Kenwood or Clarion?

[Vikas]

Did you take it out of the car? If it is still in there, can you check something for me?

- when does it pair with your phone? can it do it as soon as the ignition is on but the head unit itself is off?
- if so, does it turn itself on if there is an incoming call?

Both of these features are there in the factory Acura BT implementation.

 

[mrsilv04]

Sorry Vikas, the Clarion is gone.

Little things about that head unit drove me nuts. For example, if I was listening to music via a thumb drive, I'd have to hit a button 4 times to get the clock to display. And since there isn't a clock anywhere else in my truck, that was my only option. I guess if your vehicle had a clock built into the dash, then that wouldn't be an issue.

So.... I spent $50 *less* on a JVC KW-R900BT. The user interface is much. much nicer. 4 line display (instead of two), a clock displays in the corner all of the time, separate illumination levels for night and day, and on and on.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_45823_JVC-KW-R900BT.html

There's a reason why it is out of stock at this price. It is a killer deal on a great head unit.

 

[Vikas]

Wow, that is a nice head unit at great price! Will it ever be restocked at this price? Have you installed the new one yet? I would like to know its blue tooth performance. I was so close to ordering the JVC KD-R740BT but this one is much better and cheaper if I can get from your suggested website.

 

[mrsilv04]

I had to wait a week or two for it to get back into stock. There are other vendors (such as on Amazon) that offer it at as good of price, some are a few $ less. But sign up for the email notification on the Sonic Electronix site. The email that will let you know that it is back in stock will show up around 2am (at least it did for me)... so check your email early in the mornings while you're waiting.

I installed it last night, and even though the install went fairly well (despite silly mistakes like mounting the dash kit onto the head unit upside down), I still ended up getting to bed about midnight.

The (up to 5 line) LCD display on the JVC just kicks the two line display on the Clarion all over the place. When listening to songs on a flash drive, you can display up to 5 lines of info... or as little as two lines.

A clock is displayed at all times, usually in the upper right hand corner of the display. This is handy for vehicles that *don't* have a clock display anywhere else (like mine).

I definitely plan on playing with it more tonight.

What I can tell you so far is that it paired with my Razr M easily, with very little issue. I did not get to try a phone call, because of how late it was. The phone book transferred just as easily, and it displays well. (Reminder for me to take a picture).

I went in the house to take a break, and ended up leaving my phone in the house. When I went back to the garage and powered it back up, it flashed a message in the center of the display within 5-7 seconds that it was NOT detecting the previously paired RAZR M phone. Nice!

The sound is every bit as good as the Clarion, if not better.

I have two gripes, and one is fixable. The chrome center knob on the JVC is very slick, and is difficult to pinch between my index and middle finger for minor changes in volume (yeah, call me lazy...). I think that I can cut a 1/4" wide cross-section out of a junk 700x23 bicycle tube that I have, and slip it around the knob, fixing that issue. I'm betting that this will add enough 'grip' to the knob to solve that issue.

The other one is the 'power/source' button does not seem to dim with the display and the rest of the buttons. Might be user error on my part during set up... will investigate more tonight.

Another difference is that the Clarion does have a built-in microphone for phone calls, where the JVC utilizes an external microphone.

I'll report back with more info, and some pictures, later on.

 

[Vikas]

Did you end up purchasing the harness, mounting hardware kit and the antenna adapter separately? The sonic website is not clear as to what else needs to be purchased with this unit. Crutchfield makes it easy to buy but their price is almost double on this particular unit.

 

[mrsilv04]

BTW, I see that it is back in stock @ Sonic.

For my application, I bought and used all three... the wiring harness, the mount kit, and the antenna adapter. For me, it saved a lot of time, and were worth it.

My experience is that Crutchfield and Sonic offered the same three pieces. The wiring harness was the same manufacturer, but the mount kit and antenna adapter were from different manufacturers (but fit the same).

Once you drop the JVC HU into the shopping cart at Sonic, you should get a pop-up window that offers you the three items.

I needed the harness (with a separate box with a tiny speaker wired into it), as the stock head unit produced the lights on, low fuel (and whatever else) chime. Plus the harness splices to the JVC headunit wiring harness color for color, and then simply plugged into the plug that was plugged into the stock HU.

In my case, it was a few extra bucks, but it makes the wiring job a lot easier. You can do it at the kitchen table, instead of while sitting in the vehicle. And I now have a chime that I can CONTROL the volume of, where with the stock HU, it came through the driver's door speaker and it was LOUD!

The hardware kit made the JVC HU mount as easy as the stock unit, and for me that was three screws.

And the antenna adapter was necessary, as the stock plug and the JVC receptacle were two different sizes.

 

[mrsilv04]

A 1/4" wide section of 700x23 bicycle inner tube fits perfectly around the knob. It now has that added grippiness that it needed.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

I will preface this by saying that these are only my opinions based on my personal experience, but..

Originally Posted By: Malo83
Always liked KENWOOD

+1 for out of these two.

I would avoid Clarion. I lump them in with Blaupunkt, to "avoid" unless it comes in your car..

I like Pioneer and Sony XPlod for head units. Got an XPlod in the truck, OEM in the Volvo, but would put Pioneer in either.

Actually.. scratch that, I had the best luck with ALPINE.

Rockford-Fosgate is cool, great speakers (Fosgate now, yes?) but for head units, for me:

1. ALPINE
2. Pioneer, tied with Sony Xplod (Sony Xplod ES is gone.)

 

[mrsilv04]

Just a quick follow up on the JVC KW-R900BT head unit.

The more I use this HU, the more that it impresses me.

I had some extra time over the weekend, and spent some more time with the owner's manual. I took the time to set up the "time alignment" for the speakers on the HU.

In my extended cab Silverado, there is a speaker and a tweeter in both of the front doors, and they are low and forward in the door... below where my left knee is. There is also a speaker both of the rear doors. With the "out of the box" settings on the HU, the sound came from exactly where one would expect, when taking into consideration as to where the speakers are located.

The time alignment settings have compensated for that, and now the sound seems like it is up higher, and the sound is now centered around me. What a difference! The owner's manual gave some baseline numbers to use, depending on the type of vehicle... small/medium/large car, pickup, minivan, SUV, crossover...

The other setting, allows you to set into the HU as to what size of speakers that you are using and in what position, so that the HU is able to customize the frequency range that it sends to the speaker...so it isn't sending a frequency range to a 4" dash speaker, that it isn't going to be able to handle.

My biggest disappointment is that this HU says "JVC" on the front of it, and not "Kenwood". I always viewed Kenwood as being a better line than JVC. Either my perception has been wrong all along, or that has changed since the merger of Kenwood and JVC.

The next step is to add a moderately sized subwoofer into this system. Considering one of the "all in one" units... which is a speaker, enclosure, and amp... all in one... and mount it underneath the rear seat.

Even though I don't listen to FM much anymore, the FM receiver does an excellent job of pulling in FM stations, much better than the OEM head unit.

 

[SLCraig]

Best luck I have had by far with head units has been JVC.
I don't buy anything else from JVC but their head units rock, plain and simple.

I have had Kenwood, Pioneer, JVC, and for overall compatibility/durability/ease of use, JVC is topps. My least favorite was Kenwood with Pioneer in the middle, I have had 3 JVC's and would buy again in a heartbeat. Arsenal series at the time had a longer warranty as well.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
I always viewed Kenwood as being a better line than JVC.

I guess what we experience or hear shapes our perceptions. Personally, I always thought of them in the opposite order.

 

[Vikas]

Can you describe how the JVC unit handles two phones which have been paired with it? Does it do the "first come first connect" automatically or do you have to initiate the manual connect (either from the phone or from the JVC) when the "other" phone is brought in the car?

I occasionally share the vehicle with my spouse. I wan to make sure if she drives the car alone, her phone should pair and connect with the JVC *without* her having to do anything at all.

I just purchased one of the gizmo aka GoGroove FlexSmart X2 aka Bluetooth Car adapter and it doe NOT handle the above case. I am willing to get the JCV stereo but only if it will be as seamless as a real built-in new car BT system.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I prefer Clarion. Do they still make the Audia series?

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Bought an 83 Turismo years ago that had a Clarion stereo installed,the tape deck was damaged and would not accept a tape,but the radio part sounded great.


I would have expected it to have a Kraco or SPARKOMATIC.


Haha I remember those! There was also these crazy looking speakers around that same era called BAAB. Anyone remember those?

 

[Jimmy9190]

I remember Babb speakers very well...they were the ones with the metal cones, supposedly better than paper, poly-fiber, etc..They did not last long on the market but it was a cool idea..

Here's one from the REALLY old days...

Who remembers or ever owned a set of Mindblower 6x9's?? Remember those, they were the first "amplified" car speakers? Better yet, anyone ever installed a pair?

How about good old Jensen "Triaxials", 3 way 6x9's with the bright blue surround. I had a pair of those in my old '72 Chevelle on an 80 watt Alpine 3008 amplifier and they rocked...I had the loudest system in town for a while there back in 1983.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I prefer Clarion. Do they still make the Audia series?


Audia was very cool back in the day, but unfortunately they did not last long, maybe just a year or so and Clarion pulled the line off the market. It was hard to sell, often difficult to install and impossible to integrate with other brands so it really just did not last very long.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I prefer Clarion. Do they still make the Audia series?


Audia was very cool back in the day, but unfortunately they did not last long, maybe just a year or so and Clarion pulled the line off the market. It was hard to sell, often difficult to install and impossible to integrate with other brands so it really just did not last very long.


Man this is really bringing back memories from the good ol days!

How about those cassette decks that mounted under the dash via brackets? That was some high tech stuff for its time!

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I prefer Clarion. Do they still make the Audia series?


Audia was very cool back in the day, but unfortunately they did not last long, maybe just a year or so and Clarion pulled the line off the market. It was hard to sell, often difficult to install and impossible to integrate with other brands so it really just did not last very long.


Man this is really bringing back memories from the good ol days!

How about those cassette decks that mounted under the dash via brackets? That was some high tech stuff for its time!


Yep, the first "High-End" deck I ever owned was a Pioneer 8-track player with a round FM (no AM, just FM) radio tuner dial, analog Super-Tuner radio. That thing would pull in stations from 100 miles away and I thought it was so cool that it had a fast forward button for the tape deck. Before that came along I had an old Craig under dash 8-track and its "fast forward" was you had to ride around the block a few more times till the song you wanted came back on...Then I graduated to higher end and bought a Marantz 340 in-dash AM-FM cassette deck with auto-reverse and music search, one of the better tape decks they had out back then.

I well remember adding Sanyo and Realistic under-dash cassette decks to factory AM-FM radios. We also had to add a radio-tape switch so you could switch the source from one to the other.

I also remember how we used to joke about Trans Ams and Firebirds being faster in the quarter mile when we removed the old factory Delco 8-track players. Those things were heavy, weighed what seemed like 15 pounds. So did the later Delco in-dash AM-FM cassette decks. We used to have contests to see who could throw one the farthest.

Such a long time ago and such a great time in my life back then....

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I prefer Clarion. Do they still make the Audia series?


Audia was very cool back in the day, but unfortunately they did not last long, maybe just a year or so and Clarion pulled the line off the market. It was hard to sell, often difficult to install and impossible to integrate with other brands so it really just did not last very long.


Man this is really bringing back memories from the good ol days!

How about those cassette decks that mounted under the dash via brackets? That was some high tech stuff for its time!


Yep, the first "High-End" deck I ever owned was a Pioneer 8-track player with a round FM (no AM, just FM) radio tuner dial, analog Super-Tuner radio. That thing would pull in stations from 100 miles away and I thought it was so cool that it had a fast forward button for the tape deck. Before that came along I had an old Craig under dash 8-track and its "fast forward" was you had to ride around the block a few more times till the song you wanted came back on...Then I graduated to higher end and bought a Marantz 340 in-dash AM-FM cassette deck with auto-reverse and music search, one of the better tape decks they had out back then.

I well remember adding Sanyo and Realistic under-dash cassette decks to factory AM-FM radios. We also had to add a radio-tape switch so you could switch the source from one to the other.

I also remember how we used to joke about Trans Ams and Firebirds being faster in the quarter mile when we removed the old factory Delco 8-track players. Those things were heavy, weighed what seemed like 15 pounds. So did the later Delco in-dash AM-FM cassette decks. We used to have contests to see who could throw one the farthest.

Such a long time ago and such a great time in my life back then....


Haha my sister had the top of the line Realistic under dash cassette deck back in the early 80s and I still have it someplace

 

[97tbird]

If I was going to get a new car stereo, these will be my choices in order of preference:

Alpine/Eclipse > Panasonic/JVC > Kenwood > Pioneer > Sony/dual/clarion/misc. krrap.

(If possible to find, old Nakamichi units will also be in the list)