Best Audio LCD Head Unit??

Kenwood, pioneer, eclipse are my top 3 and in that order. Some one said they did not like the quality of kenwood. I personally have always liked kenwood more than anything. All are good! Like the others here that have the 5120, great gps, if you have the ipod 301 cable it will work with all ipods and iphones and support video. Nice screen easy controls and if you order from crutchfield, you get wire and mounting harness and free shipping. I like the kenwood. Always have and they never failed me.

 

hell yeah! i noticed that when i had one in my old car that i didn't get road rage in a traffic jam because i could just sit there and watch a movie. all i ever watched was anchorman and freestyle stunt videos

 

lol nice ive had tommy boy and talladega nights in my truck haha

 

Anyone who is doing their own install and you want the DVD to play while moving and the ability to use the GPS settings without pulling over. Run your wire for the parking brake to ground and "voila" you are good to go. There is ALWAYS a way.

 

well some of the gps ones are a little harder than that... and there is one pioneer that cannot be done! it's one of the old AVICs, it had a gyro in it to tell you your acceleration and g force when cornering... well there was no way of disabling that! thank god they don't do that anymore! i know for some of the new avic units you have to do a hardware and software hack to get it to work. i'd rather just use the gps in my phone and keep the stereo for media... then it is as easy as one wire.

 

Touche' Very true, I understand that it won't track the GPS correctly on the older AVIC models, since Pioneer has upgraded their GPS I "believe" you can do it but I am 100% on that. Most of the units that myself and the other guys have in the shop are Kenwood and Eclipse. It will definately work on those.

 

I could not imagine a gyro. To put a decent gyro in a head unit and not fail would cost! Cost! Cost! Like one dude said, all it takes is a ground. When they say " to parking brake". All that does is tie into the switch that completes circuit for brake light. Any ground will do. Do people really miss the most obvious ground right in the factory radio harness?

 

Ok, dont make the same mistake i made. I wanted a nicer head unit so i got a single din Alpine. SET YOUR GOALS NOW

Now I want a touch screen DVD/NAV head unit and I wish i had that $300 back to spend on one. So just figure out what your ultimate goals are and run with it!

 

cool, yeah i think there is a work around for all the new pioneer AVICs but like i said i know some require a hardware hack and then you also have to modify the software that runs the unit to get it to work... just didn't want someone running out and buying one thinking that all it took was one wire and then oops, that doesn't work on the model you got buddy . good to know tho on the kenwood and eclipse.

yeah, that old deck was like 1800 back in the day... also it's not that people aren't smart enough to do it, it's the fact that most people pay a company to install them and by legal issues if someone at say Best Buy hooks it up for you so you can watch while driving (which is illegal in the first place) and that person gets in an accident because of it- Best Buy could be liable. Becuase of this most big name stores will not do it.

 

yeah i guess that makes sense. Have not taken the time to look and see if there is a sticky about installing a head unit but now these days, the head units are so easy to install. I just tore my 08 4 door apart to install my box, head unit and speakers and the tacoma was by far the easiest install ever. as far as connecting all wires I took a glance through my kenwood install guide and they have really made it easy to do the install yourself. I just could never pay best buy or like this place by my house 80$/hr to do an install. Thats just me though. Hooking it all up and finding new things and making mistakes and fixing them is whats is fun to me.

 

some people are just too scared to do this after paying lots of money for their new shiny vehicle, and don't want to make a costly mistake so they let a professional (or sometimes claim to be) do it for them... they are essentially paying for peace of mind, and then if it stops working they have someone to take it to. growing up in Indiana everyone had garages that were full of tools so we learned to do things ourselves and it wasn't until i moved to phoenix and i saw how many people live in apartments with car ports... most of these people don't have the tools necessary... but i'm right there with you- i'll be doing it myself PLUS helping out all my TW brothers and sisters

 

What do u guys think about the kenwood ddx512 ?
I'm piling one at best buy for 399.00

 

Can you bypass the DVD player to play while driving?

 

Yeah, I know what you mean when you say you're scared that someone will steal your headunit! I live right by the third ward in Houston( 1 in 3 males in Texas prisons come from the third ward...), so I have a clean dark colored rag that I use to cover the HU whenever I park my truck. It covers it up so they can't see what you have so they pass by... and I've had it for more than a year and I still have it! Knock on wood...haha

and the cheapest 70$ HU will boost your stock speakers power by 3x.

 

senior taco- if you read through this whole thing you will see that you can. All you need to do is ground the dvd player(which should have its own ground wire in harness) to any ground other than the circuit for the parking brake light. Also, spend a few more bucks and get the 5120 with gps. You dont want to kick yourself in the ass later.

Tight shirts- I hear ya! The only reason I have car, motorcycle or any toy is so I can play with my tools.

anthallo-Boosting your power by 3x?? Wondering where you got that from. I am no car audio wizz but I do know enough about electronics and how power flows. Cheap head unit just means shitty signal. bad signal in means bad signal out. No need to amplify crap. Also most head units are going to be putting out more power and I dont believe that are paper think speakers are designed for that. I might be wrong and I will admit that. I just dont see how that is good advice and would not want anyone making any bad decisions. Like I said I could be wrong so,,,,,,

 

Dual for the win!

 

I believe the only difference the Kenwood 512 and the 5120 is the NAV feature, Check www.sonicelectronix and you can do a side by side comparison. You should be able to ground the brake wire to run DVD's while driving.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_12048_Kenwood+DDX512+-DDX-512-.html

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_12026_Kenwood+DNX5120.html

 

click!
right there bud

 

I just installed this unit in about 1 hr. I bought it from Crutchfield Outlet as a scratch and dent/refurb for $350. It looks great, makes factory speakers sound way better. It's awesome.

 

Eclipse AVN726E...check my sig...