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an hour into my trip for thanksgiving, my Pioneer Head Unit, which can't be more than 1.5 years old, just turned off and smoke came out of the CD slot. (removed)!!! anyone ever have this happen or know what would cause this? is it even worth it to try to repair it?on the upside, it is x-mas time, so whats a good replacement... I'm thinkin Rockford Fosgate, but i can't make up my mind....

Bummer! I've had this happen before, sadly electronics fail on occasion with no explaination. The first thing I would do before replacing it is double check your installation to rule out any problems there (bad wiring, shorts, etc). As for repair, chances are good that if there was enough smoke to be visible, it was a rather major failure and there's not enough good circuitry left inside the unit to repair it. I'll leave the recommendations to the others here. I've been out of the mobile audio deal too long to know what's good.

Yeah, I would recommend the high end Clarion, Alpine, or even a higher end Kenwood Excelon(sp?).Inder

As someone who repairs this stuff, it will probably be cheaper to just buy a new HU. And by cheaper I mean money and TIME spent! As someone who is CHEAP, this realy irks me!

This is why I always push the warranty. And yeah, don't bother with Rockford Fosgate radios, they're built by Panasonic. At least they used to be.

I've always preferred Pioneer, but that's just MO!

Pioneer fan here too...Even though my cd player is acting up on me...I'd personally stray AWAY from clarion, panasonic, jvc, or kenwood...That's just me though...

They were always easier to use and a lot more user friendly. I never had any problems with mine.

IMO, Pioneer is making a nice unit. Have some buddies that have various models. I think they are all the same basic family of HU though since they all look similar. They are using various speakers. Common amongst their systems: they all sound good to great!

Quote, originally posted by cdFxer » I think they are all the same basic family of HU though since they all look similar. They are, actually. The same amplifier shows up in everything from the basic to the overly advanced. The differences are slight differences in power output, display, functions, and audio customization. Otherwise, the $109 DEH-1600 is gonna have the same quality as the $249 DEHP-6600. Which I like.Yours is the first 'catastrophic' failure of a Pioneer I remember hearing.

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »Yours is the first 'catastrophic' failure of a Pioneer I remember hearing.I thought a unit only 1.5 yrs old smoking like that a bit odd myself. IMMO, most failures where the FM smoke is let out there are external causes that either cause it outright or 'assist'. Like improper voltage, shorted speaker leads, poor connections, etc.

I would check into that as well. Something had to cause an overvoltage or something to cause it to burn out like that. I've never heard of that happening due to regular usage with proper wiring and such. Might have had something ground out, an exposed wire, or something wired incorrectly. I would look into the whole setup before I blamed the headunit, just so it doesn't happen again to your new HU!

I'll wholeheartedly agree with both cdFxer and damronjr. There's a high potential of something odd going on..so get everything checked before putting in another unit.