bheng

Hey guys. I am looking for double din units to complete my car audio project.
I have been looking into Kenwood dnx 9140, pioneer z110bt, and alpine w505


I went to talk to an audio specialist in the neighborhood, and he said alpine w505 is useless and will be obsolete. so dont bother. nav sucks too. lol

he highly praised the dnx 9140 and the z110bt.

i am looking for a nav, dvd, bt is optional i guess.
the gui for pioneer seems more appealing.
kenwood seems to be lacking. but it has better sound processing.

but then again im no expert.
I was wondering if you guys could guide me in the right direction or give your inputs on why or why not i should spend my money on the system?

jandmtv

Ive used the Kenwood, it WORKS! Not a fan of Pioneer anymore, they have seriously lost me as a customer. Too many problems with their headunits. And the bull**** video in motion security features of their head units **** me off even more. The Kenwood just has a hand brake wire that you can choose to connect to the handbrake, or direct to ground for VIM, while the Pioneer has a speed sensor on the nav that cuts off video after you start driving (thats if you get the Pio with Nav)

hope this helps.

jbondox

kenwood has crap menus, alpine lacks features, the pioneer lacks quality output...

you are in the same boat as I... but I settled for the Alpine as it has the best and worse of both worlds.

also the guy at the corner, doesn't know that alpine has a new nav? nve-m300 which works flawlessly

bheng

im still stuck. I want the kenwood because i personally think its the better way to go but the gui sucks. i havent found an alpine nav to really play with with the nve m300. but he said it wasnt so good either. =/ However, i havent played witha w505 yet. pioneer is nice gui but not worth it.

kenwood has updatable nav. I guess the nav is a major thing for me. . . i'll take your word for it and look up some more info on the nvem300. he said he has it in stock too (the unit nvem300 but he said it wasnt waulity either) i got the feeling he was favoring pioneer and kenwood. lol

what do you think?

jbondox

the alpine nav is the same as the kenwood, plus it has more customized colors for the map. I think it is a bit more refined than the Kenwood. the Best nav I have ever used is the nve872 from alpine, with the sirius traffic updates. I have a used one with an alpine 205 I am going to jettison soon. you know my secret and where I work... trust me when i say the alpine is the lesser of the 3 evils keep my secret a secret though also I can pretty much have anything what I want for equipment, and alpine is more friendly to the end user and has a lot more options for expansion

clk22

I agree with jbondox go with the alpine, I have the Alpine 505 in both of my cars and i could also have anything cause im in the industry as well. Its menus are very easy to use, ipod function is smooth and the nav is very accurate and easy to use all the features.

richkcmo

ill go for kenwood.

pinebaron

+1

paul65k

I have the 9140 installed in my 430CLK Cab and it works well. it is installed with the iPod interface cable, Steering Wheel controls, lifetime traffic (FM) unit installed and the DVD will work when the car is moving....not sure how they did it but it works. here are the Pro's and Con's from my point of view:

Pro's
I am familiar with Garmin systems and I am very comfortable with this interface
I am very impressed with the Parrott BT interface and functionality with my BB Curve 8900
The iPod interface is good and displays album art if your iPod can.
The fullscreen display is quite superior to the factory system.

Con's
The unit is not as well integrated as the factory system even with the SW controls in place.
I can always adjust the volume but can only use the up/down controls when the DIC (display in instrument cluster) in on a blank page.
The Phone controls (on SW) no longer work
the CD Changer in the trunk no longer works but quite candidly with the iPod it's not really needed.

Truth be told the system is better than the COMMAND system but it is irritating that it is not as well integrated as the factory system.

I just bought a CL55 with the COMMAND and I am debating moving the 9140 (less than 4 months old) into the new car and reinstalling the factory nav system back into the CLK.

Sorry I can't help more but as I have the 9140 (2 actually as I also put one in the Avalanche with BU camera) I am disturbed that the unit does NOT support the SW Phone buttons (In both cars) and this is a bummer.....other than that the Nav is 1000 times better than the Merc factory system as it is not only easier to use and change on the fly but provides a great deal more info including the speed limit on the given road as well as displaying your GPS speed, arrival time or other fields that are user definable and the Parrott BT is great but it is NOT designed specifically for your car and there are comprimises....but then again I'm guessing that you will have most if not all of these same issues with any after-market system.

Let me know if you would like any further info.

Cheers!

bheng

i went with the avic z110bt. i wanted the 9140 for a bit, but ended up with the avic after playing with it at the shop for a bit.

But thanks for all the insight. and many thanks to the SW controls insight, paul65k. I am debating if i want to add the pac products. I mean, is it worth it to pay 150 for both the pac audio equipment just to have volume control? lol

Dancer

What SW interface(s) are you using? In my '05 W211, I installed both the PAC CAN2 and the PAC SWI-Jack (the CAN2 interfaces with the MOST BUS for SW button control, and the SWI-Jack sends it to the HU). I am able to control both volume and station frequencies. Sadly, no phone control, but since the DNX-9140 has voice control, most controls are accessible (almost like using the OEM VC, but more controls for the HU source selection and control). And of course, the touch-control buttons on the HU are also available.

Note that as with the OEM controls, the gauge cluster needs to be in AUDIO positon for the above controls to work. PHONE menu is no longer available as that's controlled by the Kenwood.

In all, as you mention, the DNX controls are much more robust over OEM.

I also considered the Pioneer, but accuracy was an issue. During a driving test, on streets that parallel a highway, the Pioneer would sometimes get confused on which street it was on.

I also considered Alpine, as I have a NIB NVE-872 with the updated NVD-802A maps. However, Alpine HU's are far from the quality they once were. I also have a dual-processor F#1 Status system with 5 F900 amps, but install takes up too much space.

To summarize, I find that the DNX-9140 does all I want it to do. It does have issues, but is light-years ahead in conveniences.

paul65k

I do have the PAC SW controls and really the MAJOR gripe is that the Phone can;t be controlled from the SW. If PAC could fix this I would be completely sold. They are based here in OC so maybe they could make it work......if the 9140 can support.

Dancer

I don't think it's an issue with PAC. Even if you do get the SW phone buttons to send a signal, what interface would interpret it? The DNX-9140 does not accept specific Bluetooth signals through the wired input.

Additionally, the SWI-Jack certainly has no provisions to relay that type of signal to any supported after-market HU. The only alternative would be to use the RCD-V330 remote control (which I despise because of complexity - no convenient way to use while driving).

The DNX-9140 Bluetooth can only be controlled through the IR remote or voice command. Therefore, the safest option is to have the VC button mounted conveniently accessible to provide Bluetooth supported voice commands.

Currently, when replacing an OEM system, there are no after-market solutions that provide full capabilities. Unfortunately, that's the tradeoff.