kenwood excelon?

[headknocker 10+ year member]

I've had one of the older kenwood excelon head units with the revolving faceplate and I loved it...i went from the excelon to the alpine 9815 and didnt notice much of a difference in sq at all...the excelon was also much easier to use...other than hearing about people having problems with the revolving faceplates, those excelon decks are great

I couldn't agree more. I always loved my X717 but I was never a fan of the silly and troublesome D-mask feature(which brought down the reliability of the entire line). The new eXcelon line, however, is much improved....better SQ and they finally went with a motorized face. The new units offer quite a bit of bang-for-your-buck. I love the X589!

 

[airtas 10+ year member]

I couldn't agree more. I always loved my X717 but I was never a fan of the silly and troublesome D-mask feature(which brought down the reliability of the entire line). The new eXcelon line, however, is much improved....better SQ and they finally went with a motorized face. The new units offer quite a bit of bang-for-your-buck. I love the X589!

is the excelon series better than the MP series? or the same?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Okay -

eXcelon is Kenwood's designation of their upper echelon gear. Comparable to Pioneer's Premier line (ergo same company, better equipment). Some internals of the eXcelons as compared to the stuff marked just 'Kenwood' are higher-end (better D/A converters and things of that nature) while some parts remain the same such as the CR-2 tuner which is part of every Kenwood head unit built.

The 'MP' isn't really a series but rather a designation that it plays compressed digital music files (.mp3, .wma, AAC, etc)

While some features and methods of operation between the top-end Kenwood offering and the top-end Kenwood eXcelon offering may be very similar the eXcelon is overall a better unit.

 

[airtas 10+ year member]

kenwood excelon x979 or EXCELON x889

which do you guys think i should go with?

 

[_DjScrew_ 5,000+ posts]

the x889 is a good deck. a friend was selling his for 300 in excellent condition if you are interested pm me.

 

[Puggsley456 10+ year member]

Hell I'm still usin my X859, my remotes dying but eveything is still under warranty until november(5years)! But that new 25th aniversary deck has me thinkin of an upgrade......

 

[airtas 10+ year member]

kenwood XXV-01D

why is worth the extra 200 dollars? than the x889?

 

[chadillac3 10+ year member]

kenwood XXV-01D

why is worth the extra 200 dollars? than the x889?

Prettier. Better screen, different cosmetics.

I have one coming to try out on Thursday...not sold on the 9855 I'm using.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

IMO kenwood spends more money on making the HU look good than they do on the components inside. But if you want a flashy HU that still sounds good definately go with the excelon line.

Excelon and normal Kenwood are COMPLEATY different.

They are not junk, I would probably buy one over the new alpines that everyone is having problems with also. Then again the new top of the line clarions are supposed to be real good too. Of course I wanted 8V low impedence pre-outs for that much money, but I don't care about things like a color LCD as much, I just want to display useful information like song titles etc.

 

[1loudbastid]

I have an 889 and I love it ! great sound (I love the DTAand DSP) I am using the stock door locations in my Jeep and the soundstage was pretty low the DTA and DSP picked it right up and makes it seem much wider (like they are up in the dash) I cannot say enough good things about this HU , I paid less than 300 on Ebay for it , and so far it has been rock solid , and has read anything I have put into it . The Excelon series has higher volt/lower impedance RCA's than the MP series and dual 24 bitt Burr Brown DAC's , thats the main differences between them I have found , that and the faceplate color ....

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

IMO kenwood spends more money on making the HU look good than they do on the components inside. But if you want a flashy HU that still sounds good definately go with the excelon line.
Excelon and normal Kenwood are COMPLEATY different.

.

terrible statment and incorrect as well

 

[Spr0ket 10+ year member]

Kenwood has updated the web site about the 25th HU. I've got an 889 and I'm really tempted to upgrade. I would almost dish out the extra $200 if I were to start over.

 

[fnzpntz 10+ year member]

well..im thinking that they're basically the same...the xxv-01d just has a slight different look to it and is a limited edition head unit

the xxv-01d has a couple of things that SET it about 5x better then the 889

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

nm