Great sound but underwhelming.
Written: Mar 08 '07 (Updated Dec 07 '07)
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Pros: Great sound, bright display, excellent AM/FM reception, 3 channel parametric style eq
Cons: Non-intuitive navigation, chunky display, CD read times, sparse ipod functions, no graphic eq, goofy extras.
The Bottom Line: Sounds awesome through my JL amp. Great deck if you love playing constantly while your wife watches the road for you. Lousy for Ipod control. I'm taking this puppy back...
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| pjwlk's Full Review: Kenwood Excelon KDC-X790 Car CD/ MP3 Player |
I had this deck installed on the advise of the owner or a high-end stereo shop. One of the main reasons was that it was supposed to have superior ipod connectivity and navigation system, "the best in the business". I didn't have my ipod with me that day but he was right on the money with everything else so I told him to go ahead. I will eventually swap this deck out for either a Car PC or for using a iPod touch in native mode hooked directly to my amps.
Let me state before I get too far that I consider myself a minimalist when it comes to just about everything. Although I do like to have a few well thought out bells and whistles I like them to be out of the way until I need them while still being easy to get to. I don't like cluttered displays that take extra seconds to sift through while I'm driving.
The owners manual that I received is in my opinion is almost useless. I'm sure that there are a good number of functions that I don't know about and can't use because they are not explained very well if at all.
The deck sounds great, really great! It has a good amount of adjustability for just about anything you can think of and sports a parametric style eq instead of a graphic eq. In the studio parametric is great. In your car however it takes too much time and attention to adjust it adequately when your driving. Finding out how to do it is another story. There are a number of preset eq setting which I absolutely hate because they are never very close to anything I want and are always in my way when navigating.
Navigation: Kenwood has done a good job of keeping the faceplate clean with the use of multi-function knobs etc. but the manner in which you have to use them is in my opinion counter intuitive. A good number of the menus require pressing an alternate button or knob to get out of them just to turn the volume up or down.
Ipod: (Update) I was originally told that the deck would work the 4th generation iPods which was incorrect. This dock only works as advertised with 5th gen or later. 4th gen iPods are accessed as a hard drive which explains the extended boot/scan times I was experiencing and complaining about earlier. I bought a new 5th gen ipod and the interface display works pretty well although there is no easy way to find a song that you like without scanning all the songs one by one.
The deck somehow uses it's own software to access the ipod as indicated by Kenwood showing up on the iPod screen. I've had the ipod crash on me several times while scanning for songs which requires me to reboot the iPod. The random folder function when active stops you from using some of the menu functions, presumably a bug in the firmware. The deck does not remember that you were using a play list and therefore you need to restart your play list each time you turn off your car, very annoying.
CD player: Sounds great but takes about 20 seconds after putting a CD in before it starts playing, too long for my liking.
Radio: The radio reception is absolutely fantastic on this unit. I would even go as far as to say it's the best I've ever had in a car deck. Lots of presets too! (18 FM, 12AM)
Movies, G-force display, etc: Who really cares? I wish they would have spent more time and memory on things that really matter like a graphic eq, navigation controls and USB/ipod connectivity speed and less time on goofy/cheesy stuff like a g-force display and movies - but that's just my opinion.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 349 CAD
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Epinions.com ID:
pjwlk
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Member: Paul
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 0 members
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