Car audio manufacturers are always looking for new ways of doing things and new ways to spruce up that 2"x7" car stereo faceplate. Clarion's latest R&D with faceplate technology resulted in the Optimedia touch-panel LCD display. When I saw this new, uniquely styled piece — the ProAudio DXZ945MP — and its distinct lack of buttons, I knew I had to try it out!

You see, for me, when it comes to selecting a new car stereo, one of the most important factors that weighs into my buying decision is "ease of use." Having all the functions of a nuclear submarine is meaningless if I have no idea how to use them, or need a full complement of crew to operate the thing.

Touch-panel receivers have been around for several years now, and their functionality continues to improve. Clarion didn't have to reinvent the wheel — just build a better one. My hope was that Clarion had done their homework. I'm happy to say that they have!

What's in the box
The DXZ945MP is a high-end CD receiver (suggested retail price: $799.99) that plays MP3 and WMA files, has a motorized removable face, lots of power (18 watts RMS x 4), and tons of sound controls. Disc playback is mastered by a 24-bit digital-to-analog converter that delivers incredible sound. All the options are on board, including three sets of 4-volt preamp outputs, an auxiliary input, a dedicated line output for running signal to a wireless headphone transmitter (for dual-zone listening), controls for a SIRIUS satellite radio tuner, and even a light sensor which allows the receiver to automatically adjust the display brightness based on the ambient light level inside the car!

There are 15 "wallpaper" images and 3 superimposed spectrum analyzer options to choose from for the central area of the display. Naturally, they can all be turned off, if you prefer.

At first I was worried about how the non-traditional appearance of the faceplate would look in my dash. But I quickly fell in love with the DXZ945MP's sleek silver curves; and the flat black finish of the trim ring helped the receiver look right at home in my car. With 16 grades of contrast, the black and white display is able to render messages and icons very well, so everything that appears on the display is clear and distinct.

An elegant time piece.

My favorite minor detail — when the receiver is powered down and the car is still switched on, the display becomes a plain, unassuming digital clock! No other graphics or button lighting are visible to beg for your attention. Just a little thing, but they're the ones that count. But if you'd rather not have the time shown, the clock display can be turned off.

Simplicity
The DXZ945MP is all about functionality. That may sound like a surprise for a receiver with such a fresh, flashy, and unique look, but it's true. I found navigating the control panel to be quite easy. The LCD consists of five control areas, each roughly designated by the silver trim around the display. This gives you an immediate sense of the boundaries for each touch area.

A light sweep of the CD icon is all that's required to advance to the next CD track.

Basic operation is simple and consists of touching one of the larger three areas and sliding your finger to the left or right. The two smaller areas work like normal buttons — just touch them to indicate your choice. After playing with the control panel for about 15 minutes, I'd figured out how to operate most of the functions. For some of the more esoteric sound controls, I still needed the manual to explain how each function works.

As for buttons, there are only seven, and most of them have very specific functions:

Match the red numbers with the features listed below.

1. Faceplate release — allows you to remove the faceplate
2. Rotary knob — power on/off, change listening source, volume adjustment
3. CD pause — push it a second time to resume playback
4. Disc eject — opens the faceplate and ejects the disc, if there's one in the receiver; pressing it again closes the faceplate, although it will close automatically when a disc is inserted or after about a minute of waiting
5. "A" — adjust; puts the receiver in system adjustment mode
6. "Sound" — activates the sound control menu
7. "I" — Clarion's trademark Instant Station Recall button lets you jump directly to your favorite radio station from whatever you're currently listening to. Push "I" again to return to your previous source.

Sound control
When I first started listening with a critical ear, instead of just playing with the controls, I noticed I was lacking bass response. That's when I realized that I hadn't seen controls for bass and treble adjustment. Okay, now I had to pull out the manual.

After flipping a few pages, I discovered that the receiver comes from the factory with the actual bass and treble controls switched off in favor of giving you access to the tone curves and equalizer. If you just want those basic sound adjustments, they are there, but Clarion doesn't intend for you to use just paltry bass and treble settings for sound control.

This receiver includes Clarion's AC Processor III sound control package, which lets you adjust the music in amazing ways. You can tweak the sound based on size of car, where you want the image to be centered, or which frequencies you want emphasized. Just for kicks, it also has Dolby Pro Logic II to create 5.1-channel surround sound (including a phantom center channel) from any stereo source.

Pressing the "Sound" button brings up the main menu for accessing the plentiful sound control options.

There are six preset equalizer curves, a flexible 3-band parametric EQ, and something called a Virtual Space Enhancer that, when I turned it on, made it difficult to localize the source of the music to the speakers, and more like my car was full of robust sound. I left it on.

MP3 performance
For MP3 and WMA listening, Clarion has an Anti-Distortion Filter (ADF). I tested it out by connecting a friend's portable MP3 player to the auxiliary input. Without the filter, the MP3s sounded flat and tinny (they were recorded at 128 kbps). I switched on the ADF to the recommended setting, which is determined by the type of speakers you have. There's also a "User" setting so you can tweak it to your preference. The ADF immediately made the MP3 songs sound much closer to CD-quality. It increased the "fullness" of the sound and pulled the music out of the tin can.

Custom settings
All of the sound tools are completely customizable, enabling the user to create the best sound for his or her vehicle. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a couple of the equalizer presets were subtle enough in their enhancement that I didn't need to create a custom curve.

In the system adjustment mode, I set the high-pass filter.

The next thing I did was turn on the high-pass filter to block the very low bass frequencies from my two sets of 4-inch speakers. I needed to emphasize the low and midrange frequencies, but not the stuff that my speakers can't reproduce. Setting the filter at 80 hz sounded best.

Screensavers
If you don't touch the display for about 30 seconds, the screen saver function activates. There are eight screen savers to choose from, four of which are spectrum analyzers that "bounce" to the beat of the music. All of them are pretty exciting, as far as screen animations go, especially one that I dubbed the "Japanese Matrix." You can pick your favorite, set them to continually scan through all eight (each one plays for about 10 seconds at a time), or turn it off if you find the visual entertainment distracting.

A sampling of the screen saver options.

Thumbs up!
In the end, I was very pleased with the sound created by the DXZ945MP. There is plenty of power and the 24-bit D/A converter delivers pristine CD playback. I actually heard musical elements I've never heard before on one of my favorite discs!

As to the Optimedia touch panel LCD display, all I can say is that Clarion is going to be busy keeping up with the demand for this piece. The controls and menus are very logically laid out, so operation is intuitive. The display is clear and easy to see. The absence of the tiny, hard to decipher indicator lights and dot-matrix lettering common to typical receiver displays is a blessing.

The ProAudio DXZ945MP is on the pricey side, but if you want superb sound, system-building versatility, and elegant performance, this receiver is your beacon in the night.