The full Pioneer Appradio 2 write up

[Anonymous]

HI

After much interest in the appradio head unit I believe that I am due you guys a write up.

Firstly I must point out I am using a 2 channel vibe slick amp with focals 165a speakers, therefore No underdash sub.

sound quality

4.5*s

The sound quality is the main reason I decided to upgrade my system. Its true sound deadening will improve the quality tenfold.  So it is always worth doing this first. For £15 you can get a large roll of flashing tape which will stick to everything and anything! But the appradio head unit offers great tools in improving sound on its own. In the settings you can change the eq - this simply means you can control the levels of different frequencies of the music, e.g. make the bass louder or less overwhelming. Dont be mistaken that upgrading your sound system is only to improve the amound of mind numbing bass from your speakers! The whole reason you improve your system is to gain clarity (being able to hear every instrument used in a song, or the crisp vocals). The eq is therefore vital in any car audio system and if you cant manually tweek each frequency then you wont have the best setup. Other head units do have a few more levels for you to tune, but the app radio does offer a wide range - therefore you can really get some clear music coming from the speakers. The head unit also comes with some handy preset options which are not that bad if your not sure how the sound should be.

App radio also offers a seperate bass and treble booster incase the e.q. doesnt offer enough! Personally I use a little bit of extra bass on the eq and maybe +1on the booster. I believe the booster symply amplifies the bass signal as it leaves the head unit but dont quote me on this.

The head unit also offers a dedicated line for subwoofers if you still want to use one - for what reason I have no idea, unless your joining a competition to look like the biggest twat going. Some people will want a sub to take the pressure of your mid range woofers which is perfectly acceptable but I wouldnt use the excuse "because I want to feel it kick", "I want loud bass" because if you join any competitions that is not what its all about and you will fall out with your neighbors.

Only 4.5*s due to the fact there probable are better head units out there for sound... im not going to lie but you would have to spend over £800 for them, there is NOTHING wrong with this head units sound.

Functions

5*s
The appradio comes ready to support nearly everything going on all the best head units such as:

Reverse camera
Bluetooth
Connection to phone
Ipod support
Gps

Bare in mind this head unit does not play cds or dvds! But in my case I have moved on in technology now and have everything on my ipod or phone. Another essential item that is missing is a memory card reader. I would of paid another £200 had they put an sd card reader on the head unit as I cant help but think it would be really useful. On the other hand I guess your phone acts as the sd card reader.

Reverse camera - probably one of the most asked about function on the head unit.  It is one of those things that you could not go back after installing! I think the practicallity of having a camera on the back of the car is simply excellent. Not only so then it stops me reversing into walls but allows me to have a cheaky look at the ferrari/noble that is sitting behing me in a traffic jam without losing my cool. Also, its incradibly useful for checking to see if your 3 year old neice is behind your car before you reverse! I installed the camera by taking off the rear number plate and drilling two holes on the plastic above. You have to buy the camera, I would opt for an infa-red one so it can be used at night, i think you can pick them up for as little as £10 on amazon. Anyone could fit one, the only tricky thing is connecting it to a signal that becomes active after entering reverse. Members suggested i cut into the reversing light, you can, i wouldnt reccomend it. I went for the reversing buzzer but it doesnt seem to work as intended. Instead there is a button on the screen that I press and voila a camera... not much of a ball ache.

Bluetooth is actually really good, they supply you witha microphone which has a really long wire. I stuck it to the pillar on the drivers side and ran the cabel down and around the dashboard, over the pedals and into the head unit. I hate drivers who STILL hold a mobile when driving! No excuses! Try living with yourself after killing someone due to the fact you were on the phone when driving. If you dong get this head unit the get a bluetooth device anyway! By the I must add some head units dont come with bluetooth, which means you would need to buy a parrot system anyway which would be £60+.

Connection to phone - increadible results! with a new update just launched to support iphone 5 having a car phone means something completely differant. You can get apps which reads your texts and emails when your in driving mode, and you can reply using siri. I have a galaxy s3 which is not meant to be compatible,  but I use a hdmi cable with mhl which requres a power sorce from the cigarette lighter. Yes you do have to root your phone, which is supprisinly easy, and is reversable. But in order to get full access you will need to download AR Liberator an app that costs £25. Honestly though the rewards are worth it. Having gps on a screen on your dashboard means that you can see much more of the road than if you had a tom tom stuck to it. Also I enjoy a nice game of angry birds or a film if im ever stopped too long e.g. traffic jams. And yes you can play angry birds on the 7 inch touch screen! When you are using the phone connection you cant listen to the radio, you may think this is a downside but if you are using google maps for gps it tells you if the route you are taking has any traffic jams and offers different routes.  You can still listen to the music on your phone while using gps - I would reccomend poweramp app because it transforms your phones audio capabilities, allows you to set detailed eqs, and amplifies the noise coming out! There is much, more I could write about but I wont...

At the same time as connecting your andriod phone or instead of your iphone you can connect your ipod! If you have a fairly newish ipod then you can use all the apps on the screen. I have a first generation ipod touch which doesnt support the appradio but you can still access films and songs from the device. It charges the ipod as you drive and is the bread and butter of your head unit.

Gps - the head unit comes with its own gps signal reciever which is required if you want to view gps on your head unit. Simply plug it in and pop it on your dash and hide the wires the same as the microphone. You may need to change a setting on your phone to allow the head unit to select the signal reciever, shouldnt be hard to find. Pm me if you get to this stage.

I would also reccomend the ariel mod.


I hope the above information is useful to someone, my sound system cost me £460. The head unit cost £240 and will probably last 5-8 years. If you have any questions please do notnhesitate to ask and I will update the post

Thanks for reading

Richard
 m http://soundcloud.com/djvinxy m

[Pavett1990]

Sounds awesome mate. I love the clarity but I'm also very much addicted to mind numbing bass  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Do you have any links for your speakers and head unit by any chance? I wouldn't mind having a listen to your system on ding day and then upgrade mine  s:D s:D

I bet some of you mixes sound good?

Ash


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