Nope.

 

No, they are not.

 

do kenwood unless you are going high end

 

Thanks III, I did do Kenwood. It should be here Wednesday, and I hope to have it installed over the weekend. It's an Excelon and it's specs are great, so we'll see how it operates in the end.

 

By the way everybody, I did a search on this, but didn't find much. Is there a nice reference CD that can help set up your car like there is in home theatre circles? I have an SQL meter that helps in home theatre setups, not sure if it does in car audio. Thanks.

 

I've used, mostly, Clarion for the last 3 years. Just switched to JVC. And ONLY because my clarion wouldn't fit in the S (is a flipout).

Both my clarions lasted with zero issues. Made good, clear, sound. They were easy to use, easy to install (some flipouts can be a pain) and looked damn nice.

My AVX1 is nice too. Only had it a few months though, so I can't attest to it passing the test of time. But it's fun to use, looks great and has nice sound.

Before I used Kenwood almost excusivly (except for the alpine I had for a couple years).

I've not had any problems from Kenwood (or alpine) and, after the last 5+ years of either selling, installing or using the stuff (am now into software design but I did sell/install for a while and have been using the stuff for over 15 years) I'd put Clarion up there with Alpine and Kennwood.

This only goes for the good stuff. All of the companies make cheaper stuff that probably won't last. Though it doesn't always hold true, when it comes to source units, you really do get what you pay for.

JVC might have saved themselves (in my book) with this AVX1, I'm taking a semi-expensive gamble on them. But, previously, their stuff was not so good. This one though, is damn nice.

So the kenwood would be a safe choice, as long as you don't go with the bottom end.

 

There are CD's out there but I've found them useless. I'm always tuning mine to whatever I'm listening too. The AVX1 helps in that it has 3 user eq settings, though it's a limited range of settings.

Anyway, pic some CD's of your fav music and tune it until it sounds good to you. Unless your competing, you'd just be over tuning.

Also, tune it with the top up, then take it down and see if it still sounds good. There's a good chance your going to have to turn up the gain on the highs a tad to make up for the loss of reflection.

 

You honestly should tune it with the top down... unless you have a hardtop of course. Its a convertible and needs to be tuned as such. If you tune this with the top up you WILL need to completely retune it for top down driving. If you HU has multiple settings that you can choose from top down or top up EQ settings than you really don't need to worry it as much. You can just set it up for both.

 

Thanks for the info Pulse and darkknight.