# Question about Kenwood head units - plain vs excelon



## Tweeky (Mar 31, 2011)

I currently have a plain Kenwood deck and I'm thinking of upgrading to a similar Excelon model. 
Will I notice a sound quality improvement (or difference) at all?

Currently in my 2008 Tacoma
Cheap Kenwood deck
RF P400-4 on Polk MM series 6-1/2's front and rear.
RF P300-2 on JL Stealthbox


----------



## TwoDrink (Aug 26, 2009)

Going from a cheap deck to an Excelon, maybe. Usually what you gain is features and (I think) longer warranty. I currently an using an Excelon and two Premiers. They were all purchased for features. Many that add/ enhance sound quality IMHO.


----------



## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

You don't get time alignment on the plain models. In fact, not even all Excelon models give it to you. I believe only the 993/994/995/996 have it. There is a cheaper version that advertizes it, but does not allow any tuning, relying on preset settings. Then there is the issue of two vs three sets of pre-amp outs and their voltage.

I am not very found of Kenwood head units, but I haven't tried many others. In my view Kenwoods are FAR from SQ head units, or at very least SQ or even usability were not design goals in mind. They're loaded with many mystery sound "enhancing" features, which on average only color your sound without preserving the SQ. The good thing is that you can turn them off. The annoying thing is that the "Supreme+" feature turns on every time the car battery is reset. If they spent even half the effort to add real SQ features, this would have been a great stereo. The units are very customizable, but they forget half of their settings every time battery is reset. You need to spend like 20 minutes to dial everything back in.


----------



## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Im sorry, most of this is off topic honestly

Kenwood and JVC are one and the same, however, I've found better features in the JVCs

Just picked up a JVC KW (Kenwood what) AV-70bt.. 
Seems to offer a pretty wide array of features (coming out of an infinitly adjustable Alpine 701) short of time alignment..

Decent crossover section (no 3way) and a normal EQ with typical settings and a "Pro" mode which is an adjustable parametric.. pretty decent...

I have to say due to other issues with the car and system i havent had any real seat time with it to comment on actual SQ and weather or not i can get it to sound proper...

Cheers

Sent from the other side using mind bullets...(YapaTalk)


----------



## Jsracing (Apr 1, 2011)

Aaron -
Where did you get that JVC and Kenwood are the same? I'm looking at some JVC HUs and like their featureset and price, along with the UI.


----------



## Tweeky (Mar 31, 2011)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> Im sorry, most of this is off topic honestly
> 
> Kenwood and JVC are one and the same, however, I've found better features in the JVCs
> 
> ...


So would I notice a sound quality difference between the plain KW's (whicjh I currently have) versus an excelon?


----------



## nick650 (Feb 7, 2011)

Kenwood is amazing SQ HU. I have one cause it can disable the internal amp and DSP for the cleanest signal possible. All other units within this price range can't do this. On top of that, the caps are all Silmics!


----------



## TwoDrink (Aug 26, 2009)

The OP is asking if there will be a difference when moving up to an Excelon. Not if Kenwood makes a good HU.
OP, which is your current Kenwood HU and which one are you considering?


----------



## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

^

If that was the question, then I would say buying a Kenwood unit with time alignment and taking time to tweak it will improve imaging a lot. The only issue is that time alignment without a center channel results in decent imaging only for one listener, either right or left. The other one will hear a slight degradation. However, it's still better than nothing.


----------



## Tweeky (Mar 31, 2011)

TwoDrink said:


> The OP is asking if there will be a difference when moving up to an Excelon. Not if Kenwood makes a good HU.
> OP, which is your current Kenwood HU and which one are you considering?


I currently have the HD545U (six 2v pre-outs )

I'm considering an Excelon X395 with virtually the same faceplate. The only difference I see are the 4v pre-outs and a bunch of extra features I'll probably not use.

I guess my question is directed more at the pre-amp signal going to my amps. Is the pre-amp signal from the Excelon a _sound quality _improvement over the entry level KW's?


----------



## Vdubbin (Jul 11, 2012)

Stepping up from a regular kenwood to an excelon is more than just features and tweaks you don't need. There is major improvement in overall sound quality as far as DAC's, Amps, and DSP. Here's some examples between the two top of the line single din units, the KDC-BT952HD (Standard) and the KDC-X996 (Excelon).

S/N Ratio
Regular: 105db 
Excelon: 110db

THD (Total Harmonic Distortion)
Regular: 0.01%
Excelon: 0.008%

EQ
Standard: 7 Bands
Excelon: 14 Bands with adjustable Q Factor 

Pre-Outs
Both of these units have 4Volt pre-outs but some of the lesser models don't. higher volt pre-outs mean your external amp's gain can be turned down. this does a few things, 1. better pre-amp than the gain knob on your external 2. a hotter signal down the RCA cables means less interference from nearby power wires 3. if you understand gain structure at all, this is a no-brainer.

In the crossover the Excelon allows you to choose the slope of 6,12,18,24 while the standard is locked in at 12db/oct.

Personally I'll never use the "Supreme" or "Highway-Sound" or "Space Enhancer" or "Sound Realizer" as they are all crappy fluff that screws with psycho-acoustics that are not fully understood by the engineers who build them. even Alpine's "Media Expander" is junk. If you've ever heard the SRS WoW plug-in, you know what i'm talking about. Maybe if you have 1980's paper cone woofers with not even a factory mylar tweeter it might enhance your sound stage but otherwise turn all of it off promptly after installing!


----------



## Tweeky (Mar 31, 2011)

Vdubbin said:


> Stepping up from a regular kenwood to an excelon is more than just features and tweaks you don't need. There is major improvement in overall sound quality as far as DAC's, Amps, and DSP. Here's some examples between the two top of the line single din units, the KDC-BT952HD (Standard) and the KDC-X996 (Excelon).
> 
> S/N Ratio
> Regular: 105db
> ...


NOW THAT IS THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!

Thanks. I went ahead and purchased one last week and will install this week. I'm glad my hunch about preamp sound quality was validated. 

I really like my entry level (2-volt preamps) Kenwwood but my constant quest for sonic nirvana kept whispering in my ear "step up to the excelon...step up to the excelon..."


----------



## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

Tweeky said:


> NOW THAT IS THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!
> 
> Thanks. I went ahead and purchased one last week and will install this week. I'm glad my hunch about preamp sound quality was validated.
> 
> I really like my entry level (2-volt preamps) Kenwwood but my constant quest for sonic nirvana kept whispering in my ear "step up to the excelon...step up to the excelon..."


Step up to Pioneed DEH-80PRS. That will be a bigger step.


----------



## Vdubbin (Jul 11, 2012)

Damn, I woulda sold you mine for a deal! Just installed it yesterday and now realize I can't do a true 3-way crossover with it. Seriously considering the pioneer prs mentioned above. Never been a fan of pioneer, not sure how the Handsfree and iPod integration are. Always had Alpine's but since they killed off bass engine pro and I refuse to buy a $400 external processor for crossover and time alignment looks like I need to open my options up.


----------



## Tweeky (Mar 31, 2011)

ZAKOH said:


> Step up to Pioneed DEH-80PRS. That will be a bigger step.


I did have an installer friend (died in a motorcycle crash a few years back, RIP) who always liked Pioneer heads, even back when they weren't cool.

But since I already have the Kenwwod satellite radio converter I thought I'd step it up. For about 130.00 it wasn't much of a risk. And its a very user friendly unit.

I've run numerous Alpines, Clarions, Sony, Blaupunkt, Sanyo, JVC, Denon, Kenwood, and Eclipse, but I've never owned a Pioneer.

I'll keep that in mind.

My son just turned 16 and he's into music and car audio, so my hobby lives on vicariously thru him...


----------



## shnitz (Jun 13, 2011)

Tweeky said:


> NOW THAT IS THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!
> 
> Thanks. I went ahead and purchased one last week and will install this week. I'm glad my hunch about preamp sound quality was validated.
> 
> I really like my entry level (2-volt preamps) Kenwwood but my constant quest for sonic nirvana kept whispering in my ear "step up to the excelon...step up to the excelon..."


Keep in mind that the Signal-to-noise ratio and the Total Harmonic Distortion are related to the CD player of the unit, so if you're using the USB for most of your music, those "advanced" specs are meaningless. I got a Kenwood 945BT two years ago instead of the Excelon version (x994?) because those differences were meaningless to me.

No offense Vdubbin, but the DACs are the same, from the top of the Kenwood line to pretty much the bottom (as long as it says 24-bit). Also, the amplifier, from the most expensive Kenwood, to the least expensive, is exactly the same as well; the x996 won't drive speakers any better than the cheapest Kenwood that you can buy. As you mention, any Kenwood deck with 4V preouts will send the signal just fine. Also, even the preouts that are "only" 2 Volts won't make your music any louder, they will just let you turn down your gains, and the ONLY thing that affects is the noise floor (in a proper install, you shouldn't have audible hiss even with 2V preouts, but it's nice to have). 


The only sound quality difference between the X996 and 952HD when you're playing through USB are what you mentioned, more EQ bands and adjustable crossover slopes. That's all. If those are useful to you, by all means spend the $20. I think I would if I were in that situation, but I bought my stereo when the 945 was on sale for over $100 less than the x994, so it was a no contest for me.


----------



## Vdubbin (Jul 11, 2012)

Right on, pass the torch to your son!  I remember when I was 16, working at friendly's I saved up for a set of kenwood excelon components before I even had a car to put them in! Eventually ran them off a stock deck, then got an alpine. Later added a used sub and amp from a buddy, and it just took off from there. Now I'm 26 and before some old lady totalled my car last month was running a competition-worthy SQ system built up piece by piece over 10 years and 3 cars. Now I'm starting over with a new car an changing out my deck and speakers, keeping the Same amps and subs.


----------



## shnitz (Jun 13, 2011)

Tweeky said:


> I currently have the HD545U (six 2v pre-outs )
> 
> I'm considering an Excelon X395 with virtually the same faceplate. The only difference I see are the 4v pre-outs and a bunch of extra features I'll probably not use.
> 
> I guess my question is directed more at the pre-amp signal going to my amps. Is the pre-amp signal from the Excelon a _sound quality _improvement over the entry level KW's?


Just saw this, read up a bit. The X395, despite being an Excelon, is lower than the 5xx series. Here are the differences you'll find. As mentioned above, for the CD player you have the better THD and SNR specs. Not enough of a difference to tell, especially when you're driving down the street. I challenge someone to differentiate between 0.008% and 0.01% THD from a CD player.


The 545u has:
-HD radio - big if you listen to radio. Better sound quality, more stations, tells you the artist and song name, etc.

The X395 has:
-ipod EQ: This disables the stereo equalizer, and uses the ipod's one. If you go to your ipod settings, you will find that you can choose some basic EQ curves like dance, latin, piano, spoken word, etc. Doesn't matter, because the Kenwood EQ is pretty good.
-higher voltage preouts: As mentioned above, if you have excessive hissing (i.e. a high noise floor) this will help. Otherwise, it won't change the sound quality of your signal to your amplifiers or make your music sound better, subs hit harder, volume go louder, or anything like that.
-Highpass filters for the Polk MM speakers: Doesn't matter, you're probably using the HPF of your amplifier anyway. Amplifier crossovers are noticeably higher quality than headunit crossovers anyway; the only reason to use headunit crossovers is either if your amp doesn't have them, or you have variable slopes that you want to use like in the X996.


So overall, don't mess with success, I'd keep what you have. Everything else between the headunits is equal. Same EQ, same quality sound.


----------



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

Jsracing said:


> Aaron -
> Where did you get that JVC and Kenwood are the same? I'm looking at some JVC HUs and like their featureset and price, along with the UI.


JVC Kenwood Holdings company info page. They merged in '08. Their page gives a decent bit of info as to how that came to be. 

I've used both Kenwood Excelon decks and JVC Arsenal decks before and both provide pretty good SQ. The older Excelon decks had problems with faceplates that spanned multiple generations. Of the 5 Excelon decks I've used all but 1 had a faceplate problem of some sort. Hopefully since the merger they have gotten better.


----------



## Pillow (Nov 14, 2009)

I have run the 993 994 and 995. I love the flexibility of tuning!!! Forget the "signal processing" features as stated before. The real key in this HU is the crossovers and time alignment. 

IMO the best bang for the buck out there.

Out of those listed the 994 is the hardest to use IMO. Go for the 995 or new 996!

Yes, the faceplate is impossible to read in direct sunlight. So consider that in your location for mounting. 

If I had to chose a different HU for SQ Eclipse 7200  BUT the features are lacking compared to the Kenwood X. I like the BT phone features. IMO hands free calling is the shniz.


----------



## rcorpuz12 (Sep 15, 2013)

I have a Kenwood head unit and I have to us the dsp on bypass, through will not play any sound... Any solutions?


----------



## steelbreeze (Sep 2, 2014)

rcorpuz12 said:


> I have a Kenwood head unit and I have to us the dsp on bypass, through will not play any sound... Any solutions?


I know you've probably fixed this by now, but according to some reviews I read on Amazon, you probably need to reset your settings using the reset switch or go back to factory settings from the menus.


----------

