After a lot of 'hemming and hawing' about whether we should get the Eclipse or the Kenwood, The Wizard and I went with the Kenwood (it's all-black, the resolution/pixel count is higher, the remote is much better and you don't need to eject your navigation disk ever time you want to watch a DVD). We got a pretty good deal since we were buying two of everything. We paid under $2400 each out the door for an 8017 headunit, 4100 navigation, Excelon 10-disc changer, the Bose adaptor and the antenna adaptor.

We did the installation our selves and are very glad we did. The hardest part was the customizing needed to flush the unit with the dash and to fill the gap around the unit. The unit stuck out a good 1/2" using the stock holes. Also, the unit did not fill the entire stock opening nor did the provided trim panel fit (without modification). Thus a lot of custom work was needed. A big thanks for The Wizard's help with that.

I have a few complaints about the unit but overall it is a very fun toy and I am glad I got it. O.k., on with the pics:

Close-up, unit off:


Nav., day time:


Nav., night time:

 

Nav. and Changer in trunk:


Some DVDs:



Door open:

 

My fake face:
(Still needs work, I just wipped this up quick so I can drive the car).

 

Very nice! I like your system

 

pretty nice! I like your system, Too!

 

nice stealth look to it.

 

8017? wow thats a new one huh? i have the 7015

I also thought long ang hard about the eclipse head unit but in the end went with kenwood
what upgrages do you have with the 8017 over the 8015?
your install looks great by the way ,I was not able to get the trim plate to work with mine so any help you could give me would be the coolest

 

Nice install, I love the idea of a fake face. How you like the unit?

 

WHOA!!! Looking good there man. I am really likeing that fake face thing to. Keep thieves out of our ****...

 

Hey Darrick. The differences from your 7015 to the 2005 8017 can be seen in this link: http://www.goleather.com/detail.asp?product_id=DDX8017
The main things are: all-black, new remote, 5V pre-output level (vs. 2V), 2 AV inputs (vs. 1), the 5.1 surround/DSP stuff is built in, option for a center channel. As for the trim plate, I am going to pass you over to The Wizard (James). http://forums.maxima.org/member.php?u=10034 He was the mastermind behind customizing our trim pieces to fit. He's a cool guy and I am sure he'd be happy to help you. Just PM/e-mail him.

 

nice job man that is a really cool setup

 

The 8017 looks awesome. I too, have the 7015, and sometimes wish I got the 8017 (if not for the 5v outputs, at least for the much cooler GUI).

 

Looks good. Like the idea of the fake faceplate. I would love to see a theif trying to steal the stock setup and pull that off and be like WTF. If I were you I would probably color the part where the CD would go into black though. Anyway I just wanted to say it looks good.

 

Like I already said "My fake face:
(Still needs work, I just wipped this up quick so I can drive the car)."


It's much better now.

 

that looks great

 

Very nice install.

What type of backround options do you have while you are playing a music CD or listening to the radio (i.e. wallpaper)? Can you upload your own .JPG files for use as wallpaper? I have been shopping at these kenwoods and the salespeople can never answer my questions.

 

CRB,
There are 4 wall-papers, none anything special. I forget how many screen savers there are, I haven't changed that yet. There are no less than one and no more than four, but I'll double check for you tonight. The screen saver I had on (stock) was nothing special. In fact, I just turned it off. No, you can not upload any wall-papers/screen savers. Hope that helps.

 

Hey jigga. Well, since you asked. I do really like it. I'm glad I bought it, but there are a handful of things that I dislike. I'm not sure if the Eclipse would solve any of these complaints but here are my complaints:


The unit does not fill the full double din. And the trim piece Kenwood gives us doesn't work without cutting/hacking.

The unit is shiny gloss black, not flat black like our dash.

The unit sticks out a good .5" when using the stock mounting location (modification needed for a flush fit).

The LCD screen is sunk in about 3/8" from the outer trim. It should be flush!

Very limited choice in wall-papers/screen savers and they are not customizable.

When you use the 'Zoom' mode (picture fills the whole screen) while watching DVDs, the picture quality goes way down.

That stupid 'ice-cube' button glows so bright, it distracts from the movie.

The owner's manual is terrible. It is literally written by someone who does not speak English as his/her primary language. I am not exaggerating. You can tell English is this person's second language. I need to read the manual 2-3 times and sit in the car playing with the Kenwood before some things sink in.

The buttons don't light up at night when the headlights are on but the unit is off! You have to 'fish' for the power button just to turn it on. And the dash doesn't look as nice at night when it is all blacked out.

Way too much button pushing to get from one source to the next. Ex. going from CD to CD changer to Navigation. The audio and video are separate so you have to pump both buttons until they line up with what you want.

Every day things are just plain harder. If you want to play a CD in the stock Bose unit, you hit “CD” – it powers up and plays the CD. You want to listen to FM on the stock unit, hit “FM”. Now I have to hit ‘Power’, wait 3-5 seconds for the unit to turn on, and proceed with the button pushing until I get the source I want.

The navigation is wrong 80+% of the time. Usually not by much. For instance if I am asking for say Home Depot, she will take me to the plaza half a mile to a mile down the road instead of the actual Home Depot plaza. This happens almost every time – she rarely gets me to the exact location. And sometimes the unit is just plain wrong – she tries to take me down a dead end street! Sorry babe, I can’t plow through a barricade and go off-roading like you are suggesting. Sometimes in-route she’ll wig out. “Make a U-Turn followed by a U-Turn”. But over-all, the nav. is user-friendly and gets you where you need to go.

There is a stop button on the internal DVD/CD player but no stop button for the changer. I feel bad just hitting the power button and turning the unit off in the middle of CD play.

The volume level of the DVD player is much lower than any other source. I need to listen to DVDs at volume 30+, while 15-20 is good for CDs, radio, etc. Very frustrating (and not fun when you switch to the radio from a DVD).


maybe I am being too picky but those are my gripes. But don't get me wrong, there are many things I love about it.