Car stereo questions

[masraum]

OK, Anyone have any of these or any personal experience with them

Kenwood DNX691HD
Kenwood DNX891HD
Alpine INE-957HD

I'm thinking of getting one of those as a kit from Rod Birch at Car Audio Innovations for the boxster.

The difference between the 3 seems pretty small. The difference between the 2 Kenwoods is very minor, at least, as far as I can tell. Basically, a slightly larger screen due to some layout changes.

The Alpine seems to have pretty much the same features as the other two.

I'm leaning toward the Kenwood 691. I like the idea of a volume knob and having all of the button controls on the left instead of across the bottom. Besides, that unit is a few hundred cheaper.

[sc_rufctr]

I've always bought Alpine gear. They've always been reliable and well put together.
I haven't ever owned anything from Kenwood so I can't comment on their reliability.

Why Alpine? I guess that's because of their advertising in the 80s.
Those Alpine equiped 911s were marketing genius in their day.

[masraum]

I've always thought that Alpine put out a more visually appealing and less flashy product. Kenwood actually was years ago too, but these days they seem to have gotten more flashy. I read a review that actually had some pros/cons of each. The review seemed to thing that the sound out of the Kenwoods was a little better, but that the menus and controls on the Alpine were a little simpler.

My other question is going to be, and I will probably ask CAI, about the whole 4 channel vs 5 channel thing. Apparently, when you go 4 channel, the front speakers are driven by the amp, and the rear speakers are driven by the stereo. If you go with the 5 channel, the front and rear are driven by the 4 amp channels and the door speakers are driven by the sub channel.

What I want to know is which will sound better.

The Alpine has a row of buttons across the bottom of the unit. The Kenwood 691 has buttons on the left with a central volume knob and the Kenwood 891 has a row of buttons across the bottom.

Decisions, decisions.

[Rot 911]

Just checked Crutchfield: Car Stereo, Speakers, Home Theater, Pro Audio, LED TV They carry all three. Go over there and check out the customer reviews. Most reviewers there are brutally honest. As a heads up, not many reviews of the Alpine and those few reviews were not good.

[masraum]

Wow, yeah, no love for the Alpine.

[berettafan]

Alpine apparently isn't what it was 20 yrs ago when I was all hot and bothered by car stereos.

That said I think current model head units are universally horrible from a touch/interaction standpoint. Chintzy tiny buttons and tacky displays. Just awful.

Recently bought a pioneer for my wrangler based on what I remember as a warm sound (again, 20+ years ago!).

Should gone ebay and bought a 20yr old Alpine.

[berettafan]

be careful on the reviews. a lot are based on features (crossover points, programming flexibility, etc) and not so much on sound.

[biosurfer1]

Alpine used to be THE standard back when I was into car stereo's (ah wasted youth money) but I think their QA has gone downhill as technology has become cheaper, they had to cut prices to compete with the "lesser" brands.

[scottmandue]

My recent experience with the Miata.
Bought a medium Kenwood (250)... worked fantastically but being a dork I just presumed all radios came with preset buttons.
Kenwood sounded/looked/worked great but couldn't get over not having any preset buttons for radio stations.
Seeing as I had already overspent on the car stereo budget I bought the low end Alpine. It works/sounds okay... people complain about the outgoing sound quality of the Bluetooth/phone feature (but it works) and the Bluetooth music streaming is flaky (have to reestablish the Bluetooth connection every time you want to use it, kind of a PITA).
All that to say I would not be afraid to get a Kenwood (and mine is for sale )

[Nostril Cheese]

I'm using the same Alpine deck i bought 10 years ago. I'm not sure about quality these days, but the one I bought has worked perfectly.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by berettafan

be careful on the reviews. a lot are based on features (crossover points, programming flexibility, etc) and not so much on sound.

Yeah, I generally take most reviews with a barrel full of salt. I figure that between the fake reviews, and the reviews by people that do nothing but complain about everything and the reviews done by any idiot with a keyboard, there are only a small percentage that are worth paying attention to.

I found this link that was interesting.
Best Double Din Car Navigation Systems for 2014 - Car Stereo Reviews & News + Tuning, Wiring, How to Guide's
Apparently, the car stereo chick compares Pioneer, to Alpine to Kenwood.

These units are not perfect. If you’ve had Kenwood radios before, you know what I’m talking about. They pack a lot of features into their radios and it’s easy to get lost in their menus sometimes from something as simple as trying to adjust the bass on your stereo. Once you’ve had a Kenwood eXcelon unit though, you tend to look past the initial user difficulties because you appreciate the excellent sound quality. If sound quality is important to you and you are the type of consumer that can hear and appreciate the subtle differences and nuances between digital to analog convertors among brands, you will appreciate the superior sound quality in this deck. Some customers in my showroom can pick this difference out right away, others can not.


Alpine is easy to use and all about clean lines. What you see is what you get. Many consumers out there will appreciate Alpine’s simplistic design and ease of use. You definitely won’t get lost in any menus on an Alpine stereo or distracted by any bouncy or flashy lights and colors. They’re very straightforward and somewhat subdued. The pages and options are easy to navigate and are relatively responsive compared to some of the more feature packed models mentioned above.

Alpine has created what I lovingly refer to as the non flashy double din navigation units. These models are perfect for consumers that are seeking an upgrade without advertising it. They want a clean and almost OEM fit and finish and it’s evident that Alpine has taken great care designing their user interface. The simple, yet clean look they’ve developed reminds me a bit of Apple’s approach to design and function.

[carstereochick]

Hi everyone, I'm so flattered you linked to my article. Thank you! I hope you found it helpful. I wanted to mention that I also made a video on this too in case you don't have the ability to actually see this stuff in action on display in a store. There is a link on my website in the beginning of that post to the video. Being a newbie on this forum, I didn't think it would be appropriate to post a direct link.

I do this stuff every day and sell all three brands so I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have here on the forum. I will add one more thing to this conversation. Aesthetically talking, in the Porsche with either the matte black finish dash kit or factory matched silver dash kit, I do think the Alpine or the full 7" Kenwood or any Pioneer NEX model looks cleaner than the DNX691HD. Kenwood uses a shiny black finish on their eXcelon product and it would drive me nuts against either matte black or silver dash kit. It's the little things sometimes that make a big difference. Thanks again for linking to my site