Pioneer MVH-P8200BT

worth every penny, and Sonic had the lowest price.

I bought this head unit to replace a Sony CD which also played MP3's off the CD. I think that the SD card reader in the Pioneer head unit is vastly superior to the MP3 CD reader because you can store so much more on a SD card. The Pioneer head unit also plays WMA which is superior to the MP3. This Pioneer head unit had similar sound to my old Sony head unit until I performed the auto-eq using the optional microphone. Now the sound is vastly superior. My system is composed of three amplifiers, one 4 channel amplifier for the front and rear speakers and two 2 channel amplifiers to drive two 10's and two 12's. All I had to do is set the amplifiers to full range, no bass boost, adjust the gain to half and then run the auto EQ. Now the sound is perfect! I have played hip hop (Method Man, Eminem, Dr. Dre, B.I.G., etc...), metal (metalica, classic Van Halen), classic rock (Led Zeppelin), and tribal trance/electronica (Oakenfold, Tiesto, VanDyke, Dj Paulo). All of these genre's have sounded great! Sorry, but I don't listen to country or classical. I also love the Bluetooth connectivity to my phone. The head unit actually displays the signal strength of my phone on the screen, accesses my phone book, missed calls, placed calls, received calls, etc... This head unit is very awesome, and in my opinion very cheap to buy considering the great price I got at Sonic!

My only complaint is the rear break interlock. In order to connect it correctly I had to tear apart my center console which was a major pain in the rear. Even with it connected correctly I still have to turn the ignition switch on and cycle the E-brake because the head unit wants to see the wire at +12vdc and then at ground to make sure that the installer didn't just connect the wire to ground, and with the ignition switch off there is no voltage applied to the E-brake switch. Very very annoying. Also, why can't my passenger access video and such while I am driving? In my opinion this is the most useless and pain in the rear "feature" I have ever seen with a head unit. The previous poster has the right idea: install a switch somewhere which has 12VDC on one pole and 0VDC on the other pole then you can just switch to 12VDC and back to 0VDC to trick the stupid E-brake interlock. (12VDC tells the head unit the E-brake is NOT applied, 0VDC tells the head unit that the E-brake IS applied)

I also don't like that there isn't a separate antenna remote in addition to the amp remote. I mean it is possible to listen to music without using the radio, therefore you wouldn't need the antenna to be extended.

Love it

This is great!!!!! Just got it, iPod interface is wonderful. It is a great buy for the money, better than the Kenwood version comparing prices.

Amazing!

i put this stereo in my 87 firebird and it sounds amazing! My speakers are all amped with a 4-channel TMA along with the 12inch JL w3s on a 500.1 TMA. had the alpine 203/p1 with nav, the sound quality with this stereo is 1000 times better, louder and cleaner! Bluetooth work well syncs great with my iphone 4. Can access my phone book from the HU and also shows caller ID on the screen. worth every penny!

great product for the price!

This is a great stereo if you have an iphone 4 and don't play a lot of cd's. I got this stereo because most of my music i can play through my phone. in fact im about to order my second one.

Great stereo, No CD

Amazing screen and color quality, good illumination effects. Hands free works well sometimes you must talk loud into the mic. No cd player, but I just loaded my music on a 4gig SD card. dont have to mess around with scratched cd's its all there behind the faceplate. Good value for the price. AUX input works well. No complaints.

great stereo

I loved this thing.... installed it in a 03 lancer. It was bulky and stuck out but the color screen and bluetooth make up for that

great product 5 stars

i ordered the MVH 8200BT with 2 sets of Phoenix Gold 6*9s and installed them today, and it sounds amazing ( GREAT PRICE ). I have been in car audio for about 10-15 years now and this is the best sounding receiver I ever had. the only prob I have is the directional circle on the receiver can be a little hard to use and the remote doesn't give you full control but small complaints. Would recommend to anyone. The SD card playback is nice and gives you full album name artist and song, same thing when you use iPhone/iPod(i use iphone 4 and works perfect).

Seriously anyone thinking about buying this, its a no brainer!!!!!!!!!!!

Great receiver

Great receiver, outstanding balance of features versus price. Omitting the CD player seems to have opened up a lot of doors and allowed this receiver to implement features you don't normally find at this price.

Sound quality is great, lots of ways to adjust the sound to suit your preference. The display is probably this unit's greatest asset. Very colorful, a real head turner that makes the receiver appear a lot more expensive than it really is.

Menu system is very intuitive. Bluetooth works well and maintains a simplicity that allows most people to connect their phones and other gadgets without a degree in engineering.

The real downside is the control used to navigate the menus. The button press is awkward and difficult to get just right while driving. With enough practice, I've gotten used to it, but it's a pain.

Some functions (especially audio settings and radio presets) need a separate button on the face of the display, instead of having to navigate through 4 different submenus while driving.

I'll get an instant ticket if I pass a cop with my subwoofer turned up since with this deck I have no easy way to attenuate it-- There's 4 submenus and eight keypresses required to change it. A slight exaggeration, but you get the point. Many commonly used functions are this way.

Could use a lower high pass filter, 40hz perhaps. Maybe allow a seperate high pass filter for the front and rear speakers like Kenwood does. Lastly, 4V preouts would be a nice option, but all of these are nit-picking for a receiver at this price.