It's about time I went all modern with my head unit. I bought the wife a Parrott MKi 9200 last Xmas but I'm none too impressed, the steering wheel remote is too fragile and both it and the whole system is unreliable and whilst the latest firmware is better, I couldn't live with it myself.

Ideally I'd like a rear USB input (not front), built-in BT (otherwise it's an £100 extra add-on) external microphone, F+R+sub preouts, orange-ish display, and be able to hook up my old Kenwood 10 disc changer, perhaps even SDHC input (but can always use USB card reader) and I quite like the 3" display to brighten up the place, got used to seeing album art when using my old Treo phone with AudioPlayer. iPod connectivity I can take or leave, never been a fan of the daft way iTunes names folders and files and sometimes includes album art but mostly doesn't. I don't have an iPod and don't want one either, I'm quite happy with USB memory stick or SD card (via USB reader) probably 8-32 Gb capacity.

There's some new-ish units from Kenwood and Pioneer and a trusty old Alpine unit:

Kenwood KIV-700 is £217
+ good price (now), loads of colours for display
- BT module is £105 extra so £322 total, no face-off display

Pioneer MVH-8200BT is £250
+ sleeker design, built in BT so cheaper, reads SD cards
- front USB, only blue or red illumination, not SDHC cards

Alpine iDA-X305 for £250
+ rear USB
- BT module extra £89 so £339 total, no orange display

and of course the joker in the pack is the Parrott Rki 8400 for £180 give-away at Halfords of all places
+ BT built in, rear USB
- a bit naff looking

So, how to choose? Anyone used any of these? How quick to load a library of songs first time, how long after that? How easy/quick to navigate songs and display album art? How good is the BT phone/address book sync? Sound quality, display quality?

I'm leaning towards the Kenwood, had a Kenwood head unit and CD changer for feels like - and is - forever (all the time I've had the Coupe) it's a shame they don't sell the KIV-BT900 which is a bargain in the US, but is only designed for the US and the daft way they only have odd numbers for radio station frequencies

There's a unit from JVC, the KD-AVX40 that looks interesting for £280
+ built in BT, rear USB, all black display when off, plays CD's (and DVD's), can connect rear view camera removable fascia
- is it any good?

If I'm going to spend over £300 maybe I should consider the JVC KD-AVX55 for £355?

I haven't seen anything from Sony?

And I've not seen any single DIN units with flip out screens that flip *DOWN* and not up? I don't want to do a Taz and build a new centre console for double DIN, single DIN it is, but I'm undecided...

BTW the current head unit has only a single pair of pre-outs, they are split to two amps, one for the front Canton speakers with crossover units, the other for a sub in the boot.

Won't be of much help, other than to say I've had bad experiences with Pioneer and the way the interface works, Alpine looks quite flashy (I personally don't like that), and I do think the Kenwood looks the best ('boring' would be the word used by some others, I'm sure) I also have had nothing but very good experiences from car radio's and HiFi components by Kenwood.

Parrot: I asked about that new one and everybody seems to answer it's bad quality. JVC... don't know I only have a micro system and while it's really okay I wasn't impressed by some of its bugs (iPod completely discharges when turned off).

I did see a radio in a shop that had a flip-away front to reveal slots for SD cards as well as a complete internal docking station for an iPod. Which was pretty cool I thought. But it was some brand I don't know "Fusion".

I'd go for the Kenwood just based on experience.

I've owned Kenwood, Pioneer and Alpine headunits over the last 3 years. 1st I had a Pioneer and I thought the sound quality was very good. I agree with Kayjay though that the interface on mine was very complicated and the BT phone connect didn't work very well.

Then I bought a Kenwood. The sound quality wasnt as good as the pioneer by a long way.it had the same power output as the pioneer but the sound distorted at a much lower volume too. The built in parrot Bluetooth was excellent. I couldn't fault it at all. The headunit also suffered from lag when browsing between menu's and tracks. Because the sound quality and amp were so bad it has put me off ever buying a Kenwood headunit again.

I then bought an Alpine iDA-X305 (headunit in your link) It was the best sounding headunit I have ever owned. The screen is clear and you can add custom backgrounds so you could have it orange if you really wanted. The interface is simple to use and much better laid out than any of my other headunits. I was so impressed I bought another very similar headunit for my other car (iDA-X100) I only sold it about 2 weeks ago
Because I bought a new car which is double din and don't want to ruin the look of the centre console by adding a single din unit.

Out of the three I would go with the Alpine. Listen to the Kenwood in a local shop if you can because honestly mine sounded terrible and it was the top of the range model a couple of years ago. I think it was the Kenwood KDC-BT8044U or something like that. I used a USB with my Alpine but i changed to an ipod and it works much better and worth considering.I certainly wouldn't go for a front USB headunit but I do think Pioneer headunits are very good if a little complicated to use.

Thanks guys, I agree with Kayjey about the look of the Kenwood and Alpine (must be our age ), and although the wife's Parrott kits works well when it works, it doesn't do that consistently. I was happy with the SQ of my old Kenwood (only comparing it vs. the OE Clarion of course), but I'd better go audition the newer unit with a selection of USB sticks/SD cards to make sure album art gets displayed quickly, it doesn't spend an age trawling through the track list every time and general navigation and radio functions are OK. Front USB on the Pioneer really puts me off, but if it'll work with SDHC that might not be so bad, will need to check out the interface. JVC unit looks like it could be tricking to operate having to look down to make sure the right part of the touch screen is being pressed, I think I prefer knobs and buttons to carress...

Oi!

Alpine.

are those all direct fit for the coupé?

The Kenwood unit imo is the one...nice design, nice features (especially if you have alu rings), supports USB hub - up to 4 sticks, I think I´ve heard about HDD support too, reliable; the Pioneer when was introduced, seemed to be the leader, but now bad points start to fill up the reviews, also - it don´t support audio streaming via BT, which is half of the meaning of having BT (for me - the whole thing, I personally don´t like calling over BT conn), the design is not so Coop´ish too. When About the Alpine one, well, you know, very good name there, so it more to personal taste, and no orange lighting. Was to be JVC installer about 10yrs ago...or more, and can´t say bad word about them, never had any issue, well, once they had cheepish look, especially in the little details,but when it´s up to do their job - you could rely on them. The newer models look good thou, I´ve also had an eye on the KD-series, there´s one with white lighting which wouldn´t be so intrusive to the interior in dark.
...or order an kiv-bt900 from US, the radio bands can be switched in the settings menu (thou not sure if not hidden one, better check first the manual)

Yes

Yes I want a direct fit too.

I saw a post from someone on a Golf (VW) forum about the KIV-BT900 and the radio frequencies, sounds like he couldn't figure it out http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/p/296337/2470621.aspx

There are separate manuals for the KIV-700/KIV-BT900 in the US and KIV-700 (only) in Europe and the tuner specs are different:

US: 87.9-107.9 with 0.2 Mhz steps
UE: 87.5-108.0 with 0.05 MHz steps

(Japan is even worse: 76.0-90.0 with 0.1 MHz steps - useless!)

Once again a case of us having to pay through the nose for something that's half the price in the US!

I want the BT for the phone, not for A2DP since the head unit can just take a USB or memory stick (or HDD, I could use my old laptop 60 Gb drive), but I suppose my new phone could do A2DP, just never had much luck with it on my old phone.

Looks like Kenwood are in the lead...

What about a mech-free Clarion?

clicky

I have a lesser model, but it's still pretty good (and quite cheap - around £100)

clicky

Thanks Nigel, I know you had that Clarion but I quite fancy a (pointless) 3" screen so I can visually check which album is playing by looking at the album art rather than concentrating too long on reading the sometimes crytpic looking text display, am I being lazy or what?

If I go for text display, my choice increases dramatically and it's even harder to decide

Interesting read, I've been looking at that Kenwood too.. Seems to be the best coupe-ish looking HU around. Rear USB also a plus, but has anybody actually listened this particular Kenwood soundwise?

I've already been preparing my car by taking out the nav and changer in the boot. I'm following this thread with interest.

Alpine...

I have recently stuck a lesser specced Kenwood in my Coupe that was bought on price due to a massive sale markdown. I have only ever had one Kenwood before which was competition grade, I shyed away from the more mainstream Kenwoods as they were quite chavvy and could not compete with similar price and spec Pioneers. But, I have been pleasently surprised by this one, great sound and range, the USB file search is rapid and has no trouble with text display. I cant say what album art search would be like as mine doesnt have the TFT screen.

Shame about Alpine they are so UGLY.

Been commented by an installer, the mentioned models pioneer/kenwood don't differ much when to sound, the first one giving more "rich o wide" output and the second - more "trully" sounding...thou, no personal experience yet.
...and he told, the call quality was very good (P-r) even with the roof down in roadster TT. But...the P-r here is around 290Eur, and the K-d - 220 plus 80 for the BT module, so it's almost the same price finally.

Kenwood for me, bluetooth with external microphone, rear lead for USB, works with my iPhone.

this is what I roll with ...

Kenwood HU

Sounds and looks Boss

This is the Kenwood I owned which I mentioned above. The Bluetooth handsfree worked really well but the sound sound quality is really poor compared to other high end units.

interesting, I've had Kenwood headunits for about 10 years and certainly didn't think the quality of sound from this unit was poor, certainly not compared to any other manufacturer in-built amp HU setups.

a year later and it's running as pre-amp with an external amp class D amp.

I agree that the menu system is not as fast as it should be though.

I see the Kenwood also has a clock - a huge advantage if you like me have a boostgauge clock!

My old Sony had a clock, really miss it now with the damned Pioneer.. it's going into the Punto instead.

As I am after a new HU aswell, my requirements are identical match to that of DaveG..

So very keen to find the best HU out there. All my research has always led me back to Alpine because the quality is so good. Yes you have to add BT at extra expense, and Alpine's have RED displays aswell.

I am adding this to my watched topics

Please share more ideas

I know Alpine had some models with built-in bluetooth.

Here you go

http://www.alpine-europe.com/fileadmin/P...English_sec.pdf

Page 4

iDA-X305S
CDE-114BTi - built-in bluetooth

P.6 my choice

CDA-117Ri
- accepts Hard drives
- 4 colours inc. amber
- MediaXpander
- 24 bit DAC
- Digital Time correction
- BT with add-on

I have the orginal of the JVC headunit you linked to and it is awesome! However I have been told that the newer ones are rubbish!

I thought I had responded earlier in this thread but maybe not? I went to a local Kenwood Expert centre where they had a nice display of all the Kenwood units...none of which were wired up or at least not connected to any speakers. According to the sales guys there is no point in listening in the showroom since the accoustics in the car are so different, so the showroom is only of any use to go and "see" the head units, well I can do the same with a nice glossy brochure or t'interweb, and the prices are stupidly high. In the first place they recommended the Pioneer as better value for money (true) and Alpine as being "last year's model" (true, apart from the "s" in the name).

Tried a second "Expert" place and this time they had them wired up, Pioneer right next to the Kenwood. The Pioneer is a more fiddly unit, it's easy to press the control knob the wrong way and go to a different menu item instead of selecting something. Overall the Kenwood seemed more straightforward to use, yes it has a clock, and you can set the display to cycle through loads of colours if you can't find the exact shade of orange or red to match the Coupe interior. As for the CD changer, my one is just way too old, I need a newer 1998 onwards unit, around £100-150 if I *really* feel the urge to still use CD's. Having a CD changer connection is becoming rare on head units these days.

And I saw the Alpine too, new models coming out next year maybe but it seemed way too ugly next to the the other two.

So it looks like the Kenwood wins it for me, shame bluetooth is another £100 but I could actually live without that if I go back to my old clunker of a phone with the hard wired kit that's still (partly) in the car.

Rather than wax on about all this, I went ahead and bought one (an unwanted gift £190 off fleabay), but seeing as it's an Xmas present (to myself ) you'll have to wait for a review...

Nice ..Mr. DaveG

I look forward to seeing you in your coop for a change, hopefully with the new headunit.

On paper at least I am swayed towards alpine. Dont care much on looks as its sound i want to hear... he he he