Head unit dead, now what?

[livelyjay]

My head unit is dead. I got my car back from the collision shop and the head unit gets stuck in the halfway down position, but not like it did before when the ribbon cable broke (this is my second unit and I am no longer under warranty). There is something wrong with the D-Mask mechanics, where one side wanted to rotate and move while the other side wanted to stay down. I manually helped it rotate and move, but that only worked twice and now it is stuck in the masked position and won't budge at all. I like the D-Mask because I have yet to have the car get broken into, which has happened to me 3 times before because I forget to remove the face plate.

So my question is this, is the D-Mask on all Kenwood units this problematic, or is it just the MSP units? I would like to replace my stock unit with something like the KDC-X689 (http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?Source=googlebase&ProductID=18445), but it is a refurb. If the D-Mask part is just going to break again, I'm going to get some cheap JVC, Pioneer, etc from Best Buy or online and just get into the habit of hiding the face plate.

Let me know what you think. And if you think I can salvage my head unit also let me know your suggestions or guesses as to why it's not working.

[ItsSlow]

Mine did the same thing once.. I pulled the faceplate off and it rotated itself around.. I then put it back on.. It hasnt done it again, yet...

[livelyjay]

I tried that as well before it got stuck in the closed position, it didn't help.

[Arok22]

Buy a new headunit. Kenwoods were never my favorite... Too damn complicated. I hate that each button does like 100 different functions. Take the pocket out underneath the radio and put a double DIN LCD touch screen or TV. That would be hot maaaan! That damn deer's vengence is a beotch! lol.
Whole situation sucks bro. I feel for you. Keep your chin up and it all work out. (werd)

[livelyjay]

I'm not fretting over it, believe me. My car still drives like it did before the deer collision, and that's all I really care about. The brakes took a beating having to sit for 7 weeks, but hopefully after driving some the corrosion will grind off.

I don't mind the complicatedness of the Kenwood units, I just want to know if the D-Mask function is doomed to fail no matter which model it is. The other DIN pocket is destined for monitoring gauges, plus double din units are pretty pricey most of the time and pretty flashy. If I figure out another way to mount my gauges I might consider it though, since if I stay away from D-Mask I pretty much can get anything and get into the habit or removing the faceplate.

[Kooldino]

Buy an alpine.

/thread

[livelyjay]

Eh, the Alpine's that are worthwhile are too expensive. My friend said I could buy back the JVC I sold him for $50 since he's never going to install it. I might just go that route since it has 3 pre-amp outputs, the wire harness is the same as the stock Kenwood, and it has a front Aux input.

[moxnix]

Buy an alpine.

/thread

+1 I did.

[livelyjay]

Another thing to consider is my commute to work is 17-20 minutes each way. The only long trips I go on these days is treks to Seneca, Buffalo, and Syracuse for autocrosses, which are hour trips at most. So it's not like I'm in the car that much and really need a good stereo.

[livelyjay]

The Kenwood unit I put in the first post is HD radio ready, which is pretty enticing, but I don't know why. Must be the whole addicted to more gadgets and doohickeys thing.

[fr0st]

i bought a sony explod.. im not a sony fan but i gotta admit, that usb port is the shit

and the unit is black with red buttons.. goes very well with the rest of the car.

http://pan.fotovista.com/dev/6/7/00033476/g_00033476.jpg

im never gonna get anything else.

[Arok22]

i bought a sony explod.. im not a sony fan but i gotta admit, that usb port is the shit

and the unit is black with red buttons.. goes very well with the rest of the car.

http://pan.fotovista.com/dev/6/7/00033476/g_00033476.jpg

im never gonna get anything else.

I like Sony head units. All the JVC's I've had have been doggy doo dooo! Really... I understand the car rides are short, but its like.... You have a nice car, match a decent head unit with it. It would be like taking the wheels off your car to put on spinner hubcaps. You only drive short distances, hardly anyone would see them....... Give the car some respect and give it a good unit. My opinion only. Do what makes you happy, its your car. Everyone's got opinions around here so you'll get all our crap. Word!

[livelyjay]

I had some bad experience with older Sony Xplod head units. First one got stolen, replaced it with the exact same unit. First it got shaky when playing CDs. Sometimes I would have to punch the unit to get it to play. Then the pre-amps died. At that point I swore off Sony head units.

The JVC units I have had in the past have performed just fine.

Having a good sound system has nothing to do with respecting the car and your comparison of wheels versus spinner hub caps just makes you look like a retard.

[fr0st]

yeah but the the USB plug is so cool .. no more CD's.. put some mp3 on a memory stick and plug it in. :)

[Metal MP5]

i fix stock MSP head units and will go to NY state next week to pick some stuff up so if you want to have it fixed, we can make arrangements. you ship the HU to my freight forwarder, i fix it and ship it back a day or 2 later

[livelyjay]

i fix stock MSP head units and will go to NY state next week to pick some stuff up so if you want to have it fixed, we can make arrangements. you ship the HU to my freight forwarder, i fix it and ship it back a day or 2 later
Where in NY? How much are we looking at for cost? This isn't the usual ribbon cable thing either, this is with the D-Mask mechanism. Let me know.

[livelyjay]

yeah but the the USB plug is so cool .. no more CD's.. put some mp3 on a memory stick and plug it in. :)
That is pretty cool, but Sony isn't the only manufacturer that has this option, at least I don't think they are the only one. I have an MP3 player though, so having an Aux jack or Kenwood style CD changer control is the most useful for me.

[Metal MP5]

oh sorry, read too quickly. i just saw dead unit msp and have 1 or 2 ribbons left so i thought i would offer help

[livelyjay]

Way to get my hopes up :p

[livelyjay]

I'm starting to second guess Kenwood in general. At onlinestereoshop.com they have a lot of reconditioned Kenwood units, while many of the other main stream brand names don't. This tells me one of two things, Kenwood makes crappy head units and has a lot of warranties to honor, or other manufacturers have the same problems but never honor their warranties. I'm not sure which way to lean. I've only had experience with Sony, JVC, and the stock MSP units. The only unit I didn't have problems with is the JVC.

What does everyone think?

fr0st, try to sell me on the Sony unit other than the USB port is awesome and it looks nice in the car (by the way, got a pic of it installed?).

[livelyjay]

Crutchfield states that most head units need to have the rear radio support bracket cut or removed in order for the units to fit. Is this true?

[noclue119]

Crutchfield states that most head units need to have the rear radio support bracket cut or removed in order for the units to fit. Is this true?

http://bestbuy.partsearch.com/Part/Kenwood/Kenwood/J84012112/New.aspx
http://bestbuy.partsearch.com/Part/Kenwood/Kenwood/E58090305/New.aspx

enjoy

[Metal MP5]

save 10$ and don't buy the rectangular receptacle ... i didnt need it on all 4 of the ones i fixed.

but i dont think this is what that guy was talking about

[livelyjay]

save 10$ and don't buy the rectangular receptacle ... i didnt need it on all 4 of the ones i fixed.

but i dont think this is what that guy was talking about
You are correct. Those items are functioning 100% on my unit. I pulled the stereo out of the car and checked out the rotating mechanism and this is what I found out. There is a black, rectangular piece of metal, that connects the piece holding the faceplate to the mechanism that rotates the faceplate. If you look at the lower right corner you will see a spring, that is connected to the part I am talking about. On my stereo, the black metal part is bent behind the faceplate support, and it broke behind the spring.

Is there a way to pull the stereo encasement apart? I might be able to fix the bracket with some pliers and some JBWeld. Let me know. If not, is there a way to turn off the D-Mask functionality?

[livelyjay]

Well, I got the entire stereo taken apart now. It wasn't too difficult actually. The plate that was bent is now in the correct alignment. When I get a free moment tonight I'm going to find my JBWeld and see if I can get the bracket back into one piece. If it doesn't work, does anyone have a dead head unit that I could buy?

[Metal MP5]

there you go

i was going to say that it's pretty easy to take appart. i see it only took like 15 mins before you posted about it. that's pretty quick hehe

[livelyjay]

And half of that time was finding my screwdriver set. Too bad I can't find my JBWeld, and hobbling around on crutches isn't very easy.

[kanuter valve]

pioneer premier

[blkspdfreak]

pioneer premier

i agree 100%. unbelieveable difference in sound quality compared to the stock kenwood. my ribben broke too so i swapped for the premier and i couldent be happier with it. (rockon)(rockon)(rockon)
(rockon)(rockon)
(rockon)

[clicknext]

I got one of these D-mask units and it's working well so far. Its ribbon seems to have a lot less tension than the MSP unit so the ribbon breaking doesn't seem to be as much of an issue, unless you change disks all the time, which isnt really necessary since it's MP3.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123667389&page=2

[xtrememps]

I bought myself an Alpine CDA-9885 after mine broke a week ago. Beautiful.