Pioneer unveils a wave of new car stereos

Proving its commitment to the aftermarket stereo market, Pioneer today unveiled a dozen new in-dash car stereos. The 12 new stereos offer a range of connectivity options, ranging from the ability to play compressed audio formats such as MP3, WMA and AAC discs, to support for USB sources, iPods, HD Radio, and Bluetooth hands-free calling. For systems with iPod connectivity, Pioneer has improved the user interface and menu navigation to more closely resemble that of the iPod itself, while adding some extra navigation features, including alphabetical search, iPod passenger control (which gives car passengers the ability to search for music on the connected iPod player itself), and Link Search, which provides a list of all the content by a currently playing artist.

Four of the new units--the FH-P8000BT, FH-P800BT, DEH-P7000BT and DEH-P700BT--come with built-in Bluetooth hands-free calling as standard, while four--the DEH-P7000BT, DEH-P700BT, FH-P8000BT, and FH-P800BT--come with built-in HD Radio controls. Mid- and upper-range models in the new lineup feature an organic electroluminescence display, while upper-end models get a rotary control knob to improve the navigation of digital audio sources. Most of the new stereos ranging from the $100 DEH-2000MP to the $250 USB-enabled DEH-P600UB will be available later this month, while the four higher-end systems with price tags of between $290 and $330 will be available in March.