Pioneer DEH-P6700MP Car CD / MP3 Player
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Similar in In Dash Receivers
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback WMA Playback
- Additional Features: Animated Display
- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
- Controlled Devices: CD Changer DVD Changer TV Tuner Sirius Ready XM Ready iPod / iPhone
- iPod/iPhone Compatible: Yes
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Big step up from the factory radio.
Pros
Decent sound, excellent radio reception.
Cons
Some user-interface irritations, such as the inverting display demo mode (which can be turned off).
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Looking forward to getting the CD-IB100 iPod interface.
I bought this because of the new Pioneer iPod interface unit, which is unfortunately on back-order.
Nevertheless, I've installed the receiver in my 1998 Subaru (using the factory speakers, no amps, no subwoofers). Installation with the Crutchfield install instructions and wiring harness was pretty easy - about an hour.
The overall sound quality is good - much better than the factory stereo. However, there is just an excess of sound shaping functionality - two distinct equalizer functions in three bands and two bands, with width (Q), center-frequency, and gain controls for each. Plus loudness in three stages, compressor, and assorted other special effects. Best bet is to leave them all well alone.
The CD player works well - no skipping, and it plays CD-R with a wide variety of MP3 tracks at different bit rates, including slow and fast and VBR. The 16-character alpha display shows a select ID3 tag for MP3s with appropriate data, but only one. I leave it set to show track name, but for the occasional track with no name, it would be nice if it would show the filename instead. And its 8 button presses to cycle through all the different display modes to show album name or artist name and back to track name. When a tag is longer than 16 characters, it is scrolled once across the display; unfortunately, when it is shorter than 16 characters, it is also uselessly scrolled across the display; fortunately scrolling is once only.
The radio pulls in stations from much further than the factory stereo in any of my cars. I can pull in my favorite San Francisco FM station (KQED) in the Sierra foothills about 175 miles away, with some noise, but quite intelligible. The factory stereo dropped out at about 120 miles. Haven't tried the AM, but the three bands of FM presets is nice.
Note that the unit has a "demo mode" configured by default, which inverts the display every 10 seconds, which is extremely distracting. Fortunately, with the ignition on and the unit off, pressing radio preset "5" toggles the demo mode. There's a special note in the instructions, but it fell out and I didn't read it. It took an Internet search to figure it out from a FAQ buried on the Pioneer site.
Build quality is adequate. The fancy display appears to attract dust quite quickly. The display folds down to insert the CD, and can be removed for security. A pair of hinges are supplied should you want to make it impossible to remove the display (for installation in rental cars or fleet cars, I suppose...) The controls are only moderately unintuitive - about par for this kind of unit. Way too much effort has gone into fancy screensavers (racing cars, dolphins, etc.) and alternative control modes. Should have kept it simple. The display has two brightness levels, driven by the headlights (via the dash illumination connector). Each brightness level is independently selectable, and in the panel is readable in bright sunlight, and can be dimmed to a low level for night. It doesn't dim according to the dashboard illumination level, though, which is a shame. Its a niggle for drivers like me who drive with headlights on most of the time, since the radio lights are thus at the brightness 0 or 1 out of 10 that I have set for nighttime driving, and are too dim for daytime.
Power is turned on by pressing the Source button, and that also toggles between the CD and radio, AUX inputs if enabled, and presumably satellite radio CD changer, etc. if connected. Press and hold to turn the unit off. There is one large rotary volume control - its easy to work without looking. The other main control is a left-right-up-down style control. Left/Right tunes the radio, or skips or seeks tracks on the CD. Up/Down skips folders on an MP3 CD. These buttons also navigate (somewhat inconsistently) the various menus and suboptions available. There are 6 radio presents which recall frequencies in each of 3 FM bands and an AM band. The rest of the front-panel buttons are mostly used in setup and configuration.
There is a 13 button remote with volume up/down, left/right/up/down. Irrationally, the on-off source-select is quite different from the head unit, with a CD button and radio button, each of which toggles that source on or off. There is no remote button for other inputs. Also, the remote has an "Attenuate" button, which cuts the volume to a whisper. This would be useful on the head unit itself, but there's no way to turn on, or turn off, that function from the head unit.
Two pairs of phono-jacks are subwoofer line-level outputs and pre-amp outputs. Alternatively, you can configure the internal amplifiers for the rear speakers to drive subwoofers directly instead of rear speakers, avoiding the need for subwoofer amplifiers.
Nevertheless, I've installed the receiver in my 1998 Subaru (using the factory speakers, no amps, no subwoofers). Installation with the Crutchfield install instructions and wiring harness was pretty easy - about an hour.
The overall sound quality is good - much better than the factory stereo. However, there is just an excess of sound shaping functionality - two distinct equalizer functions in three bands and two bands, with width (Q), center-frequency, and gain controls for each. Plus loudness in three stages, compressor, and assorted other special effects. Best bet is to leave them all well alone.
The CD player works well - no skipping, and it plays CD-R with a wide variety of MP3 tracks at different bit rates, including slow and fast and VBR. The 16-character alpha display shows a select ID3 tag for MP3s with appropriate data, but only one. I leave it set to show track name, but for the occasional track with no name, it would be nice if it would show the filename instead. And its 8 button presses to cycle through all the different display modes to show album name or artist name and back to track name. When a tag is longer than 16 characters, it is scrolled once across the display; unfortunately, when it is shorter than 16 characters, it is also uselessly scrolled across the display; fortunately scrolling is once only.
The radio pulls in stations from much further than the factory stereo in any of my cars. I can pull in my favorite San Francisco FM station (KQED) in the Sierra foothills about 175 miles away, with some noise, but quite intelligible. The factory stereo dropped out at about 120 miles. Haven't tried the AM, but the three bands of FM presets is nice.
Note that the unit has a "demo mode" configured by default, which inverts the display every 10 seconds, which is extremely distracting. Fortunately, with the ignition on and the unit off, pressing radio preset "5" toggles the demo mode. There's a special note in the instructions, but it fell out and I didn't read it. It took an Internet search to figure it out from a FAQ buried on the Pioneer site.
Build quality is adequate. The fancy display appears to attract dust quite quickly. The display folds down to insert the CD, and can be removed for security. A pair of hinges are supplied should you want to make it impossible to remove the display (for installation in rental cars or fleet cars, I suppose...) The controls are only moderately unintuitive - about par for this kind of unit. Way too much effort has gone into fancy screensavers (racing cars, dolphins, etc.) and alternative control modes. Should have kept it simple. The display has two brightness levels, driven by the headlights (via the dash illumination connector). Each brightness level is independently selectable, and in the panel is readable in bright sunlight, and can be dimmed to a low level for night. It doesn't dim according to the dashboard illumination level, though, which is a shame. Its a niggle for drivers like me who drive with headlights on most of the time, since the radio lights are thus at the brightness 0 or 1 out of 10 that I have set for nighttime driving, and are too dim for daytime.
Power is turned on by pressing the Source button, and that also toggles between the CD and radio, AUX inputs if enabled, and presumably satellite radio CD changer, etc. if connected. Press and hold to turn the unit off. There is one large rotary volume control - its easy to work without looking. The other main control is a left-right-up-down style control. Left/Right tunes the radio, or skips or seeks tracks on the CD. Up/Down skips folders on an MP3 CD. These buttons also navigate (somewhat inconsistently) the various menus and suboptions available. There are 6 radio presents which recall frequencies in each of 3 FM bands and an AM band. The rest of the front-panel buttons are mostly used in setup and configuration.
There is a 13 button remote with volume up/down, left/right/up/down. Irrationally, the on-off source-select is quite different from the head unit, with a CD button and radio button, each of which toggles that source on or off. There is no remote button for other inputs. Also, the remote has an "Attenuate" button, which cuts the volume to a whisper. This would be useful on the head unit itself, but there's no way to turn on, or turn off, that function from the head unit.
Two pairs of phono-jacks are subwoofer line-level outputs and pre-amp outputs. Alternatively, you can configure the internal amplifiers for the rear speakers to drive subwoofers directly instead of rear speakers, avoiding the need for subwoofer amplifiers.
