Thought some people might like to have a read of this - I posted it in the thread about my car but thought i would post it here as people probably won't be looking for it in my car thread After much research I purchased a Pioneer DEH-P7950UB. A few different reasons why I chose this particular model: Rear Direct USB Connection Ability to read up to 250GB USB HDD's Supports Playlists (even though the 2008 models don't) Price was slashed as it was the 2007 model Supports more folder/files than the 2008 model Better in most ways than any others on the market in NZ I ran the USB cable from the back of the unit under the centre console and under the carpet so it comes out under the drivers seat. I then plug in my USB 1.8" 20GB HDD (or pocket drive as D!ck Smith like to call it) and it sits away out of site under then seat - just velcrod to the carpet at the moment. This little combination is awesome and i can't recommend it enough to anyone who has a lot of music and is over listening to radio stations - NZ has some terrible stations It has around 16GB of music on it at the moment - Mostly classic rock/rock/metal and heavy metal and some occasional other genres to keep the selection fresh. It takes about 30-40 seconds to scan on start up but you can listen to the radio whilst it does that. I can then play all songs or selected folders on random or in sequential order. 2000+ songs on random and no load time between them is like having your own personal radio station. I used to hate having to change CD every few days, so this is the perfect solution - i never have to change CD again Photo time: A picture of the items I ended up using (http://[IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k283/87calais/Stereo-HeadUnitHDD.jpg[/IMG]) The Head Unit Installed (http://[IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k283/87calais/Stereo-Head_Unit_800x600.jpg[/IMG]) The HDD as it sits, out of the way under my seat (http://[IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k283/87calais/Stereo-HDD_800x600.jpg[/IMG]) Hope you all enjoyed this little ramble and i hope some people find this information usful as i found it very hard to find information on similar setups. Feel free to ask any questions you may have! Later, Jason Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Got the same hu as that.. its really good for price and features.. im very happy... wish i had a larger drive to hook up to it like yours..

Like the look of this. How much did it set you back?

Quote: Originally Posted by X-ZemPt Like the look of this. How much did it set you back? The Head Unit was NZ$420 from memory - there were some for $399 but the sold out before i got there. I Actually got it from good ol' JB HiFi in the end. The Hard Drive was NZ$90 i think - not 100% sure but i think it was around there. I will edit this post if i find the actual price. I see on their NZ website they are a clearance item now and are going for NZ$70. Cheers, Jason

That is very, very cool. Excellent information. My brother has been looking to do just that for a long time. How do you find the sound quality? And does the drive heat up at all?

Pretty cool set up dude - I like the idea of the removable hard drive - very cool. Does the hard drive need a power source or is it powered through the USB? Does the head unit have an aux in on the front somewhere?

Quote: Originally Posted by 5spdvl That is very, very cool. Excellent information. My brother has been looking to do just that for a long time. How do you find the sound quality? And does the drive heat up at all? I converted most of my albums direct from the original CD at a bitrate of 224 and the quality is very good - you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and the original CD. The only slight problem is the different volumes between various artists. For example: Eric Clapton and The Doors tend to be a bit quieter than the newer artists like Korn and Mudvayne etc. Even eary Metallica is a bit louder quieter and less bassey than some of their later albums - Although this is also due to the production of the 80's vs modern technology. That being said, old albums that have been remastered like Led Zep's 'Mothership' sound FANTASTIC! The unit has built in Compression functions to adjust the sound playback quality. It has various COMP1-COMP2 and BMX (Bit Media eXpander) BMX1-BMX2. For more on BMX read below: Quote: Originally Posted by PIONEER sound.vision.soul BMX (Bit Media eXpander) Digital Enhancement Compressed file formats such as MP3 and WMA are now as common as the Internet. But there are people who feel that compressed music sounds thin, flat and short of depth. To correct this common problem, Pioneer developed BMX technology. BMX studies what's left of the delicate sound frequencies that are usually ignored and makes the necessary adjustments. This improves the shape and overall depth of sound, which results in enjoyment to the ears, especially in the noisy car environment. Hope that helps clear that up Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS Pretty cool set up dude - I like the idea of the removable hard drive - very cool. Indeed - if you havta leave your car in a dodgy part of town - take the faceplate and the hard drive out of the car. Plus it's so much easier to plug into the comp - copy the music across just like another HDD then disconnect it and put it back in the car - no 3rd party software to deal with!! (hating Itunes software) Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS Does the hard drive need a power source or is it powered through the USB? Does the head unit have an aux in on the front somewhere? I searched for ages on this as i didn't want to have to run another power cord. Turns out some HDDs require extra power and some don't - As a general rule most 1.8" hard drives should run off the head deck alone. Some 2.5's may work and almost all 3.5's i know of won't. The problem is the head deck only provides 500ma of power and most of the bigger HDDs need 800-1400ma to spin up. Another note: New HDDs are mainly 5400rpm or higher, try to find an older 4200rpm unit instead as naturally they require less power to spin up and are likely to have a higher success rate. I did find a few companys that make these drives but they were very expensive compared to the DSE 20GB effort. The capacities were bigger but still $300 was a bit expensive for a 40GB i thought! You can run extra USB power lines from the Ciggy lighter but as i didn't want more wires (and i don't have a Ciggy lighter in my car) i chose to run off the unit alone! As fo the AUX input - there is not one at the front - but i don't see that as a bad thing - i specifically searched for a unit with the USB at the rear as i wanted the cables hidden. You can easily get a $10 AUX extension cable and plug it in the rear and run it into your glove box or the same place i did under the seat. Hope that helps answer your questions guys. Regards, J Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

i have a clarion slide face unit with the same usb input. hooked up to an 8gb usb drive which set me back 60 dorrar. i change the files every few months.