# JVC Arsenal HU - anyone used one of these now/in the past?



## redcalimp5 (Sep 10, 2007)

So my current HU is an Alpine 7998, and I'm contemplating finally getting into iPod stored music, and doing away with CD's. 

I don't compete, and my car is my daily driver, but I do like to change up setting on the HU from time to time to see if I prefer a different EQ/TA/ crossover sound. 

I found this JVC HU on Ebay....

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

and wanted to see if anyone has or has used this unit in the past, and get some opinions on how it sounds, how user-friendly it is, etc.


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

I've used a few different JVC units in the past, and two of them being Arsenals - loved them. They weren't packed with over the top tweakability, but the sound quality and out of the box hook up and go factors were good. I remember USB thumb drives being quite easy to use and scroll through as well.


----------



## Schizm (Jun 12, 2011)

I have one and I really like it. Solid HU had no problems with it to speak of. 

The annoying things I found with this unit is when you keep the Bluetooth fob plugged in and you first get in and hook up your iPhone. It takes a few seconds to read your music through the USB but takes about 5(ish) seconds longer for the BT to connect. So you get to listen to your music then poof silence. 

When this first happened I thought my amps went into protection at first lol. Then I realized I had to go into the phone and select the output to USB cable off of BT. Or you could change the HU input to BT streaming and the music returned. 

Although its nice to not use a cable to listen to music it doesn't sound as good thru BT and well phone doesn't charge either. 

Last thing I would have liked is when on a phone call over the BT wish the unit would automatically turn off the sub channel as my friends' cell phones put some odd low end noises through that got aggravating at times. 

What I did to overcome those annoyances were to unplug the BT fob when not needed and manually turn off the sub channel. 

Really like the deck though, don't get me wrong.

P.S. I'm thinking of selling my 925BT because I bought a P99RS. I have a BNIB Sirius adapter for it too.


----------



## redcalimp5 (Sep 10, 2007)

chithead said:


> I've used a few different JVC units in the past, and two of them being Arsenals - loved them. They weren't packed with over the top tweakability, but the sound quality and out of the box hook up and go factors were good. I remember USB thumb drives being quite easy to use and scroll through as well.


Awesome, thanks for the response. I'm really looking for more of a good "out of the box" unit that still has great SQ, and has more updated features. The JVC sounds like it might do nicely for what I'm looking for.


----------



## redcalimp5 (Sep 10, 2007)

Schizm said:


> I have one and I really like it. Solid HU had no problems with it to speak of.
> 
> The annoying things I found with this unit is when you keep the Bluetooth fob plugged in and you first get in and hook up your iPhone. It takes a few seconds to read your music through the USB but takes about 5(ish) seconds longer for the BT to connect. So you get to listen to your music then poof silence.
> 
> ...


I'll keep those points in mind when I'm ready to buy, thanks for chiming in!


----------



## JAX (Jun 2, 2006)

I had one. it was loaded but I hated the goofy looks. I had a couple of the older arsenals and loved them..the 7500 and 8500 ...and I had the dvd chameleon deck which was also a good deck. 

they are no worse than most of whats out now these days. I wish the 8500 had usb I would run it right now. but the units of those years were higher end than what they make now.

you dont like the new Kenwoods?


----------



## redcalimp5 (Sep 10, 2007)

JAX said:


> I had one. it was loaded but I hated the goofy looks. I had a couple of the older arsenals and loved them..the 7500 and 8500 ...and I had the dvd chameleon deck which was also a good deck.
> 
> they are no worse than most of whats out now these days. I wish the 8500 had usb I would run it right now. but the units of those years were higher end than what they make now.
> 
> you dont like the new Kenwoods?


Thanks for the input, Jax. I like the new Kenwoods, I'm just not that familiar with them. Aside from an older Panasonic single DIN CD HU, I've been using my Alpine pretty much the whole time that I've been tinkering in the hobby. 

I have also been considering the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X995. I don't need a DVD feature on a HU, so these two Kenwoods seem the most appealing to me as far as features, price, and easy to use potential. 

The X995 has USB output in the rear, and not in the front. While that's not a dealbreaker of a feature difference, to me it's much nicer to have that option in the front of the unit. Other than that, the features on both the KD-A925BT and the X995 seem to be about the same down the list, except for a difference here and there. As far as sound quality, they also seem to be very similar. 

Anyone that has used both units care to clarify?


----------



## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

redcalimp5 said:


> The X995 has USB output in the rear, and not in the front. While that's not a dealbreaker of a feature difference, to me it's much nicer to have that option in the front of the unit. Other than that, the features on both the KD-A925BT and the X995 seem to be about the same down the list, except for a difference here and there. As far as sound quality, they also seem to be very similar.
> 
> Anyone that has used both units care to clarify?


I believe that JVC has two USB ports front and rear. However, the bluetooth module is not built in, it plugs into a USB port. It looks kind of like a small USB thumb drive. With Kenwood's "black box" sound enhancers turned off, both should sound good. One advantage that JVC has is that it can rear WAV files should you want to use them. I have heard a comment that both JVC and Kenwood have very clean sound with DSP turned off, but that's difficult without an external advanced processor because this turns off crossovers, equalizer, time correction, etc.


----------



## Comp-U-Geek (Jan 23, 2009)

I've got 3 cars with 2 of them using JVC Arsenal H/Us. I definitely like the sound quality they produce. Controls can be a little strange to get used to, but they make sense once you mess with it. The ones with the dual USB ports are very nice in that they play WAV files and have the BT module (which also works very well). I'm using a KD-AHD39 in one car (no USB but does have HD tuner built in), it is just unfortunate most of the local stations use an output level so low I can't keep an HD signal lock. The other one I have is the KD-A815. Biggest problem I have on the 815 is the display can be washed out in bright sunlight and with polarized sunglasses on, the display sorta disappears. lol As far as sound quality and features for the price, they are very solid options.


----------



## f3joel (Dec 14, 2011)

I just finished putting a jvc kd-ahd79 in my truck.
Sounds pretty good considering the 21 year old stock speakers, lol.
I would recommend them...


----------



## redcalimp5 (Sep 10, 2007)

ZAKOH said:


> I believe that JVC has two USB ports front and rear. However, the bluetooth module is not built in, it plugs into a USB port. It looks kind of like a small USB thumb drive. With Kenwood's "black box" sound enhancers turned off, both should sound good. One advantage that JVC has is that it can rear WAV files should you want to use them. I have heard a comment that both JVC and Kenwood have very clean sound with DSP turned off, but that's difficult without an external advanced processor because this turns off crossovers, equalizer, time correction, etc.


Thanks for the input, Zak. So if I was to get a JBL MS-8, and turn off the DSP in either one if these units, it would balance out the sound sufficiently?


----------



## JAX (Jun 2, 2006)

if cosmetics are an issue at all then I would go with the JVC. 

if you want front USB I can probably get my neighbor to sell you his jvc sh1000 for decent money. has less than 25hrs on it. its just got more stuff than he needs so its causing his anal butt to mess with constantly. it was a $500 deck. and imo better than anything jvc has with the exception of not having blue tooth.


----------



## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

redcalimp5 said:


> Thanks for the input, Zak. So if I was to get a JBL MS-8, and turn off the DSP in either one if these units, it would balance out the sound sufficiently?



I _think_ the MS-8 should take care of making good sound..


----------

