New head unit installed permanently with a pocket-style drawer installed underneath.
The slide-out section of the drawer had some white writing on the face of it from the manufacturer that I didn't want, so I removed it with isopropyl alcohol. But due to how the ink smeared and gave the black plastic an uneven, chalky appearance, I shined it up with some 0000 steel wool, and gave it one coat of matte black Krylon Fusion All-In-One paint + primer (with a "No-Peel Guarantee"), then let that dry a day and rubbed the shiny spots off using the steel wool again, and laid another coat down, then after that dried one more day, laid the final coat down.
The drawer slides out,
but won't slide out on its own during acceleration. This means I can put whatever I want in there that will fit and not have to worry about anything flying out like you would with a normal pocket. I think I'll pull the drawer back out and line the inside with some non-slip drawer liner just to keep anything I place inside from making any noise.
And using a couple of adapter harnesses provided by
https://autoharnesshouse.com/
I've also integrated the stock USB port and auxillary input receptacle to this new head unit for additional audio sources.
It has Bluetooth capabilities as well, but you have to have the accessory adapter to use it. Besides, using Bluetooth with it's relatively poor sound quality in comparison to what I'm trying to achieve with this build with a head unit like this is pretty much pointless anyway, and I have no desire to connect my phone through it either.
Nope, this is a system built for music and driving pleasure, not for me to be bothered by other people wanting to get a hold of me when going through the twisties.
I'm really liking this head unit, how it looks in the dash, how it sounds, how versatile the DSP is, the fact that each of the eight channel outputs has independently adjustable crossovers, and levels, the 31-band EQ per side. There is really no other head unit out there that can hold a candle to this Pioneer. It truly lives up to its legendary status. And only 80 of these 80th Anniversary Edition models were ever produced for the world.
It has now been three years since this head units' release with no current replacement. I hope at some point in the future, Pioneer will step back up and come out with something else for us audiophiles of equal or greater quality. But for now, this appears to be the last of its breed.