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Good Deal on Kenwood KDC-MP8017 In-Dash CD/MP3 Player

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
BTW, I bought my Z828 from a person on Anandtech named VstyleZ. You should PM him. He works at Good Guys in Carmel Mountain in San Diego, so he will meet you at the store and give you a receipt and everything for a bomb price. He can also give you a better deal on the 3 year warranty (which I always get on my stuff - for some reason, all my equipment seem to break 2 years 11 months after I buy it 😉)

EDIT: tell him i sent you, he'll hook you up
 
vulpeculla: YGPM.

UPDATE: I recieved the Kenwood MP8017 this morning and installed it. All went well, but so far I am dissappointed in this unit. I'll give it a couple more days (or until the JVC arrives) and post a review.
 
kenwood sure as hell doesnt equal JVC, no comparision, i have bought nothing but kenwood for every car i have owned, cant go wrong!!!
 
I was in japan and i saw the z919 and the z828 models there but they did look slightly different from the models here. They were more 'glassy' and silver than black. I almost bought one (it was so cheaper than here around $385 for the z828) but the shopkeeper told me that the radio wouldnt work in the US since the frequency range was different than that of japan.
They also had a z919 model that had a 'sliding out' tft screen from the top of the z919 panel that you could watch dvd's on.
i wonder if you could modify the radios here to make em work.
 
Anyone knows any forums where I can read users comments on their car mp3 players??
I was thinking of getting SONY unit, but now that I heard people having problems, I will defintiely do more research..
Great Thread!!
 
here's been my personal experience with car decks.

i've had about 3 pioneers, ALL of them still work flawlessly, i've since handed them down to friends and family and they still work

i've had 1 sony, ditto above

my most recent purchase is a kenwood, paid almost $600 for it. it's one of those new, motorized face plate things, i forget the exact model. anyway, after less than 4 months one of the digits on the faceplate no longer works. you can still see it, but only a sliver of it. if you press on the face, it occasionally comes back. conclusion: kenwood is just a name
 
Yes Sears has it and you can pricematch it Going on the Homestero quality Ide stay away from JVC Ive had many Kenwoods and I can say they are far better than JVC. I also own the z919 Mp3 player and it is rock stable on bumps and any other driveing, I know because I have a K-5 Blazer and the shocks are hard as a rock. Go with the Kenwood. Plus this is Kenwoods second generation of MP3 players and JVC and Sony's are first generation players.


Savinglots.com Kenwood

Sears Kenwood
 
Devils416, isnt the 8017 the first gen also? even tho the sh99 is first gen people are very happy with it, although theyve only had it for a few weeks. its stable and has way better features than the 8017 for the same price. i hear the display is a little disappointing tho. as for the z919, yes that one is 2nd gen and better but it costs 2x more and the z828 costs 550+ so thats out of the question. btw the z919 was actually discontinued.
 
Do any of these models work with existing steering wheel controls? I have never installed a car audio component so I am a newbie with all of this.
 
I'm getting tired of responding to people who blatently say Kenwood over JVC any day, Kenwood is way better, JVC is terrible, etc. and not informing us of their own experiences. So, I instead want to address everyone else in the market: be very careful who you listen to. Make sure you do your research. And try, by all means, to see and hear units in person. If you read the thread, everyone who said Kenwood over JVC left out their experiences, but the one person who states "Kenwood is just a name" told us of his stories. Thanks Linh for posting actual experiences.


<< Devils416, isnt the 8017 the first gen also? as for the z919, yes that one is 2nd gen and better but it costs 2x more and the z828 costs 550+ so thats out of the question. >>


misterj: The z919 is first generation Kenwood; the z828 and MP8017 are both second gen Kenwoods.

http://www.sounddomain.com
http://www.caraudio.com
http://www.neoseeker.com
http://www.carreview.com
http://www.epinions.com
http://www.crutchfield.com
 
I have been into car audio for years, and competed in several IASCA events. For general consumer use the various models mentioned here are all in the same class. While one might have a few more features than the other, or different looks they are all very close on the internals they use. If I were to give a first, second, and third rating, I would say JVC is the best, when Kenwood and Sony right behind. The JVC, despite any claims here does have a little bit better standard CD decoding quality (24-bit Burr-Brown converters and 4 volt preouts). With MP3's they all use the same technology for decoding, so the audio quality is dependent on the rest of the unit. If you are looking for true quality you would wait for the Eclipse, Nakamichi, Clarion Pro Audio, or even a high end Sony Mobile ES units. For around $300 though, these 3 units are all good quality entry level decks. I am not knocking them for what they are at all. If you want to get some high end taste for a consumer price get the JVC, check out the specs, it borrows from many high end units, and even has higher specs that the old Kenwood eXceleon line. My $.02.
 
Motorized face plates are the latest worthless gimmick. Give me solid state over moving parts any day, especially in something as prone to shock as a car. Like the JVC Khameleon- a thief isn't going to look in the window and think 'there's no stereo in this car' he's going to think 'hey look, a JVC Khameleon' and break the window anyway...

I don't think Kenwood or JVC make particularly good products. Sony has its days, but it wouldn't suprise me if their in-dash MP3 player didn't even read CD-Rs 😉 wouldn't that be funny.... I wouldn't put it past them.

just my input,

Phatty
 
As far as car stereos go, I've never bought anything but Kenwood. I've owned the CD player that's now in my wife's car for 8 years, and it is still going strong. It was even stolen out of my truck and tossed in a sack full of evidence(car stereo theives racked up about $5000 worth of crap but had the never to come back for my amp and speakers and got busted). Still works perfect. I've had my factory Delco in the shop once, and the display is starting to screw up again. When I replace it, it will be with a Kenwood. I owned two Kenwood cassette decks back in the day. The only problem I ever had was I listened to tapes way too much and eventually blew out the belt that drives the tape. Got it replaced and all was well.
 
Let me spell it out for you. This is how consumer electronics work: new models are released every year, the z919 was last years model(the first generation), It was discontinued because the new models came out this year, the MP8017 and the z828, they are the second generation. BTW, the Aiwa CDC-MP3 player is now in its second generation, it is now the CDC-MP32. Besides, I thought this was a discussion about the Kenwood, and a good deal. Show me a deal like the Kenwood's price on the JVC, and then you are talking apples to apples.

As far as the JVC goes, you can dress up a fat pig in nice clothes, and take it out to dinner, but you are still eating with a fat pig. I don't care if it has the best specs in the world, JVC's are still the crappiest built electronics around(IMHO). You can stuff it full of the latest feature's, but you still have to save money somewhere, usually in the build quality. Kenwood is not just ranked up there with Alpine as the most popular and well built car stereos for no reason. I have never seen a high end competion style system with a JVC head unit or amps. See how many competitors use Kenwood or Alpine in your local Db drag races or IASCA competions.

 


<< Show me a deal like the Kenwood's price on the JVC, and then you are talking apples to apples. >>


Devils416: The JVC can be had for $290 shipped from SBH Enterprises, a reputable company if you ask me. It's as low as $270 elsewhere, although I'm not sure about company reputation. The Kenwood costs only $20 less as far as I can see. That 20 bucks you save is going to go towards a remote that the Kenwood didn't come with (but the JVC did). Looks like apples to apples to me.

edit UPDATE: The JVC just arrived and, after checking it out and skimming through the manual, it looks very promising. I'm just about done with the Kenwood review, and I'll install the JVC tomorrow.

edit UPDATE: Okay, I got too excited. When I finished working with the Kenwood, I installed the JVC. So far this thing is awesome! Beats out the Kenwood in many ways! Stay tuned for my review/comparison...
 
That lik-sang lcd unit sounds too good and too cheap to be true. Anyone have any more info on this or on their rep ?



 
Looks like I'll be going for the JVC! (I was almost certain I'd hafta get the Kenwood)

The subwoofer pre-amp outputs did it for me.. There's nothing like being able to control every aspect of the subwoofers from the head unit!

Plus, it looks much sturdier.
 
Thanks snowairg for the review.... I knew the JVC was going to be a much better deck 🙂 I've been waiting for the SH-99 to become available ever since it was introduced. I wanted to order the deck from SBH Enterprise, but I've never ordered there before... so I did a little bit of background check on the company through the Better Business Beareau link
and it didn't look too good... anyone know of a reputable company where I can order from for about the same price??
 
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