whats a good single din radio?

Kenwoods are shat, /discussion

No but seriously, I've owned two Kenwoods, and both of them were junk IMO. Maybe they've changed, but back in the day I didn't car for them. I've owned Blaupunkt, Sony, Kenwood, Alpine and Clarion. The only stereo I've NEVER owned is a JVC.

1. Pioneer
2. Alpine
3. Clarion
4. Kenwood
5. Sony
6. Blaupunkt

That's my order, take it or leave it. I'm not just shouting out Pioneer because it happens to be the unit I have. I actually have a Sony in my truck right now. I prefer Pioneer because they deliver the best and the most features for the price. Their overall design setup in general is just better laid out then the others.

My main beef with Alpine are those dated looking buttons they insist on still using. Their head units have a tendency to look like something from the 90's once they're a few years old. Other then that, Alpine is a fine ass head unit.

Clarion's are great too, I just don't care for the way they look. The one I had was good, and it had several cool features for it's time, but it was never the stereo that I replaced, which was a Pioneer.

The 2 Kenwoods I had were both medium level units. Neither were entry level. So before anyone tries the ole, "you get what you pay for" that wasn't the case. I paid almost $400 for one of the two. The other was roughly a $275 unit. So neither one of them were cheap, and they are still the MOST expensive units I've ever bought to this day. The $400 one replaced the $275 one. They were both slow, loud and just clunky feeling. The remotes never acted right, the lighting on them also looked cheap. Even on the $400 unit. Like I say, MAYBE they've changed, but from my personal past experience with them, I DO NOT care for Kenwood. Oh yeah, I even have a Kenwood Surround Receiver I paid damn almost $600 for that the buttons freaking feel off of and ended up having to be replaced. That's 2 for 2 on Kenwood having to replace a receiver for me, one auto receiver, one home receiver. But as I always say, to each their own...

The current Sony I have is okay, but I don't care for the loudness of it, and the slowness. It's very similar to the Kenwood when it comes to the slowness. I only paid $140 for it, so I can't complain too much.

Blaupunkt, I won't even get into that story...

My next head unit will be this

LINK:Pioneer DEH-80PRS CD receiver at Crutchfield.com $349



Jarrett, you ask, I told ya. I also didn't suggest Panasonic, PIONEER.

 

And oh yeah...



































/Discussion

 

The head unit counts when it comes to sound too. Like I say, maybe they've changed recently, but I wasn't impressed. So much that I don't think I'd ever consider buying another piece of Kenwood equipment ever again. And for the record, when I say loud I mean the actual mechanics of it. IMO that sounds junky when you can hear the mechanics moving around over a moving car, let alone one sitting still.

I will say this, I had a Kenwood tape deck way back in the day that was awesome.

 

VERY nice