Kenwood KDC X717 CD Receiver

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $450.00 from Crutchfield

Year / Model Reviewed:
2001 Kenwood X-717

Summary:
This was my first Kenwood head unit, and will now be my last. I got it from Crutchfield, and thank God it came with a two year warranty, as it decided to suddenly stop working 25 days before the warranty expired. Crutchfield paid for shipping and repair, and the HU gave me two more years of operation until it crapped out again. I put my 6 year old Sony deck back in my car, and now I realize I made a mistake with this Kenwood. What the Sony lacked in sound tailoring/customizing and display options, it more than made up for in SQ, dynamics and actually has much better sounding pre-outs. I'm not knocking the Kenwood entirely. It did have its strengths -- which include the display (esp at night), the ability to tailor the sound with variable Q, the ability to set high and low pass filters for the three pre-outs and a few other things. The bad definitely trumps the good on this HU however. I've had this unit in three different cars, and always thought my sound problems were due to the fact that I was driving aftermarket speakers with the HU amp rather than an outboard 4 channel amp. I found out this was not the case when this thing finally decided to cash out on me. It was a nice blessing. Good riddance.

Strengths:
Tons of sound customizing options. Quality display day or night.

Weaknesses:
Terrible preout sound -- Made my JL 12W7 sound like a factory sub in a Yukon sometimes. Pathetic bass -- no matter how hard you work to tailor the sound. I actually thought I was doing something wrong with my JBL BP1200.1 and JL 12W7 combo. I was wrong. It was the HU. Motorized face mechanism broke twice in two years.

Similar Products Used:
Factory 2000 Accord deck sounded better Sony CDX-C5000X Alpine -- way old, like 96

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $60.00 from Private Seller

Year / Model Reviewed:
2001 KDC-X717

Summary:
just hooked it up today and i'd have to say i'm impressed, specially for the price i got it for i'd say it's a good find. the 4.5 volt preouts are great and got rid of the noise in my previous system setup and the features are well, a lot, haven't had the time to mess with it but so far, i love it.

Strengths:
looks great 4.5 volt preout great features stealth capability theft deterrent (setup a security code) lots more i have to find out

Weaknesses:
haven't found any so far

Similar Products Used:
jvc, alpine

Price Paid:  $360.00 from Audio King

Year / Model Reviewed:
2001 Kenwood KDC-X717

Summary:
For those of you who say the warranty is only one year, That is what you get for not buying from an authorized Kenwood dealer. All Kenwood Excelon products have a 2 year warranty and when I bought mine there was a card to send in that added another year to the warranty making it three years.As far as the problems you are having I think some are exaggerated. I have had mine for almost three years and the only thing that ever went wrong was it would skip when playing CDR's. Kenwood told me where to take it localy and in two days it was good as new.

Strengths:
Excellent quality, Good warranty, clean sound and many useful features.

Weaknesses:
Spendy, But worth every penny I spent.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic, Jvc and other kenwood stereos, Currently have KDC-X717,KAC-X201T, KAC-X401M and KAC-821 with infinity Kappa subs and front speakers,Kenwoods in the rear.

Price Paid:  $369.00 from Mickey Shore

Year / Model Reviewed:
2002 Kenwood kdc-x717

Summary:
This model worked well for 26 months or about 15 months of actual use since it was in my second vehicle than it died on me. With a 1 year warranty that was not worth the paper it was printed on I would caution anyone who is thinking about buying a Kenwood product. I will never own another piece of there product

Strengths:
works well when under warranty

Weaknesses:
To much money for time that it lasts

Price Paid:  $450.00 from Quality Audio Pensac

Summary:
i was really pleased with the many functions of the crossover, the ability to change the color of the buttons, and the many different display options. Started out as a good deck, but after the 1 year warranty the deck just went nuts! come to find out, the ribbon cable connecting the flip face to the deck broke (from the constant swinging motion of the flip down face, and the bottom lip of the deck brushing against the face causing the cover plate to seperate from the back of the face, thus pulling the cable out little by little until it breaks.) causing problems ranging from the display going out to the deck being stuck in eject mode. now that ive had it repaired, its been 2 weeks since i put the deck back in my car and its back to the same tricks. but now since i know where the problem is i might be able to fix it myself. maybe i can squeeze another year out of it. no more kenwood for me its only alpine.

Strengths:
Crossover, display options, button illumination, 3D Mask+

Weaknesses:
Durability, Warranty, 3D Mask+(see summary)

Similar Products Used:
Alpine