Don't buy this stereo, it has a fatal flaw!!!
Written: Jan 13 '05
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Pros: Cool display with scrolling text - Subwoofer outputs and crossover are great. Decent sound quality
Cons: Unit has some sort of saturation flaw, useless remote. Random play feature sucks
The Bottom Line: DON'T BUY THIS UNIT. Despite the name and the features, the saturation problem will kill you.
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| vbluguitar's Full Review: Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X579 Car CD/ MP3 Player |
I purchased this unit with 4 Kenwood speakers on sale from Crutchfield. Let me start by saying that this unit has a fatal flaw. The first one I had for about a week before it went bad. The unit would play just fine for about a half an hour at 75% volume (25) and then it would start to become saturated (distortion). I talked to both Crutchfield and Kenwood, and they recommended a second unit, so I got another one from Crutchfield. This one worked fine for about 2 months, but then began having the exact same problem! Thankfully Crutchfield was good enough to extend my exchange policy and I returned the second unit for a Panasonic player in the same price range. I would think twice before spending my hard earned bucks on this unit.
With that being said, I have some other issues to talk about.
1. This unit doesn't do random play on MP3 disks that have songs in separate folders (it can only randomize within a single folder). If you like to keep your MP3s in folders by album, you will not be able to play Them as MIX cds. To make a mix CD, you will have to dump all the MP3s to the root of the disk. The Panasonic and Pioneer units in this price range both CAN play randomly across different folders.
2. Q-sound really doesn't do much. Once again, the Panasonic unit that replaced this has a much better (and easier to use) suite of sound controls. Basically the Q-sound system is a glorified "Low, Mid, High" EQ setup. The subwoofer controls (crossovers and the like) are just the opposite. They are really well done and offer a lot of flexibility.
3. The remote is HUGE and doesn't have any controls other than Play, Pause, and Volume. The range of the remote is about 12 inches from the faceplate which, combined with the lack of controls, makes it pretty useless. If you want to adjust sound settings, or use the folder views, or enable random play, you still have to touch the faceplate since none of these controls are on the remote.
4. The display is well done and colorful. I liked the scrolling text, and I also liked the folder browser, though during a sunny day I was quite unable to read the faceplate (my car has a light brown interior), regardless of contrast settings. The Panasonic has a motorized face that has 3 different tilt settings to prevent glare from being an issue.
All said and done, I still liked the unit (especially the display features and colors) but am much happier with the features of the Panasonic. Because of the saturation problems I would absolutely NOT recommend this unit.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 229
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Epinions.com ID:
vbluguitar
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Reviews written: 2
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