Well, I ordered a new head unit last week after selling my old one on ebay within the hour. Just fancied a change...

I ended up going for the new Kenwood KDC-PSW9524, which is a single DIN unit (leaving space for either a TFT monitor, or the display for the LIMP replacement. However, the control panel is a flap that folds down, giving a bigger screen area, and bigger control area as shown below...



The MY03 (and probably any new shape impreza) is a joy to fit a head unit to. Much easier to do a good job of than the old shape, and less prone to falling apart . I'll put more pictures into the FAQ relating to fitting, but it's very, very easy.

The unit comes with an ISO connector, so you'll need an ISO adaptor for the Subaru loom. I used an Autoleads adaptor, and the power control wire was already wired through, so no need to worry about doing anything to turn on the active aerial in the MY02 onwards.

Also included in the box is a card remote control, not the steering wheel that kenwood used to include. This is my only complaint about the unit which sorta gives away the rest of the review.

The unit has a removable hard "edging" trim around the very front of the unit. To fit the unit into a double DIN space, you need to remove the edging trim which is a 10 second job.

Powering up, the first thing you notice is the display which is split into two sections. On the left is a spectrum analyser which is multi-coloured, and on the right is a very fine dot pitch monochrome information display with 4 different intensity levels for each pixel. Both appear to be VFD (vacuum fluoroescent display) which means a good bright display at all times.

We'll come back to the display later. it's pretty good

The menu system is great and intuitive. A previous complaint about kenwood units is that their keys are too small to use, and definitely to small to read what their function is, especially in the dark. This is solved by a "dynamic key" menu system, where the function is displayed above the key, much like Becker has used for years. Very simple, and very intuitive. Plus only four items are displayed at a time, with a constant "return" key and "next" key, taking you back or to the next page, respectively. Simple.

The tuner is a definite improvement too. The new K3I tuner appears to produce a much smoother, fuller sound than the old tuner in previous PS-series stuff I've owned. No problems with sensitivity, but I don't know whether that's down to the active aerial so can't draw any conclusion. The tuner's sound is better, and the unit certainly performs better in areas where I didn't get good reception in the past, but that might be the aerial.

The "System Q" with "SRS" appears, at first listening, to be a good equaliser with variable "Q" and frequency. There's 3 bands to play with (bass, mid and treble), and the results appear good. I'm still on OEM speakers, so will be able to let you know more when I get the rest installed. SRS-WOW features are "trubass", "focus" and "SRS", which give change bass response, imaging and 3d surround effects. Trubass seems to work well on OEM speakers, which surprised me, and "focus" set to "low" definitely raises imaging without knackering the sound. More experimentation with decent speakers needed here...

Each source (tuner, cd, aux, cd changer, ...) has its own settings for bass, mid, treble, volume offset, SRS etc, which is a good touch.

CD playback is, as you'd expect, very good. Changing speakers might show up some flaws, but the CD reproduction seems vibrant without being bright.

MP3 playback is what has really surprised me, with the results being very good. Navigation around a disc is easy too, though I'd prefer to see the unit give folder names rather than just "folder 1/2/3..." as you descend through the tree. The unit states that 192kbps is the maximum supported, but I record everything using VBR with a minimum of 192 and max of 320 which it plays back.

WMA is also supported, but I don't feed the beast of Redmond with that so I can't comment yet.

Back to the display: you can configure what is shown in the different portions in a wide variety of ways. The smaller display can be a spectrum analyser of many different kinds, or simply show the source (tuner/cd/...). The right hand side shows either 2 lines of text, both of which are configurable to display what you want, or a big movie graphic, or wallpaper, or another spectrum analyser. No dolphins, that's so last year, so we have animations of planets and asteroids this time

You can also download your own wallpaper and movie, so I'll be trying that later.

On the security front, part of the panel is removable. This is a very slim part, and it's easy to slip into a jacket pocket without even noticing it's there. It's about 1cm thick when in the carrying case (included)

I must say that even with OEM speakers the sound quality is a vast improvement over the original head unit. It should be noted that the MY03 comes with tweeters though - not sure that the older models did, certainly the <=MY00 didn't.

Overall:

Dislike: card remote control rather than steering wheel remote, MP3 folder navigation could include folder names rather than just number

Like: sound quality, audio controls, menu system, 3 5V RCA pre-outs, display, ... everything really

The RRP on the unit is £529.99. I bought from [http://www.mcs-direct.co.uk]MCS-direct[/url] as their price was quite a lot cheaper than other on-line suppliers that I tried. I was warned that it might not arrive until April, but then the unit turned up yesterday (31 March) - a very nice surprise.

Very impressed.


(Note - this is not in any way anything other than a positive personal experience, I have no connection with MCS or Kenwood other than being a satisfied customer. I also speak only for myself, not scoobynet. I know that's obvious, but...)

 

Good grief, it's a good job I didn't write a full review

 

I take it you liked it then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Chiark

if you have been taking your new pride and joy apart do you know the speaker space sizes ???.

Im doing the dumb **** thing of ordering the parts before my car arrives.

I have gone for the Focal 165a which are 16.5cms accross (6.5") and 6.6cms deep.

The infinities I have ordered for in the rear are the 552i 13cm across (5") and 5.8cms deep.

I have a feeling a 12mm mdf spacer isnt going to be enough. any thoughts.

cheers


Peter

 

I've not yet got the doors off - still the same OEM speakers... I'll update the FAQ, but I doubt you'll have huge problems with either.

 

Does it cache the next MP3 file up to minimise or remove the gap between tracks?

 

Chris, I don't think so. Some people expect a break, some don't. It really depends on what you're playing back as to what you ideally want. If it's a mix cd that you've encoded, then you want no breaks. If it's a normal cd, then you want a gap as such...

Will have a test when I get back

 

Nice review chiark

I take it this is from the 2003 Kenwood range? Looks very nice

I've previously been loyal to Kenwood for head units, but didn't like the 2002 range hence went for an Alpine CDA7893 instead which I really like.

 

Yep, this is from 2003 range. MCS told me to expect it in April when I ordered, then managed to get me one that arrived yesterday. Very pleased

The 03 range does look good, and yes I like kenwood head units.

The manual states that it should not work with my KDC-803 from 1996 ("only use changers manufactured after 1997"), but I'm gonna try it anyhow.

 

There may be a cache, as the gap is damn tiny. I'll try a true "continuous" track rather than trying to guess, and let you know

 

The gap is milliseconds - there's a slight glitch, not enough to call a pause.

Also, there *is* a neat way of navigating folders using folder names. Very good, I'm still impressed