I have installed the Kenwood KVT-815 touchscreen monitor and navigation system into my crossfire. I believe it to be one of the best units available that looks good in our crossfire. My unit has a 10 gig hard drive added, Navigation unit with touch screen functionality. This is a very expandable unit. You can add a video source like a rear view camera, satellite radio, HD radio, satellite TV, voice recognition for your navigation or HD. It has upgradeable software. All controls have touchscreen functionality. The navigation is superb, the maps are up to date and very accurate. You can change the color of the small screen and any lights to match your dash light color, for us that is green. There are so many sound and video options I cannot list all of them. You can have video streaming behind your control menus while you play any music from any source. (requires unlocked video option, not legal but very common and easy to do). I purchased the unit from www.hookedontronics.com for 1500.00 plus I added a four year warranty which brought the total to 1700.00 after shipping. This is about 1000.00 off retail price.

I have added some photos of the unit to my gallery to illustrate the seamless blend into our dash.

 

Looks great installed. Does it have any feature like g-tech that the pioneer has? also how does it compare to the alpine, also which comes in matching grey color?

 

There is no media card options at this time, I don't like them personally though, just extra flash that I would not really use. I looked into the alpine units, and found that the touchscreen functionality of the navigation found in the kenwood was superior to the current alpine units, plus the alpine units look nowhere near as good in the crossfire. However, Alpine has the Ipod integration adapter. I added my own kenwood music keg, so I get the HD function without having to use my ipod all the time in the car.

 

Spiitz,
Did you use the stock Crossfire amp? Any other installation details/tips you'd like to share?

Don

 

I used the stock crossfire amp, but we wired the kenwood amp into it to get the right sound. Using the pre amp inputs in the stock amp, like some suggested, gives horrible sound, I would stay away from pre amps in the Infinity. It is not the same as a regular amp, it needs more power, use the high input.

 

Is it compatible with the new Kenwood-ip500 iPod interface? Does it come with the navigation or you have to buy it separately?

 

i just ordered the kenwood kvt-617 dvd, the nav pod and the ip500 ipod adapter, ordered it from crutchfield, $1,200. it comes with wiring harness, din tools and everything i need for the install...i hope. i'll let you know how it goes and put some pics up. i noticed it comes with a vw wiring harness, has anyone else used this harness before?