[968Syncro]

Santa came this year.   It isn't some big fancy unit, just a single DIN replacement for the 12 year old one.   The old one, the CD player broke some time ago, so I have been suffering for (way too long than I care to admit) with FM only. 

 

Kenwood Excelon KDC-X599

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX599/...-X599.html

 

Important things I was looking for:

- somewhat simple appearance, nothing too glitzy

- best possible receiver sensitivity

- higher RMS power output  (Since the previous one was at 22 watts, and all amps distort at higher levels).

- bluetooth, USB

 

So this one is pretty cool, things that are available these days that are nice:

• Variable color display -- I set it to match the "amber" color of the 968 temperature display.  (But "white" is still used for setup menus).  This is great, before I had some "bright blue" display.
  
• Hands free phone (Yeah, I know I am slow on this one).   Previously I ignored calls or quickly pulled to the curb.   The microphone is in the upper left windshield corner.  Can't comment on call quality yet, I mention it because too often people call me from the car and it sounds horrible.
  
• Android compatible over bluetooth:   can select songs over bluetooth.  It is "integrated" with google "Play Music" to some degree.  So for example select and playlist or album or "all songs" on the android and then can scroll and manage the songs from the head unit.   Supposedly (haven't tried yet) if I connect the Anroid over USB, then can fully browse to select playlists, etc.  The cool thing is that I can just leave the phone in my pocket as usual, then turn off the car, go into the store, start the car, and it picks up where it left off.
  
• Pandora and iHeartRadio integrated:  can select stations directly from the head unit, don't have to "grab the phone" all the time to change something.  This suggests the end-of-life for FM in the car. But I am not yet sure how much this will cost in wireless usage.
  
• USB:  of course I knew about this.  Most likely I'll get a USB thumb drive to hold all my songs and leave it plugged in.   The Android thing (rather than USB) is important to me to download podcasts and of course for iHeartRadio.  The trick is going to be I have to clean up my songs (with Mp3tag or something), build new playlists.
  

By the way, my 968 has the Option 490 "Hi-Fi sound system" with Amps and 10 speakers -- it has always sounded plenty good enough.  But I may take a look at the speakers, suspect a few replacements would be useful.  When I removed the old unit I was surprised to see the cabling was the amplified output, not the preamp outputs since I figured that would be used for the 490 option (with the amps).

 

==>   And best thing ever?    Ha-ha!    I got this one professionally installed.  First time ever, I've always done these myself, but the family said NO!

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[Westy]

Are you still on this forum?  If so, could you tell me how to remove the original stereo?  I have fiddled and fiddled, but no success!!!

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[968Syncro]

Unfortunately I can't, since I didn't do the installation myself.  The $ to get the unit was a Xmas present, so I treated myself to letting the shop do the installation. 

 

Hopefully a couple of others on the forum will chime in and provide some guidance.

 

Also be aware that this head unit does have some drawbacks, the main ones are the display is not very bright, and if using the USB with you song collection, it pretty much can access those songs in only alphabetical order by file name, and this unit doesn't support play lists (quite annoying).  But it does do a very good job with Pandora and iHeart radio (over the air services, so these services will use your mobile phone data plan).

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[Westy]

Thanx.  Actually, my plan is to keep everything stock.  There's a guy in LA that rebuilds these.  I think it was 275 bucks.  I'm pretty sure I can get the guys at Best Buy to use their tools to pop it out, but the car won't be on the road for about 2 weeks as I'm waiting on a part that had to be shipped from Germany.  :whine:   I figured if I could get it out, I could send it off and get everything back together at the same time.  If I remember correctly, this unit is just a re-badged Alpine.

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[EEZATOY]

Westy,

 

It been a long time since I pulled mine but IIRC it just slid\pulled out (a little effort but it did come out ok). I currently have a Apline 9887 that sounds good and links to an ipod but I get the keeping it stock too <_<...

 

Just down the hill from you in Sacramento

 

Sam

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[Westy]

I'll give it a whirl again.  Maybe when I get it on the road again we can do a coffee meet.  Talk MCL968 into driving down from Reno!

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[flash]

lol - keep everything stock???  should i start the stopwatch?

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[Westy]

lol - keep everything stock???  should i start the stopwatch?

Hehehehehe.....I'm not a purist.  But for some reason I just wanted to keep this one stock.....or as stock as I can.  I have a stable mate in the barn, a 1973 RS Z28.  It's not stock, but I have all the stock parts and the original motor just hanging around.  I waffle a lot!

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[az968]

Flash will get you on the slippery slope before you know what happened. :-)

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[94SilverCab]

"Oh, I think I'll just add a performance chip, no one can see that change anyway...and gee, that air box thingy sounds like a cool way to add a few horsepower"...next thing you know, $25k in upgrades

 

JMHO,

 

Jay 

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[az968]

"Hey, an upgraded suspension sounds like a good idea to handle the extra horsepower!"

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[Westy]

Meanwhile,,,,back on the farm..................

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[94SilverCab]

Wow, now that I have the HP and suspension upgrade, I suppose I need more braking...cross drilled rotors look cool, s/s brake lines, proportioning valve should be changed.....

 

LOL

 

jay

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[williamoss]

Are you still on this forum?  If so, could you tell me how to remove the original stereo?  I have fiddled and fiddled, but no success!!!

In order to remove a radio from the dash you may need 2 special keys that slip in along each side of the head unit. When inserted they allow he head unit to be removed. Each brand of head units might have a different set of keys. I would just go to a car stereo store and ask them to remove it. I am sure they would do it free as it takes about 10 seconds to do so.

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[Westy]

I knew they were brand specific, but I could only buy the pack on Amazon and it was around 26-28 bucks for all of them.  Ugh!.  The last thing I need are more of those things in my cabinet.  Of course the ones I have don't work!  I even tried jigsaw blades.  Guess I'll have to wait until I'm back on the road.  Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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[Westy]

OK, I guess it's moot.  Just read on a radio rebuilder site that they no longer repair the Porsche (Alpine) CD2 radio.  They said they sent them to Alpine, and Alpine responded that this radio is no longer repairable as the parts aren't available.  Sheet!  I know this car is never gonna reach collectability status, at least not in my lifetime, but I really wanted to keep that radio.  Music is important to me, but I don't need anything with all the bells and whistles and a gazillian watts of power.  I just really like the clean and original look.

 

I know when I had my SC, over on that forum folks were always looking for original stereos to put their car back to original.  That WAS my plan.  First time I'll save money and not be happy.  OK, I've whined enuff!!

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[flash]

if music is important to you, you would not be happy with that head unit.  it is grossly underpowered, and the distortion is huge.  guys who look for those don't usually actually listen to them.

 

there is a new unit floating around out there that has nav and everything, and looks retro OEM.  i can't speak to the audio quality though.

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[Westy]

flash, I found a guy in San Diego that will rebuild this unit for $350.  If you can save me a bunch of searching, can you shed a little more light on the unit you're talking about?  As long as it's not some pricey bling bling, I would consider it.

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[Westy]

OK, I got it out.  Not real hard once you figure it out.  I was gonna ask a radio question here, but I think I'll just start a new thread.  Thanx all for the assistance!

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