Pioneer DEH-80PRS CD Receiver with 3-Way Active Crossover Network, Auto EQ, and Auto Time Alignment

Let me start by quoting the manual, "this head unit was made for True Audiophiles". ~~ALL NEAGATIVE REVIEWS ARE DUE TO USER ERROR!!~~~~I have been putting systems together for 20yrs and this deck for $250 you get A TIER 4 audio processing SYSTEM THAT VISCERALLY BRINGS YOUR AUDIO SYSTEM TO LIFE IN ~~NETWORK MODE~~ A 10 speaker configuration...or in my case 9 with your sub bridged to the LOW amp. There is also the ability to switch over to STD mode which is accomplished by toggling a switch located on the deck's exterior(The DEH-80PRS COMES FROM THE FACTORY IN STD(Standard font, rear, subwoofer config) MODE). Using the DEH-80PRS in this mode SOUNDS AMAZINGLY GOOD! Without getting into it, this deck has more than enough fine tuning abilities in STD mode than many will be used too. Pioneer solved that problem for you. Just use the supplied mic and run AUTO TA & AUTO EQ. Run this with your car off and windows up, The DEH-80PRS will TUNE ITSELF TO YOUR CARS UNIQUE HARMONICS. Iy will only get you a little bit there though, as I have found. But in Pioneer's defense, does any human ear perceive all know Frequencies exactly the same as someone else's? That is only "possible but not probable" with identical twins...lol.. .But back to NETWORK MODE..Toggle the switch on the chassis, reset memory, rewire speakers to proper Fq range amp (VERY IMPORTANT TO NOT SCREW UP HERE!!! YOU COUD DAMAGE YOUR TWEETERS PERMANANTLY! TAKE YOUR TIME)...3-AMPS ARE NECESSARY FOR NETWORK MODE! ALONG WITH SEPERATE TWEETER AND MIDRANGE SPEAKERS,. One for Lows(subwoofer), one 4ch for MIDBASS/MIDRANGE typically(5-1/4, 6-1/2, 6X9) inch speakers....AND finally one 4ch more for HIGHS(Tweeters). I won't get into the adjustability of the DEH-80PRS right now. But Pioneer has set a new bar for an audiophiles who do not need fancy displays, but choose SQ over show. The ability to fine tune each of the systems and components independently with all the necessary SQ functions(Slope, Phase, +/- dB...) and even mute a group to perfect enoyher is AMAZING! ````````````yeah the face plate isn't all that fancy but that is where Pioneer saved your money, yet managed to manufacture A TRULY REVOLUTIONIZING MASTERPIECE SQ HEADUNIT FOR THE PRICE! The buttons and stuff could have a little better feel, and "KEY BEEP-OFF" option added...but dang this baby sounds goooood!!!If you were wondering....My system consists of 2-Rockford Fosgate amps and 1-JBL amp. Rockford Fosgate P200-2 bridged a 12" Dual 4 ohm(in parallel) voice coil Kicker Pro subwoofer for bass. **********MIDBASS/MIDRANGE Up Front is 2(5-1/4) MB QUART Reference speakers and in rear 2-(6X9) MB QUART Reference speakers hooked up to at 4 Ohms to a Rockford Fosgate R300X4 PRIME SERIES AMP. And for the HIGHS, 4-MB QUART 30mm titanium Wide Sphere tweeters are hooked up to a JBL 100X4. Monster ULTRA 600 THX Rated RCA, and MONSTER XPMS-50 speaker wire(I split the XPMS-50 wire in 2 by cutting between then unzipping, I then spun in copper wire using a vice and a drill to tightly twist the 3 wires, Heat shrunk the 3 together. Installed #6 hole terminals to the copper and used self tapping screws to chassis ground. This provides unparalleled induced noise protection and drain. I am an Electrical Engineer with specialized training and knowledge of Electro Magnetics and RF). A Rockford Fosgate 1-Farad capacitor sits in the engine bay intercepting the 4 gauge wire that supplies the terminal block 1ft from the amps, which use 6 gauge wire to the 3 amplifiers. All ends are gold pressed.I AM CAR AUDIO SPOILED FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!!!If you are ready to step up into the Big Leagues, but still need to upgrade your components. This HU allows you to do that via it's multi=mode capabilities.What you get inside is where the magic is made!Buy this deck and build your network system!! If you buy anything else, you are just paying to loose using any other SQ based system fusing a HU for under $r300.

If you want real audiophile sound in a car, this is the best unit I've ever heard. It's one of the few on the market that even bothers to advertise their DAC - probably the most important and overlooked component in the sound path of turning your digital files into music. The DAC maker, Burr-Brown, has a reputation for making high-end home DACs in CD players such as the classic Denon 360. Coupled with a decent pre-amp (which Pioneer did), you have the potential for real hi-fi.The next remarkable (and I believe at this time a Pioneer exclusive) feature is the time-alignment feature. I was skeptical that this was more than a gimmick until I tried it out. It actually works! With just a few minutes of a fully automated tuning process, the normally muddy or harsh areas in the frequency spectrum where the tweeter crosses over to the mid-bass and the mid-bass to the sub turned into nice clean sound. An audible difference! another nice effect was the imaging - sitting in the drivers seat (I tuned the system by putting the mic on the drivers headrest), well recorded music places instruments and vocals on precise spots on the dashboard, or even appear to come from the drivers side window. It probably helps that I have a pair of good tweeters in the dashboard pointing UP at the windshield in such a way that only the reflected sound is heard, but still If I move my head more than a foot in any direction from the headrest the imaging starts to sound like an ordinary car stereo again. The sub especially blends wonderfully with the mid-bass (XO and 125 Hz) avoiding that cheesy thumping you get from poorly tuned subs..The integration of an active crossover may not be unique to pioneer, but it's another big helper for audiophile sound which is overlooked by the vast majority of head units. This feature can also be approximated by using the controls on JL audio amps, but the Pioneer allows me to adjust all the drivers - sub, mid-bass, and tweets - from the listening position. The ability to adjust the slope is nice too, and I've only ever seen that on a few amps.Have an sound technician who knows what he's doing (hard to find) match this unit with quality amp & speakers, and locate the tweeters carefully, and you have a car stereo as good or better than any in the world.On the down side, Pioneer did NOT include FLAC support. This almost cost them a star on this review. A head unit with sound this good will is totally wasted on MP3s, and WAV files waste flash space. I play all my music from WAV files on an SD card - I could fit twice as much music in the unit if it supported FLAC. FLAC is the format of choice for digital audiophile sound. Lots of MP3 players and PC music programs now support it, and it costs nothing to license it - why on earth did Pioneer leave it out?The other downer is the manual. The descriptions for using the crossover and time alignment features are muddled, as though the writer never actually used the product but instead just copied some engineers notes. It took me some trial and error to figure these out. Once I got the hang of it the features were easy to use, but the manual was very little help.One last nit - it would be nice if I could save two profiles of the time-alignment feature, so that I could demo it to people sitting in the passenger seat. As it is, one has to sit in the drivers seat if they want to get the "wow" experience of solid imaging in a car stereo.In summary, I've never heard of any other head unit with such audio potential. My old favorite audio-quality unit maker, Eclipse, has stopped making audio head units (I have no interest in an overpriced, oversize, NAV that also plays music) so I'm glad Pioneer has stepped up to fill the gap.My system:The pioneer DEH-80PRSMorel MDT-30 tweeters in the dashboardVifa P17w woofers in the doorsJL Audio JX360 4 channel amp for the frontAudiobahn Alum10 (vented, in trunk) sub on a JBL 600-1 mono-block....with a Mercedes E320 to move it around.