OK OK, I know I should be getting my car tuned and have decided to use FVD tune at home software. I am getting side tracked alittle I went down and finally looked at some Double Din Stereos, and I do like the easy menu system, color matching (Screen and buttons), fit and finish of the of the pioneer PIONEER AVIC-D3 but it did not have HD Radio ready. How far out does the Kenwood sit out from the dash they did not have one? The Eclipse 6610, Eclipse 5510, Alpine (front would not open) and others were not for me but did like the 5V outputs of the Eclipse 6610 *Could not figure out how to open the D**n thing". Just looking for feedback on some others everyone has used. My main concern is the SQ and HD Radio.

 

Go Kenwood...8019 has 5V output.....Great NAV, HD radio, best iPod integration (audio and video), Sat radio, and....etc.....it sits flush and will actually tilt when you start the car so you can see, you set the angle.....Pioneer does not have the same sound quality....

 

I have a Kenwood DNX7100--great unit but only 2V pre-outs. I wanted an all-in-one unit. The Ipod interface is fantastic and the interface is quite easy to use. Garmin nav is a snap to use.

But, for SQ, I'd have to give it to Eclipse. They make outstanding decks, I'm sure the 8019 is a great unit too (also has 5V pre-outs).

If you're after SQ, the Pioneer is probably not the best--possibly the Z-2, but I haven't played with it enough to know. I had a Premier P1R in my old car--great old school unit, the time alignment and stuff was very cool. I can only imagine how sweet the new Premier P9 is. Pioneer definitely makes some high SQ units. I'm positive the P9 is better than anything that Kenwood has put out. Of course, none of these are double din.

You can easily make the Kenwood sit flush with the dash, just depends on the install.

good luck!

 

Thanks for the suggestions I am going to have to see a Kenwood the 8019 and hope the learning curve is less then the Eclipse, I even had trouble getting out of the Nav screen and had to call someone the external buttons where texted, but so small I could not see what they said on them. One reason for changing from my beloved Alpines is that they just look so aftermarket. Any of you guys have a picture of the best matching of button and screen colors to match your car interior? I have picked up a Alpine amp pdx 4.100 and plan to use either morel, focal or Hertz components up front and since I do not have door speakers just using the rear stock components and maybe add a sub somewhere. I did notice with the 8019 that it has "System E's+ Crossover with Selectable High-Pass & Low-Pass Filters" can I use these as crossovers for components and toss the passive crossovers that come with the components?

 

So am I correct by saying that I would make my own trim piece to make it fit flush?

 

That is correct-
+1 for the Kenwood units, the UI is pretty easy to use. The 8019 looks really nice, I give high marks for the 7100.

 

My 7100 came with a trim piece. I just had to cut the outside to make it sit in the horseshoe correctly.

 

Observations so far: Went and looked at a demo kenwood older 6019 (they had the 7100 but just in box) and forgot my cd. They gave me a video music DVD and did notice that the kenwood did not display a list of music on the DVD, all I could do is use the forward and back buttons, the pioneer did show me a list with video images. I did like the black piano finish on the kenwood. Maybe the 7100-7015, 7019 or 8019 units are different. The kenwood does show a list of music on a regular cd right! I'll try again tomorrow with my CD. Hopefully I will find better place tomorrow that has better personnel training then my dog has.

 

Yea the kenwood is the way to go, I was such a big Pioneer fan..good product.. but I love everything that the Kenwood does...Mine was installed flush, I am trying to find someone that can do the trim piece outof carbon.


Hosted on Fotki

 

Kilgrt looks nice, I would like to match the temp colors below. I would like to see what it looked like with this background and buttons to match. Most of the kenwoods I have seen have the blue background. Here is a pict I found on another thread that someone posted but never saw it uploaded to there unit with buttons that match. Sorry but had to play around in your car.

 

^^^^ Thats awsome! I saw that pic and downloaded it.now i just got to get it on the head unit....Thanks that looks great!

 

The kenwood buttons are blue, but there is only a few of them. I am looking into possibility of changing the surface-mount LED's to orange, which would be sharp.

 

Kilgrt I think you can put it on your SD card and upload to your unit. If it works please post pics. Good Luck

I still having trouble locating a Kenwood to see it in action but did see some more pioneers Z2 and others the Panasonic had a nice color of yellow background and buttons to match which matched the lights in the car but none of there units where hooked up to play? This is getting rediculous.

 

Sounds like a fun project, I know someone on a bimmer forum changed out his lights on his NAC Deck, but it was more extensive then yours, it had more buttons. Now if you can integrate the readout from a Durametric scanner onto the screen and clear the CEL lights you are my GURU.

 

Thought you might find this interesting. Cayman setup


http://mobile.jlaudio.com/gallery/de...ehicle_id=2459