These do-it-all car stereo head units are the top of the 2006 class—with the emphasis on class.
Auto manufacturers are coming out with more and more impressive sounding and feature-laden systems these days, and the OEMs have significantly narrowed the performance gap that the car-stereo aftermarket has long enjoyed. But the automakers still can’t match aftermarket suppliers when it comes to early adoption of new technology, features per dollar or just plain good looks and pizzazz.
The most obvious example of this is the way in which the leading aftermarket car-stereo companies keep squeezing more and more features into the same-size chassis. After all, how many other consumer electronics products can offer such versatile features as CD/DVD/MP3 playback, iPod integration, satellite radio and HD radio compatibility, GPS navigation, hard-disk storage, multi-zone entertainment, touch-screen operation, powerful amplification and more—all in components that fit in such a tiny space?
Here we’ve rounded up six top head units from the class of 2006. While they aren’t cheap, they represent the cutting-edge of in-car entertainment technology and will make your time behind the wheel more enjoyable, more productive and safer.
The double-DIN IVA-W200 is like the Swiss Army knife of car stereos. It can play DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs, CDs and CD-R/RWs with MP3 and WMA files, and it’s satellite-radio ready and accommodates both XM and Sirius. Plus it’ll tune in HD Radio when connected to a separate receiver. The IVA-W200 has a USB connection for adding almost any brand of MP3 player, and its Quick Search makes simple work of sifting through thousands of songs to find the exact one you want to hear. And with Alpine’s Full Speed Connection cable for iPods, there’s no need for a separate adaptor to conveniently control all of the functions of the ubiquitous portable music player from the IVA-W200’s 6.5-inch touch-screen monitor. And Alpine gives new meaning to the term “touch screen” with its PulseTouch feature, which provides a tactile response, such as a pulse or vibration, when contact is made to confirm an operation. But if you have a Bluetooth phone you won’t need to touch anything at all to handle a call with the IVA-W200 in proximity. When connected to a separate Bluetooth adaptor, the head unit will connect with the phone and allow you to listen and talk hands-free.
With a 20GB hard drive, the single-DIN??? Eclipse AVN7000 has access to a huge database of navigation information to get you from point A to point B, whether it’s across town or across the country. The combination of hard-drive access and Eclipse’s Ultima Engine processor will calculate the route in a matter of seconds, while the massive database will alert you to over 20,000 landmarks and 4 million Points of Interest (POIs), such as gas stations, ATMs and hotels. All this information is at your fingertips via the AVN7000’s 7-inch touchscreen display. To keep you entertained on your journey, the AVN7000 plays DVDs and CDs in all their variations: DVD-R/R, DVD+R/RW and CD-R/RW with MP3 and WMA files. Even more music can be accessed via a Memory Stick slot. And in addition to terrestrial radio you can tune in Sirius satellite radio and HD Radio when optional tuners are connected. To keep everyone in the vehicle entertained, the AVN7000 has dual-zone capability so that an audio/video signal can be sent to extra video screens and a pair of wireless headphones in the back of the vehicle while the front-seat passengers enjoy one of the many audio sources. A 50-watt-x-4 MOSFET amplifier adds some muscle to the music, while digital signal processing (DSP) provides sophisticated equalization, time-alignment and crossover functions.
While the single-DIN VM9511TS has all of the requisite features to place among the other super heads featured here—it handles every popular A/V source from DVD to MP3, has a motorized 7-inch touch-screen monitor and is nav-ready—it also adds some novel twists and is priced below the $1,000 mark. One unique feature is an integrated SD card slot that can handle memory cards up to 1GB in size. And if that’s not enough music for a long road trip, you can also playback up to 999 MP3s burned on to a DVD. Need still more tunes? The VM9511TS is iPod-ready so that you can not only access your entire iTunes music library but also watch videos, view photos and even charge your iPod at the same time. And if you get bored with you own music you can add XM and have access to the satellite radio service’s wide array of music and other entertainment programming. And the VM9511TS isn’t just for music. It’s the only head unit featured here that has a built-in TV tuner with an antenna, and it has a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround processor onboard. In addition to a 60-watt-x-4 amplifier, preamp outputs for front, rear, center and subwoofer channels are provided. There are also inputs for a separate A/V source (such as a videogame console), a limited function “kids” remote and a backup camera input with reverse override.
The double-DIN AVH-P6800DVD takes the concept of the CD changer to the nth degree. First, it will accommodate up to six DVDs or CDs, as well as CD-Rs with MP3 and WMA files behind its 7-inch touch-screen display. The AVH-P6800DVD is also compatible with either XM or Sirius satellite radio. When XM is hooked up via Pioneer’s GEX-P920XM tuner you can register up to 12 favorite songs so that when one is playing on an XM channel other than the one you’re listening to you’ll be notified and asked if you want to tune it in. For even more musical variety, an optional adaptor allows control of an iPod directly from the AVH-P6800DVD’s touch-screen. Another adaptor will sync the AVH-P6800DVD with a Bluetooth phone so that you can safely make and receive calls hands-free using the head unit’s built-in microphone to talk while you listen to a call through your audio system’s speakers. The AVH-6800DVD will also automatically mute any audio source that’s playing when a call comes in and it will store phonebook information that you can later access via voice-activation. If you’re a motorhead as well as a gearhead, Pioneer’s optional AVG-VDP1 vehicle-dynamics module measures a variety of real-time performance data—acceleration, lateral G-forces, horsepower and torque as well as speed and RPMs—and displays them on the AVH-P6800DVD’s screen. And if you’re lead-footed, you may also want to add the Pioneer ND-BC1 rear-view camera to see who’s coming up behind you—or whom you’ve left behind.
KENWOOD
The single-DIN KVT-817 is like an A/V receiver for your car, except unlike a home receiver it comes with it’s own video display, a 7-inch touch-screen monitor. It has two A/V inputs so that it can control and display additional video sources (such as an optional TV tuner), an RGB input for a navigation system and another dedicated video input for a rearview camera. Plus, an A/V output allows sending an audio and video signal to video monitors in the back seat. And with dual-zone capability, video-source selection and volume for rear passengers can be controlled directly from the KVT-817DVD. And I bet your home A/V receiver can’t do this: From a DVD’s menu you can simply touch the screen to make selections instead of using a remote. Like any versatile A/V receiver, this head unit can take almost any music source—CD, CD-R/RW with WMA and MP3 files, DVD+/-R/RW, even iPods and other portable music devices—and pump up the volume with a 50-watt-x-4 MOSFET amplifier and shape the sound for each separate source with the System Q/System E’s+ feature. The KVT-817DVD will even play MPEG video files and display JPEG pictures, or you can select from six separate wallpaper patterns for the screen.
The XAV-A1 packs a lot into a single-DIN slot. First of all, the motorized 7-inch touch-screen monitor that slides out of the XAV-A1 uses Sony’s QVGA technology so that the screen can be seen clearly even off-axis for an extra-wide viewing angle. The angle and depth of the screen can also be adjusted for optimal viewing, and the Picture EQ feature lets you tweak the color and look of the display to your heart’s and eyes’ content. The XAV-A1 handles all the usual A/V suspects—DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, and it can accommodate either XM or Sirius satellite radio—and a built-in 24-bit digital-to-analog converter makes sure it all sounds great. The XAV-A1 has 4-volt front and rear preamp outputs and a separate subwoofer output for an audiophile system with separate amplifiers, or its onboard 50-watt-x-4 amplifier will do a fine job of powering a more modest system. The faceplate of the unit partially detaches for security purposes, and the XAV-A1 comes with a wireless remote control.
Question for Doug Newcomb- How does the Eclipse AVN7000 match up with the Pioneer Nav systems?