Do you still have this radio installed? When putzing with mine I found a little trick to "slightly" improve the sloped look of the faceplate. The issue is the design of the faceplate and trim being sloped for mounting to the flat dash of a boat. Anyway, when I had mine out last weekend, to remove it, you first have to remove the faceplate, then the silver trim that covers the holes for the removal tool.
If you remove the outer silver trim from the top but leave it connected in the bottom, then put the face plate back on, it will look a bet better at the top. Nothing earth shattering, but I think it is an improvement.
Don't be tempted to flip it and install the trim upside down, it will look MUCH better until you put the faceplate in, then the faceplate will jam and be very difficult to remove later. (yep, been there, done that)
I'll post a picture tonight.

 

It is still instaled, I never read the instructions (that's usual for me) so I have not benefitted from it's features. I do have it set up for the phone though but I am probably missing some things there as wel. I never took the face plate off to remove the trim though.

 

It doesn't show up that much but the top is out a smidge more, and I'm leaving it that way. Every little bit helps. Oh, BTW, I'm glad you mentioned you thought your trim was scratched after putting the radio in from the black tar off the factory harness. The same thing happened to me and if I hadn't already read your post, I would have been sure I scratched mine.

 

Thanks for this thread, GregWork. I think that I am going to buy this specific Kenwood unit, and your instructions will make installation a breeze. To confirm, if I have the stock Infinity Nav unit in my car, I only need to buy the Kenwood head unit and the harness adapter. Is that correct?


One more question: When I install this head unit, should I remove the caps in the doors from the "Biggest bang for the buck stereo mod?

 

My opinion, NO. Just yesterday, I repaired my subwoofers and reinstalled them.
I had run additional wires and cut the wires at the factory amp, to have the doors and subwoofers on separate channels either as front/rear or front/subwoofer from the Kenwood. After reading ALL 30 pages of the best bang for the buck capacitor install, I figured it must sound good for all of those success stories. SO, I reverted to factory wiring with the Kenwood only driving through the front speaker outs to the factory wiring, and reconnect all wires at the amp the factory way. I then installed 330uF capacitors in the doors, and cranked up some ZZ Top through the newly repaired subwoofers. I needed to play with all the audio settings, but I am extremely pleased with the results. I learned a lot in the process, and highly recommend it to everyone. With the Kenwood using speaker outs, it will overdrive the factory amp quite easily, and you could probably blow out speakers. You can set the "Volume Adjustment" from -8 (low) to 0 (normal). I set it to -6 or even -8 and you can turn the volume about all the way up on the Kenwood, and it is very loud, but not overpowering. I even ran my microphone wire up the dome light area. IF you setup the Kenwood wiring to the rear subs separate, you can choose high pass and low pass cut off in the radio, instead of using capacitors, but I didn't like how I couldn't get full volume from the low voltage pre-amp outs compared to speaker out. And you can only use the HP filter with the subwoofer enabled. With the volume up now, it can be very loud and clear, and almost a back massage with the low bass. I may even try the 470uF capacitors, I think the door speakers can get a bit more bass to them and still sound clean.

 

What I really find annoying is that the dial is not lit at night, is this an option I have failed to find?

 

I'm not sure what you mean, do you mean when it is turned off? If so, you can enable the clock to be on when powered off, and the radio will be fully lit with the clock on the display.

 

You have it in one, sorry I was not too clear. As I suspected I need to read the instructions.
Thanks for the reply.

 

I'll snap a picture of mine with car on, but radio off, on the way home today.

 

I fixed it and it is OK now, just proves thspat the instruction book has its uses.

 

I fixed it and it is OK now, just proves that the instruction book has its uses.

 

Why would you want the clock on ? There is one in the dash. My Clarion M303 sticks out a bit more. Have been meaning to cut off some of the unused wires in the back.

 

Are you kidding me ? Mine is on because the clock on my old first gen Alpine IDA-X001 is so damn SEXY !!!

 

Cut off some wires?
Does this mean you are going to be using the Sawzall again?

You have missed the reason for the clock being on.

 

Does that animate/flip like the 70s clocks it looks like?

 

Just so the radio isn't totally dark when turned off.
It looks like this when turned off when the car is on.

 

You betcha !
Many passengers have commented on it and said it reminds them of their 60's / 70's college years.
I actually had a clock radio back in the 60's that had that display !

( Unfortunately, it doesn't make that little 'clicky' sound as it changes. )

 

Thinking of doing this install. Seems like a nice radio for the money.
How is the sound as good as the stock ? Better ? Worse ?
Thanks

 

Definitely no worse. I really can't compare since most of what I listen to is off of a micro usb plugged in the front, which I couldn't do before. And I didn't repair the subwoofers until after the new radio is in.
I only have 2 complaints, both minor.
1 - no HD Radio. I got used to a couple very nice stations in the Pittsburgh area in my old car.
2 - no iPod connection out the back, I would love to have a iPod hooked up with hidden cable out the back to the glovebox
The display is very nice in dim/dark times, and you can choose nice color matching options. In bright light is it useless, and in extremely bright light you can read it OK because it kind of inverts. The faceplate is angled/thicker at the bottom, and that is all that prevents it from looking perfect. I eased the top of the trim out of its snaps and that looks a bit better.
Helluva radio for $120, counting a 16gb micro USB drive, wiring, speaker repair, and capacitors for the fronts, I have about $200 in a great sounding system. I REALLY want to put a Clarion M502 in, they look perfect, but less features/no CD, and no color matching, but I could always solder new leds in...

 

I may be wrong but the FM range seems to be less than the OEM model, it gets static/distortion at a distance from the transmitter that the OEM one was fine.

As mentioned above the face plate fit irks me.