Quote:
Originally Posted by Chard
I just installed a Kenwood KDC-X597. It's worlds better than the OEM Becker system, even with the stock speakers.
The ability to stream bluetooth audio and phone (I'm on an iPhone 5) is great and I haven't had any complaints on the other end (mic placed on the steering column). I ordered my unit through Crutchfield. The free wiring harnesses and radio removal tools are great bonuses.
FYI, if you go that route, the harness they supply isn't the exact shape as your OEM ones; you'll have to do some matching to see how they fit together. I remember you said you have the hifi system with the rear shelf speakers (same setup as me). The DSP will still work.
I've had a bit of time to play around with the system a little bit. My observations so far:
1) the streaming audio only plays on the dash and door speakers, nothing out of the rear shelf. If I plug in or play the radio, the rears come on, the problem is only with streaming audio.
2) it's very hard/impossible to read the screen with direct sunlight shining on it. Not a huge deal because I'm rarely messing around with the radio once I've got my jams going, but that could be annoying for some.
3) pretty cool that orange is one of the colors for the display to match (close enough) the rest of the interior.
4) if you turn off the car in the middle of a phone call, it'll transfer it to your phone (as it should), not end the call.
I plan on replacing the OEM amp sometime in the near future so I can swap in my Focal speakers (dash and door). The doors are 2 ohm. Replacing them with 4 ohm sounds horrible, so I'll have to change out the amp first.
Hope this helps. I did a lot of research before diving into this one. Let me know if you have any other questions.
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Just to confirm, the funky DSP unit will work with an aftermarket head unit ? Also, it seems strange that the rear shelf speakers won't play when streaming via bluetooth. Any thoughts as to why ? Lastly, I won't be doing the install myself. That said, will an experienced car audio person know how to install the new head unit so it looks appropriate ?