Thank you
I will look into that

 

I have the alpine 148bt. Didn't like the mechanical folding face on the 149bt. No problems hitting the radio door.

 

So I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the Kenwood KDC-X898. I found it for ~186 shipped and it is very similar to the 958 and 998 which a couple of you suggested. It has front and rear usb, rear aux and bluetooth. I also like that it is 22watts rms instead of 17 which is typical for other brands.

 

I just hooked up the KDC-x998 and it fits perfectly. It was actually a lot easier to push in than the OEM unit with the USA Spec iphone adaptor. The rear USB wire easily fits through opening behind the passenger knee pad too.

I spoke with a local audio store and it looks like the differences between the kenwood excelon models is basically the amount of equalizer settings/adjustments offered.

 

Do you find that the display is too dim for viewing in sunlight? That's the complaint I'm seeing a lot with this line of head units.

 

Do you find that the display is too dim for viewing in sunlight? That's the complaint I'm seeing a lot with this line of head units.
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I guess it could be brighter but I primarily use my iPhone to control it and the door is always closed so I won't be looking at it anyways. I did discover when streaming music via BT the headrest speakers don't output anything but if you hook up the iPhone via USB they work. I also hooked up a HD with music and it worked. Some of my files aren't recognized so I think that may be because some of my songs are formatted as AAC? It's also not so easy to navigate the HD - they should have set it up like they did the phone book search.

 

Do you find that the display is too dim for viewing in sunlight? That's the complaint I'm seeing a lot with this line of head units.
[/quote]

I guess it could be brighter but I primarily use my iPhone to control it and the door is always closed so I won't be looking at it anyways. I did discover when streaming music via BT the headrest speakers don't output anything but if you hook up the iPhone via USB they work. I also hooked up a HD with music and it worked. Some of my files aren't recognized so I think that may be because some of my songs are formatted as AAC? It's also not so easy to navigate the HD - they should have set it up like they did the phone book search.
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Oh okay, I'll be primarily using my iphone too. Does the mute feature work with the dci and your head unit?

 

Yes the mute button on the dash works. It's also nice to be able to go back tracks too with the multi button functions. OEM dash controls only let you skip forward a track, so this is a nice addition. As for the brightness, you can invert the screen so the background is the color and the text is black which may provide better visibility in sunlight.

Also the 998 offers HD radio, another difference.

I was informed that the HD won't read more than 99 folders, so that's probably the issue I'm having with not being able to access certain albums.

I'm really happy with it. Hope you like yours too.

 

I'm sure I'll be happy with it! Just placed my order (I wanted to see your reply first haha).

My last head unit had HD radio and unfortunately there aren't many stations in my area so it didn't get any use.

Now I need to order the modifry DCI, harness, and glove box organizer