Kenwood KDC-MP345U In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA/iPod Receiver with USB/Aux Input

 "Decent Head Unit for the Budget-Minded Individual" 2010-06-30
By Paul S. Remington (Rochester, NY USA)
I purchased this head unit to replace a faulty stock system in my Buick. It was part of an entire system overhaul, including speakers in the rear deck and in the doors. I selected the Kenwood over other brands due to it having 5W more than other head units in its price range and because it supported USB and MP3 players.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase and like the sound quality and power for the money. The remote is very handy for others riding in the car and the iPod, accessory jack, and USB features are, in my opinion, a must for any music fan in this day and age. The menu structure is very simple and logical to navigate and the display is clearly displayed.

There are a few things I wish were improved. It would be nice if the display could show the time and the radio frequency concurrently without having to push a button to go back and forth between the two. The display is limited on the quantity of information it displays, but it's certainly not a problem. This is just a personal convenience issue with me.

The only gripe I have with this unit is how it stores radio stations in the three FM memory banks. It doesn't go through its discovery process and stock the 18 stations in a sequential and organized manner. It puts them in some strange order that's not organized from lowest to highest distributed sequentially between each memory bank. The Alpine in my other car discovers all the stations and stores them from lowest to highest in each memory bank. The first six in the first bank sequentially progress to the next six in the next memory back, which flows into the next six in the last bank. With this Kenwood, I haven't been able to get it to store the same way. I have to manually store the stations one at a time to get stations ordered properly.

For the money though, I'm very happy. I'd definitely recommend this head unit to anyone looking for a decent, low-priced car stereo that supports today's music devices (accessories, USB devices, iPod, MP3 players, etc.). You definitely will not go wrong purchasing this unit. It has plenty of power for the price and it produces a clean and pleasing signal even for a six-speaker system like mine.

Kenwood KDC-MP145 In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA Receiver with Aux Input

 "Excellent CD/MP3 Player for the Money!!" 2010-07-16
By Gary Burrus
I purchased this CD player because I wanted MP3 and Aux capabilities without spending a lot of money. I was going to buy the MP245, but this one was cheaper, and I didn't really need to have a remote. The power output is the same as the other two models (MP245 and 345), and it has quite a few features for such a low-priced unit.
So far, I have been VERY impressed with this unit. It does not skip, it's easy to use, and has a very nice power output to it.

Kenwood KFC-W3011 1200-Watt 12-Inch Subwoofer

 "do not order from 6ave." 2009-12-10
By Alan Badran (East Bay,CA)
this is an old posting for 6ave, they will not ship you this subwoofer. i received the kfc-w3012 which is worse than the 3011. just go and change who you are buying this from under the "new" at "$that price", waste of my time from 6ave waiting for a sub to come in and it was not even the right one.

Kenwood DPX303 Dual-DIN AAC/WMA/MP3 CD Receiver with External Media Control

Kenwood DNX5140 6.1-Inch Wide Double-DIN In-Dash Nagivation with USB/iPod Direct Control/DVD Receiver

 "This Kenwood head-unit is top-notch!" 2010-02-12
By B. Palmer (Southern, USA)
This unit is fairly easy to learn. Once you do, it will impress you with its functionality and tunability. Lots of functions and lots of fun! Highly recommended.

Kenwood Excelon KDC-X494 In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA/iPod Receiver with USB/Aux Input

 "Not what I hoped for..." 2010-03-20
By Ryan S. (FL, Earth)
Sorry Kenwood, I've gotta be harsh. Before this model was out, I had found the previous model (X492) and read the reviews. One of the most common complaints was the difficult-to-maneuver menus. Despite this, I decided to give this model (X493) a chance, since I normally don't mess with controls too much while driving. But I have to agree, it's intolerable to use this unit, especially when you're driving a manual shift car and just want to do something simple like change playback from normal to random. I suppose my biggest complaint is that there are too few buttons. So many features, I'd prefer more "dedicated" buttons to access them!

I also did not like that the unit cannot randomize ALL my mp3s on my USB drive across ALL folders. It will only randomize within one folder, which forced me to dump all my mp3s into the root folder of the USB drive, since I usually like to listen to a mix of all my music. (This also forced me to create a special folder on my hard drive with copies of all my favorite songs, and rename the files by artist, album number, and track number for those times I want to hear only one artist!) However, according to the manual, hooking up an iPod WILL allow you to randomize all the music! Not an Apple fan, so I will never own an iPod. Controls are also different for each type of audio source... CD, mp3 CD, iPod, USB device... it's annoying.

The manual is another matter. It needs a thorough re-writing, but then again, this whole unit should have been scrapped in the planning stages and started over, with ease of use and convenience in mind.

Another negative, I found the sound output to be wimpy. My car had an older JVC CD player in it when I bought it, and I swear it made my Rockford Fosgate Punch 6½" speakers, well... punch. This Kenwood barely puts out mid-range bass, and this is with all the bass tweaks cranked to the max on the RF Punches. My friend claims my JVC might have a fault in it, but I don't know about that because it sounded great, not distorted. If that unit played mp3 CDs or had a "pause" button, I would not have replaced it!

One good thing I can say about this, the spring-loaded door on my del Sol's console can fit over a very small USB microSD card reader (which I bought here -- Kingston 4 GB Class 4 microSDHC Flash Memory Card with USB Reader MRG2+SDC4/4GB). If you pull out a USB device, do not alter its contents, and later place it back into the unit, it will play back from where it left off. That is definitely a bonus in Kenwood's favor (it earned them a whole star for this review). Also it's great to have pre-amps for all the channels, though I haven't used them yet. I will have to use the sub outputs in order to have some decent bass. The fact that the sub can be turned off relatively easily from the front panel is also a nice feature.

I'm going to take this out of my del Sol and put it in my Toyota wagon, with its four 4" speakers, I won't notice the "wimpy" sound output I've mentioned before. Besides that I was planning on adding a sub to the wagon anyway. But if I find a car stereo I really like, most likely I will just sell this thing and be done with it!

In conclusion... Kenwood, you need to consider ease of use and convenience the next time you design a CAR stereo. Keep that in mind -- we don't want to be distracted from DRIVING just because it's a pain in the *** to change something that should be simple!

Kenwood KDC-MP342U WMA/MP3 CD Receiver with Satellite/HD Radio/Bluetooth Ready Front Panel USB/AUX Input

 "Great unit, wish there was a USB on the rear" 2010-03-28
By Caleb Richards (TN)
I really enjoy this unit and it works as advertised. It has many great features that I have yet to explore as I have only had it three weeks.

I do wish there was a usb on the rear so there isn't a giant cord hanging out of my dash. I have an F150 and no place to put the cord to look neat/clean.

Overall this is a great product with a great price.

Kenwood KFC-1682IE 6.5-Inch 240-Watt Max Power Three-Way Speaker System

 "good quality" 2010-01-31
By M. Dennis (Greater Maryland)
I bought these for additional speakers in my car and they are sounding like surround sound. I paired them with the Kenwood KFC 6x9's with no amp so far and it sounds nice. I have the kenwood 4 channel amp that I will pair it up with the speakers but you don't need it unless your building a system like me. All in all these are a good buy for the price and I recommend replacing with all kenwood speakers

Kenwood KFC-6982IE 6-Inch x 9-Inch 500-Watt Max Power 5-Way Speaker System

 "Best 6 X 9's for the Price!" 2010-05-19
By AtrackAttack (Michigan, USA)
These are great speakers for improving your cars sound system. They installed without an issue and sound great. The highs are loud and the lows are alright, not sub quality but will get the job done. Overall I am happy with them and if I had to do it all over again I would still buy these 6 X 9's. One word of advice, check what your head units RMS rateing is because these arn't your stock speakers, they do need more power. It states RMS 90 Watts but you should power these between 75-90% of that rating. Most, if not all head units cant supply that amount of power so if you really want these to thump, buy an amp, but if you just want to improve you car sound without ticking off the neighbors, these will do the trick.

Kenwood KFC-W3012 12" Performance Series Subwoofer

 "Amazing sub" 2010-06-23
By D'mya Jatani Brown
I bought the package deal including two KFC-W3012 12" subs with a Kenwood 1200 watt (400 rms) pushing both. As of right now, i'm not even really pushing my subs, and it still rumbles my 1990 acura legend, with clean undistorted bass. Would strongly recommend two of these, and a decent amp to push them!