[slikirish]

With major help from wraitherx, I got my new head unit installed. Thanks again bro.

This install was done on a 2004 GT with Mach 1000 audio. Everything audio system wise is stock.

First things first. The harness from crutchfield is color matched with the harness on the back of this head unit. I'm not sure why I was so intimidated to do this install (perhaps b/c it's my first one) but looking back on the install, it was very easy. For the small RCA harness for the mach system, just tie the 2 blue/white wires together, then connect those to the blue/white wire off the pioneer. I also connected the solid blue wire on the harness to these as well, although wraitherx says that's not necessary.

I connected the RCAs to the front outputs but I think I may go back tomorrow and change those to the subwoofer outputs. This should allow me to have control over amplifier output level separate of the equalizer. This should let me turn them off when my son is in the car. I'll try this tomorrow and let you know how it works. If it doesn't work well, then I'll just put back to the front outputs.

My biggest surprise with the installation was I don't get the "pop" that I've heard about on turn on. Not sure why I'm not getting that but I don't.

On to the good stuff.



This head unit is awesome. The biggest difference is in quality of sound. The stock head unit had an issue of distorting some of the bass at a moderate volume. This head unit is clean sounding throughout the volume levels and frequencies. It also has an 8-way adjustable equalizer which is nice for fine tuning the sound.

The colors of the buttons and back round is fully adjustable as well. Their are preset colors that can then be modified to whatever color you would like. It's also possible to make the different colors just strobe automatically. I chose green to match the rest of the interior colors.

iPod integration is fantastic. I didn't purchase the cable from pioneer b/c I have no intent on using the iPod to play video. If you just want to use the ipod for music, the standard charging cable will work. I ran the cable between the two pieces of center console and into the glovebox. Nice and hidden, and easy to change USB inputs if necessary due to the USB being on the front. The scrolling of the playlists on the ipod could be a little faster, but it's definitely not slow. Just takes a second or two to load the playlists, then scrolling is just as fast as on the ipod itself. You can either use a slider bar or touch scrolling using your finger like on an iphone or ipod touch. The head unit will play either all songs,artists, albums, or playlists. Then you can shuffle each playlist if you like.

The FM tuner seems to work a little better than the stock head unit. Their is a station that was a little fuzzy at my house with the mach head unit, but the pioneer unit picks it up nice and clear.

CD playback will display all the songs for you to choose from, instead of tracking forward and back one at a time.

I haven't tried out the SD card slot and probably never will, but the option is their if you want to use it. From what I've read, it will only read SD cards up to 16gb.

The biggest thing I was worried about was the touchscreen. I wasn't sure if it would be responsive and intuitive. Those concerns were put to rest quickly. The touchscreen is very responsive but not overly sensitive which is a good thing for in a car environment. The menus are also very intuitive. I didn't have to look at the manual to find anything. Everything is placed just where you would expect it to be.

Overall I'm very happy with this unit. I'm hoping it treats me as well as all the other pioneer head units I've had in other vehicles. I'll report back about switching the RCAs to the subwoofer outputs and how well that works.

Big ups again the wraitherx. He's the man to ask about anything electronics wise. He was also very quick to respond to PMs and was always helpful even when I asked the same questions 3 different ways.

[wraitherx]

nice job brotha and no problem on the help. Its not going to hurt anything having that blue wire hooked up its just to power up a power antenna in which the wire doesnt even exist on the factory ford harness. As far as the RCA's they are supposed to go in the subwoofer input so make sure you switch them out. Im glad you didnt get that pop like some of the others did, some believe that it always happens on the mach systems with and aftermarket radio so now they can see

[slikirish]

I will switch those. I read on something to plug them in the front outs. Do you know if all 6 amps are just for the woofers or is it one amp per speaker?

[wraitherx]

there are 2 for the interior subs and then 4 for your subs, 2 for each sub.

[slikirish]

So the amps don't run the high treble stuff at all? Meaning I can run the crossover for subwoofer off the head unit and the high pass filter for the door speakers off the head unit as well?

[wraitherx]

in the 96-00's there were 3 amps in the car. 2 for the lows and 1 that controlled the highs. In the 01-04's (in which 2002 was the first appearance of the 1000 system) there were only 2 amps as the radio had direct control of the tweeters. This is what your system is set up to do.

[slikirish]

That's awesome. I will definitely switch that around this afternoon

[dsundb]

I have read most of the posts relating to the installation of an aftermarket head unit beacuase I have been hoping to find the right one to replace mine. I am looking for one with built in bluetooth and iphone compatibility and will support sat radio. Thanks to all who have weighed in with info and pics on how to do this.

I have an 03 with the Mach 1000 system. My question is, do I need to find a head unit with 6 channel preamp outputs or can it be 4?

[Redfire66]

I had this head unit installed about 2 weeks ago. I agree with skilirish, this is an excellent car stereo. It sounds much better than the Shaker 500. It has a much clearer sound and bass is alot deeper.

I had the dreaded pop, but after talking with Wraitherx (BIG thanks to you buddy!) I had the 5v regulator installed which completely eliminated the pop.

I think having the SD card slot is a huge bonus with this stereo unit. I bought a 32gb card from Sam's Club for $68 and will be putting all my ripped cds onto it. Really you can have access to 68gb (32gb USB drive, 32gb SD card and 1 dvd (4gb)) worth of music on this unit. Also bigger SD and USB drives will be coming out soon.

I have only 1 complaint and to me it is a pretty big one. All newer Pioneer car audio stereos should be supporting FLAC. I can play FLAC music files on just about anything, but a car stereo. I'm hoping this is something Pioneer can fix in a patch. I'm assuming you can update the software on these units correct?

I do have a work around. I use my Sansa Disk, which plays FLAC files, to plug into the Aux.

[slikirish]

Originally Posted by dsundb I have read most of the posts relating to the installation of an aftermarket head unit beacuase I have been hoping to find the right one to replace mine. I am looking for one with built in bluetooth and iphone compatibility and will support sat radio. Thanks to all who have weighed in with info and pics on how to do this. I have an 03 with the Mach 1000 system. My question is, do I need to find a head unit with 6 channel preamp outputs or can it be 4?

iPhone works just fine. It will do satellite with an additional adapter. I think you have to jump up to the 4100 for BT compatibility though. Don't quote me on that.

[Redfire66]

Just a heads up on the AVH-P3200BT, you can't stream music from your bluetooth phone. Streaming music can be done if you buy the bluetooth adapter CD-BTB200 tho. That is one of the main reasons I skipped the AVH-P3200BT version.

[blitzedstang]

Hey guys sorry to bring up an old thread, I am a member of fnsweet.com roush mustang fourms and I was directed over to this site after viewing your awesome pioneer screen review which convinced me to purchase the unit. I took your advice regarding the blue and white wires but I also have 2 orange wires (orange/black & orange/white) coming from the wire harness I purchased for my Mach 460 but the pioneer wire harness only has a single orange wire, did you also tie all the orange wires together? The schematics for the ford harness say they are for illumination. Also what did you do to bypass the parking brake, I was going to ground it to a switch. Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks

-Brent

[slikirish]

I haven't gotten around to trying to bypass the parking brake switch yet. As for the orange wires, I would say tie all of those together, but I'm not entirely sure. My harness just had a solid orange to match up to the solid orange on the head unit. Give a pm to wraitherx. This guys knows everything about these and is awesome at helping us out. I pm'd him probably 10 times and had an answer within 30 minutes every time.

[blitzedstang]

I did some searching regarding the orange wires and found that they are not needed on most cars and to just keep them disconnected to avoid any problems. I unhooked mine and nothing changed so the illumination option must not be available on our cars. I used a 5 pin relay to bypass the parking break and it worked great. You can also wire the parking break to a switch, ground the other end then flip it twice to bypass.

[jwth2005]

Originally Posted by blitzedstang I did some searching regarding the orange wires and found that they are not needed on most cars and to just keep them disconnected to avoid any problems. I unhooked mine and nothing changed so the illumination option must not be available on our cars. I used a 5 pin relay to bypass the parking break and it worked great. You can also wire the parking break to a switch, ground the other end then flip it twice to bypass.

the illumination is designed to send a signal to ur head unit whenever u turn your headlights on. once the HU receives this signal it dims the screen and controls. Now if i had to guess which one to hook it up to it would be the orange and white.

[blitzedstang]

Originally Posted by jwth2005 the illumination is designed to send a signal to ur head unit whenever u turn your headlights on. once the HU receives this signal it dims the screen and controls. Now if i had to guess which one to hook it up to it would be the orange and white.

My harness has two orange wires coming out of it (i believe orange/black and orange/white) for illumination and the HU has a solid orange coming out of it. I didnt try to dim the interior lights when I had it connected. Does your dim with the headlight knob, slick?

[slikirish]

no. It just goes to a preset dim when the headlights turn on

[jwth2005]

the dim is just to lessen the brightness during night driving

[paqman]

Hey, sorry to keep resurrecting this old thread, but I'm considering getting this same head unit to put in my 01 GT. I was just wondering, slickirish, if you ever used it to play video from an ipod/iphone directly on the screen of the unit, and how it worked out. Did you have to purchase the specialized cable for it? (not the bypass cable, the one that hooks into the usb and the aux input) Just curious. I've read in the reviews that people said the cable was really short. It would probably be ok for me as I would usually just be setting my iphone in the cupholder, and I think the cable is like 6 feet, right? I also just wanted to know how you've enjoyed the HU after you've had it for a while. Is it a solid unit? It's at a great price right now, I found it for around $360 on ebay, so I'm seriously considering it.

Edit: Also, as far as the video bypass goes, I hear what everyone is doing, and then I see these on ebay. It seems like a clean, inexpensive, well hidden way to do it. Any opinions on it? (I can't image there's not a cheap DIY version of this.)

[slikirish]

I haven't messed with video at all on the h/u but yes you would need that special cable.

As far as the bypass, I haven't really researched it, but I know their are home grown ways of doing it. No need to be anything from ebay.