Kenwood KDC-3011

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Came with used car

Year / Model Reviewed:
2002 Kdc-3011

Strengths:
Looks very nice

Weaknesses:
Station reception

Summary:
The radio was great, while it worked, until something happened to the power. It will come on when it feels up to it...but, most of the time it won't even power up, although the red light is on...(solid on unfortunately-not flashing as it should). The radio rarely skipped and the sound was pretty good, with decent speakers. Some stations were difficult to pick up and most AM stations were very hard to pick up. I didn't do anything to the radio except try to start the car one day and the radio started acting up...I thought it was a loose wire, so I had it checked out...the problem is internal and a new radio is all that can be done...sigh.

Price Paid:  $259.00 from Local Electronics St

Year / Model Reviewed:
 99

Strengths:
Dosent skip, easy to use controls.

Weaknesses:
Display hard to see in direct sun light, radio reception could use some help.

Summary:
Very well built head unit, I have had it in 3 different trucks including my old 4X4 and very rarely skips even under the most severe off road conditions.

Similar Products Used:
Sony, they need to stick to building tv's.

Price Paid:  $259.00 from circuit city

Year / Model Reviewed:
 kdc-3011

Strengths:
*WILL NOT SKIP!!!!! *It's not blindingly bright. *Easy to use (when people ride in my car, they don't pop the faceplate off trying to change the volume/cd/track... *If you spill goo in it, it still works!

Weaknesses:
*Sometimes the display is hard to read in direct sunlight. *Bad radio reception (not reallly bad, but worse than my stock head unit was. The CD sound quality greatly outweighs that, though.)

Summary:
I think that at this head unit is great. I got it in June of '99 when I got my car. It was "top of the line" back then and i still think it is. I've never had it skip on me, but I do agree with others about radio stations becoming harder to pick up. Not that i listen to the radio much anymore though. The change from stock was incredible, it sounded like i put new speakers in as well, even though i only have crappy 15w 5.25's in the front and 25w 6x9's in the rear. I got the kdc 215s for my boyfriend for christmas, and although i am a bit jealous that he has more treble/bass tweakability, his skips quite a bit and i would take the 3011 over his any day.

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood KDC-215s I've been in many cars with Clarion, Pioneer, and Alpine decks, and they were all more difficult to figure out, and had "too much going on."

Price Paid:  $230.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1999

Strengths:
None

Weaknesses:
RCA outputs die, not enough sound tweaking abilities.

Summary:
Just bringing an update from my previous review (at the very bottom). Found a few toubles with this thing now that I have had it a while.
#1- The RCA's all died!!! After doing much research I found that this model (and a few others of this year) are notorious for having the RCA outputs die. The problem is that the ground for the shield breaks inside the unit itself, therefor causing a bad connection with weak sound and horrible noise, or no output at all. Can be easily soldered back together, but it is still a pain if you don't know what you are doing.
#2- Sound adjustmensts. Once you get past the beginner audio stage bass and treble adjustments aren't enough. Pionners come with low, mid, and high, plus you can pick the center of the frequency adjustment, and many other things. These decks need something like that if you really want to get into music. Luckly I was able to pick up an Audiocontrol EQL and now have all the tweaking I need.
This is still a decent deck, just thought I'd let you know what will probably happen down the road. If you aren't running an amp off it, you'll be fine.

Similar Products Used:
None

Strengths:
I like the way it looks and the power it gives out. It has never skipped in the 7 months I have had it.

Weaknesses:
The reception of radio stations isn't very good even though I think it is due to bad wiring. That is my only complaint.

Summary:
I paid over $300 dollars for this one right after it first came to the store I brought it from. Even though it is pricy I still like it. I would recommend it to other buyers if they are ready to open their wallets for quality.

Similar Products Used:
I've compared it to a couple of my friends CD Players and I think mine is better. They had a Pioneer and a JVC. The looks and power overall make it a winner.