I've completed the installation of my new car system. The Nakamichi CD-400 seemed the only logical choice for the head unit. As much as I appreciate the faceplate and its relative simplicity and lack of BS it still falls short of the mark. The "Select" button for accessing the menu is tiny and uncomfortably close to the volume knob. If my hands were the size they were when I was 10 years old it probably wouldn't be a problem, but...
I took the lazy route for speakers, I merely went to Crutchfield and plugged my car type in there and picked out some speakers that were compatible. The rears are 'Kenwood eXcelon KFC-Xr601' (real catchy name, aina?) These were kind of weird in that the entire driver had a rubbery, drum-like resonance to it when struck. I didn't much care about hifi concerns, the exisiting speakers had to be replaced; they disintegrated at first touch when I removed them! For being the "cheap paper cone stock speakers with whizzer cones" that the car industry looks upon with such derision in their effort to sell you 3rd party brands; they sounded better and were a helluva lot more efficient!!! The Kenwoods suck up tons of juice before delivering the goods.
The CD-400's got a remote, which I always thought was a joke, but it's actually nice to have from a diagnostics\setup viewpoint. I could control the player from the back seat whilst trying to track down some buzzing panel. Handy. But mainly, the standard DIN size just doesn't give you any room for usable controls. And the menu sucks because you can only go one way, if you overshoot too bad, you have to go through again. Dumbass software designers. Car audio seems doomed out of the gate.
In any case, I am free from listening to the radio, and that can ONLY be a good thing!
