Pioneer DEH-1400 Car CD Player
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- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
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Great Headunit for the Price
Pros
Price and the sound
Cons
no sub preouts
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I'd buy it again because it sounds great at decent volumes and is very easy to operate.
I bought this headunit on ebay for $35 + s/h to replace my old cassette player in my '89 Caprice Brougham. The Caprice came with the premium audio package, so my guess is the stock speakers are pretty decent.
The headunit sounds great until I hit about 2/3's volume when the bass distorts. I'm pretty sure it's the headunit's internal amp distorting and not my speakers as I tried different speakers and they distorted at virtually the same point. Another clue that it's the amp's fault is that the backlight on the amp dims when there are hard bass hits. At less than the volume when it begins to distort, the headunit sounds great. The highs are nice and crisp and bass is punchy and detailed. I'm VERY pleased with the sound.
The headunit is also very easy to control. Everything is very logical and labeled. I didn't even have to read the manual to figure out how to use every feature the headunit provides. The only complaint I have is that the buttons are a little on the small side. Sometimes I'll hit the wrong button by accident when driving with the most common problem being that I hit the Source button instead of preset 1.
Plently of features are also on this headunit. It offers a pre-out for the rear two speakers, equalizer functions, a highpass filter for the rear speakers, balance and fade, source level adjustment, and loudness. I do wish there was a sub pre-out since it would be easier just to use that rather than having to use a crossover. However, I really can't complain considering the price of this headunit.
As far as looks go, I really like the headunit myself. It has a blue backlight with white foreground and the buttons light up green. It looks good and not overdone. The one thing I didn't like about the higher-end headunit's were the flashy animated displays. Why you ask? Because they're distracting when you drive. This headunit doesn't suffer this problem.
Overall, I really like this headunit. I have one tip... No matter what headunit you buy, opt for professional installation unless you KNOW it's easy for you to swap out the old radio on your car. While my neighbor's car ('92 firebird) was really easy to install a new headunit in, mine took about 4 hours and was a real pain.
Update: The distorted bass WAS due to the internal amp's lack of power. I bought an external amp and now the bass is crisp and clear all the way until I max out the volume.
The lack of a sub pre-out really wasn't a problem either. My amp has a built-in crossover that works just fine. Infact, it appears that virtually every amp on the market has a built-in crossover of some-sort.
The headunit plays right through most scratches and I haven't hit a bump large enough to cause it to skip yet. I originally had it just sitting on the floor of my car where it would slide/flip around everytime I would turn hard, and it never skipped once. It is VERY skip resistant.
FM performance is good, but the stock headunit in my caprice was just as good in my opinion. Infact, I think the stock headunit was actually easier to use for the radio function as it scanned better then the Pioneer does. The Pioneer likes to stop at every small station it finds and it drives me crazy. Other then the scanning issue, the station's themselves sound great.
The headunit sounds great until I hit about 2/3's volume when the bass distorts. I'm pretty sure it's the headunit's internal amp distorting and not my speakers as I tried different speakers and they distorted at virtually the same point. Another clue that it's the amp's fault is that the backlight on the amp dims when there are hard bass hits. At less than the volume when it begins to distort, the headunit sounds great. The highs are nice and crisp and bass is punchy and detailed. I'm VERY pleased with the sound.
The headunit is also very easy to control. Everything is very logical and labeled. I didn't even have to read the manual to figure out how to use every feature the headunit provides. The only complaint I have is that the buttons are a little on the small side. Sometimes I'll hit the wrong button by accident when driving with the most common problem being that I hit the Source button instead of preset 1.
Plently of features are also on this headunit. It offers a pre-out for the rear two speakers, equalizer functions, a highpass filter for the rear speakers, balance and fade, source level adjustment, and loudness. I do wish there was a sub pre-out since it would be easier just to use that rather than having to use a crossover. However, I really can't complain considering the price of this headunit.
As far as looks go, I really like the headunit myself. It has a blue backlight with white foreground and the buttons light up green. It looks good and not overdone. The one thing I didn't like about the higher-end headunit's were the flashy animated displays. Why you ask? Because they're distracting when you drive. This headunit doesn't suffer this problem.
Overall, I really like this headunit. I have one tip... No matter what headunit you buy, opt for professional installation unless you KNOW it's easy for you to swap out the old radio on your car. While my neighbor's car ('92 firebird) was really easy to install a new headunit in, mine took about 4 hours and was a real pain.
Update: The distorted bass WAS due to the internal amp's lack of power. I bought an external amp and now the bass is crisp and clear all the way until I max out the volume.
The lack of a sub pre-out really wasn't a problem either. My amp has a built-in crossover that works just fine. Infact, it appears that virtually every amp on the market has a built-in crossover of some-sort.
The headunit plays right through most scratches and I haven't hit a bump large enough to cause it to skip yet. I originally had it just sitting on the floor of my car where it would slide/flip around everytime I would turn hard, and it never skipped once. It is VERY skip resistant.
FM performance is good, but the stock headunit in my caprice was just as good in my opinion. Infact, I think the stock headunit was actually easier to use for the radio function as it scanned better then the Pioneer does. The Pioneer likes to stop at every small station it finds and it drives me crazy. Other then the scanning issue, the station's themselves sound great.
