Even when you write about audio gear for a living, you still have to live in the real world. When my old CD receiver was rather rudely stolen from my truck, I needed a new receiver but found myself without a lot of spare change to spend. A lot of car audio buyers find themselves in the same fix — good sound and features are important, but they have to work within a budget.

The DEH-P3500 has a crisp, multicolor display that is both functional and attractive.

Fortunately, prices for car audio have dropped dramatically over the last few years. CD receivers with impressive feature lists and specs sell at prices that would have seemed ridiculously low only a few years ago. So I went shopping, looking for a receiver that would give me the performance and features I wanted at a reasonable price. In short, I wanted some good bang for my buck.

Narrowing the field
To begin, I set my budget at $200. The next thing to consider was what features were important. I needed two sets of preamp outputs (to accommodate my subwoofer amp, and allow for expansion to an additional amp in the future), a detachable face (remember, my old receiver got stolen), and XM tuner controls. I also wanted, if possible, a rotary knob for the volume, built-in high and low-pass filters for the full-range speakers, and an EQ with capabilities beyond basic bass and treble settings.

Narrowing the field was pretty easy in my case. I'd installed the Pioneer GEX-FM903XM add-on XM tuner to my previous system, routing the signal in through the old receiver's auxiliary input and operating the tuner through its own control panel. You can check out the roadtest of the old installation to see how I used to have the system wired.

While that had worked well, I liked the idea of controlling my XM tuner through the receiver itself. That narrowed my search to Pioneer receivers — they're the only ones capable of controlling the Pioneer XM tuner by themselves. I didn't want MP3 capability since I prefer the higher-resolution sound you get from a CD. Besides, I knew that I could count on my XM tuner to supply plenty of variety if I wasn't listening to a CD.

My choice
Having narrowed things down, I selected the Pioneer DEH-P3500. It met all my criteria, and I thought that it would look good in the dash. The retail price was a reasonable $179.99 — a very nice value for all you get:

• Detachable, fold-down face
• Five preset EQ curves with 3-band tone adjustment
• 22 watts RMS power
• XM radio-ready
• Front and rear preamp outputs
• Low-pass and high-pass filters
• FM sensitivity 8 dBf

The custom mounting kit integrates the new receiver perfectly with the Ranger's dash.

Installing the DEH-P3500
Installation of the new receiver in my 1998 Ford Ranger went smoothly. It was a simple matter to wire a new harness to the receiver's wires and plug in to my existing Ford wiring harness. I had to make an extra connection for the amp turn-on lead, as well as power connections for the XM tuner. Stereo patch cables for the amp and P-Bus connections for the XM tuner were simple plug-in operations. With the Pioneer's relatively shallow depth and the removal of the wiring for the XM tuner's display panel, there was plenty of room for the installation. In about an hour or so, I was all hooked up, set up and ready to go. The custom mounting kit provided a nice, clean look.

First Impressions
My first impressions were very positive. The 10" subwoofer in my 1998 Ranger is powered by an external amp, so the Pioneer's internal amp only had to power the front 6"x8" coaxial speakers. The MOSFET50 internal amp packed a pretty impressive punch. I tried it out on a variety of jazz, rock, and classical CDs and was impressed by the performance. Mids and highs came through with clarity, precision, and just the right amount of solid meatiness I like to hear, particularly on tracks like "Too Much," from Dave Matthews Band's Crash.

For most music, there was plenty of headroom, but a few orchestral tracks, notably "The Bridge of Khazad-Dum" (from The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack) with it's large ensemble and heavy brass, seemed somewhat strained at high volumes. That's not a big criticism — that track will give a lot of home stereo amps a serious workout!

Basic operation of the DEH-P3500 was easily learned. The face has an uncluttered appearance and controls are intuitive, for the most part. The rotary volume knob felt smooth and firm, and the complementary four-way toggle on the right side was easy to use when selecting CD tracks. The source selector, located below the volume, was easy to find and use.

Supertuner IIID
The new Supertuner IIID demonstrated impressive capabilities for pulling in stations. Here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, FM reception can be touch and go, particularly on the lower-powered NPR stations I often listen to. The DEH-P3500 locked in clearly on all my favorite stations, performing at least as well, if not better, than other receivers I've used. AM reception, not a strong point for many receivers, was clear and drift-free.
 

The preset EQ settings are easily accessed through a button on the faceplate.

"Easy EQ"
On the down side, operation of the EQ can be complicated. The DEH-P3500's "Easy EQ" has two layers: a button that lets you cycle between five preset EQ settings, or a three band parametric EQ with more advanced features for tweaking the lows, mids, and highs. There are also built-in high- and low-pass filters and subwoofer level control for system tuning. While it is a very capable EQ, operation is not intuitive. To set my own custom EQ setting, reference to the manual was a necessity. Once you've set your EQ settings, you can store them in "Custom" preset (one of the six presets), and easily reference it. Still, adjustments aren't an easy process to go through.

Source Level Adjustment
On the brighter side, one very nice feature is SLA, or Source Level Adjustment. If some of your sources naturally play a little louder or softer, you can set SLA to balance them out so there are no dramatic changes in volume as you switch sources from the tuner to XM to CD.

Life with the DEH-P3500
After six months, the DEH-P3500 has proven to be a reliable and robust performer. CD and XM performance is consistently excellent and the tuner is quite strong. The EQ, despite the difficulties I described, offers a lot of control over the sound (although the manual is still riding in the glove box). I've found myself using the preset EQ settings a bit more than I thought I would: cycling to "Powerful" to punch up the sound when the volume is low, "Vocal" when I'm listening to news or talk, and switching to "Custom" when I'm settling in for some serious listening during my drive. My XM tuner is seamlessly controlled right from the receiver now — very convenient. All in all, this is a receiver that provides an exceptional value for the money. Judged on its own, it's a fine performer — considering its very affordable price, it's a tremendous value!