Kenwood or JVC?

[kalniel]

Well my aspirations of having an alpine unit have been dashed by reviews of the cheapest units saying they're naff, and I can't afford the high end ones.

But both Kenwood and JVC have some headunits that are in my price range.. anyone have any opinions about them? I specifically *don't* want loud bass - I'm looking for a good neutral sound as much as possible.

Cheers,

[99Flake]

What reasons do you want a new head unit for? If it is to get better sound quality I would have a look at replacing your speakers first.

As for head units, I would go for a JVC over a Kenwood, Kenwoods a quite bright sounding. I would also say (and I know someone will scream at me for this) Sony would be the best for a neutral sound. Only thing is that I am basing that on their older range and not their current stuff which sounds a bit naff.

[Funkstar]

What reasons do you want a new head unit for? If it is to get better sound quality I would have a look at replacing your speakers first.

This is by no means a universal rule.

What car is it kalniel?

The head unit in my MK5 GTI was pathetic. Kept clipping at decent volumes, replaced it with a JVA KW-AVX800 (http://jvcmobile.co.uk/imagestore/pr...36_image_1.jpg) and the sound has improved dramatically. I still want to replace the speakers, but there is 10 of them and the only drop in replacement kit out there is £400 for the front and £250 for the back including crossovers.

I quite like the JVC unit, although I get frustrated at how behind the times car audio manufacturers are compaired to anything in the PC industry.

[kalniel]

Astra mk4. I'm perfectly happy with the sound quality of the OEM Blaupunkt through existing speakers when I get a good FM signal, I just want to be able to play CDs (and I'm liking the look of the USB things too now).

There's a Clarion and Sony unit within range too I guess - I'm a bit loathe to go with Sony purely because they're charging twice the price over here. Clarion I've never heard of except in computer games so I'm suspicious how neutral they'd be.

Example models I was looking at include:

JVC KD-G351/441
Kenwood KDC-W4041A

or for a bit more:
Clarion DB288RUSB
Kenwood KDC-W5041UA
Sony CDX-GT420U

[99Flake]

This is by no means a universal rule.

No true, but when it comes to the lower ends of head units I find speakers make a greater difference. To be fair though I have always (until now) shifted my stereo from car to car so have never had a chance to really compare.

Kalniel - Clarion make very nice kit, they make OEM units for BMW and a few other people but their after market stuff can be very nice.

[Howard]

What reasons do you want a new head unit for? If it is to get better sound quality I would have a look at replacing your speakers first.

.

I'd say the opposite. In my experience replacing OEM head units with reasonable aftermarket ones (Pioneer) has meant a pretty decent improvement even through stock speakers. Upgrading the speakers can just go one step further afterwards. You also get the extra functionality (MP3 etc)

[kalniel]

So.. where to buy from? It seems every online shop has a full quota of horror stories.

[Howard]

www.caraudiodirect.co.uk

[kalniel]

www.caraudiodirect.co.uk

I was hoping someone would recommend them as I'd queued up my order with them already Now I can hit 'confirm'!

[Funkstar]

I can second them

These guys have also been very helpfull

http://www.incarexpress.co.uk/

[kalniel]

Ta. I'll see how the fit goes (first time! ) sounds relatively easy and I know about the red/yellow cable thing

I went for the JVC KD G441 in the end - I had a good virtual look at the Clarion but I was a bit put off by the bling pop out volume and the controls in general. The JVC looks nice to operate, the instruction manual is clear and in good english (unlike the Clarion, and the Kenwood manual was non existant), and I have a JVC hifi at home - if it comes close to matching the sound characteristics of that then I'm happy.

[Vimeous]

Bit late but my JVC is a big improvement over the OEM on stock speakers.
Reckon yours should too.

[Bunjiweb]

last 2 head units ive had are kenwood from caraudiodirect.co.uk and I have always been very impressed with the sound quality, build quality etc.... JVC always feel rather cheap and nasty to me to be honest.

I have the double-din Kenwood unit with usb port in my celica now and its rather tasty.

Ben

[Funkstar]

It still infuriates me how rare DAB head units are!

I've had one for the past 3 years and they are fantastic. It's the main reason I ended up with the JVC double DIN unit in the first place as there are very few that I could get DAB and BlueTooth for.

It's a shame its handling of USB attached storage and the SD card is so poor. Everything is based on the file structure as opposed to scanning the media for meta data. My phone does it so why can't the head unit?

[Behemoth]

Can't go wrong with Pioneer to be honest, got one in my Vectra (forget the model number) and it blow the stuffings out of the standard one that was in the car when I got it, that and Vauxhall speakers are pretty decent, they take quite a pounding.

[kalniel]

It still infuriates me how rare DAB head units are!

Yep, me too, though they are getting there - JVC had a good single DIN one. I probably would have got it as well, if it didn't require a separate aerial.