Awesome head unit...I wish I had 10 cars so I could own 10!
Written: May 25 '03
Product Rating:
Sound Quality:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Pros: Amazing value for the money, A+ Sound, A+ Features, A+ easy to use, A+ Durability
Cons: no huge negatives...no MP3 support...audio button shouldn't be as big as it is
The Bottom Line: Kenwood was foolish to change the style of their Excelon head units. I would much rather have this one than any newer model Kenwood. Overall an A+ head unit.
johnbamber's Full Review: Kenwood KDC-X717 Car CD Player
I've been through a number of head units before finding this one, and I must say it's my favorite by far. Sadly, someone STOLE IT so I had to replace it with a newer Kenwood X869 (which as of now I'm replacing with another Kenwood from the same year as the 717). Nothing had come close to this head unit.
The sound quality: Amazing. The highs were smooth and clean, the mids full, and the bass round thick and tight. Not to mention the onboard equalizer makes this easily adjusted. Being an audio engineer, I was very happy to see parametric equalizers on there, instead of just a straight-up graphic.
This head unit makes very good use of its display, which is very easily readable. One aspect in particular is the Sirius Satellite Radio section, where (and oddly this feature was removed from newer models! if i'm incorrect about this, please e-mail me johnbamber@mac.com!!) you can actually set up the display to scroll "Song Title - Artist" and then have a spectrum analyzer and clock down below. This definitely was on my top 10 favorites of this radio.
I also like the layout of buttons, it's an extremely easy head unit to operate. I probably wouldn't have put the audio menu button below the Source selector, it's sometimes a pain when you hit that button by accident, but that's a rare occasion anyway.
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