Installed new Kenwood DNX

pulled the trigger on a DNX695s with Maestro kit and T02 harness.

Wow, I was expecting a change in sound, but not THAT much change. It's not perfect by any means, but the improvement is massive in quality and quantity. So much so, that my wife now wants a new HU for her Sequoia.

Experience with install.

Got the full package from Crutchfield. Wiring instructions look like they came from an Ikea flunky. After figuring out what I needed to toss and what I needed to keep, it didn't take more than 15 minutes to splice things together.

Flashing the RR was easy as pie once I realized I had to use old school Internet Explorer on my Windows 10 laptop. (someone needs to figure out how to get into this decade and support other browsers)

My only gotcha moment was the rear view Cam, for some reason going into reverse wasn't triggering the interrupt. After putting a Multimeter on the reverse wire, I realized that there wasn't a clean 12V signal, I messed around with the loom a bit and came to be a loose pin in the maestro connector going to the factory harness, pushed that in a bit better and all was perfect.

Total time to install, with Beer breaks and mucking with the reverse issue. 2 hours.

 

Very nice, sounds like it went well. It wouldn't be normal not to have a little bump on install somewhere; camera - LOL.

Glad to hear it sounds so much better.

Our Pioneer 8100NEX install (only) made a world of difference in sound as well.

 

Thanks for this. I'll be doing mine in the next week or 2.

 

Thats a really nice headunit. Great choice! And review.

 

nice, except this..

• compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (wired connection)

I personally want wireless AA for that price. For another $50 bucks, you can get this model DDX9905S and have wireless. Maybe i'm just lazy and don't want to plug it in all the time.

 

Apple can pound sand. you'd pay for it, I'd pay to NOT have anything that even had apple in the literature. I refuse to have a tech company dictate my behavior or hardware.

Religious debate...

 

ANDROID! ANDROID! ANDROID! Chanting in my head.......

 

I'm now thinking about upgrading my HU because I'm tired of the random reboots.

Couple of questions regarding the Kenwood. Are Garmin map updates lifetime? Is the backup cam is your stock cam that worked with the Maestro and T02 harness?

 

Updates I'm sure are pay to play. Google maps are better anyway.

Harness plugs into OEM camera connections

 

Got a pic of it installed?

 

My wife wants it for her Sequoia as well. She has the JBL system though. I know when I had mine done the installer said if I’d had JBL it would have been harder, and more expensive, but I changed the speakers, amp, everything.
Will there be the same issues if I’m just changing her head unit and adding the maestro?

 

Should be the same as what I did. In theory.

 

Yeah, I had all sorts of problems flashing the Maestro unit since it uses 1990's internet explorer. I am going to pull it out and reflash it because I need to change some of the functions on the steering wheel controls. Are you able to get information on the LCD screen in the center of the cluster gauges? When I use Carplay, it doesn't show the music info on the little LCD screen.

 

Mine didn't impact the cluster screen at all. but mine is a 17 with the older dash cluster.

 

which model of Kenwood receiver does everyone like the best ????

 

There are so many, easily 20 with so many different features... DVD, CD, digital multimedia only, navigation (which I think is a waste since you can just use phone nav), number of outputs, etc.
As long as it has CarPlay/android auto you're good. Wireless CP/AA would be really nice but that's not cheap. I have a ddx9902s which came out in 2015. I like it, and it's much better than the entune JBL