You forgot Nak...

 

i have the denford peice and although it is very basic, the components that make up this unit are of the sticktest tolerences. making it a very good reliable deck, unfortunatly i have been installing and selling clarion since 1989 and it was poor reliabity then and it still is today. at my shop the only decks i warranty day in and day out are clarion, so who cares how "good" it sounds if its always broken!! not biased here i have given them 17yrs and still they cant make a reliable deck. if you have one thats been good to you then good on you; i just see way to many fail

 

i have an old one and i do not like the look od the new ones but i'm still looking at them
but i need to see what is out there

 

ya im pretty sure they have Mac there great sound for a great price also

 

The SQ out of my Kenwood KDCX979 is phenomenal (it was the top of the line model). All the goodies spoken of above, and more.

5V preouts
Burr Brown doodad
Builtin XO's for front, rear, sub & centre
Builtin EQ's for front, rear, sub & centre
Buitin DTA
SRS WOW and 5.1 Dolby Prologic II (I use the SRS daily, it's really awesome, and I use the Dolby for movies)
mp3 & satellite capable, of course.

It's sexy, has lots of text & graphics selectable features, etc.

However, reliability is an issue with Kenwood. I bought a KDCX969 originally, and had so many problems with it, on it's FIFTH visit for service they finally replaced the whole thing with this 979. The 979 has been better, but still has flip-out issues and cd loader mech issues. My tech even sez that yes, the Kenwood's cd loader mechs use smaller than proprietary/"normal" sized rollers. So get even a little dirt in there, and problems arise. I use a deck more often than most anyone, it getting at least four hours of steady use per workday. Add weekend trips and being Party Central at the lake, and she gets 750 to 1000 hours per year. So I don't expect it to hold up forever, but I do expect to get the same kinda life as I did with my crusty old Alpine (it was featureless, about 7 years old when I replaced it, lights in the face didn't work anymore, but otherwise still worked okay).

So my deck has to be R&R'd every 4 to 6 months, once it stops loading/unloading cd's properlly (I have to bang the hell out of the dash when the rollers get dirty). I give it to my tech, he cleans it all out & replaces the flipout's ribbon cable (a cheap part that fails easily), and I'm good to go again. I treat it as well as I can, have a cooling fan on it, keep it clean & regularly serviced.

Also on the downside, Customer Support from Kenwood truly sux. Their manuals are written (not to sound like an ****ole or anything, but...) in some of the sloppiest Chinglish I've ever had to read. And the manuals just show HOW to set settings (DTA for example), but not WHY, or the logic behind it all. I, and my dealer, had to bitch moan and complain constantly with Kenwood Canada when I had that 969 lemon. For the near two years I had it, I was without for about five months if it. And getting them to replace it (on it's fifth visit for repair, right near the end of the two year factory warranty) wasn't exactly easy, it took a large two page letter in multiple copies to various people to get it done. In the end, however, they came through and sent a new deck to my dealer for me. To this day, no one from Kenwood has actually sent me a letter or phoned me or anything. So, yes, they honored their warranty, but not easily. And the first time I had my tech service this 979, he said it looked like it had been messed with inside before too, ribbon cables not shoved in all the way, screws with worn heads, etc. But, other than the flipout and cd loader mech and unlike my old 969, it proven to be holding up quite well. We'll see how it survive's the Canada Day long weekend, one of the hardest weekends of the year on my system. And I'll probably send it in for service again right after.

One more kudos for this deck I have now - The SQ is outstanding. Everytime I have it out for service, I install either a loaner from my dealer, or some old deck that we have around at the shop at the moment (my OLD Alpine is a prime example). All these decks, except for that 979 (and it's predecessor, the 969), have WAY crappier sound, and alternator noise and all sorts of crappy sounds bleeding through my.... less than ideal install. My 979 sounds killer, hands down.

So I think of Kenwood's as Ford's and Mazda's. They're great products, but have many quirks that require high-maintenance, and poor customer support. Keep the maintenance high and don't expect any support from the manufacturer, and you'll be okay.

High maintenance isn't necessarily a bad thing, either. I'm kinda about maintenance on my vehicle too. 420,000km's (hard, city P&D kliks) on my current '95 Astro (original engine) and 640,000km's on it's predecessor, an '85 C20 (two engines) proves that.

And yes, when it's time to replace this 979 (it's gotta have about 1000 or more hours on it by now) I will definately reconsider Kenwood. I don't mind yanking it and having it serviced twice or thrice a year, since I'm so hard on them, and I love and am very used to the features that they have. And they're way cheaper than anything comparable from the bigger names, like Alpine. They have a killer DVD HU right now, the XXV-05V (see http://www.kenwoodusa.com/products/ListProduct.aspx?k1=2&k2=38&k3=149&pr=1856 )

 

I'll add my $.02 worth for the Kenwood....

I have used KW for the last 4 decks in a row, with minimal problems. The Excelon line has enough goodies built-in for lots of tweaking from the driver's seat , and once you get used to the layout of the menu system they are easy to use. Because I drive for a living, my decks get around 3,000 hours per year of play time. The average life span has been 4 years or so, and anything that will keep spinning the CDs for that long is good enough for me....

I have heard many other decks from different companies, and I feel the KW offers the best "bang for the buck" for me. The Alpine, Clarion, Eclipse, Nak, and others mentioned are quality units, but at least around the GTA, the difference in cost couldn't be justified by a substantial enough improvement in SQ that I can hear in my work van.

My personal theory is that once you get to a given price point, any one of the companies mentioned, and there are others as well, will get you comparable SQ. The more you spend, the more you get, but I always wonder how much better it can sound in a moving vehicle. After that, it comes down to ease of use, feature set, and looks.

HTH

 

I disagree....a Mac unit wouldn't touch a Denon Z1 and the drx 9255 also sounds superior to a mac IMO. The 9255 and macs were pretty close though, I have a 9255 and I'd rebuild it till there was no parts availible if it broke....even though I've used an 8250Ti in most of my cars, I never get sick of listening to the 9255.
Can't say much for Eclipse though, only heard them a couple times.....spent too much time trying to navigate through the menus.

Alpine also has VERY nice decks.....again, any Alpine deck made in the last few years requires a degree in rocket science to operate, like the eclipse , but once you learn the menus they have lots of useful tools in those menus.

 

Ive heard good things about the Kenwood Execlon series. I'm getting a kdcx769 for my system.

 

I like Kenwood for some products but decks are not one of them. I have had 2 Excelon units and both had face plates that have failed due to poor design and crappy ribbon cables.