JVC KD HDR1

Pros: SRS Surround technology, 7 Band EQ, built-in HD tuner, very good bass production with any speakers, great price

Cons: The buttons are a little small, red illumination on the buttons is very difficult to read at night

Summary: First off, this is one of the only car cd receivers with a built-in HD tuner. That said, it's also one of the only receivers with such a vast amount of excellent features such as SRS Circle Surround technology, a 7 band EQ, sub outs, power amp outs for mains, numerous cd changer options, iPod controls right on the head unit, and to top it all off this unit can be found for $160!

Of course many people will buy this just for the HD capability, which is awesome, but the other features is what sold me.

As for the HD tuning, when you connect to a channel with an HD simulcast an HD icon shows up and blinks while it connects, then when it connects you notice a crystal clear difference. It makes AM sound like FM, and it makes FM sound like a 96-128 kbps mp3 since that's the bandwidth most stations are streamed at. You can also scan for HD stations only if you like.

The SRS CS (Circle Surround) technology and the 7 band equalizer is what sold me. I like to be able to make my music sound the absolute best I can, and the EQ lets you tweak exactly with a 10dB range at 60 Hz, 150 Hz, 400 Hz, 1 kHz, 2.4 kHz, 6 kHz, and 15 kHz. The SRS CS is a technology that lets you configure the receiver to position the volume to be louder in certain speakers. So say you have an SUV, like me, which means you have 4 speakers: 2 large front, and 2 large rear door mounted speakers you can set up the SRS CS to amplify the bass accordingly for each speaker. Also it widens the stereo field, so no matter where you are in the car you feel like you're in the middle of the speakers.

This stereo makes any car with pretty much any speakers set up sound great. I was going to connect my subs to this receiver, but when I listened to the quality of JVC's "TruBass" I was overly impressed and decided that the subs weren't needed at all!

My only cons for this unit are that the buttons are a little small and the illumination on the buttons is very hard to read. The screen is awesome, just the buttons are hard to read when it's dark.