dB). In EQ-EX mode you can tweak Lo/Mid/Hi, bass and treble levels and select the bass and treble frequency. Usage is pretty complicated to understand (more to come). You also have a 3 stage loudness (which gives amazing results), fader and balance controls. The tweaking you can do is amazing, and the result outstanding. This thing sounds like a DSP, each factor you tweak does its job as it should, precisely. Even the loudness control is far better than anything I tested before, it actually works when the volume is low to moderate (it is not intended for high volumes).
3) Reading mechanism: It simply played every CD I tossed at it. Even scratched CD's other players refused. CD-RW / CD-R you name it, he can play it.
4) Construction: Looks very solid. The faceplate is not motorized which is a plus in my opinion (less usually breakable parts). The quality of the materials seem pretty durable.. time will tell.. every other Pioneer I owner lasted forever.
5) Looks: You can see by yourselves in the pictures, I think its OK. The animations amazed some of my friends, I like the vu-meters and some background animations (at startup or when you change the source). The manual states you can upload some custom animations using a soft you can freely download, but I tried to download it and this model is not listed as supported (only newer ones), so I haven't got the guts to test it (not something that I care about).
6) MP3 decoding: MP3 decoding is great. I used from 128 kbps up to 256 kbps without problems, even with VBR (variable bitrate). Haven't tested WMA yet. The disc is recognized in an acceptable time when using MP3, and track selection/change is also good. Can read folders upto 3 levels of depth without a problem. I highly recommend organizing your CD's in a way you can find things easily. A folder per author/album or something you can later understand. This is no Winamp, navigation is sequential by folder or track, so you better know beforehand in which folder to look.
7) Ease of use: It has two modes, the easy one that is fool proof with on-screen indicators and less functionality (some things are not accessible in this mode). The full (I think everyone will use this mode) is pretty straight forward due to its great display that represents the function being used with iconography. A subwoofer photo appears when configuring the sub output gain/freq, if you reverse it the cone disappears. Passenger seats are displayed when configuring SFEQ and their colour changes according to the selection (font left, front, or all seats), a 3D field with a dot that shows the sound center is displayed when dealing with fad/balance. As easy as it can get. But... there is always a but, setting the equalization is a p.. in the a.. You have so many parameters, modes and screens that the thing gets tough. Think about SFEQ/EQ-EQ, lo-mid-hi, and then treble and bass, but theres more.. you can select the frequency for treble and bass, and HPF and Loudness. Arm with patience and play with it until you get the result you expect. Start with a flat curve and everything off. Then tweak one parameter at a time. The result of two changes modifying more than one parameter at a time (in any eq mode) is a mathematician job.
To sum it all up.. this system rocks, great functionality, great display, amazing sound quality, tough construction. Only a minor glitch with the equalizer usage prevent it from perfection.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 340
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Epinions.com ID:
dtartara
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Reviews written: 4
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