Hey guys,

I'm in the market for a new deck in my ford ranger and ended up ordering the Kenwood KDC-MP342U for $149.99 off Best Buy. I'm still waiting for it to arrive in the post. The problem is I can't find much for reviews about it.

One review on http://www.crutchfieldenespanol.com/crutchfield/enes/24/_www_crutchfield_com/S-p8f1mFWwsYS/p_113MP342U/Kenwood-KDC-MP342U.html?tab=review said it has distortion issues at high volumes, but that's just one person and could be caused by many issues (like bad speakers... I hope).

I'm looking to spend less than $200 on a deck, that gives me the best bang for the buck. Preferably a USB/iPod option would be included.

Is this the deck to go with, or should I exchange it for something better?

 

it was probably distorting, just like all decks will, if he wasnt using an external amplifier.

it seems like a decent deck, especially with the features it has (AUX in, iPod)

 

Kenwood Excelon KDC-x592. Selective Sound, a vendor on this forum, has this unit on for $170. My fiancee had this unit installed in her car back in November. Its a great deck. 3 pairs of 5V pre-outs. 2 year warranty, since its an Excelon model. The USB cable comes off the back and into her glovebox. She keeps an 8GB USB thumbdrive in there with about 600 songs on it. The extra power this head-unit gives over the stock one really made her stock speakers come to life. She paid $220 for this unit, at the time it was $250 at East Hamilton Radio.

Do you plan on adding an amplifier and subwoofer at any time? The deck you're looking at doesn't have a subwoofer pre-amp output, and the output voltage is 2V...

For $30 more, you'd be getting a much better deck.

For what you get with the 592, you can't beat that price. Might be hard to get when you're in Thunderbay though. Maybe SelectiveSound would be willing to ship it up to you.
http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/online/selective-sound/150960-jan-feb-winter-clearance-sale.html

 

the Kenwoods are all solid units, for the price of $170 for a 592, I'd get the one from BB return it to your local store and jump on that deal. IMO Kenwoo right now has the best bang for the buck head units out there. Solid build qulity, lots of features, great tonal quality. Just solid performing, good sounding head units.

 

Hey guys. Thanks for the input. I was about to get the KDC-X592 from the vendor you suggested until I found a very good deal at Futureshop. I ended up scooping the JVC KD-AVX11 (with the video display for DVDs, etc) for $199 ($150 off).

It's not a Kenwood brand, but the price was more than nice. I don't know if it's the same or comparable sound quality as the Kenwood though.

 

you traded quality parts for shiny poop