superb money saving excellent appliance, February 25, 2010

By 

C. Augenstein – See all my reviews

  

I usually don’t do reviews, but I am so happy with this purchase I had to. I searched around for an entire month trying to find the right receiver. I think that for the money this product is hands down a total score! It has an aux and a usb. Now, when I purchased this I was thinking on using the ipod with the aux input originally. While the usb port can be used for direct Ipod connection and memory stick media (memory stick media?!) I figured I’d only use it to charge my ipod once the bat was running low. I have heard such bad things about ipod/usb functionality in radio receivers that I never thought I would actually use it. I love my ipod, and with the 32,000+ songs I have on there, being able to quickly scroll to what I want is essential, and its pretty hard to keep track of the new stuff I put on because I don’t have enough time in the day to listen to all the songs, so I do a lot of rating. trying to scroll through quickly using any receiver search button seemed like a joke and you can’t rate songs when you can’t use the ipods native click wheel. But i digress. The point is I looked in the manual and found “hands-on/hands/off”. With the ipod plugged into the usb port on the receiver I can hit 1 and 3 on the radio and switch between the modes. Now I can use the benefits of the usb port (charging, quality sound) AAAAND use my ipods native clickwheel functionality at the same time. I don’t even use the aux anymore! and whenever I decide I want to listen to the ipod on random i just push button 1 on the radio and my artist/album scroll across the screen and I am still happy. The only thing so far that is negative are:

1.the screen during the day is almost impossible to see with sunlight on it. it just looks pink.

2.when using the awesome usb mode i quickly mentioned up top…..for the first 30 seconds in either hands-on/hands-off mode you get a little song distortion because it is loading up i guess. Like i said i have over 30,000 songs and if i get 2 noise interruptions for a second a piece for the first 30 seconds of run-time and thats it, i’d say this is an outstanding product for all who love using there ipods in the car! buy it. u will be very happy. also, I have 4 polk audio db and they sound outstanding with all but a tiny fragment of songs in the hip-hop genre.

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Fantastic headunit – Easy to install, painless to use, and it sounds great!, April 15, 2010

By 

Max Moses Feinstein (Los Angeles, CA USA) – See all my reviews

  

Like one of the other reviewers, I don’t often post feedback, but I’m so impressed by this unit that I felt obligated to do so.

After having miserable experiences with two other headunits (one died on me, and the next one wouldn’t come close to installing correctly), I finally scored this Kenwood gem. First off, the install couldn’t have been easier. I’m not a professional, but rather an electronics geek with an interest in cars and an intermediate ability to perform DIY work. That said, the Kenwood unit fit perfectly, was easy and straightforward to wire, and didn’t present any issues whatsoever. The hardware that came with this unit was more than adequate — different types of mounting screws and a wiring harness (which had colors that lined up perfectly with my Subaru Forester’s stock harness).

The unit is also pretty simple to use. Like most basic single-DIN headunits, it doesn’t exactly provide the ease of navigation that you’d get from a larger touch screen. Nevertheless, navigation through the various menus is satisfactory.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Kenwood MP345U is the unexpectedly fantastic audio quality! (In addition to the headunit, I have two 50watt RMS aftermarket speakers powered by a 100watt amplifier.) My last working headunit, a Sony, sounded just fine. But the difference between the Sony and the Kenwood unit became evident after only 30 seconds of sampling a song! I have an extensive background in music recording, so I’m quite familiar with nuances in EQ changes and tonal qualities. I must say, the Kenwood blew me away! I’m convinced that even a listener without professional music experience would detect a difference in quality between the Kenwood and the Sony. Needless to say, I’m thrilled about how great it sounds!

Job well done, Kenwood. This is my first product from them, and I’m hooked. In the future, I’ll definitely go out of my way to purchase Kenwood products when I need new audio equipment. Highly recommended.

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Very Satisfied, March 15, 2010

Bought this item for it’s ipod capabilities and it works great. It controls the ipod 160gb classic right from the radio using the usb port. It also charges the ipod as well. The only drawback I have found with the unit is that the tone controls only add or subtract 8db for the bass, mid, and treble. The unit it replaces used to add 12db.

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