kenwood any good?

[m3rcy]

Kenwood CD Player - KDC-139 - Supercheap Auto

just wondering if this head unit is any good? just for a basic start, im new to this so dont have a go

[MG's VH Wag]

Yeah mate thats a good start, it would be nice and easy to use and once you get to know more about car audio you can upgrade if you want.

[calais24/7]

It's not too bad, but you really do get what you pay for, PM joe from shopping secure and he will give you good value and a good unit

[Philthy]

What are your future plans for the stereo?
Better to buy a unit now that will last you a while than to have to upgrade everytime you want to change anything

[m3rcy]

Well i want a half decent system, i atleast want 2 front, 2 rear and 1 sub etc you know but a system that will actually sound alright and wont distort.

and if someone could explain or show me a link to what all this 'audio' talk is, ohm, bridge etc etc

cheers

[holdenboy]

Well the KDC-139 will be able to run 4 speakers (off the head-unit) and a sub (through an amp) without a problem.
It depends on whether you want an amp to run the speakers or not.

It also depends on how much you want to spend on a system, its good practice to buy a head-unit that can accommodate any upgrades you may want to do in the future (like an amp to run the speakers).

Have a look at this thread if you havent already

[HCVP]

Well i want a half decent system, i atleast want 2 front, 2 rear and 1 sub etc you know but a system that will actually sound alright and wont distort.

and if someone could explain or show me a link to what all this 'audio' talk is, ohm, bridge etc etc

cheers

The term "ohm" is a unit used to measure resistance levels through out an electrical system.
Both speakers, and amplifiers, have their own impedance levels.When you select audio components, it is important that you match the impedance levels correctly, such as when matching speakers, and subwoofers, to amplifiers.

The lower the impedance level, the less resistance.With less resistance, amplifiers are able to generate higher amounts of power.Full range speakers, such as coaxials, component splits, ect, are all that i know of, 4 ohm.Subwoofer's, can vary.This is due to many subwoofers having more than one voice coil.If you see it abreviated such as "SVC"or "DVC" this mean the the subwoofer is a single, or dual voice coil.The impedance levels of the coil typically vary from 2 ohm, to 4 ohm.Manafactuers make subwoofers available at different impedance levels to allow it to be wired in a configuration so that it be suitable an amplifiers own impedance levels.There is more to it, such how you can wire a component/s to vary these levels, and so forth, but i won't go into it as it can be hard to explain it to some one, especially in text.

Bridging, is when the channels of an amplifier are wired together, to form a single channel.For e.g, you can wire 2 channels together to form 1 channel.Or 4 channels combined to form 2 channels, and so forth.A common use for this, is bridging 2 channels together, to power a subwoofer.Each channel represents a single output, so if you have 2 channels, you can drive 2 speakers, it is possible to drive more than one speaker from a single channel, however it isn't a very common practice in entry level setups.Another common practice is to "bridge" the channels of a 4 channel amplifier, into 2 channels, to provide more power to a set of speakers, such as the front speakers.

It can be very difficult to explain things like this using text in a forum ect, without ranting on too much, but hopefully it helped somewhat.If there is anything you didn't understand out of that, or require more info on, let me know and either myself or another member can help you out..

[bezz]

Ohm is a measure of impedance. In the AC world (such as when looking at an audio signal) impedance can be thought of as not only resistance but also capacitance and inductance as well.

[m3rcy]

Well the KDC-139 will be able to run 4 speakers (off the head-unit) and a sub (through an amp) without a problem.
It depends on whether you want an amp to run the speakers or not.

It also depends on how much you want to spend on a system, its good practice to buy a head-unit that can accommodate any upgrades you may want to do in the future (like an amp to run the speakers).

Have a look at this thread if you havent already

Okay sweet, what if i did want to add an amp to run the speakers/sub later on, would it be a good idea to spend a little more $ and get a better head deck?
I had a look on that site and found out the KDC-139 is non-mp3 ha so would the KDC-MP239 be alright for the extra and what it costs?

Thanks for the explanation too it makes more sense then it did but there's still more learning i guess Does that mean you can run 2 speakers off of one channel? just as long as the amp has enough power to do so?

CHeers

[danja]

I used to have a Kenwood unit very similar to that, but it did MP3/WMA too. It probably won't blow your socks off, but it's a decent enough little unit and a good upgrade over over the factory deck. Suggest getting the MP3 version though, it can't cost much more, to be honest I'm surprised it's not standard these days.

[m3rcy]

Okay yeah i dont exactly want it to be excessively loud, i just want a system that will be loud enough but sound really clear at the same time, and i thought the same, as nearly every person has an ipod or mp3 player...

Cheers

[HCVP]

[QUOTE Does that mean you can run 2 speakers off of one channel? just as long as the amp has enough power to do so?CHeers[/QUOTE]

Provided the amp has suffiecient power, and that the amplifier is stable at the ohm rating presented by the speakers.E.g, you could essentially wire 2 (4ohm) speakers together, to obtain a 2 ohm load.But i wouldn't worry too much about things like that, your not likely to be doings things like that with your first setup...Also, the type of head unit you use, if matched with an amplifier, has little if no impact, on loud it is.

[danja]

You'll probably find it to be reasonably loud (louder than the stock deck), if you drive the speakers directly from the head unit, but if you want louder and/or better quality sound you'll be looking at amplifiers anyway - at which point the head unit becomes mostly irrelevant in determining maximum volume.

[m3rcy]

Alright, its all starting to make more sense now... so why do some pay 1000 for a head unit? or is that where the quality of the sound comes from?
So that means a decent amp will improve sound quality?

Sorry for all the questions hah but its really appreciated

Cheers

[HCVP]

The more you spend, the more you get.
$100 unit-single pre out, CD player (so you can play a CD, and connect a single amp)
$500 unit, 3 pre outs, MP3, Bluetooth,USB, parametric eualiser, ect ( so you can play a CD, MP3, Ipod, ect, you can connect 3 amplifiers, and have total control over them)

While they might not be the exact things you get for the price, it's just a really rough idea of the some of the features you would expect to get.

So that's why a few members gave you the advice of buying a unit that suit's your plans for future upgrades.E.g, there is no point in buying a head unit with only one pre out, if you want eventually add 2 or 3 amplifiers.

[m3rcy]

The more you spend, the more you get.
$100 unit-single pre out, CD player (so you can play a CD, and connect a single amp)
$500 unit, 3 pre outs, MP3, Bluetooth,USB, parametric eualiser, ect ( so you can play a CD, MP3, Ipod, ect, you can connect 3 amplifiers, and have total control over them)

While they might not be the exact things you get for the price, it's just a really rough idea of the some of the features you would expect to get.

So that's why a few members gave you the advice of buying a unit that suit's your plans for future upgrades.E.g, there is no point in buying a head unit with only one pre out, if you want eventually add 2 or 3 amplifiers.

Okay, yeah that clarifies alot there... so now when i buy one ill know a little more then what i did

Thanks too all that put in a hand to help out, really appreciated + might have some questions later on haha