Kenwood vs Pioneer

[cwehrer707 10+ year member]

Another noob question, and I searched but couldn't find an answer. I'm looking to upgrade to a dd in my Camry, and i'm stuck between the Kenwood ddx318 or the Pioneer avh-p2300. I have a budget of $350 (when taxes come in, I need to get tires) I don't need bluetooth, but would like the option of upgrading to nav. I asked my car installer what I should get and he said the 2300 has alot of problems and its an older model, also watched youtube vids on it and one guy said he kept popping fuses. He also said I should look in the Jensen vm9224 and that he sells alot of them and nobody has came back with problems. Which one should I look into? Sorry for long read

Click to read more...

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

The fuse he is referring to is called the pico fuse which pops due to hot swapping RCA cables... Pioneer makes nice stuff but IMO there build quality has gone way down and they feel cheesy to me where as my kenwoods have felt very solid...

 

[dross93ranger 10+ year member]

I love my Kenwoods....thats all I buy

 

[Sleeklsc 5,000+ posts]

I love my 3200dvd minus the push button volume. I'm a rotory type of guy. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

It has all the adjustments you'd ever really need imo.

 

[cwehrer707 10+ year member]

Thanks for the input everyone, now i'm looking at the Pioneer avh-p1400 or the Kenwood ddx319

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

To not blow that pico fuse, don't be dumb. That's all it takes. As a precautionary measure, you should never hot swap RCAs in the first place. If you drive like a jag and something moves and an RCA pulls out, that's just as stupid as hot swapping them. As long as you don't pull one while the HU is on, you're golden. With that being said, either way you go, you're going to have a quality head unit. Other than stupid people messing them up, I haven't seen either one with more issues than the other.

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

^^^^that and dont keep your car on when swapping speakers and not pay attention to the wire hitting metal, lol; you will have RCA problems......

I just installed my new 9400 BH Pioneer and it is amazing and I just came from a Kenwood x-595, which is also a nice deck, but didnt sound no where near as good as this Pioneer.

They are both 4v pre-outs as well....

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

I just took my pioneer 3200dvd out of my tc today to put in the Burban....zero issues with it. Even hot swapped RCAs and nothing happened. I love Pioneer HUs. Kenwoods are my least favorite brand outside of flea market crap. The touch screens were way off in my experience and they wont play any CD outside of store bought albums.

 

[destined2race 10+ year member]

i have the kenwood in my blazer right now and its a decent unit. I got online for $250 new and it was a good buy. For the price it has good features. It only has 2 sets of preouts, but the rear is a switcheable non fader w/ a 4v preout. The only thing i dont really like is it is REALLY slow to load mp3 discs. Even once the disc loads its pretty slow to go from track to track. I think with my phone plugged in to do mp3s that way its not as bad. Gets annoying quick tho. Other than that for the price its a good unit.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Thanks for the input everyone, now i'm looking at the Pioneer avh-p1400 or the Kenwood ddx319

I just bought the Pioneer avh-p1400. Haven't used it but I had a Pioneer 3300dvd and loved it. I keep all my music on an ipod and tuck my wires and ipod away and control it throught the H/U and like princ3cmo said the touchscreen controls on the Kenwoods are just not up to par. I sold my old accord and got an 09 camry and put a kenwood ddx616 in it and just didn't like it as much. It had horrible lag on my ipod controls. But bypassing the DVD locks on the kenwoods are much simpler. But I will be sticking with Pioneers myself