Clarion or Kenwood

[z11]

I am about to buy a new head unit. My two choices are Kenwood or Clarion. In your opinion what is the better buy?

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[cjjackson85 5,000+ posts]

*Kenwood*

But I choose Clarion.

 

[headknocker 10+ year member]

Everyone has their likes and dislikes. I had a Clarion cassette player many moons ago and it lasted a long time. I've always admired Clarion's HU's for their quality but I'm not usually crazy about their styling. It's just a subjective thing.

I'm not crazy about the rest of their gear but I love Kenwood's eXcelon HU's....particularily the '05's. The strap cable problems on the D-mask feature(which I hated anyway) brought down the reliability of the entire line. That's been replaced(Thank God!) with a motorized face and the SQ is much improved. I think the new line is one of the biggest-bangs-for-your-buck out there.

I got my 589 for $158 shipped from Locust Audio(ebay) several months ago. It's pretty-much loaded and an unbelievable value.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

I am about to buy a new head unit. My two choices are Kenwood or Clarion. In your opinion what is the better buy?

Well, as far as comparisons go that question is a bit vague. It depends on several factors....what specific models are you comparing to one another...what do you want it to do for you...what kinda price point are you looking at...etc.

I'm a die-hard Kenwood fan, as illustrated by my signature, so my initial response would be to suggest a Kenwood providing it's one of their eXcelon units and from the '03 model year or newer (after the discontinuation of the troublesome D-Mask faceplate design).

On the flipside of the same coin, however, Clarion does make some very nice HUs and outside of the somewhat..shall we say unique...styling found on some of their decks they seem to be highly regarded by those that use them.

It'd be unlikely that you could go wrong either way, really. It all boils down to personal preference.

 

[z11]

I needed mp3 capability and an aux input for my mp3 player. I was looking at the Clarion DXZ555MP and the Kenwood KDC-MP5028. I only have abot $250 to spend (including installation).

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

clarion, but hence you have 250$ kenwood.

or save up some money for good sq.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

I needed mp3 capability and an aux input for my mp3 player. I was looking at the Clarion DXZ555MP and the Kenwood KDC-MP5028. I only have abot $250 to spend (including installation).

Does your vehicle present you with an incredibly problematic installation? If not then are you just not sure enough of yourself to do the job right? With a little bit of patience and an eight to ten dollar factory wiring harness adapter you could do the job yourself and use almost all of that stated $250 budget on the unit itself. That should open your options up a bit further.

If you don't mind eBaying then $200-$230 including shipping should get you a nicer deck than those two models and then you've still got the scratch left over for the adapter I mentioned.

If you're going to have the unit installed by a shop, though, (at whatever fee that goes for nowadays) it eats into your budget considerably //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Patrick Simmons 10+ year member]

Clarion, better sq

 

[Xtra 10+ year member]

If anyone's disappointed with the SQ of Kenwoods Excelon line HUs, get some new ears.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

Tuff choice for HU's this year, I hear kenwood excelons are real good this year, but haveing never been impressed with my kenwood purchases except for a discman I got like 12 years ago, I'd probably go for clarion. lol.

 

[Patrick Simmons 10+ year member]

If anyone's disappointed with the SQ of Kenwoods Excelon line HUs, get some new ears.

Besides the bells and whistles of the higher end Excelon's the lowest end Clarion, Alpine or Eclipse would sound a lot better.