I currently use this deck, the xxv-01d. It came out last year. 25th anniversary excelon line. I have always used Kenwood excelon decks. Hands down best you can get. But then again everybody has a opinion. If I were in the market for Double Din, it would only be excelon. If you do a search for excelon xxv-05v you might can find the 25th d.d. deck at one of those price grabber sites. looks like this, although it is a single din foldout, if not I would do the 8017. probably got most of the same features.
I've got the 8017, and can honestly say that there's nothing that it can't do that I wish it could do. It's great. I've had it for 2 years now in my Tacoma and now in my FJ and the only thing so far to go wrong is that the cooling fan makes a lot of noise when it's cold for about 5 seconds as it's warming up, then it goes all quiet and perfect again. *knocks on wood*
I've got the 8017, and can honestly say that there's nothing that it can't do that I wish it could do. It's great. I've had it for 2 years now in my Tacoma and now in my FJ and the only thing so far to go wrong is that the cooling fan makes a lot of noise when it's cold for about 5 seconds as it's warming up, then it goes all quiet and perfect again. *knocks on wood*
This might be completely hijacking this thread but could someone mind explaining to me what an HD tuner is? I am completely in the dark on this, and have seen a couple of references to it but have no clue what it is. I have HDTV and it is amazing the difference in picture, is it that kind of difference for radio? Is the radio CD quality?
This might be completely hijacking this thread but could someone mind explaining to me what an HD tuner is? I am completely in the dark on this, and have seen a couple of references to it but have no clue what it is. I have HDTV and it is amazing the difference in picture, is it that kind of difference for radio? Is the radio CD quality?
Thnx
LOL, yeah, stop hijacking, (not like I'm not post wh0ring)
Radio stations can make the switch to HD signal if they want to. TV stations are being mandated to make the switch. HD radio is being touted as the savior for FM (since Sattelite radio has been sucking away listeners to conventional radio) since the sound quality is actually a little better than satellite radio. However, 99% of the stations aren't using the full capabilities of HD right now and are simply re-broadcasting the same thing that they are playing on the regular analog stations with all the commercials that I try to avoid. HD has the ability to play muliple stations all over the same frequency (ex, one talk, one news, one music, etc.. ) HD FM is supposedly CD quality sound, and HD AM is supposedly FM quality sound. It's a digital signal, so it's either there or it isn't, there's no static, but the signal doesn't travel as far as FM or AM either, so if you live in remote locations, you may not get any signal, whereas with regular FM or AM you could at least get a static-laden signal.
Station listings can be found here... HD Digital Radio | DISCOVER IT! | Stations ON THE AIR
Thanks to all for the great information!!! My gut instinct was to go with the 8017 and that's what I am going to purchase. My only concern was input I got from a vendor last week that told me the 8017 was going to be obsolete soon and not compatible with new emerging technologies.
I would like to get KNA-G510 (Nav), but at $500 it is going to be on my wish list. Just hope the separate install doesn't cost $500.
There are not that many HD stations up here yet so I will wait on the HD. I learned a valuable lesson when I purchased my HDTV and later found out I have about 2 HD stations to choose from. I should have waited on that too.
I used the PAC SWI-ALP and it works great... when it's working. It has a bad tendancy to only work 50% of the time.
The 8017 has been around for quite some time however, if you need to buy something now, there's not really anything out there that is ahead of this unit with the exception of it's lack of hard drive. If that kind of thing appeals to you, hold out and get a hard drive unit. Personally, the fact that it plays MP3-DVD's is good enough for me. I have most of my CD collection on a few disks that I carry with me. I'm sure in the future, they'll just all have wifi and all you'll have to do to download your new songs is park near your computer and it'll automatically upload your new songs via WIFI. Personally, I will want a hard drive unit in about 2-3 years when the technology is more commonplace and feature rich and my 8017 finally kicks the bucket, but not before that. For now, you'll be happy w/ the 8017.
The TV tuner works better than the TVs in my house. Problem is, next year they shut off all analog signals and HDTV will be the standard, so... It'll be useless, and I'll have to uninstall it.
If you're gonna get this unit, the NAV is what makes it IMO, it's an easy install, but if you're gonna do it, do it in the beginning to save yourself from tearing it all apart again later. Although I bought my system piecemeal, I must have taken the dash apart 10 times putting in each option separately. NO fun.
Last edited by silvertoy : 11-06-2006 at 11:30 AM.
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