- Thread Starter
- #33
Here's a quick review on the HU that I wrote over on Diyma since a few people liked the unit so much.
Well I figured I've had enough play time with the Kenwood DPX503 HU to give it a decent review. I'm not the best writer and definately not the most knowledgable guy on here, so bare with me.
I chose this HU because I wanted a HU that would fit in the double din slot and look rather factory while having decent processing capabilities. I've had a few double din screens but they really stood out and I wanted to keep my setup rather simple this time around. The Pioneer double din was a little too flashy for my dash and it would've looked out of place, I also wanted usb and aux inputs to be in the front so I could have quick access to my zune or thumb drive. There's a double din Clarion HU as well, the reason I didn't go with that was because it looked cheap to me and the features of the Kenwood seemed much better.
I picked up the Kenwood unit from ebay for around $215 shipped brand new. It has a ton of features and sound options:
THE GOOD:
Full Ipod control through usb input. I don't have an Ipod so I can't say how well it works with the unit, maybe I'll borrow my dads Ipod and check that out later.
Front USB and Aux inputs. These are very convenient for those long trips. I have a 4GB thumb drive and it loads up and begins to play in about 2 seconds.
Sound Processing. Isn't too helpful for the active crowd w/ only having 2 sets of preouts and you can only HP the fronts and rears to 40hz/60hz/80/100hz/120hz/150hz/180hz/220hz/or pass through or you have the option to LP the rear outputs from 50hz/60/80/100/120hz for a sub and it will give you individual subwoofer level control and phase control.
It has an option for you to turn off the built in amplifier. You can pick what type of vehicle you're in (anything from compact car to cargo van) to help with cabin gain. It has a switchable speaker size setting although I don't really know how that alters the sound. It has a standard EQ that allows adjustments for bass, midrange, and treble.
One of the better options for the sound is the T/A. It has 2 settings for this, DTA, which controls front, rear or sub speakers or you can fine tune it manually with another T/A setting that allows you to control each individual speaker in .07ft = 2.13cm increments. DTA I would guess has a better use for mids and tweeters close to eachother or coaxials? You can save your settings in a memory option but it only allows 1 saved preset. And finally, it has dual zone capabilities for you that have a dvd player in the back.
Integration/Illumination. The unit has 10 standard colors you can choose from or a user option where you can fix the red, green, blue and taylor the color scheme to your liking. You can change the overall color of the HU or each individual piece that lights up. For example, you can make 1 knob green, the other blue, the display red, etc. You can also make it dance to the music.
Misc. Has a 4 digit security code and has a few different display settings to choose from. The displays are rather simple but effective in showing just about everything you need to know. It does have Bluetooth capability but you have to pay extra for the adapter.
THE BAD:
One of the main issues I had with this unit were that it only had 2 sets of 2.5v preouts. It really would have been nice if it had another set even if the price was raised a bit.
The illumination for the HU is another thing that has issues, it's just not bright enough and gets washed out during the day (even with tinted front windows), you can change colors which helps because there are colors that show up better than others and you can also cycle between the lettering showing color with a black background or the other way around. The illumination also allows for a saved preset.
The xovers obviously aren't the best but I suppose it's enough for only having 2 preouts. The EQ also doesn't allow for much tuning.
Scrolling through the options is a pain at first but you sorta get the hang of it.
The manual is pretty confusing and I still haven't found some of the options that the unit apparently has.
The Remote is horrible! You can't REW or FF with the remote? What the hell is up with that? Another problem is that there isn't a button for you to get to the menus. You have to press function on the HU itself and then you can scroll through the menu from the remote. Overall the remote is pretty basic and doesn't allow you to control a lot of the functions the HU has. Vol, ATT, play/pause and everything are on there though.
I think the only other thing I find a little annoying with the unit (which goes back to the remote) is that there's no on and off button on the remote itself. Not a problem for most but I have my HU running it's power from my battery due to a weird issue I had with the stock power harness. I guess I just don't like touching my HU's too often and because of the crappy remote I have to do it a lot.
Overall a nice unit for the price and it looks to be one of the better stand alone double din units out there. Not up to the standards of a lot of people here but for a simple setup it's very affective. Sound quality is good, not as laid back as my Pioneer 800prs and not as in your face as an Alpine. I'd put it right in the middle of those two. I'm running a 4way active setup but I also have a simple Coustic active xover to help with that.
So, that's pretty much it. If you have any questions or comments please let me know. Here's some more info on the unit and some more reviews:
Kenwood DPX503 CD receiver at Crutchfield.com
Well I figured I've had enough play time with the Kenwood DPX503 HU to give it a decent review. I'm not the best writer and definately not the most knowledgable guy on here, so bare with me.
I chose this HU because I wanted a HU that would fit in the double din slot and look rather factory while having decent processing capabilities. I've had a few double din screens but they really stood out and I wanted to keep my setup rather simple this time around. The Pioneer double din was a little too flashy for my dash and it would've looked out of place, I also wanted usb and aux inputs to be in the front so I could have quick access to my zune or thumb drive. There's a double din Clarion HU as well, the reason I didn't go with that was because it looked cheap to me and the features of the Kenwood seemed much better.
I picked up the Kenwood unit from ebay for around $215 shipped brand new. It has a ton of features and sound options:
THE GOOD:
Full Ipod control through usb input. I don't have an Ipod so I can't say how well it works with the unit, maybe I'll borrow my dads Ipod and check that out later.
Front USB and Aux inputs. These are very convenient for those long trips. I have a 4GB thumb drive and it loads up and begins to play in about 2 seconds.
Sound Processing. Isn't too helpful for the active crowd w/ only having 2 sets of preouts and you can only HP the fronts and rears to 40hz/60hz/80/100hz/120hz/150hz/180hz/220hz/or pass through or you have the option to LP the rear outputs from 50hz/60/80/100/120hz for a sub and it will give you individual subwoofer level control and phase control.
It has an option for you to turn off the built in amplifier. You can pick what type of vehicle you're in (anything from compact car to cargo van) to help with cabin gain. It has a switchable speaker size setting although I don't really know how that alters the sound. It has a standard EQ that allows adjustments for bass, midrange, and treble.
One of the better options for the sound is the T/A. It has 2 settings for this, DTA, which controls front, rear or sub speakers or you can fine tune it manually with another T/A setting that allows you to control each individual speaker in .07ft = 2.13cm increments. DTA I would guess has a better use for mids and tweeters close to eachother or coaxials? You can save your settings in a memory option but it only allows 1 saved preset. And finally, it has dual zone capabilities for you that have a dvd player in the back.
Integration/Illumination. The unit has 10 standard colors you can choose from or a user option where you can fix the red, green, blue and taylor the color scheme to your liking. You can change the overall color of the HU or each individual piece that lights up. For example, you can make 1 knob green, the other blue, the display red, etc. You can also make it dance to the music.
Misc. Has a 4 digit security code and has a few different display settings to choose from. The displays are rather simple but effective in showing just about everything you need to know. It does have Bluetooth capability but you have to pay extra for the adapter.
THE BAD:
One of the main issues I had with this unit were that it only had 2 sets of 2.5v preouts. It really would have been nice if it had another set even if the price was raised a bit.
The illumination for the HU is another thing that has issues, it's just not bright enough and gets washed out during the day (even with tinted front windows), you can change colors which helps because there are colors that show up better than others and you can also cycle between the lettering showing color with a black background or the other way around. The illumination also allows for a saved preset.
The xovers obviously aren't the best but I suppose it's enough for only having 2 preouts. The EQ also doesn't allow for much tuning.
Scrolling through the options is a pain at first but you sorta get the hang of it.
The manual is pretty confusing and I still haven't found some of the options that the unit apparently has.
The Remote is horrible! You can't REW or FF with the remote? What the hell is up with that? Another problem is that there isn't a button for you to get to the menus. You have to press function on the HU itself and then you can scroll through the menu from the remote. Overall the remote is pretty basic and doesn't allow you to control a lot of the functions the HU has. Vol, ATT, play/pause and everything are on there though.
I think the only other thing I find a little annoying with the unit (which goes back to the remote) is that there's no on and off button on the remote itself. Not a problem for most but I have my HU running it's power from my battery due to a weird issue I had with the stock power harness. I guess I just don't like touching my HU's too often and because of the crappy remote I have to do it a lot.
Overall a nice unit for the price and it looks to be one of the better stand alone double din units out there. Not up to the standards of a lot of people here but for a simple setup it's very affective. Sound quality is good, not as laid back as my Pioneer 800prs and not as in your face as an Alpine. I'd put it right in the middle of those two. I'm running a 4way active setup but I also have a simple Coustic active xover to help with that.
So, that's pretty much it. If you have any questions or comments please let me know. Here's some more info on the unit and some more reviews:
Kenwood DPX503 CD receiver at Crutchfield.com
- Thread Starter
- #34
So I finally bought a sub amp. It's not as much power as I wanted but for the price and me being so desperate for bass it'll work for now. JBL has been selling their refurbished 1500wrms amps on ebay every 24hrs. and they've been selling for around $160. I got mine for $163 shipped and should be here in a week or so. It also matched my 4ch. amps so that's a plus. I'll be running the amp at 1.33ohms so hopefully it holds up well but it should be fine after impedence rise.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=180371434367
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=180371434367
Zeuslicious
5,000+ posts
<< 28hz feels good
Nice!!!!! Thank God man hahaha
I Can't wait to listen the whole setup!
I Can't wait to listen the whole setup!
CobraStang98
10+ year member
450whp+ and 150dbs+
Nice nice let us know how u like the amp... For $160 that is a steal if it puts out decent power.
- Thread Starter
- #38
So I had everything installed yesterday but I think I stupidly fried my xover. So I have my preouts going to the midrange amp and midbass amp and I daisy chained from the midbass amps rca outs to the sub amp. So once again I'm tweeterless until I pick up another xover. Midbass are crossed from 60 to about 150 or 160, midrange is from about 160 and up, and subs LP at about 60hz.
I'll have install pics and vids up shortly.
Im late to the party but very nice build. I was just about to asked how that Coustic xover was working out for you, I need something similar to that for a future build.
Truck looks great, and are quite rare, I have only know two owners personally, my friends aunt had one back in 2001, and this Guard that worked at one of the building I use to work at back in 07 had one as well.
Looking good so far, im sure its sounding better //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
Truck looks great, and are quite rare, I have only know two owners personally, my friends aunt had one back in 2001, and this Guard that worked at one of the building I use to work at back in 07 had one as well.
Looking good so far, im sure its sounding better //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
- Thread Starter
- #40
Thanks a lot man. I like having a car not too many people have. I wish it had a little more get up and go and cargo space but it's a good little daily driver.
The coustic was a pretty nice unit actually, I liked that it had the one bandpass option as well as phase control for each set. It did bring a little bit of noise into the system though but it's no big deal. However, I did fry mine on accident though so I'm on the lookout for another xover unit. Here's a few more pics and I'll take some vids in a minute.
The JBL 4ch amps are very nice and have a ton of clean power. I ran the JBL sub amp through a tough workout earlier today for about 2hrs. straight, thumping out some of the harder hitting songs I have and it was a champ doing it and it's a pretty hot day outside. It did get very hot but it's also running at 1.33ohms before impedence rise, so it should be close to it's recommended 2ohms. The amps also a refurbished unit so I was really hoping it would hold up. The dayton reference 6's are great speakers and they really hold there own, they barely start to distort at about 30 out of 35 on the HU. I'm still very impressed on the Dayton 8's as well, I haven't had any problems with them and they're cranking out some great clean midbass from one of the JBL's bridged. I have them running down at 60hz and they really help to bring the substage up. As much as I like the Dayton 6's I might be trying either these: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=299-126 or these out: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=264-850
I would just like a midrage that can extend a little higher. I also think I'd like more power to the SE's. I believe the JBL is giving them 1500wrms but I'd like to send them a good 2000-2500wrms. Sounds great for now though.
- Thread Starter
- #41
Here's some TL numbers I ran 2 nights ago. I think I can get more out of it. Unfortunately I blew one of my Dayton 8's in the doors running sweeps //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif I'm going to buy another one tomorrow. When that comes in I'm going to install that, add some more deadening to the hatch cuz it's still rattling, deaden the roof which is rattling like crazy, and installing an Orion HCCA-D5000: http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/Orion_HCCA-D5000/
I might be switching out mids soon as well if I can get some extra cash flow and I picked up an old school PPI FRX-456 xover.
TL - 40hz at volume 28 out of 35. Burp
TL - 42hz at 28 of 35 volume. Burp
TL - 44hz at 28 of 35 volume. Burp
TL - 46hz at 28 of 35 volume. Burp
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 and windows down.
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 w/ rear seats up.
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 w/ sunroof open.
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 w/ windows up.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I've read that the SE's "shine" w/ 750wrms, so I'll be giving them that shortly which should help out my scores and with the deadening I think I could get a solid 147 or so. I found it pretty weird that I do better numbers all sealed up than I do w/ windows down or sunroof open. With my previous MX 15" I did better numbers with the windows down //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif Didn't take any vids cuz it was pretty late at night and we were in a dark parking lot but once I stop being lazy I'll take some vids of the setup.
I might be switching out mids soon as well if I can get some extra cash flow and I picked up an old school PPI FRX-456 xover.
TL - 40hz at volume 28 out of 35. Burp
TL - 42hz at 28 of 35 volume. Burp
TL - 44hz at 28 of 35 volume. Burp
TL - 46hz at 28 of 35 volume. Burp
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 and windows down.
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 w/ rear seats up.
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 w/ sunroof open.
TL - Music volume 30 of 35 w/ windows up.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I've read that the SE's "shine" w/ 750wrms, so I'll be giving them that shortly which should help out my scores and with the deadening I think I could get a solid 147 or so. I found it pretty weird that I do better numbers all sealed up than I do w/ windows down or sunroof open. With my previous MX 15" I did better numbers with the windows down //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif Didn't take any vids cuz it was pretty late at night and we were in a dark parking lot but once I stop being lazy I'll take some vids of the setup.
Zeuslicious
5,000+ posts
<< 28hz feels good
WTF! Where's the New Amp???????????? Setup was louder than the last one, Hopefully you can keep this a couple of months haha
RidnClean
5,000+ posts
Love 4 Money
thanks for such a detailed review on the deck.
i was so interested in it, til i saw some flaws. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif
i was so interested in it, til i saw some flaws. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif
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