around here? I have been using kenwood headunits sence I started driving. Ive never used anything else. I really like but I guess im biased too but I like the built in system eqs and sub controls. Do any other brands do this? Reason Im asking is becuase I want the option to have either xm or sirius capability by whoever I go with.

As far as I remember kenwood was sirius only.

 

i had an alpine that was nice, it had the built in eqs

 

My HU, Pioneer DEH-P9800BT, has 4 preset eq setting and 2 customs that you can set up yourself, it also has all the controls to tune the sub also.

It will handle xm and sirius, I've got xm.

I really love this unit.

Here's the thread with the info, https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/audio-video-17/new-system-planned-4979/

 

great deck. 32 band EQ, Time Alignment etc....
to the poster, you could always go with the Audiocontrol 3.1 half DIN EQ if you are looking to self tune your system. it is very accurate and the cost is very minuscle compared to other brands. controls highs, mids, and sub. i would run an active setup off of it if you have the know how. run one amp to a set of tweets and use the high pass filter. then run a set of dedicated mids in the doors off another amp and EQ them with the MID portion, and then obviously the sub for well...the subs.

 

Kenwood was Sirius only until about two years ago. You can get either satellite radio provider now. Terk makes the XM add-ons, DEI makes the Sirius add-ons. Although, with the merger of XM and Sirius it probably won't make much if any difference in the future.

 

there used to be a sony high end PREAMP that had a stupid amount of settings and whatnot... eq's, delay per chanel, height adjustments, etc... it ran about 900 but it was sweet - the closest thing to a true preamp as i've seen put in a car.

truly, outside of that, if you go to a top end pioneer, mcintosh, sony, or alpine you'll get good stuff...

 

I am an audiophile, however, I don't think there is any car audio gear that I would consider of audiophile quality. That being said, I use the AVIC D3 in my chevy avalanche. To me the best audio system is a balanced split system that crosses woofer, mids and tweets seperately. I don't like the huge subs for the huge SPL levels. I listen to rock, jazz and classical and only want a sub for about 45-60 hz and below. I also would tune the low end to have proper phase and have minimal rattle in the car. I forgot, have each woofer, mid and tweet will have its own amplification with a dedicated cross over for each channel.

 

I'm also not into super high end car audio, either. There are just too many things working against good sound in a car environment; resonant interior panels, non-optimal listening space shape and listening position, insanely high noise floor, lousy power, loads of RFI, etc...

The irony of "high end" car audio is, if the car company really cares about the sound system, they'll have pre-EQ'd the whole setup for optimal frequency response and on-axis listening from the listener positions. Doing this is *REALLY* complicated, and almost impossible without the right equipment, which is incredibly expensive.

That's all you're really paying for when you get the super high end Bose/Kicker/HK/Pioneer audio system, the speakers are the same $2 speakers they use in the regular audio system, but they EQ the heck out of it so it has a superior frequency response curve.

I've done listening tests with the upgraded OEM stuff vs. high end aftermarket installations, and almost always the OEM stuff sounds better. The aftermarket stuff usually sounds bright and bass-heavy - sounds great initially and in the store, but it isn't natrual and is fatiguing after a while.

 

the kenwood dnx7100 double din dvd navigation is the nicest one ive seen in a while