What up all?

A tragic event transpired today: while attempting to play Disc 2 from the Collector's Edition of the movie "Speed," my Panasonic CQ-VD7005U took a crap and gave up its ghost...it consumed the disc and would NOT give it back, thereby wounding me on two fronts:

1. The CD reading/eject mechanism was destroyed, thus necessitating a new head unit.

and more IMPORTANTLY...

2. The disc was unable to be extricated from the stereo, thereby making me miss the interview with Sandra Bullock that was on the disc in question.


On the PLUS side, a new stereo was obviously in order, so I popped in a Kenwood DDX712, and I must say I am THOROUGHLY impressed...the picture quality is unparalleled, and the sound quality blows that of the Panasonic out of the water (at 50% bass and 70% volume, I can drain my 2.0 Farad capacitor with less than a dozen solid "thumps" from my Kicker CVX 12). This is a double DIN unit, so it looks WAY cleaner than the flip out Panasonic. Below are some pictures. Enjoy!


Russ D.

P.S. - Anyone else that has this specific deck, please chime in with your thoughts and opinions on the 712, I would be curious to see if you love this deck as much as I do!

 

Couple of questions for ya' if ya' dont mind...and BTW- nice looking unit

Did you do the install yer'self?

What did you have STOCK in that location? My gig or the simple head unit? I'dd love to updrade mine and wondering......

Was an additional harness and/or coupler needed to hook to the factory harness?

Are you (still) running the stock amp along with the kicker? If so mind talking me through the setup?

Sorry to hear about the disc...and the panasonic: I usually have reccomeneded many a peep to either kenwood or panasonic as I've had nothing but good luck with them-- can NOT say the same with Alpine, Sony and some of the other big names. I manage to pretty much destroy units within 2-3 years (kenwoods and panasonics) while the shortest lived ones have been alpines with one dying 3 WEEKS after the install Guess all that bouncing and dust

I know it'll happen sooner or later with my stock deck so I'd like to be prepapred for when it does

Thanks!

 

D:

I'd be happy to answer your questions:

1. I did NOT do the install myself...I had my local shop (Stereo 1 in Northridge, CA.) do the install. It required some custom fab to get the deck to fit because the entire unit was actually slightly bigger than double DIN, so a little cutting in the back of the center stack was required

2. My stock unit was the basic single disc deck that the "X" comes with...I ditched that joint a couple of weeks after buying the Jeep (sound quality is CRITICAL to me!).

3. For a single DIN unit, an aftermarket harness is usually required, and for most double DIN units (aside from the OEM MYGIG), some fabrication is usually required and/or an aftermarket harness.

4. I don't think my Wrangler came with a stock amp (again, I have the base model "X"). I'm running a Kicker monoblock ZX750.1 under my passenger seat to power my subwoofer and a Kicker 4-channel ZX300.4 under my driver's seat to run my 4 JL component speakers. I don't think it's TOO difficult a setup, but again, I had my local shop do all the work.


I hope this answers your questions. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions/comments. Thanks!


Russ D.

 

Thanks! yes- it answered all my questions-- and specicifally the one about the double din size! Good to know this and again- thanks!

ROck on!

 

Is this unit able to play movies while moving?

 

Yes, most in dash DVD players are, you just have to bypass the circuit/wire that connects to the parking brake. If you ground the wire someplace else, problem solved.


Russ D.

 

Look sweet but do you not worry about someone breaking in and stealing it?

 

How do you know which wire to disconect?

 

I worry all the time! ...but what can you do? I garage it at home, and my parking lot at work is in plain sight of me all day, so that kind of minimizes the risk...but you're right...there's always a chance of some miscreant making off with my deck.


150:

The wire is usually labeled in the installation schematic of the deck in question. Instead of tying the wire into the parking brake, you usually just have to ground it to some metal on the vehicle.


Russ D.

 

Sweet deck, nice choice.
Im loving my Kenwood 7100 more than the MYIG. Kenwood rocks.