New stereo equipment!

[Ever Victorious]

First, a few pics, by popular demand.



From the rear seat, looking forward, at the sub.



From the front passenger footwell, looking back, at the sub.



This is the iPlug connector that you can hook up to Dual brand head units. It's sitting on the console to the right of the cup holders. It has an aux connector, a set of RCA connectors for video (PS2/XBOX), and a connector for an iPod, which can be controlled by the HU.



Head unit... Dual XDVD8285 Bluetooth DVD player



Image of both the HU and the iPlug.

Now... some quick review info...

The sub (Kenwood KSC-SW1) isn't very strong, but it's able to bring up the V's sound system so that instead of having absolutely no bass, it has about the same as if not a little more than my wife's Tucson, which has pretty good bass for a stock unit. If you need trunk space, this is a good way to go. If you can sacrifice a little, a single 10 would do better.

Early review on the HU (Dual XDVD8285)... You don't get voice dialing feature, but it at least has a touchscreen. The screen is VERY nice for tuning and reading track info for CDs. The MP3 DVD I put in the dash didn't work, I need to troubleshoot why. Could just be bad discs again.

[KimberKenobi]

owow!Looks good so far... Can't wait for an update once you get to using it more!

[Althalus]

That's a v nice hu

[TrustME]

WOW EV. I was JUST looking at that HU. I want it. Well wanted it. Lol. I'll have to find something else now. Where did you find the HU and how much was it?

[drummernamedpat]

I am glad someone else besides me is using a "Dual" product. Looks great in the car.

[CodeRed]

Haha, your versa has the hazard light on the right side...

[Ever Victorious]

WOW EV. I was JUST looking at that HU. I want it. Well wanted it. Lol. I'll have to find something else now. Where did you find the HU and how much was it?

I found it for $575 at beachaudio.com. Their $5 shipping got it to me pretty fast, although I live on the same coast as them. If you want Nav and can wait a couple months, beachaudio is waiting for Dual's release of the XDVDN8290, which is the nav version of the same HU. I believe it will be $900.

The XM unit is an Audiovox XMD1000 ($20 at amazon.com), and the HU already has the necessary cables to hook up to this unit or a Terk unit.

As far as install materials, I used the Versa wiring harness and antenna kit from versaspeed.

I was a homebody over the weekend, so I didn't get out and play with the stereo much. Got a chance to play with it a bit more on the commute in, and played around with the treble/bass controls. I'm now actually squeezing a fair amount of bass out of that little sub.. though there is a very fine line between squeezing out the bass and having it distort.

Now I just need to wait for someone to call me so I can test out the BT. :P

[TrustME]

Wow. The one I saw was about 699. Thanks for the website, btw. I'm all over it.

[Ever Victorious]

OK... the BT feature has officially been tested.

Pros: Volume and clarity is MUCH better than on a stock SL bluetooth system, unit has caller ID as long as your cell phone supports it, unit downloads and can dial back the last 20 received, dialed, or missed calls from your phone's call logs. The unit can dial manually through the touch-screen controls.

Cons: No voice dialing, and I haven't found a way to pull the phone's phonebook off to dial a number quickly, or to act as a phonebook for the HU.

Edit: oh, and for those that care, the Kenwood compact sub was about $155 through amazon.com.

[Ever Victorious]

Wow. The one I saw was about 699. Thanks for the website, btw. I'm all over it.

Don't forget to upgrade your speakers, too... the S's pathetic paper cones won't do much for an aftermarket HU. The stock SL speakers are pushed to their limits by this HU as is.