Kenwood Single DIN Bluetooth CD/AM/FM USB Auxiliary Input Car Stereo Receiver w/ Dual Phone Connection, Pandora/Spotify/iHeartRadio, Apple iPhone and Android Control with ALPHASONIK EARBUDS

CONS The curved, glossy surface attracts dust and scratches. The removable faceplate is sometimes difficult to plug in; it tends to get wedged at an odd angle. It does NOT read UDF discs (called Live File System in Microsoft Windows), only ISO 9660 (CDFS). MP3 discs are a pain to navigate, especially if you dump all the MP3s into the root of the drive. Placing each album in a folder with the album title works okay. ID3 and CD Text information needs to scroll a lot faster. The screen is not readable in direct sunlight, but that's a common problem. Screen brightness is buried in the menus. It ought to be more prominent, since it's not automatic like the OEM unit. This looks very nice in my Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. I used Mounting Kit-FMK550 (Amazon product B00006JPA1) for a clean fit. The installation instructions were easy to follow and written in real English. PROS This unit sounds decent with my OEM speakers. It's not very flat; I think Kenwood boosted higher frequencies typically muffled in cars. The result is agreeable, though I sometimes reduce the treble -1 or -2, especially for audiobooks or classical. The "bass boost" feature is nice for casual listening. It adds some kick without sounding strange, as long as you stay at Level 1. Bass Boost Levels 2 and 3 sound ridiculous. Also, the Bass Boost seems to attenuate some mid-range frequencies. I only notice it with classical and Owl City. I initially though a remote for a car stereo was a silly idea, but it's actually quite convenient. The buttons are well-planned and have nubs and shapes, so I usually don't have to look at them. I feel much safer not having to lean forward or take my eyes off the road. Playing regular audio CD's is very pleasant. It reads quickly and resumes playback when turning the car on/off. It doesn't remember position when swapping between multiple discs. I didn't really expect it to, but that sure would be nice when swapping between music and sermon CD's on long drives. You might wonder why I don't just use an MP3 player. I do sometimes, but being able to use the remote to navigate makes CD's more attractive. CD's also don't require cables hanging off the dash, battery chargers, etc. Sure, it's not audiophile grade, but it's worlds better than most stock units. It also doesn't look like a punk art project. Those flashy, bells-and-whistles receivers usually have poor ergonomics and insane menu structures. Kenwood obviously put some effort into making this human-friendly instead of just adding LED's. :)

Having just purchased this and using for about a week now, I thought a review would be in order. Where to start? Well lets talk about its design first. The unit is VERY aesthetically pleasing to look at and has a sleek nice black finish really complementing the factory appearance on the dash. The display is VERY simple and bright, but not obnoxious either. It's very easy to read and has a dimmer setting in case you find it overwhelming at night which I don't at all. Settings and equalization is VERY straightforward and makes perfect sense. The volume knob is ergonomic and easy to feel unlike those stereos with the flush knobs that you can barely adjust without hitting 4 buttons. Overall the look and quality of this unit is second to none! Now for sound quality. The volume ranges from 0 to 35 and for those of you reading who have tuned an amplifier know that it starts with the all the gain down and the headunit EQ zeroed out. I started slowly increasing the volume waiting for it to distort, 15...20...28...33 and finally 35. Crystal clear. I mean not a lick of distortion at max volume. I played it safe though and set my preferred max level at 28 before the amp was turned up. As I had previously mentioned the equalizer works beautifully slowly adding nuances into your music, and this unit features a bass boost setting which surprisingly doesn't distort either! It just adds Crystal clear sound. I'd rate the sound quality of this unit 11 out of 10 because there is nothing that comes close. I've had numerous Pioneer, Sony, and alpine units but this one blows them away and for the price? I must say I was skeptical with how little I spent but I put my faith in reviewers and glad I did. I saved my favorite part for last. The main reason I looked at this Kenwood was because because I am very picky about factory appearances. I hate Euro taillights, body kits, rims and just about anything the manufacturer of the car didn't design for it. I wasn't thrilled about an aftermarket radio because all the ones today have big chrome knobs, and cheap finishes with stupid designs and laser light shows. Features like that may be attractive to ricers and teenage kids, but not a mature listener who would rather take sound quality and a quality build over a cheap laser light show radio with the 10,000 useless features that are just excessive junk anyway. This kenwood was the cleanest, best looking, simple, best sounding unit I've ever seen in my life. For the price I can't understand why you are still reading this and not entering your credit card info yet. Extremely happy and more then recommend!!!!

Just got this installed in my 2002 Acura TL today and so far I am very happy for the price I paid ! Just a few details I feel that are easily overlooked. One, this doesn't come with any mounting kit, so if your car has a double din setup (original system takes up more space than this small rectangular system) like mine did you may have to buy a single din mounting kit sold separately that fits your car. They are around $20 and allow for a clean install of your new stereo and adds a little space underneath for your phone, remote and other small items. Second this stereo system won't necessarily turn your entire sound system around if your cars system is outdated or wasn't great to begin with. I'm happy with the functionality of this device and the bluetooth access it now gives me to my sound system on an 18 year old car , but the sound in my opinion hasn't been improved too much unless I am missing something with the setup. Lastly, if you are not good with messing around with your car you will have to pay between $80-$100 to get this installed in your car. If you want to hook up the steering wheel volume controls to the kenwood as well, make sure to address it with the specialist who will be installing it. Most of the times they will not bother hooking it up if you don't say anything. Overall great product , especially for folks like myself who own an old car that had an outdated stereo and want to be able to connect to your car via bluetooth, USB or Aux.

I bought this well because of the price and the brand. All the others around this price point was brands I never heard of, Im old school I guess and I like to buy from brands I know have a track record of being a good product. I have not been disappointed, EXCEPT for 1 thing it takes about 8-10 seconds to read the cd no matter how many songs are placed on it. It could be 3 or 50 it still takes the same slow time IMHO. Maybe Im spoiled havent used a cd player in quite a while, again I got it for the price point and its ability to play MP3's. It has a fader option, a balance option Also you can manipulate the bass, mids, and highs which is a great function Im not a real thump thump bass kinda guy. It has greatly improved my listening enjoyment from the factory player. Gave it a 5 for the price, quality, and easy features. I don't believe you can get a better head unit for this low of a price.

Works and sounds great and easy to install 😊

this unit performs great for a standard setup, i.e front and rears or highs and mids. not very many sound options which is a must for someone serious about their music enjoyment. once you go past simplicity, it all gets different. not good for seperating bass from subs and interior. if you're planning on upgrading to a big system, you're gonna need seperate devices for max performance and sound. if you are in search of a unit thats simple, sounds, looks and performs great with aux input for standard application, this is the best you'll get for the price. if you're system requires amps, capacitors,etc i strongly recomend unit with more sound options.

shipeefast and worked great

I hadn't planned to install a radio in my 1995 Honda Civic myself but when my brother wouldn't help me, I said what the hey. How hard can it be? I verified that this Kenwood would fit and also bought a wire harness to facilitate installation. And I did it! The hardest part was getting the non-functioning old radio out. Getting twist-on caps to crimp the wires from the radio and harness together made that part a breeze. Installation of the radio itself was simple. I did have a problem at first with no AM reception but I removed the radio again (instructions in the manual made that easy), fiddled with the antenna cable, fixed the problem and was good to go. The sound is great and I can once again listen to the news. I hadn't thought about being able to hook up my MP3 player but, of course, I had to try that out. When I first hooked it up, I was only getting sound out of one speaker but, assuming an old audio cable was the problem, I bought a new one and another problem was solved. I am so happy with the sound quality. Being able to listen to one of my playlists on a long drive is going to be very nice. I could have done without the CD player which I will probably never use but finding a basic AM/FM car radio these days is probably harder than installing this radio. I think this was a good buy... it's affordable, as basic as they come these days and delivers. Just leave operation of the remote to someone who is NOT driving the car!

great for my car