Kenwood DNX996XR Head Unit

I still have all factory speakers with the 996 and the factory amp still powering the sub and some part of the factory speakers but I am pretty sure the shop ran the deck power to the front doors and mids maybe. Mid bass has dramatically improved. Stock sub is still real anemic but better overall.

The sub and amp for it will likely be the last thing I mess with so I was thinking of contacting 12volt to see if he had a good amp, box and driver solution for not a ton of cash I could easily wire up and just use until I decide what to settle on.

Good luck on your hunt for the lost bass, let us know when you figure it out.

 

Have you figured out a way to make it scroll thru radio presets rather than change the channel when using the steering wheel controls?

Good tip on the mute, I'm constantly messing with that and trying to decide if I want to rip the dash apart again to flash the Maestro, which leads me to another tip.....leave the USB cable attached to the Maestro and left in a place you can access it should you want to flash again.

 

When you flash the maestro, you can choose what each button does. I'm pretty sure you can make |< and >| change presets instead of seek + and seek - (and really, you can assign them to whatever button you want, including volume up/down or mute, or even the arrows on the right side of the steering wheel)

I did leave my USB connected to the back of the maestro for easy reprogramming / changing button settings, but it might have got pulled out when I was tucking things away last time. I can try to plug it in later and see what the options are for changing presets.
...I think it's annoying that you can't use the Maestro software at all unless it detects something connected, it would be nice to see my current settings and what I can change without having to take the laptop out to the truck and fish out the USB cable

 

You might be able to do that with the Maestro, but I think the options you get offered might be dependent to which radio you use. I don't recall seeing that option. I think it might be a Kenwood thing. UGH.

 

I have the same sub and jbl truck. At first it didn’t sound good. After tuning the sound settings/eq it now sounds a lot better than w the stock hu.

I wired my rca same as you.

 

Weird, I'm not sure what the problem is then. The bass is definitely weaker now than when I had the stock JBL unit. ...except when I don't want bass - when I'm listening to my podcasts and it's just people talking I get a loud thump from the subwoofer anytime someone laughs into the mic, or says a word starting with 'P'
I've got too much bass when I don't want it from podcasts, and not enough when I do want it in my music.

:/

 

Try lowering the "low pass filter" for your subwoofer. 100 hertz is a good starting point. If you are already lower than that then increase the slope to 24 if its not already. Your bandpass filter should be set at either the same frequency as the above, or within a few frequencies above.

A few other suggestions.
Set the eq to flat.
Turn off bass boost if it is on.
Turn off loudness if it is on.

Edit:
Lowering the frequencies 500-800 a few notches should help with the overly loud "p" sounds I believe.

 

I'll play around with this and see if I can figure it out. I believe the crossover settings on the kenwood only work for the 'Front' speakers since that is all that is connected to the JBL amp. Changing the crossover settings on the Kenwood for the subwoofer doesn't seem to have an affect since there is nothing connected to the subwoofer output on the kenwood.
I'll play around with it again and see if it makes a difference. I will also try those other settings in the EQ.

 

Ah, you're right. I was just looking at the head units audio options.

Well, the crossover suggestions aren't going to be of much help, but the eq on the head unit should be able to balance out things for you.

I doubt I need to even tell you, but that is one helluva nice head unit. Great choice.

 

I connected the maestro to the laptop, and confirmed that I could not find any button option for changing the radio presets. Just Seek + / Seek -

 

@Twinky & @BlueBottle thanks for the help and info for fixing the bass, and the EQ / Xover settings. I found that my Crossover (X'over) settings were not correct. The only crossover setting that makes any difference is 'Front' (which makes sense since there is nothing connected to the Rear or Subwoofer outputs on the back of the kenwood). My Front was not set to 'Through' and was cutting out a lot of the bass. I change all the crossover settings to 'Through' and that fixed the problem. Now I can mess around with the EQ to get it how I like it.

 

I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure it out. You can change the seek mode on the FM tuner so it scrolls thru presets, but not on the XM tuner. I love everything about my new deck except this. Because of it I'm constantly fidgeting with the screen to change stations. I'm seriously thinking of getting something else if I can find one that does it.

 

I almost never listen to the radio, and definitely not the XM radio. But it is good to know that it can be changed in the head unit settings.

 

I have the same dash kit. I wish someone would make a dash kit that lines up properly and isn’t total garbage. They all look like that.

 

Just order my DNX996XR as well as the SiriusXM SXV300V1 Tuner. Do I need to order an adapter to use the XM Antenna already on the truck with this unit or does it just plug into the back of the tuner?

 

Yes. Maestro should have the adaptor you need.

 

You have to purchase the adapter separately. My Maestro didn't come with one. SAT T02 adapter.

 

The sT02 adapter has 3 adapters in it, one will work for the GPS antenna, one will work for the XM radio antenna, and one you won’t need.

 

Any idea on how to get the phone louder? I’m at 40 maxed on volume during voice calls and with road noise it’s still hard to hear. I can run radio at 25-30 and that’s loud enough for me, but the phone only is my issue. I’m using wireless CarPlay.

 

I don’t think I have had any problems hearing the phone. Did you turn the volume up on the phone as well? I can’t remember if the phone volume is independent with car play like it is with Bluetooth.
I can try to mess around with it tomorrow and try it out.

 

Ditto, will check on the way into work but I have zero problems with the 996xr and pixel 3.

 

Sub’d nice advice!

 

Yeah volume on phone is maxed. It won’t let me adjust it when hooked up on CarPlay. Everything else is fine. Radio, Apple Music, podcasts, Siri, etc.

 

@captainnemojr I went out and played around with the volume settings a bit. I also have my volume turned all the way up for phone calls. When using Car Play, the volume buttons on the phone itself do nothing, all volume controls are handled by the car play radio and each source has their own volume setting. I also tried disconnecting from Car Play and just using the bluetooth connection for a phone call, and made sure the bluetooth volume was all the way up on the phone, and during the call I turned the volume all the way up on the kenwood radio and it also maxed out and sounded about as loud as with the wireless Car Play.
I did not try plugging in the USB/lightning cable to see if the wired Car Play volume was any different than wireless Car Play, but that could be something to try.
Otherwise, the new iOS comes out in 2 days, and maybe the Car Play updates on it will help improve the call volume, or give more volume controls.

 

Just got this unit. Saving this thread for info. Thanks

 

Also some good info here if you have a JBL system: https://www.tundras.com/threads/jbl-owners-with-aftermarket-headunit-via-idatalink-maestro.18586/

 

I have non-JBL. Need to figure out what else I want to install. I have an amp, sub and speakers from previous cars.

 

Thank you for checking! Today my Apple podcasts app started going black so yeah when iOS 13 comes out Thursday I’m probably going to just do a full phone restore and see if that fixes everything along with the new CarPlay.

 

My DNX996XR arrived today, as well as all the accessories. Will put it in either Sat afternoon or Sunday AM.

 

Well, the install isn't happening this weekend. The Metra trim kit had a few piece broken off it. I went ahead and ordered the Scosche kit off Amazon. Will be here Monday, but I may not get to it until Tuesday or Wednesday.