Kenwood Double-DIN In-Dash CD/MP3/USB Bluetooth AM/FM Car Stereo Receiver High Resolution Audio Compatibility Pandora/iHeart Radio/Spotify/iPhone and Android App Ready with ALPHASONIK EARBUDS

Unfortunately, the amazon product page for this product will not tell you what *model* of double din this kenwood stereo is; Kenwood DPX300U. The price for this stereo was 134 when I purchased it (April '13) and I've seen it sold elsewhere for a min of 150. If you know what you are getting and are looking at this model, then you won't be disappointed. If you are looking at this because it's a cheap double din and looks good, read the specs on the kenwood page! This is an excellent midway double din stereo! I got mine professionally installed so I could just "go" and not worry about breaking something. It comes with a wiring harness, a toyota-specific frame plate, a 'japanese/GMC' plate and a third generic plate. I have a '05 Mustang and this stereo looks very tasteful and natural in my car. I seriously considered an excelon series single din kenwood stereo but just couldn't get over the flashy youth/ricer look of the single dins. Here's what made me choose this stereo: I wanted iPod capability (usb for best quality/auxiliary at the least), a large enough screen so I wouldn't squint while driving, and definitely a sleek/understated look.Here are some general features of this stereo:* USB Connectivity for iPhone, iPod and compatible USB mass storage devices* Pandora Connectivity, Sirius XM ready* Kenwood Music Control for Android Smartphones* Front USB and AUX Input* 3x 2.5 pre-amp volts* 1.5" display (with 24 color choices for button backlight & display led)* Dimmer control (great for night driving)* Steering Wheel Remote InputInteresting Specs:* Supported File Formats WMA / MP3 / AAC* 24-Bit Digital-Analog Converter (usb port)* Front AUX Input* USB 1.1 & 2.0 Full Speed* File System FAT16/32* Preout Impedance(Ω) Under 600Ω* Speaker Impedance(Ω) 4-8ΩThere are several things I really love about this particular stereo:Aside from it adding to the appearance of the inside of my mustang (in a classy/slick kind of way), there are a lot of customization options for audio quality. Don't like messing with treble/bass/mids/fader/balance? There are presets on the stereo for different types of music. Hear a fav dubstep/rap song? instead of changing your custom audio settings, go to the loudness & Bass Booster options and crank it up from nothing to lvl 2 or 3! There are further advanced controls which are beyond me, but I know at the very least you will need a dedicated amp and good set of speakers to fully appreciate all the advanced settings you can tweak on your head unit. If you just bought this head unit as a first step like I did, fool around with the presets, your bass/treble/mids and don't worry about touching the advanced stuff yet. I also like that the DAC (digital-analogue converter) is 24bit. They knock your socks off compared with using an iPod with an auxiliary cable (sound quality wise). It also a built in mosfett 4-channel amplifier which provides at least a 4x improvement over your car's stock setup! The buttons on this device are SOLID and not crappy or cheap looking. They have a satisfying click sound and feel when depressed or tapped. The control knob is tickered; every 10 degrees or so that you rotate, you hear/feel a tick sound. Very reassuring and allows for precise volume adjustment. Volume max is at 35. I actually like my music loud, but I cannot stand it much at 20. In fact, I feel that 15 is pretty loud. That leaves 20 more values to go! So there is a lot of potential for this speaker if you like deafening music volume. The Bass options are very cool too. I didn't know my stock speakers were capable of such seat-shaking soundwaves. lol.There are things I do not particularly like with this stereo:There is no HD Radio built in. Not a big deal, but I do love radio stations on long rides and having CD-quality music from stations sounds great. But it does not come with this and the upper end models. I also do not like that the pre amp voltage is only 2.5. The excelon series kenwood stereos have 4 volt pre amps. The difference is a cleaner sound with less distortion (when connected to an amp) at higher volumes. Though this difference I have been told is negligible. Only an extremely extreme audiophile can tell this minute difference. Many on popular auto/audio forums claim they can rarely tell the difference between 2.5 vs 4. Though your amp will provide an extremely important purchase later down the road. Lastly I did not like it when plugging in an iPod/iPhone- it immediately turns your stereo as the controller. I personally like changing my music on my iPod/iPhone- not on the stereo itself. Not to mention its easier for passengers to handle an iPod than some foreign stereo device they've never used before. Luckily, there is an option to put the device in/out of "App Mode" which lets you regain control of the handheld device. That's pretty much it with the cons. They are minor and hardly worth mentioning.Please ask if any questions!*update* 4/25/13I found out how to change the color of the buttons/display lights! You need to turn on the car fully, turn on the stereo, and in small silver print on the stereo plastic is says "FCN". Press and hold that button for a couple seconds until you reach a Function Control menu. Turn the dial until you find the setting for color and select by pressing the knob. THen adjust to your hearts content. 24 choices.

IMPORTANT NOTE - if you buy this make sure you have the latest firmware, 3.06 at the time of this writing. Older firmware will cause the radio to randomly not power up after you turn the car off and on. Professional installers will NOT automatically do this!I needed a simple replacement for the radio in my 2004 Toyota Camry (non-JBL) as the CD and tape player both died. The price was good at $125 and prime shipping made it even better. This review covers the radio as well as some do-it-yourself installation issues.What I liked:-Large display with decent sized buttons-USB memory stick port.-CD player with support for common CD music formats-Ability to customize the lighting color to match the Toyota dash display.- There are other options which I didn't care about - it seems now to support Pandora (there was a manual sticker on the faceplate) but it is not clear how. I am not a bit fan of Pandora so I didn't pursue it.What I didn't like:-Lack of decent documentation. The manual it came with has almost no useful information.-The main manual is only online in HTML format, so you can't easily print it out to refer to it. It is not quite up to date either.-If you let the display colors cycle through (as is the default) they will be at times unreadable, especially during the day, due to certain colors in the cycle being too dark to read.-This unit is advertised as coming with a Toyota mounting kit and faceplate, but Kenwood email Support could not tell what year car(s)it would work with. The sent a canned letter that told me the installer would know and offered a list of local installers. Of the installers listed one was a Best Buy closed for two years, another a West Marine that had no clue what I was talking about, and the other two were too far away to even bother. When I tried another email there was no reply. I found out after purchase it was NOT a 2004 Camry, so I had to order a mounting kit from a separate source. This should have been in the documentation.-The radio sensitivity is not quite as good as the OEM radio. Close, but I couldn't pickup some stations that I normally listen to.-There doesn't appear to be a manual tuning option that I could find, so I couldn't set the buttons for the stations I wanted but the auto scan skipped.-When I first got the radio up and running it would frequently stop working, requiring a push of the reset button on the front panel. Come to find out I had version 3.03 of the firmware, with the latest being 3.06. An upgrade fixed the problem. The upgrade was remarkably easy after finally navigating to the proper page on the Kenwood website in spite of some broken links. This is likely what reviewer Maurice Delgado experienced, as his unplugging and plugging in is the same as pressing the reset. The upgrade would have probably fixed his radio, but it is not advertised.-There is a cool function that syncs the clock to the radio signal, but it is an hour off. I don't know if this is a DST problem but there is no way I can see to adjust it.If you do the install yourself you will need a mounting kit and (not necessary but highly recommended)an intermediate wiring harness. Trying to find a decent schematic of the Toyota wiring harness online was fruitless, and I didn't want to buy the whole repair manual just to get it. Buying the aftermarket harness does make it easy - you will need some way to join the wires between the new radio's harness and the aftermarket harness - I used "quick splice" wire joiners, but solder and heat shrink or inline connectors and crimps will do too. Using the aftermarket harness as an intermediary makes this wiring process become a simple matching of wire colors with the harness from new radio to the intermediate harness. This is not particularly well documented either, but it was sufficient to get the job done. Once this is done you simply plug one end of the completed harness into the radio and the other into the existing car plug(s)- very simple, and allows the new radio to be removed and the old one reinstalled because you leave the old connectors intact.-Could not find a well fitting mounting kit, but what I got worked well enough - just looks a little cheap. NOTE: This is dependent on what aftermarket kits are available for your car and is not a function of the Kenwood radio. If you have a different car you may find a mounting kit with a perfect fit.After all is said an done it was a process that turned out pretty well except for the mounting kit faceplate - I will review that elsewhere. The radio (after upgrade) works reliably and the support of the different CD music file formats and the USB stick are real pluses for me. I will try to post a photo of the completed installation when I get a chance.

I was looking for a radio/CD player with Bluetooth, as an upgrade to my factory car stereo. I don't like touch screens, and prefer a volume knob. This Kenwood unit fit the bill and was priced right. Installation was easy (with a wiring harness adapter and installation kit for my vehicle) and straight forward. I also swapped out the 4 factory speakers with Cerwin Vega units. The results are a great sounding stereo with the ability to answer my phone with the push of a button.

This Kenwood unit is a great stereo for the price. You can buy another Kenwood with bluetooth but this unit fully adequate for most users. The buttons are large and easy to operate while driving. Display is bright and readable in bright sunlight. The sound quality is good. Having multiple colors is a neat feature so you can match the stereo to your interior lighting.I bought this unit right after I bought another car receiver (Boss Audio Systems BV9152) that I immediately sent back. You can find my review for BV9152 on Amazon. At first it appears that this Kenwood doesn't have as many features packed into it as BV9152 (or similar) but then it's miles ahead in terms of ease of operation and that's what matters most.

Good, not great. You really cant see the screen in even nominal light, but it looks good at night. Kenwood always does a good job on their sound and this sounds pretty good. The Pandora app hasn't worked with my brand new Galaxy S9, but it may be too new for the programming. The Bluetooth works great, so I can deal with it.