This unit is Kenwood’s base model for the MP3/CD player head unit. It is an overall good unit. The internal amp is pretty good at powering a set of 4, 6 ½” speakers to replace a stock/factory system. I think a little more power would help out considerably. The unit has a really good interface that is easy to understand and the guy at the shop where it was installed knew the Kenwood decks well so he taught me how everything worked. Overall I’m fairly happy with what I got, but wish I had went with a more high-end unit because I have an upgrade path in mind and this HU probably won’t fit into that path, but hey it was sort of an impulse buy because I was upset with my stock system at the time. It plays CD’s and MP3’s and it has a continuously scrolling MP3 text readout. The access (read time) to the disk is pretty good, but MP3’s are not practical if you want really good sound. Everything sounds flat on this unit with MP3’s while they sound rich and robust on my home entertainment system on an MP3 CD player or when played on my laptop – I’m not sure what the problem is. This one really bugs me. Radio and regular CD’s provide a much more rich sound. Radio performance is enhanced over the stock model. I get about 10-20 miles more reception on my favorite channels. This is pretty nice. My final review is that this is a decent base model (unfortunately I paid much more than this website’s sale price), but if sound quality really matters to you go for a HU in a price range that is $35-80 higher or even more if you can afford it. You’ll thank yourself latter because you HU is the heart of your entire system. You’ll have more power (rms wattage) you’ll have more features, and you’ll have more things for upgrade possibilities (subwoofer preamps, more preamps and higher voltage preamps) – I’m also assuming that the issues with the MP3’s should be resolved on higher end models, but you never know.
