Audio/Video/Navigation Upgrade

I've always wanted a Navigation system after seeing how useful they can be. This obsession turned into a costly audio/video upgrade for my car.

Some NAV systems just display an arrow telling you when to turn, but I wanted a full color map that shows the car's position in relation to streets and landmarks. My other qualification is that the NAV system must be DVD based so if I want to drive out of my region I don't need to purchase other CDs. The DVD has the space for all the streets in the country.

At first, I was looking at the Alpine equipment, specifically the CVA-1003. I looked at some Alpine equipment at my local audio store and was impressed. I then did some Internet research and found out about some nice Kenwood models. The KVT-911DVD is a Kenwood headunit with a 6.5" foldout screen. One huge plus to this screen over the Alpine units is that the screen is a touchscreen! The unit also has a radio tuner, a CD/DVD player (MOVIES!), and a TV tuner. The touchscreen is particularly nice because Kenwood also sells a KNA-DV2100 Navigation System that is designed to work with the KVT-911DVD touchscreen. Having a touchscreen for Navigation is the way to go! Entering destinations, changing the zoom level, and scrolling around on the map is so easy. No fumbling for a remote, just press the screen!

Both units have a ton of features... too many to attempt to list here. With my decision made, I started looking for a good price on these units. I ended up buying both on Ebay for fantastic prices. It was a big gamble, but I extensively checked the feedback on the sellers. Chances are that if this seller has sold the same unit you are looking for to numerous other buyers and all the feedback is positive, then you will get the product. Sending this kind of money to someone on the Internet is very risky, but some people run a business from ebay and have extensive feedback and history. It was a risk, but when both units came in looking band new and perfect, I was happy.

I had the units professionally installed. I'm confident that I have the ability to connect wires together, but I didn't want to hassle with tearing the car apart. A professional has more experience in doing clean install work than I do and I didn't want this car getting chopped up.

All of this equipment is used with the factory HK amp and factory 10 speaker system. I find the HK sound system to be adequate and didn't want to go all out and get some booming system. The HK system is loud and clear enough for me. Because the HK amp was used, the HiFi switch still works creating a more omnidirectional sound.

Pictures (Click Thumbnails for Larger Version):

Headunit closed. The LEDs don't match the red of the car, but there is only a couple of them and the screen is typically open while driving.	Hit the button and the screen slides out. It must be tilted up manually which lets you set the proper angle. This helps reduce glare.	Here's a picture with the TV tuner on. I was considering skipping the TV because I heard that it wasn't that good. I am happily surprised at how good the reception is.
Here's the NAV unit showing the Boston area.	Here's a picture of the Matrix DVD playing. The sound of the movie is much better than what I get in my living room!	They wanted to mount the antenna on the trunk, but I wanted it inside. So far the reception has been fairly good. While traveling east, I noticed that the reception isn't as good as in other directions and the NAV will lose sync occasionally. It recovers and hasn't been a problem so far.
The brain is mounted under the passenger side carpet. I didn't want it under the seats where people could kick it.	The NAV unit itself sits recessed on the top of the trunk out of the way.	They put the wires in a neat little harness and it looks very clean.
The NAV unit speaker is mounted on the top left of the windshield. It has a volume switch on it.	I do like Alpine's setup better where the NAV voice comes through all the speakers.	Here's a picture of the TV antenna in the rear window.
The two antennas are visible from the inside, but not too intrusive.	The passenger side antenna	From the outside, the antenna blends into the trim of the window.
	Another outside picture of the antenna.