View Full Version : New Kenwood head unit
Just put my new kenwood Z838W head unit in the car, Thanks to Matt Harwood, A truely helpful person (rare these days) for sorting it out for me at a great price. 1 phone call and 20 hours later its at my door!
It sounds great and I havent even set it up yet. So many settings I think Ill be sat in the car for the next month!
Anyone want to suggest the best settings for the system e's / q settings?
I have 13cm Kenwood speakers in the front and 15cm in the back with a 12" sub in a sealed box in the boot.
Speakers are driven direct from the head unit amp (for now) and sub powered by a (too) small alpine amp.
:baa: :stupid: :baa:
this area goes ever so quiet when Matt Harwood inst around!
:stupid:
It IS a bit weird isn't it John...?
NOW, if you were to tell 'em that you were 'BOOSTING' your
audio output, or, 'TURBO-ING' your amp' they'd all be on here
in a shot ! !
:sly:
[ BTW, sorry no use with the Kenwood - still haven't got one yet
myself ]
Steve.
It might also be a case of everyone making an effort to not write responses when they realise they have no expertise in the matter at hand.
At the end of the day Matt runs and Audio shop so he should be able to help the most.
Barry also - I believe - has some expertise in this area.
But I have the PDW09521 which is a similar unit. If you mail me with exactly which settings you want I'll have a look at how I've set mine up..and am pretty happy with it.
alex@xtremeit.co.uk
Matt Harwood
15-07-02, 20:38
Sorry mate, I've read this post a couple of times at home and I meant to reply when I was back at work today.
I wanted to use the manual to reply in "menu order".
What speakers/amps are you running John? - (if any) And what give me an idea of your music tastes. ie. if you listen to a lot of drum 'n' bass stuff you'll prefer lot's of bass/treble, classical needs a strong mid/mild treble.
For example, I listen to a lot of 80's stuff and things like Shania Twain, The Corrs, Anastasia.
I like a good bassline, but one that compliments the music, not over-takes it. I like the highs, (cymbals), to be well pronounced but not harsh. I also prefer the sound to come from the front of the car so that I get a good stereo image/effect.
Music tastes are very personal and extremely subjective. I can give you some good guidelines but you'll need to fine tune it.
fronts are kenwood KFC-1387
rears are kenwood KFC-1777
both run from the headunit.
alpine 100w bridged amp running a 12" maystar sub in a sealed box running from non fading preouts.
I listen to 80, 90s, pop/rock, chart stuff and a bit of dance thrown in for good measure.
No D&B hehehehe
Thanks for the help.
Matt Harwood
17-07-02, 12:59
Sorry I didn't do this yesterday, I got a bit bogged down. So I'm doing this early, before the bogging starts again...:rolleyes:
First thing to do is select your speaker and woofer settings.
Fronts obviously 5/4, rears 6*9/6 inch and sub 12in. Type C
Next, go into the audio menu and starting from the top...
Bass centre freq. - 60/70 hz will mainly only affect the sub. This low setting can get a bit more grunt from the woofer but beware how you use it. At this frequency it can be hard to distinguish distortion at higher volumes, this could lead to the sub parting company with the real world:eek: 80/100 will give a bit of bass increase to the full range and can be a good compromise. Forget 150 hz, this will just make it sound muddy.
Bass level... You decide
Bass Q factor - This affects the width of the bass frequencies either side of the centre frequency. 1 being the widest and 2 being the narrow setting - If you choose 60 or 70 hz for your bass centre frequency, keep the Q on it's narrowest setting (1)
Bass Extension - If you have chose 60 or 70 hz as a centre frequency, keep this setting off. If you have one of the higher frequencies selected you may prefer this on. - Bass extension continues the bass boost to lower frequencies by the level selected in "bass level" to give added effect to the subwoofer.
Middle Centre frequency - As above but for mid-range frequencies. (I would set this to 2.00 Khz then set the mid-level to a minus figure and the Q factor to a mid/wide setting to remove some of the harsher/more prominent mid range)
Middle level - You decide - This is your midrange adjustment
Middle Q factor - As above for the midrange and surrounding frequencies
Treble centre frequency - 3 points for guessing what this does... (I would set this to either 12.5 Khz (or possibly even 15 if the recording is spot on) but only with a slight boost, to give the top end a bit more detail.
Treble level - More points available here ;)
Balance - Errr... Do I need to explain this one??
Fader - Ditto above :rolleyes:
Non fading level - This will be your sub output level adjustment
Front High pass filter (HPF Front) - For the speakers you have, I would suggest a setting of 100 or 120 Hz - High pass filters, (crossovers) stop frequencies below this figure to allow the speaker to work within it's range. Generally the smaller the speaker the higher the frequency required.
Rear High Pass filter (HPF Rear) - Again, with your speakers in mind probably 100 hz, possibly 80.
Non-Fading Low Pass filter (LPF NF) - This is the crossover frequency for your subwoofer. I would suggest either selecting 80 hz or through depending on what adjustments are on the amplifier. If the amp has a fully variable crossover with a greater slope, (Oh shite, this could get complicated), then select through. If it's a basic amp use the crossover in the headunit.
Non-Fading Phase - (NF Phase) - This will generally be set to 0 assumint that you have got the polarities correct to the speakers. - This is used to reverse the speakers polarity. Try selecting the 180 option to see if your bass impoves. It shouldn't if everything is correct. This is generally only used depending on the location of the sub and which direction it's facing. You may find that due to "standing waves" the sub may be "out of phase" by the time you hear it.
Volume offset - You can adjust the volume of each source, (cd, Changer, Tuner etc) , used if one source is louder than another. - Generally leave it alone
Loudness - Your choice. Ideally used when listening at lower levels.
Well, that's about it. Sorry to have gone on so much. I wanted to explain the settings rather than just give you figures to help you set it up to your tastes.
If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask.
Enjoy:music: :)
Thats exactly what I wanted Matt, thanks once again, I appriciate the more in depth explantion and no worrys on how long it took you, im just happy you did get back to me :)
Only 1 thing, I dont think I can set different speaker types for front and rear, I have it set on 5/4 at the moment to save the fronts ;)
Matt Harwood
17-07-02, 17:40
I thought you could... I'll check that out though...
Watch this space
Matt Harwood
22-07-02, 00:34
Doh! - You're right, I'm wrong:( :baa:
MATT, or JOHN ? (or, anybody for that matter)
When using the Kenwood (or, the Sony) mp3 head units,
can you write-to-disc as Folders (ie. Albums), or, do you have
to write them as 1 long list of tracks ?
Never used ANY .mp3 player, only used mp3 on PC to rip/store/write
audio CD's.
(AND, are any of the SONY mp3's compatable with my older
Sony multi' CDX-727 ? That would be perfect then ! )
Steve.
I can use folders on my kenwood, only 1 thing ive found i dont like is that random will only work within a folder, not the whole disc.
I dont know about your changer, and I dont know much about the Sonys IMO they look ugly, but you dont really need a changer with MP3.
My kenwood is the poodles privates, once you have MP3 you wont look back :D
BLIMEY....
That was QUICK...
I thought "I'm not in any rush, I'll just post John's old thread
and see if anyone takes any notice......."
WHAMO.....
Cheers John, the reason I'll look at the Sony's is I've already
fixed in my multi' and it's their ESP model (absolutely NO skipping !)
I know I'll not really need it with an mp3 h/unit but now it's
in there I'll see what Sony have to offer.
Do you really have control over Front/Rear treble/bass etc. with
this Q-System lark ? ? Now THAT sounds useful. I Always end up
turning the bass down a bit to NOT distort the fronts !
mmmmmmmm ?
Yup full control, adjustable crossovers for front, rear and sub outputs. ive only got 13cm fronts, never had them distort now its setup properly and its never skipped once. Believe me you wont miss the changer! :baa:
You don't work forrrrrrr.........
KENWOOD !
by any chance, do you......? ?
[only jokin' , yes I will look at the Kenwood(s) and the Sony(s),
now I want to know what the Sony(s) are like control-wise ]
ACTUALLY, if I don't go Sony and therefor lose my changer,
I may as well look at the Rockford as well (and any other medium
price). THAT has had very good reviews as well > > MATT ?
It does seem silly, I've got 40-50 mp3 albums and countless single tracks
on my hard-drive and STILL not got round to mp3 in the car !
Cheers again John.
Matt Harwood
05-08-02, 10:32
The Kenwood is probably the most flexible of them. Personally, I wouldn't touch the Rockford ones, over-rated IMO.
Well worth looking at the Alpine units. CDA-7998R, CDA-7894R and the CDA-7893R
http://www.alpine-europe.com/2002/audio/datas/gb/2002_cd_receiver.htm
As for Sony, They're not bad, but you don't get the flexability until you get up to the MEX-5DI unit, (This requires an external amp). Their lower end tends to relate more to funky looks. - Again, IMHO.
http://212.250.57.233/pro_products.asp?Cat=In-Car&subCat=CD+Radio&Ire=&CatID=30
OK, assuming Kenwood, are there any IMPORTANT differences
between the 5 (?) mp3 models [other than just looks] like way
they access mp3s/ control (like 'Q' ?) / power/ flexibilty with subs
etc. ?
I got these prices from the net just as guide:
Car Audio Centre:
Z838W £350
KDC PSW9521 £350
KDC 9021 £320
KDC M6521 £200
KDC M6021G £190
Notice that John went for one of the dearest ! Is it any better
than the others ?
Are any of them to be avoided for any reason.?
SORRY, questions-dribbling-off-the-keyboard-again, MUST STOP
DOING THIS ? ! ? !
Matt Harwood
05-08-02, 19:43
Flippin 'eck Tucker! - Those prices are cheap! Where was that from?
I'm wary to say this but beware, there are lots of B-stock/graded dealers out there that advertise prices like this.
The only one that's a bit sparse on features is the M6021G/MV6521
The most important difference with the Z and PSW units is WMA capability.
Kenwood:-
http://www.kenwoodeurope.com/products/caraudio-list.asp?sif2=4&sif3=23
Matt is the best person to answer this but I think the Z838W and the 9521 are pretty much the same apart from the 838 has a better display but no mask and the 9521 has mask.
You want the system Es not just Q which in only on the 9521 and 838 for full control.
I think the 6521 and the 6021 are the same except the 6521 has a variable colour display.
The more expensive models also play windows media audio but who uses that anyway :baa:
I think Ive covered the main points but Matt is much better qualified to answer than me so im sure he'll have more to add or put me straight. :D
Matt Harwood
05-08-02, 19:56
Doh!!! - Forgot about one of the best features! - John, Want a job!!!:stupid:
Excellent Mateys,
it's like listening/watching "Going for a Song"
with 2 of those 'experts-in-their-field' discussing the pro's/con's
of fine art pieces.....
MARVELOUS
"Oh, I think the 2nd Dynasty showed vast improvements in
colour and form, mmm, mmm "
Bought and Fitted new Head-Unit and Multi-Changer today:
Kenwood 9521 (the 'masky' one),
and MP3 Changer.
Will give 'em a going-over tomorrow.....
FIRST IMPRESSIONs:
LOADS OF CONTROL(s),:)
disc access nowhere NEAR as quick as Sony units ! ?,:(
can't put plastic 'surround' on front - have to make something -
looks a bit tacky without,:sly:
MUST get blanking plate, or, the 'Volvo' pocket tomorrow.:music:
Steve.
Matt, just entered those kenwood settings into my 9521, what a difference, nice one!!!!!!!
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