My new Kenwood Head-unit

[netcsk]

It's the Excelon KDC-X890.

Very nice setup - 3 5v preamps, XM or Sirius (despite Kenwood saying only Sirius, XM works too), USB, Aux in, ability to do HD and Bluetooth, etc. etc.

Nice features I like are the ability to turn off the face while still leaving the unit on, for night driving. It also has the ability to control all crossover frequencies (sub, front, rear). It also has a G-meter built in (haha) for "horsepower", lateral G's, etc. I'll have fun playing with that :)

It matches pretty well and you can even upload your own images or movies for the background. I'd recommend this unit to anyone and it looks well in the e30 (not overly bright).

[AndrewBird]

Very cool.

You should make a bracket somewhere to hold a female USB plug. Then, rather then having a cable sticking into your glove box, you could just have a place to plug the drive into.

[czag13]

Very cool.

You should make a bracket somewhere to hold a female USB plug. Then, rather then having a cable sticking into your glove box, you could just have a place to plug the drive into.

Exactly what I was thinking, but you shoud remove the speaker balance thing above the head unit and put it there

[netcsk]

I'd rather not have it sticking out on my dash (I could see myself snapping it off). I'm getting an 8gb flash drive and will just leave it in the glove box once I move all my music.

Also, with all the cables running out on the back of the unit, it barely fit in my car. I had to really push to get it to stay in.

[StereoInstaller1]

Hey Chris, good score. Hope you got a good deal on it!

I have a good question for ya.

Kenwood told me that deck is USB 1.1, thus kinda slow. Should be no biggie.

They also seemed to think that the CD player goes through all of the data on the storage media before playing anything...every time the key is turned on. Now if your flash drive is a 512 or so I would think it could do it so fast you may not notice, but I want to hang a 40GB HDD in a USB housing...so my question is this: Does it take the time to read the entire drive before playing?

Does it go back to where you were before you shut off the key (obvoiusly USB only)?

And yes, I know I would need to have a power supply for that HDD. USB cannot run it alone. I was thinking I would use a few NiCads or a tiny lead-acid to power the HDD so no cycling of power to the HDD.

I was gonna use a couple of Diodes and a voltage regulator to power a 12VDC HDD case, so it would not drain my cars' battery.

I too was very impressed by that deck. I have Sirius w/lifetime susbscription, CD Changer, and MD Changer plus the little switch box to make all 3 work, so I am married to Kenwood. That looks like the best of the bunch to me.

I really want a HDD in my car though.


So, 2 more things. Would you load a "Lossless" .WMA song to see if it plays? (Kenwood said it will not, but please try for me!) and the same for .OGG.

Thanks, mang!

Luke

[netcsk]

I tried the G-meter out today and it read 110hp for my chipped, 230k mile eta. So, it seems to be pretty accurate amazingly. But I've only pulled 0.85 lateral G's since the units been in :D. I'll have to see what it will pull in a parking lot or something one day.

I don't like trying to search through the USB for a specific folder/song because it seems to list folder names just by a number (i.e. F-01 instead of the true name). That's really my only prob with the setup.
Oh, also, you can't see the display at all in direct sunlight. I'd rather have this happen than to have the thing glow during night driving (It's so easy to ignore while driving, plus has a function that will turn off the display when nothing is pressed for 5 seconds).

I want to hang a 40GB HDD in a USB housing...so my question is this: Does it take the time to read the entire drive before playing?'
My drive is a 1gb currently. It started playing from the first time I plugged it in, withing a couple seconds (I was actually amazed). I will let you know how it does when I hang an 8gb drive on it.

Does it go back to where you were before you shut off the key (obviously USB only)?
Yep, sure does. Same song and same location in the song.

I was thinking I would use a few NiCads or a tiny lead-acid to power the HDD so no cycling of power to the HDD.
You sure a small 2.5" drive with a 3600 or 4800rpm wouldn't run? I think the output on that port is like 500mA. I'm not sure what they draw though. I'm sure you've probably already looked into it anyway.

I was gonna use a couple of Diodes and a voltage regulator to power a 12VDC HDD case, so it would not drain my cars' battery.
Why not just run a switch or a time delayed relay (to avoid any dirty power from the ignition) tied to the accessory power? You probably know more about this than I do anyway.
Are you talking of running the drive full time? Even when not in the car?

I too was very impressed by that deck. I have Sirius w/lifetime subscription, CD Changer, and MD Changer plus the little switch box to make all 3 work, so I am married to Kenwood. That looks like the best of the bunch to me.
Lucky bastard (with the lifetime Sirius). I was married to Pioneer (not to your extent), but threw all the stuff out of the car. I'll have some goodies up in the FS forum as soon as I take some pictures.

So, 2 more things. Would you load a "Lossless" .WMA song to see if it plays? (Kenwood said it will not, but please try for me!) and the same for .OGG.
I'll convert a couple files and throw them on the flash drive tomorrow sometime and will let you know how it does. What exactly does "Lossless" .wma mean? Is it just an encoding setting?

Edit: I tried it this morning and neither the lossless wma nor the OGG worked.

I emailed you a couple months back to see if you could get me a deal on the unit, but you didn't respond *tear*. So I ended up getting it from an unauthorized dealer, which will probably bite me right in the ass. But it was a Christmas present... soooo, yeah.

Let me know if you have any more Q's, Luke.

[netcsk]

I lied about the way the USB search works. It's actually not too bad as long as you have your stuff organized correctly (folder for each artist and sub-folder for each album). It allows for searching through each folder (no matter if it's a sub-folder or in the main directory), or you can search through the main directory for your artists; then choose an album, or just do the whole artist.

[netcsk]

Luke, I got scammed on the 8gb flash drive from ebay. Returned it and had him refund me.

So now I'm using an extra 40gb 2.5" laptop drive I had around. Bought an enclosure for it and have it velcro'ed to the 'top' of the glove box on the black removal panel. I'm wiring everything up next to the ECU. I took the cop out way and am wiring a cigarette lighter, a cigarette lighter adapter (to step the 12v to 5v) with a USB plug. The hard drive I bought has a 5v input for extra power with a cable that has a USB plug at the end. Should work well enough.

I have 4k songs on it with 19gb worth. I'll let you know how well the unit handles it. Should have it in sometime next week (awaiting the cig adapter, but I should be able to wire everything else in).

[StereoInstaller1]

Chris, at least solder some wire on that cig lighter adapter and hardwire!

Wire that sucker for accessory (or better still, off of a relay on the remote lead of the deck) and see if the deck searches the entire hard drive upon power-up. Keep me posted on access times, woodya?

Luke

[parkerbink]

I love my 890 congratulations on the setup. Sorry about the flash drive I am waiting to get 65.00 back from bidpay on a 2gb micro flash I was scammed out of on fleabay

[doucy2]

looks decent i'm not a big fan of kenwood yuck, i just put a cheap JVC kd-AR470 in my e30 looks good. only thing that dissapoints me is i have no control over the subs and there is no sub out line (so they are hooked to rear out). it also doesnt have line in in the rear for rca's which i don't like but it does have a line in jack in the front. StereoInstaller1 can you link me to a male/male audio cable from my line in?

[Kilomph]

Think it'd be hard converting those knobs to amber?

[doucy2]

Think it'd be hard converting those knobs to amber?

why mess with it, and yes, would most certainly void the warranty. i'de do it when the warranty runs out or if you run across another one you could mess with or use for parts.

[netcsk]

Yeah, I'm sure you could change the knobs over to amber. Would I do it, probably not. The unit costs too much for the possibility of me screwing it up.

Luke, I'm at school without an iron, so unfortunately it will be using spade connectors for awhile, till I can tidy it up. Should be good enough.
I'm going to tie into a ground and acc. power running to the ecu since I'm lazy. I have my own acc. running in the car on its own fuse, but I'm not sure it will reach over there.

Why not a big fan of Kenwood, doucy2? This thing is loaded with 3 preamps, aux in, usb in, high pass on front and rear (separated), low pass on sub with level control, and not to mention one of the best digital to analog chips out there.

[doucy2]

Why not a big fan of Kenwood, doucy2? This thing is loaded with 3 preamps, aux in, usb in, high pass on front and rear (separated), low pass on sub with level control, and not to mention one of the best digital to analog chips out there.

Their long term quality just has never suprised me. I am partial to JVC, Alpine, or Pioneer. I'm not saying I wounldn't buy one because I hate them, just def. not my 1st choice.

What do you guys think about 2x 12" alpine type-r's in an e30, might be getting some for a decent price just wondering if anyone had some opinions on them, just PM me so this thread doesn't get hijacked.