- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 7 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Solid performance/good sound, even on deck power alone"
Pros: Clean aesthetics, very good SQ. No knob clutter. Extremely versatile; works with many formats. Easy BT synch with my CrackBerry. Love the blackout feature.
Cons: Doesn't play at all with older iPods, or my Creative Zen X-Fi. Grease/fingerprint magnet. Faceplate scratches easily; Brasso and a microfiber cloth is an ABSOLUTE MUST. Volume changing is a challenge when driving. Menus are hit and miss.
Summary: Bought the Kam for my old Porsche 993 Carrera 2, replacing a garish Alpine unit. Liked that it could play WMA *AND* AAC, and that sat and HD radio were available options. But the main attraction was its faceplate...no knobs whatsoever. When off, it looks like a shiny blankout panel in the Porsche's dash, as if the car was bought with the radio delete option (yes, some Porschephiles don't want no stinkin' radio in their cars--all in the name of performance).
It does everything I ask of it (99% audio-only). Viewing vids are basically a joke using the built-in LCD; it's PSP-sized but planted into the dash it's also not like you can hold it up to your face, either. The menus are pretty much car geek tech; little forethought was given to how the sub menus interface and mesh with the player; command and function flow can seem somewhat disjointed or unrefined at times when moving down the menu tree, but in general everything works even if it won't make Apple UI designers break a sweat as the Next Big Thing in user friendliness.
I agree with the CNET reviewer; though the iPod-like spinning motion for controlling the volume is cool at first, it gets tired pretty fast. In a hard-sprung car like the Type 993 911, it can be REAL trying to get that dialing motion down pat; there's still nothing as sweet as a big volume knob. I've found that it's also easy to hit the wrong area of the control surface and get entirely the wrong command. I also find that I accidentally hit the pause area of the control surface (the center of the circle) way too often. As much as I hate small buttons, there are times that I would take one of those type of decks over this one, particularly when driving over a particularly bumpy patch of asphalt at the same time as fiddling with the CD deck.
In the end however, I've been rather taken by this deck. The Kam has shown itself over the past year or so to be a steady performer, that happens to make good-sounding audio as well. Plus it looks great, in a minimalist sort of way. I've gotten pretty good with the circular motion for changing volume, even when driving. I just wish I didn't have to CLEAN IT so often.
- 4 replies to this review
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smoothie,
Who says I didn't do my research? You should do your own. Porsche 911s are generally noisy cars; why should I choose a great SQ unit when most of the time the engine scream, exhaust blatt, wind noise, suspension slams and tire droan drowns out the music anyways? I've talked with some of the best system builders around here over the years, and most agree that the 911 is generally not a good platform for building a media machine on, assuming that I'd even want to build such a groteque thing. The ones who said that they could do a great system were on drugs, and just wanted me to spend thousands at their shop. You have to spend a lot of time and money on Dynamatting the heck out of the car just to get the noise threshold to acceptable levels, and adding that sort of dead weight was something I'd never consider for my car.
Besides, define 'nicer'. At the time, there were no others that offered a blank face plate. All of the usual Asian suspects were fugly as sin. -
aaronacj,
What's your problem? Didn't you know that you can now buy an early to mid '90s vintage 911 for less that you ponied up for that fugly Toyota Prius you troll around in? -
You should have done more research before you bought. You could have got a much nicer head unit for your vehicle.
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I bought this cd player... did i mention i have a Porsche 993 carrera 2. It a nice player in my Porsche... at times the CD player is hard to use in my Porsche. Oh if you didn't know i have a Porsche, thats where i installed this CD player.
Where to buy
JVC El Kameleon KD-AVX44:
$379.99 - $649.95
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$649.95 | Yes |
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$399.00 | Yes |
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PaylessMerchandise.com
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$379.99 | No |
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