Kenwood KDCX997 eXcelon Sing DIN In-Dash Car Stereo with Built In Bluetooth

The goodThis HU puts out the cleanest sound of any CD receiver I have ever heard. The details and nuances of the sound are impeccable for car audio and there is a huge array of fine tuning available. If great sound is your number 1 concern then this deck delivers.The SeriusXM V200 adapter(not included) is hidden away behind the deck and integrates flawlessly with the HU controls for snappy tuning and super quick reception.The badThe display is useless in bright light and practically impossible to see.AM radio reception is below average and much worse than my Nissan OEM HUSome BT functions are incompatible with certain Windows phones like my Nokia 710 for example.SummaryI looked for a high end double DIN with the same features and quality sound but could not find anything that came close to the KDC-X997 at or near the price of this HU. To get a double DIN that would still be a close 2nd you would need to pay more than triple, so I bought a double DIN to single DIN adapter for 10 bucks.

If you want a single DIN radio this is probably as good as it gets. Plenty of pluses and I've only scratched the surface of all its features,I especially like the hands free Bluetooth connection. The microphone was placed up next to the rear view mirror and seems fine in that location. I did have to turn the gain up a level or two but it is reported to sound very good by those I've called. One negative point is the glare on the face of the radio during the day. Still I'll give it a five star. Others say tinted windows cut way down on the glare and improve the readability of the screen during the day, I'm considering tinting my window anyway so maybe that will be the cure.*******I've revised my five star rating for one reason only, the display on this unit is almost impossible to read in the daytime. It needs to be much brighter. At night it's great. I would not buy this unit again.

This reciever is great it has a front USB and the rear USB with about 24" of cable. It was long enough to make it to my glove box where I keep my old Ipod which has tons of music on it. I like the clarity of the HD radio and I like how the door covers where the disc goes in making it very clean looking. It has a very good built in crossover allowing the front and rear chanels to be adjusted sepratly and the sub output has its ovn crossover also. I connected this to a Kenwood XR900-5 which is driving JBL GT6-69 and infinity 2 way 5 1/4" speakers I have JL TR050-CT tweeters on the A pillars not that I needed them the JBL's have plenty of tweeter. I am also driving 2-10" MTX subs in a thunderform under my back seat. The whole system sounds so clear. I never thought I would have such a clear system. The KDCX997 has adjustable colors and differant ways for it to display the information. The bluetooth has an external mic that comes with it. I ran it up the Apillar and mounted it at the top of the apillar molding next to the roof. I have used it many times and people have told me it sounds really good but it does have adjustments for mic gain and echo control. I would recoment this unit to anyone who wants a spretty serious reciever. To make the most of it I think you need to have an amp. Alpine is selling an extremely small four chanel amp now that you can mount even under the dash. To get clarity out of speakers you need enough power that the amp or reciever doesnt need to be at its limit to get the volume you are looking for. Best luck. Oh by the way this amp rocks. I could blow these speakers if I wanted to but I just set the gain so as not to damage the speakers. I think it will live for many years since its not working very hard.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a better performing head unit on the market when it comes to pure, clean sound. Especially when playing CD's. I run my iPod with music coded "Apple Lossless" and it sounds equally awesome (streamed over Bluetooth, no less!).Slight learning curve when setting up the unit (I have history w/Kenwood units), and the options available made my head spin for a day or two. Running through the controls now is like second nature but really, once i got the unit "dialed in", the less I fiddled with it. Kenwood, would it kill ya to have a user manual that is user friendly? There is simply not enough info in the user manual that explains what each setting does.As with most of the reviews here, I agree somewhat with the frustrations with the display. It looks great at night but is tough to see in direct sunlight due to the reflection and glare from the shiny plastic front face. If you have tinted windows, it may be a non-factor. But something to consider. It wouldn't keep me from purchasing this unit again due to how well it performs sound-wise.

This was a gift for my husband to replace the radio in his car. This radio is very hard to operate and hard to see the display and hard to pretty much do anything with. For the price, it should be easier. Too many tiny buttons that dont' serve for anything except for messing it all up! I'm not sure I'd recommend this.... NOT user friendly at all.....

this is by far the best head unit that i ever had. the setting are so advanced that u can tune this baby to your optimal listening pleasures. you can individually tune the frequencies of the front mids rear mids subwoofer and tweeters. the sound is impeccable. bass clean, mids and highs crisp. trust me the sound quality when switching from another player is significantly noticeable. the settings may be a bit advanced for some but its easy to figure out. i had an issue with turning off the internal amp but a visit to kenwoods website and a firmware update and about 5 mins later and everything was functioning properly. i have seen complaints about hard to read in sunlight but i have no such problems. the bluetooth and hands free calling works very well and pairs quite easily. Do not hesitate to buy. You will not be disappointed. just an after note the description and features listed here does not break the surface of this player capabilities and there are videos online if u find your self lost in some of the settings.