Pioneer DEH-P4600 Car CD / MP3 Player
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Similar in In Dash Receivers
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback
- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
- Controlled Devices: CD Changer TV Tuner XM Ready iPod / iPhone
- iPod/iPhone Compatible: Yes
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Pioneer DEH-P4600 CD Player - Short review
Pros
Great overall performance, solid design, good looks
Cons
Needs dimmer control on display
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Excellent choice in the lower end CD/MP3 universe. Performs strongly in all areas and parametric EQ is impressive at this price. Highly recommended.
I'll spare all the specification talk as it is mostly bogus anyways. 50 watts x 4....come on. I'm an old car audio fanatic from way back but as mortgage, marriage, kids came into play, the audio thing took a back seat for several years.
Out of desperation and a longer work commute, I dropped into a convenient audio store (Audio Video Unlimited, Richmond, BC) to see what goodies they might have in the el cheapo price range. Alpine (my preferred brand) was expensive and lacking MP3 capability. Clarion...looked like a hunk of junk. Hummed and hawed on the Pioneer til the salesman gave me a good deal and showed me how to yank the trim bezel in my wife's pristine POS 1994 Sentra. 4600 is new for this year, replacing the 4500.
I rarely buy anything electronic without substantial research but what the hell, I can always return it! BUT, after reading several reviews on the 4600 (post purchase research don'tcha know), I came away satisfied that it was a good choice.
Installation was a snap, no issues. I'll just outline what my impressions are after about a week of use:
CD Player. Plays fine, no huge lag or skipping. No hashy distortion. Very solid player. Search is a little slow.
Radio. Very good reception. Picks up stations strongly with good sound quality. Local AM radio station gives my $600 Alpine trouble but the Pioneer is clear as a bell.
Audio/Amplification. Well it ain't 50x4 but amps are pretty decent. Reasonably loud volume w/o premature distortion. Clipping is relatively graceful. Yeah, I broke it in pretty good LOL.
EQ Function. Here is the big surprise. The 4600 has a parametric EQ with adjustable preset center frequencies for each of three bands, LOW/MID/HIGH. Not only that but you can adjust the Q factor of each band, ie the bandwidth which can be adjusted. For example...for LOW, you can choose one of 60hz, 80hz, 100hz, 120hz (or something like that) for your center frequency. If you choose 80hz, you can then boost a narrow peak right around 80hz or a wide peak that will affect the surrounding frequencies much more. The ability to do this made even my pathetic stock Sentra speakers sound passable! There's lots of preset EQ curves too...not very useful but decent if you like such tings.
Ergonomics. Pretty intuitive, no issues. It's amazing how bloody complicated some devices are nowadays. The Pioneer is fairly easy to use with no ergonomic quirks which can prove maddening over time.
Display. Monochrome. Kind of lame actually but it's the guts that count. Appearance otherwise is high quality. Your snob friends won't scoff at it.
Faceplate. Flips down smoothly (non motorized). Pulling in and out is a pain...I just leave it in. Break into my Sentra? Get a life! LOL
Preouts. Yeah it's got them but who uses a $140 head unit with any decent kind of amplication.
Out of desperation and a longer work commute, I dropped into a convenient audio store (Audio Video Unlimited, Richmond, BC) to see what goodies they might have in the el cheapo price range. Alpine (my preferred brand) was expensive and lacking MP3 capability. Clarion...looked like a hunk of junk. Hummed and hawed on the Pioneer til the salesman gave me a good deal and showed me how to yank the trim bezel in my wife's pristine POS 1994 Sentra. 4600 is new for this year, replacing the 4500.
I rarely buy anything electronic without substantial research but what the hell, I can always return it! BUT, after reading several reviews on the 4600 (post purchase research don'tcha know), I came away satisfied that it was a good choice.
Installation was a snap, no issues. I'll just outline what my impressions are after about a week of use:
CD Player. Plays fine, no huge lag or skipping. No hashy distortion. Very solid player. Search is a little slow.
Radio. Very good reception. Picks up stations strongly with good sound quality. Local AM radio station gives my $600 Alpine trouble but the Pioneer is clear as a bell.
Audio/Amplification. Well it ain't 50x4 but amps are pretty decent. Reasonably loud volume w/o premature distortion. Clipping is relatively graceful. Yeah, I broke it in pretty good LOL.
EQ Function. Here is the big surprise. The 4600 has a parametric EQ with adjustable preset center frequencies for each of three bands, LOW/MID/HIGH. Not only that but you can adjust the Q factor of each band, ie the bandwidth which can be adjusted. For example...for LOW, you can choose one of 60hz, 80hz, 100hz, 120hz (or something like that) for your center frequency. If you choose 80hz, you can then boost a narrow peak right around 80hz or a wide peak that will affect the surrounding frequencies much more. The ability to do this made even my pathetic stock Sentra speakers sound passable! There's lots of preset EQ curves too...not very useful but decent if you like such tings.
Ergonomics. Pretty intuitive, no issues. It's amazing how bloody complicated some devices are nowadays. The Pioneer is fairly easy to use with no ergonomic quirks which can prove maddening over time.
Display. Monochrome. Kind of lame actually but it's the guts that count. Appearance otherwise is high quality. Your snob friends won't scoff at it.
Faceplate. Flips down smoothly (non motorized). Pulling in and out is a pain...I just leave it in. Break into my Sentra? Get a life! LOL
Preouts. Yeah it's got them but who uses a $140 head unit with any decent kind of amplication.
