[beerdrnkr]

I'm currently working on a budget setup which consists of a 3way active fronstage w/ Dayton RS225's 8's, RS100-4 4's, RS28A-4 Tweeters, and because I couldn't find much information at all on this unit, I bought the MA AUDIO MA30EQX MA AUDIO MA30EQX 30-BAND GRAPHIC EQUALIZER+CROSSOVER - eBay (item 290306654792 end time Apr-29-09 07:25:27 PDT)

Amps and subs are still in the air but mainly I wanted some opinions on double din units. My budget is about $500 and I would like the NAV option but if there's nicer units w/out it then that's fine. Here's a list of the few I've been looking at:

JVC KW-AVX810
Sony XAV-W1
Valor NVG-606W comes w/ NAV
Eclipse AVN52D comes w/ NAV and Bluetooth
Pioneer AVH-P4100DVD
Pioneer AVIC-F700BT comes w/ NAV and Bluetooth
Kenwood DDX514

Any info or reviews on these would be appreciated. I plan on using my Zune for most music but I would also like to have a decent SQ setup out of it as well.

 

[abefroman]

I've got the F700bt in my car. The firmware 2.0 update fixed a lot of issues and doing some of the hacks from avic411 helped as well. I love mine even though there are still a few quirks with it

 

[ISTundra]

I have the JVC KW-AVX810, what specifically do you want to know about it?

 

[Notloudenuf]

$500 dbl din w/NAV? Are those that you mentioned in that price range? I stopped looking after the ones I wanted were $900+

 

[beerdrnkr]

I've got the F700bt in my car. The firmware 2.0 update fixed a lot of issues and doing some of the hacks from avic411 helped as well. I love mine even though there are still a few quirks with it

That unit looks very good for the price.

I have the JVC KW-AVX810, what specifically do you want to know about it?

I was mostly concerned with these units user interfaces and features, as well as how well people liked the audio adjustments. At the price point I'm looking at I guess I can't really expect too much.

$500 dbl din w/NAV? Are those that you mentioned in that price range? I stopped looking after the ones I wanted were $900+

There's a few out there between $500 and $800 that are pretty decent. I actually think I'm going to just buy a portable NAV (that way my g/f can use it too) and I might be scrapping the screen idea and going with this unit: KENWOOD DPX503
The only I don't like is that it only has 2 preouts.

 

[blamus]

I have just placed an order for the F700BT. Have been eyeing it up for months. I was actually going to get the F90BT, but then last minute I did some more research and found a few answers and I think I have now made a much more informed decision. The only main difference to me between the F700 and the F90 is the DVD player, which I will never use. Anyway I just bought the F700 for $360 on ebay and then 14% cash back. Can't say no to that!

 

[nightryderz05]

i like the kenwood ddx512

 

[blamus]

from a feature/price point of view I think the Kenwoods are much more expensive than the pioneers, thats pretty much the only reason why I'm not getting a kenwood. Another main reason is because I believe the pioneer AVIC F series has the highest resolution screens (yet not the biggest), and I have seen my friend's alpines and eclipses and the low res screens just look bad.

Alot of people actually prefer the kenwoods because they use Garmin as the GPS system. I for one, have used many GPS systems from different companies and prefer IGO8 on the pioneer. Garmin is good, very very stable and works very well. But I am one of those people who prefers the flexibility of hackable GPS systems so I can tune it to the way i like. This is a DIY site remember? The pioneer runs windowsCE and is very hackable.

 

[ISTundra]

For the JVC KW-AVX810…
I’d say the interface is similar to the Pioneer AVH and Kenwood units you listed and maybe a small step down from the AVICS. It has lots of menus and scrolling to get to some of the controls, which is a pain in the ass when you are driving. It comes with a wireless remote, but I only find it useful mainly for volume control, skipping tracks, and changing the source. It has a lot of features for the price point and sounds pretty good, the detachable face is a nice bonus too.

As for sound… It has a 7-band eq with 7 preset curves (jazz, rock, country, etc) and 3 user defined presets. There is a separate mono sub out from the H/U, with a selectable sub crossover and sub level. Overall the sound is good, but here are my complaints:

• Too many onscreen menu picks/scrolling to get to the sub level control & x-over
• The sub x-over point can only be set to 80, 120, 150, or passthrough
• The preouts are supposed to be 5v, but they seem weaker, especially the sub out
• You can start out with one of the preset eq curves and edit it to boost/cut as you like, but you have to save the new curve to one of the user presets or it resets itself back to the default preset curve after a short time period.
• Too many onscreen picks/scrolling to change the eq settings. There is a shortcut menu from the main screen to get to the eq presets, but it only scrolls through the presets. To change the curves, you have to go through several screens.
• I wish this had a volume knob, even better a multi-use knob to scroll through screen choices.

As you can see, my overall biggest complaint is too many screens and onscreen settings to wade through. I like to tweak and find myself paying more attention to the screen than the road sometimes. If you’re a set it and forget type, you’ll probably be happy with this, although you’ll still need a separate processor for your 3-way setup.