mansito

Looking to replace the factory unit on my S. Price is not a factor on my purchase. Narrowed choices to the following units:

• Kenwood Excelon KDC-x794
• Pioneer DEH-P7200HD
• Sony CDX-GT930UI

What I like:
1) I like the Pioneer built-in HD Radio. I've never listened to HD Radio. Read some posting, some people say they love it, others say it is not big deal. If you have it on your car, how do you like it?, how much you use it?
2) I like the Sony Dynamic Soundstage Organizer feature that elevates the sound of the music on cars where speakers are located low. I watched a video at the Crutchfield website where they explain how this feature works and it sounds like a convenient feature for our cars where the speakers are mounted low + where we have a noisy interior
3) All have iPod control feature. A most for me. I listen to my iPod alot.

I've never owned a Pioneer or a Kenwood receiver. Therefore, any advice on these brands is appreciated.

I will avoid the Alpine IDA-x305 because of the fitment problem posted by other S owners.

My son has a Sony receiver on his 02 Mercury Cougar and it sounds great. It sounds better than the Alpine on my Mercedes. I know I am not comparing apples to apples. But in general I think his receiver is superior to mine.

Please post your suggestions/advice. Planning to make the purchase in 3-4 weeks.

Thanks,
Guido

ZIGZAGJDM

pioneer FTW

trakfloater07

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KIV900B/Ke...00.html?tp=5684

Amazing receiver, as long as you can make due without needing a CD player then this is what you want. Even has video playback. Works amazing with my Iphone 3GS. The built in bluetooth is actually very good. I can talk on the phone doing 65 on the interstate with the top down and windows up. It doesn't have a pandora app like the alpine x305s(or whatever the model number is) but you can still run pandora and it will digitally stream the audio to the HU. It comes with a ipod/iphone USB Video ready cable so you don't have to add on another 50 buks for a cable. Sounds great with loads of customization. I researched HU's for about a month and half figureing out what I would be happy with and I'm very happy with my choice.

darkknight1999

What are your other plans for the sound system in the S? I personally only use Alpine HU's but without knowing if you plan on changing out the speakers and/or adding amps its hard to direct you in a direction one way or the other.

///KM

If you like Sony, check out the DSX-S300BTX that's just been released.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores...247187#features

I haven't had a chance to play with this one yet, but the featureset looks great. Has a tray "dock" for your iPod/iPhone so its secured inside the H/U. Also has another USB on the front of the face, so you have 2 options for connected music. Doesn't mention the sound stage feature but has just about everything else the GT930UI has.

EDIT: also has 7-band EQ vs 3-band on the GT930UI.

kamal

I never had a fitment problem with my Alpine ida-x305.... it's a GREAT head unit, and with price not being an issue you can definitely add a number of features.

mansito

My plan is to upgrade the HU + door speakers. I do not plan on installing amps. At this moment I only plan to upgrade the 6.5 speakers and leave the factory tweeters.

mansito

I read a couple of posts where owners of the x305 had problems closing the door. Maybe it is an installation issue.

mansito

I read about the DSX-S300BTX after my post. Definitely will look into that product as soon as it is released. It seems it has not hit the shelves yet. I am not bias toward Sony. I am glad you are sending your advice.

Thank you all for your input.

mansito

Definitely will consider this receiver. The more I think about it, I do not think I need a CD player. I've not listened to CDs until I bought my S2000 in July. Thank you for the suggestion.