>From: Pat Buthmann <patb@mindless.com>
>To: "'dakota@ait.fredonia.edu'" <dakota@ait.fredonia.edu>
>Subject: RE: Your Idea's
>I meant to ask you Sean, what you thought of the Pioneer CD receiver you
>installed. It's the 1.5 DIN model, not just standard DIN size isn't it?
> I'm currently looking at the Pioneer DEH 59H CD-Receiver, and was
>wondering what you thought of them. I've always kind of looked at Pioneer
>as pseudo-low-end audio equipment, so opinions can weigh heavily in my mind
>on this stuff. It's had some good reviews (mags), but I'm looking for
>personal opinions. Good, Bad or Ugly?
>Pat Buthmann
Pat,
Another data point here. I haven't had good luck with Pioneer CD
receivers. I put a model DEH-880 in my 93 CC V8 4x4 in the spring of
93. This was the standard DIN size and had about a 25 watt x4 amp built
in. I also replace the 4 stock speakers with Pioneer speakers. The
sound was very good compared to stock, but near the 1 year warranty
expiration on the CD player, it started skipping for no apparent reason
at highway speeds. I took it in to get fixed, and they replace a $12
holder (?). It then seemed OK for a few months, but when I finally took
a long trip again, it still skipped. I talked to a Pioneer dealer, and
he said that model and a few others from Pioneer had factory defects.
He claimed the factory had used a lubricant on the suspension mechanism
that evaporated over time. He then gave me an "irate customer" number
to call, and Pioneer cut me a deal where they bought back the deck for
its residual value and let me apply that to a new model at wholesale.
So I got into a DEH-50DH (1.5 DIN size, 35watt x 4 amp built in,
spectrum analyzer built in) for about $100. I thought that was OK since
I now was about a full year out of warrantee on the old CD receiver.
So, as this long story goes, about 1 year into my new deck, the thing
starts having electrical glitches where it will suddenly start inserting
what sounds like alternator whine over the music (both radio and CD)
REALLY LOUD! There is really no warning, and when it does this it
scares the crap out of me and any passengers. Power cycling the unit
fixes it for a while. So, I am out of warrantee again with a faulty
unit. I am scared to bring it in to get fixed since the only Pioneer
repair facility around here has a very bad rep, and this problem is so
intermittent that I'm sure they would say "No Trouble Found."
One thing I did notice about my old receiver is that the CDs would come
out almost too hot to touch. And the new one keeps them pretty toasty
too. I suspect that the fairly highpower compact amp built in does not
help the receiver's reliability and longevity.
I'll be looking elsewhere for my next CD/receiver.
------------------------------------------------
Steven Connelly
93 Dakota, 4x4, CC, V8, Auto
stevec@extendsys.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:07:49 EDT