# Review: JVC KD-AR8500 Head Unit (1 year impression)



## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

(the remote is actually tiny  )

*Aesthetics:*

It's hard to come across visually elegant HUs any more. JVC's EXAD line retains a gentle black finish and a clean face. The buttons that exist are only those that are needed. The screen is colorful and easy to read and is easily capable of being flashy as it is subtle.

Build quality is top notch. I know some people fear JVC, but having owned a couple HUs, I know otherwise. They're built to last. Nothing breaks, nothing wears out. The knob and buttons are well designed with a solid, precise feel.

*Ergonomics:*
The face has a 4 position angle adjustment that allows for different viewing angles. It's useful sometimes for when the sun's just right that it reflects off the face and impedes readability.

The face comes of easy with the push of a button and snaps back on just as easy. With the face off, you can access the SD card reader. You just push the SD card in and it pops out, spring loaded style.

The buttons and knob are a breeze to use, offer a solid feel, but remain prrecise and light to use.

The menu is easy to navigate with the 4 direction buttons and you simply press the knob to select. About the only think I could ask for is a back button of some sort. You generally just hit the menu button to back to the main menu, but many times you just want to step back on notch but not all the way back. Other than that small grip, it's a piece of cake to use.

CD insertion/ejection is a breeze to use. Hit a button and the motorized faceplate slides down. If a CD's in, it will simply slide out. If nothing's in, you simply slide a CD into the slot. The motor system for the CD is gentle, so you don't really fight against it. It's just smooth and slick to use.

*Functionality:*

Now on to the features. Being top of the line, this has many.

Output:
This has a hybrid amp derived from their home audio sector that offers an industry leading 35w rms x 4. It also offers 6 RCA outs for Front/Rear/Subs all stereo. It's rated for 5v out at max. SNR of the onboard amp is 85dB and the RCAs offer +100dB SNR.

Equalizers:
This HU offers two ways to control equalization. It offers a 9-band graphic equalizer or a fully frequency and Q adjustable 3-band parametric equalizer. Both are very usable in their own ways. Parametric offers a smooth tune, but I find myself using the 9-band graphic EQ simply for ease. It's just quick and dirty. The parametric is more guessing the frequency point and fiddling with Q to get it just right. You simply choose which you want to use in the menu. the graphic equalizer offers 3 user presets and a variety of built in presets. The parametric has no save option. It's simply want you set. You can instantly switch back and forth between the two and it will use whatever was set last for eacy. Both are easy to use and straight forward. The only thing I wish they did was combine both together and allow for simultaneous use of both equalizers. It would have offered oh so much more tunability.

Crossover:
This offers a 2-way + sub built in x-over. You can set Front HP, Rear HP/LP, and in the seperate Sub menu, sub LP. Sub/Woofer HP/LP adjust from 31.5Hz to 200Hz and Woofer/Tweeter HP/LP goes from 1.6kHz to 20kHz. Slope choices for all are -6/-12/-18 dB/octive.
Attenuation for active is done through the Fade/Bal settings and the Subwoofer menu for the sub.

Time Alignment:
Time alignment can be set for each individual car seat(FR/FL/RR/RL) or ALL. All 5 positions are uniquely saved. This allows 5 unique TA presets. TA is incremented in 5cm(~2in.) increments and go from 0 to 400cm. Since 400cm is quite large, you can actually double up or perhaps triple the distance to bring accuracy to 2.5cm or less. This allows it to be quite accurate if you want. You can set TA for FR/FL/RR/RL/Sub individually. About the only thing it lacks is independent stereo TA for the sub.

CD Player:
The CD player is pretty standard. It supports rewritable CDs and also MP3 and WMA audio formats. The menu allows for random playback or playback of specific folders on the CD. I've never had it skip and it handles scratches ok(will attempt to play).

SD Card:
I believe it supports FAT16, whatever SD cards usually are. Max size for the SD card is only 512mb. It kind of shows the age of the HU, but flash storage has expanded quite rapidly. It supports MP3 and WMA audio formats. Short of having to take the face plate off, the SD reader is easy to use.

Advanced Processing:
Take this section as you will. This HU offer's JVC's BBE II processing offering a mix of Loud with the addition of frequency dependent phase adjustment. It has 3 levels so you can tune the effect from light to heavy. I'm not sure what frequencies get boosted but my old Kameleon was at 100Hz and 10kHz. I assume the same. Along with this is the phase adjustment that helps seperate the frequency ranges. It actually works pretty well, a lot more useful than a simple Loud feature, but I kind of wish they offered the phase correction seperate from the EQ boost. It could really be a neat feature that way.
The HU also has a compression correction feature to help with less than stellar mp3 tracks. I find this helps out quite a bit on the lower bit rate recordings. The gain is less so on the better recordings. It seems to have some processing throughout the frequency range, not just the highs. I find that the audio sounds more "correct" when off, but at loud volumes, some oddities seem to be smoothed out where some parts that come across as annoying are gone if you have it on. I have yet to make up my mind on this one. It's off most of the time, but sometimes I do run it.

MSRP is $700, Ebay is $350.

Um...did I miss anything?


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## xencloud (Aug 26, 2005)

seems to have some good features, I woulda never considered JVC but this one does look interesting.....

How can you rank it against other H/U's you've listened to?


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## xencloud (Aug 26, 2005)

oh, also, what's the button illumination color?


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## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

a cool blue on the directional buttons, white top and bottom, simple, nothing flashy. The large screen be whatever you want as you can import images(including animated ones).


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## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

I was going to post some pics, but man, my phone...

Do you want crappy pics...or REALLY crappy pics? lol Did a little demo vid too but the resolution is so low it's sad.

I think I'll wait till next weekend when I can get a hold of my bro's camera.


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