Affordable and Flashy, JVC's El Kameleon
Written: Jan 17 '03
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Pros: Attractive design, excellent sound, remote control
Cons: Non-Detachable faceplate
The Bottom Line: Sounds Great, Looks Awesome, Lots of Fun to Use.
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| dnovaee's Full Review: JVC KD-LX111 Car CD Player |
The JVC KD-LX111, better known as "El Kameleon" is a great car stereo that will wow your friends. For starters, the design is very impressive. With many very bright red and one bright blue light up button and a color LCD, this thing makes for some juicy eye candy. The CD slot is hidden by the display, which mechanically moves out of the way when you want to eject or insert a CD. When the stereo is off or the car is turned off, the button panel and volume knob retract, making the unit perfectly flat. This is why it's called El Kameleon.
The fact that it becomes perfectly flat and looks like a part of your dashboard is what JVC calls anti-theft technology. In my opinion, anyone looking to steal a car stereo is going to know what this is when they see it. So don't get this if you live in a high crime area. I live in a relatively low-risk area, so I'm never too worried about it getting stolen.
JVC includes a compact remote control for the stereo, which is nice for back seat passengers to use. Unfortunately, JVC used a very cheap membrane keypad that only works when you REALLY press the buttons. But it works nontheless.
Playback of CD-R and CD-RW media is no issue for this unit, as it has been able to handle TDK, Imation, Sony, Hi-Tech, Memorex, Verbatim, and other generic CD-Rs as well as every CD-RW I've ever tried in it. It also played mildly scratched/scuffed CDs with ease, even better than one of my home CD players. And as far as skipping due to bumps and sharp turns goes, I've NEVER experienced a CD skip, and I drive through plenty of pot holes on a daily basis.
The tuner is impressive as well, delivering very full rich music and human voices. Sounds MUCH better than my stock Delco radio did! You can program in your favorite stations using the preset feature, which has more available slots than you probably have radio stations in your area. You can even name your presets and have it display the name rather than the frequency.
This head unit is capable of driving high power speakers, so be careful not to blow your stock speakers, or have them replaced by something higher end. The volume goes up to 50, but I've never had mine above 20, and that's really loud in my car.
It doesn't play MP3's but that's ok! It does have CD-Text, which allows it to display a Disc name, Artist name, and Track name for recorded CDs and even some store-bought CDs. Even if your CD doesn't have CD-Text on it, you can program the name into the El Kameleon's memory.
I really have no complaints about this unit, other than one tiny quirk. It seems that every 30 or so times I turn it on, the buttons and volume knob don't pop out. Turning it off and back on always solves this problem.
If you are currently trying to decide between this stereo and anything made by Pioneer, let me assure you, this is the way to go. The Pioneer DEH-xxxx series are VERY prone to failure. Believe me, I'm a technician at Best Buy. We see a TON of those come back for repair. So stay away from them!
In closing, this is really a great looking and great sounding head unit, and it is guaranteed to make your friends jealous. Especially the one with the Pioneer that broke last week and won't be fixed for a month!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 180.00
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Epinions.com ID:
dnovaee
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Reviews written: 7
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