A price/performance leader
Written: Nov 14 '01
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Pros: Excellent sound quality; great value for the money, very resistant to skipping; solid construction.
Cons: Disc changing could be just a bit quicker.
The Bottom Line: The C717 is highly recommended for the excellent sound quality, reliable operation and impressive skip-resistance. But if you have money to burn, burn it on an Excelon CX87, just because.
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| superdave643's Full Review: Kenwood KDC-C717 10-Disc CD Changer |
I purchased a Kenwood KDC-C717 changer and had it installed in May 2001, paired with a Kenwood KRC-608 (yes, for you model number-memorizing nerds, it's a cassette deck and that's just the way I wanted it, thank you); Infinity Kappa components up front; and MB Quart 6.5" co-axials for rear-fill. This replaced a very tired and lacking OE system for my Volkswagen with no changer originally installed.
I came to the decision to go with Kenwood components, being fairly inexperienced in the world of mobile audio but hearing generally very good things about them, and I liked the specs on paper and the H/U looked really cool and matched the interior of my car well :-P But aside from that, I did a lot of homework, learned by leaps-and-bounds, and it was a labour of love that took the better part of 6 months to piece together the best possible sounding system with a very limited budget.
My heart wanted a Kenwood Excelon CX87 changer, but the best prices on the net at that time of over $250 was prohibitive, so I went with the C717 (which I bought for $169) and haven't really looked back.
Sound reproduction is excellent, thanks to a very high 100dB S/N ratio (this is higher than almost all of it's competition except at the VERY highest end, at which time I would recommend you to consider the Kenwood Excelon line).
The changer works unobtrusively, swapping discs fairly quietly in the trunk albeit sometimes I wish it would do so more quickly (than the 5-6 second wait before the song hits) so that the random-disc playback feature on my H/U would be more practical... OK so now we're getting a bit nit-picky.
One thing that floored me was the fact that for a CD changer that claims no ESP or shock memory, the C717 takes A LOT of abuse before it causes a skip!! Picture this: I live in Michigan, and I recently installed an upgraded suspension and 40-series tires to my car, and while the changer is not 100% skip-free, it only does so in the worst of bumps, the kind that makes me cringe that my wheels will get bent!
One tip that I learned from having a CD-walkman that was notorious for skipping: Mount the changer -- any changer you decide to buy -- VERTICALLY; from experience, I'm convinced that this makes the unit is MUCH LESS susceptible to skipping.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 169
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Epinions.com ID:
superdave643
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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