Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic CQ-C8413U CD/MP3/WMA Receiver

The first two months after the purchase of this unit I was impressed, and it went down hill after that. After two months the function keys stopped working and started sticking.

Then the i-pod cable shorted, and soon after that the programing for the audio pre-amp was lost, and I could no longer control the equalizer, or simple base and treble.

When I went back to the car stereo shop where it was purchased, they agreed that it was still under warranty (which they were willing to honor), but Panasonic would not honor the warranty because the product was discontinued.

I believe this speaks to Panasonic's integrity as a company more then anything. I will never buy another Panasonic item. I suggest that you save your self the grief and time and follow my lead.

This unit is great. The feature list is long and worthy of anyones dash. This may be last years model, but with features and looks like these, who cares, mine was made in April 2006. On to the review. First thing that stands out is the display. It is an Organic Electro Luminescence OEL display and can display up to 4096 colors. It has moving graphics and still images, a Welcome and Goodbye screen and all those are customizable with free software from Panasonic. You can put your own images on the display, very cool. It is bright and easy to read and the whole display has three tilt positions to help with glare or for just the right viewing angle. Text is crisp and easy to read.
Sound quality is excellent and I am sure it will be even better when I match this unit up to an amp and some new speakers (still have stock speakers). It has a 7 band equalizer with 6 presets and you can customize your own. It also has the SRS WOW feature and sub-woofer control with low and high pass filters.
This unit has 3 pairs of pre-amp outputs at 5volts/60ohms and Aux in. All are RCA jacks, all are in the back, and all are on about 3-4 inches of cable which adds to the clutter behind the unit when installing. I didn't have a lot of room behind mine so I had to make sure I didn't pinch anything. But the high volt outputs are what I wanted (better sound quality to an amp) so I can live with it. Hooked up my cellphone/mp3 player to the Aux in and it works flawlessly. Plus I use the headphone cable of my phone to connect to the Aux in so it's almost like having bluetooth! I can answer a call with a push of a button and the callers voice comes out over my speakers!
The unit itself is well made. The faceplate has a good feel and the buttons are well placed and easy to use, they are not too close together. The multi-function rotary dial is great. It controls like 90% of the features on the unit. Did I mention that the faceplate is motorized and tilts? And beeps and displays a message to remind you to take it out when you turn off your car.
I haven't used the remote a lot yet, but upon first impression the buttons felt mushy. I couldn't really tell if I was pushing it enough or not. There is not enough feedback from the buttons. A better remote would have made this 5 stars, although I am sure it will come in handy one of these days.
Overall this is a great unit and well worth the price! You won't be disappointed.