Pioneer DEH-P77DH - 1.5 DIN Champion

When it comes to finding an aftermarket CD player to fill the 1.5 din opening all GM vehicles have, there is one simple solution: Pioneer DEH-P77DH. I originally had a Pioneer DEH-P47DH, which is the same thing as the P77DH, less a few features, and was very satisfied with it (check my review on it). I made the mistake of selling that one and buying Alpine's 1.5 din CDA-D852. That thing was junk. It may look prettier, but its junk. No features in terms of HPFs of LPFs, mids, etc. I will explain some of these features later in this review.

I bought the deck off of ebay, as I do everything. It only set me back about $220 for a brand new P77DH. The only differences between a P47DH and P77DH are as follows:

The DEH-P77DH adds two more set of preouts (front,rear, sub)
It also adds a remote, and DFS alarm. Other than that it's the exact same in terms of sound quality & output.

This Pioneer allows you to control how much bass you want to go to your speakers at whatever volume you like. It contains almost all of the the features the new Pioneers have without the prettier "organic" displays. Right now I have a DEH-P740MP, which does play mp3 CDs. That is the only added feature that is worth mentioning.

Here are the main features of the P77DH:

SLA - Source Level Adjustment:
Allows you to adjust the volumes coming from different sources. For example, AM radio may be softer than FM radio, so the SLA of AM can be turned up to prevent any huge change in sound levels when switching between sources. All radio is normally louder than music, so to prevent being blasted by the radio when you turn it on, it's SLA can be turned down. SLA for each source can vary from (+4) to (-4). I have also found that SLA can make a difference when subs are hooked up. If you have extremely loud subs that swamp out all of your highs, you can turn the SLA on the CD source up to make up for it. What it does is it raises the volume of the speakers without turning up the level of bass from the subwoofers.

HPF - High Pass Filter:
Cuts off low frequencies at adjustable levels; 50Hz, 80Hz, 125Hz, and off. 50Hz allows the most bass to pass without the super low frequencies that can distort your speakers, and 125Hz stops all but the lightest beats. This is extremely useful for those who are running subwoofers but are not using an amp to power any of the car's other speakers. This prevents the speakers from distorting at higher volumes which will make the bass from the subs sound much cleaner. One setback about the HPF is that it applies it to both the front and rear speakers. This means if you have high power 6x9's that can handle more bass than your front speakers can, turning on the HPF to keep the front speakers from distorting will also stop the bass from the 6x9's. If you have high-power 6x9s running from this deck you can't have it as loud as you'd like because you cannot filter the bass to just the front speakers without an external device, like for example Bass Blockers. They hook up through to speaker wire and cut the bass. This is what I would recommend to buy and use for those planning on running front and rear aftermarket speakers from the deck. I am running my front and rear sets of speakers from an external 4-channel amp, which means I can have the HPF on for the front and not to the rear. I know Kenwood has some regular 1 din cd players that have separate FHPF (front high pass filter) and RHPF which can really come in handy. No 1.5 din CD players have this. Even my P740MP doesn't.

EQ - LOW/MID/HIGH:
Lets you control the amount of low, mid, and high frequencies you want going to the speakers. This feature let's you adjust each of the three categories from (+6) to (-6). The similar 1.5 din Alpine CDA-D852 does not have this.

LOUD - LOW/MID/HIGH/OFF
This concentrates the power to certain frequencies of your music. LOW will increase the amount of bass if you are using your deck to power your speakers. MID obviously increases mid, and HIGH increases high. There is a HUGE difference in the quality of your high frequencies when this is set to HIGH. It really doesn't take away any of the bass, but accentuates the clarity and highs of your music. Leave it on HIGH, unless you have an earache.

There are also diferent EQ modes:(Super Bass, Powerful, Natural, Vocal, Flat, Custom)

It remembers your specific settings for custom.

All in all this CD player is definately worth the $20-50 difference from its little brother P47DH. It surpasses in all areas any other 1.5 DIN CD players, especially the Alpine CDA-D852.

Pics on my car including these speakers can be found @:
http://balder.prohosting.com/~lumina1/other.htm

You can also check out my reviews for my amp, 4x6's, and CD player. Thanks!