OK - Kenwood KDC-7534U or Blaupunkt MP56?

NeilF

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The Kenwood is £30 more...

Want good audio quality, USB and a good display...
- The display looks better on the Blaupunkt?? (not bothered it's just one colour!!)
- However, from what I've read, the Blaupunkt can only hand (USB) 127 files/dirs at a time???? Not good! In some dirs I would have hundreds of files potentially... Guess I could split em up a bit!


So options seem to be the Blaupunkt MP56 for £150

Or the Kenwood KDC-W7534U for £180
I'm planning on running it on these:-

Speakers Approx £60
From reading around seems a lot of people rate the infinity speakers so I'll get a pair of the Infinity Kappa 62.7s.

Woofer
My brother has a small compact Kenwood woofer with built in amp that he's giving to me - KSC WA62RC... I'll sit this behind my seat most likely.


Images removed- please read board rules on leaching other peoples bandwidth.-moderator
 
Well, have read various things, and spoken to some owners, the Kenwood is now looking the favourite:-
- It sorts MP3s alphabetically, where as the Blaupunkt doesn't sort them at all!
- It only takes about 8 seconds to resume MP3 playback as long as you use a recommended hard disk! (I had heard rumours of 25 seconds)
 
So here we have two cutting edge products offering mp3 playback in the car... And not a single response... Hmmm...
 
I've just bought the MP56 but haven't installed it yet.

I've read it doesn't sort the folders/files but you can run foldersort on your drive to do that (http://www.jetman.dircon.co.uk/software/index.html)

Haven't got a harddisk for it yet as the only one recommended is the Lacie Porsche 40GB drive. Will be trying some others from work to see how they go.

Will try and rember to let you know how I get on!

:)
 
I've just bought the MP56 but haven't installed it yet.

I've read it doesn't sort the folders/files but you can run foldersort on your drive to do that (http://www.jetman.dircon.co.uk/software/index.html)

Haven't got a harddisk for it yet as the only one recommended is the Lacie Porsche 40GB drive. Will be trying some others from work to see how they go.

Will try and rember to let you know how I get on!

:)

Many thanks! Particularly interested with the MP56 on:-
1) What you think of the screen quality - ie: How easy to read it.
2) How easy it is to navigate directories and files.
3) How fussy it is about files names. ie: I don't want to have to faff around renaming files and/or getting rid of mp3 ID tags etc.

I'm tempted by the MP56 Queens as it's basically £100 cheaper than the MP66!

Hope you can let me know what you think on the above points :)
 
1) What you think of the screen quality - ie: How easy to read it.

I find it no problem to read. You can change the colour to one of 4096(!) colours to match your interior lighting and contrast/brightness so you should be able to get it setup how you want. The scrolling MP3 tag is a bit small but visible (it's the very bottom in the picture of the MP56).

2) How easy it is to navigate directories and files.


No problem here using the arrow keys around the dial and the next key. I've used it for 30 minutes only today but I've got used to it when driving.

3) How fussy it is about files names. ie: I don't want to have to faff around renaming files and/or getting rid of mp3 ID tags etc.

The manual says no special characters like umlauts and supports id3 tags versions 1 & 2

I've got an IBM 12GB drive swiped from an old laptop connected with a usb cable bought on ebay with a shiny "Vaio" case :) Works fine. Going to try some others too.

Also, do a google for "Blaupunkt Casablanca HDD Test" for a much better review than mine! Sorry can't link to it from here.

I bought mine from Bluespot ,which also includes delivery for free, for £159.99, not bad! It's the Casablanca model which is silver but's it's cheaper that the Queens and has an SD card reader too. Blaupunkt have some weird marketing!
 
1) What you think of the screen quality - ie: How easy to read it.

I find it no problem to read. You can change the colour to one of 4096(!) colours to match your interior lighting and contrast/brightness so you should be able to get it setup how you want. The scrolling MP3 tag is a bit small but visible (it's the very bottom in the picture of the MP56).

2) How easy it is to navigate directories and files.


No problem here using the arrow keys around the dial and the next key. I've used it for 30 minutes only today but I've got used to it when driving.

3) How fussy it is about files names. ie: I don't want to have to faff around renaming files and/or getting rid of mp3 ID tags etc.

The manual says no special characters like umlauts and supports id3 tags versions 1 & 2

I've got an IBM 12GB drive swiped from an old laptop connected with a usb cable bought on ebay with a shiny "Vaio" case :) Works fine. Going to try some others too.

Also, do a google for "Blaupunkt Casablanca HDD Test" for a much better review than mine! Sorry can't link to it from here.

I bought mine from Bluespot ,which also includes delivery for free, for £159.99, not bad! It's the Casablanca model which is silver but's it's cheaper that the Queens and has an SD card reader too. Blaupunkt have some weird marketing!


The Queens isn't identical to the Casablanca, apart from colour? Well! That's wierd!!?


And I assume yours is plugged into coaxial speakers? What do you make of the sound quality etc?
 
The Queens isn't identical to the Casablanca, apart from colour? Well! That's wierd!!?


And I assume yours is plugged into coaxial speakers? What do you make of the sound quality etc?

Queens is black and doesn't have the MMC/SD slot. More expensive too. Weird indeed!

Just standard Ford Focus speakers. It sounds a lot better with the MP56 than my stock ford stereo.
 
Queens is black and doesn't have the MMC/SD slot. More expensive too. Weird indeed!

Just standard Ford Focus speakers. It sounds a lot better with the MP56 than my stock ford stereo.

So a few days later... Still a fan? :)
 
I'm still loving it :thumbsup:

The only problem I've had is that my USB HDD can take 20 - 30 seconds to scan first thing in the morning. Perhaps I shouldn't leave it in the car all night, maybe a bit cold.


Other than that, I think it's well worth the money.
 
I'm still loving it :thumbsup:

The only problem I've had is that my USB HDD can take 20 - 30 seconds to scan first thing in the morning. Perhaps I shouldn't leave it in the car all night, maybe a bit cold.


Other than that, I think it's well worth the money.

That's a bit concerning... One of the main reasons I'm going for the MP56 is the start up speed... What hard drive is it?

Have you tried a USB memory stick or SD card? Do they seem faster/slower in operation to the HD?
 
Having read another forum, it could be down to the naming of my files. Apparently, taking out punctuation ();:, can help a lot. Also, stripping out ID3V1 tags and just leaving V2 tags in makes it start a lot quicker. I think it must do a scan of teh drive when you start up.

It's an IBM 12gb drive out of a laptop (It's a few years old). Have only tried USD HDD and Memory card. memory card was quick but only had a few albums on. Will be doing some more testing with file names soon.
 
Having read another forum, it could be down to the naming of my files. Apparently, taking out punctuation ();:, can help a lot. Also, stripping out ID3V1 tags and just leaving V2 tags in makes it start a lot quicker. I think it must do a scan of teh drive when you start up.

It's an IBM 12gb drive out of a laptop (It's a few years old). Have only tried USD HDD and Memory card. memory card was quick but only had a few albums on. Will be doing some more testing with file names soon.

GROAN!!

I don't want to have to faff around with nonsense like that :(
 
I own a Kenwood KCD 7534U head unit with a Western Digital passport 60gb HDD connected to the USB port. I have been very happy with the head unit, it sounds very good although it is connected to amps. My only criticism is the access time when first switching the system on, as I have around 12Gb of MP3's on the HDD I have tried to change the file structure but nothing has seemed to improve things, it still takes around 2 minutes to access on first boot up or even when you switch from radio to USB:confused:, the more you put on the HDD the slower access times get . The voice file search system is a nice touch, making things easy to navigate using the steering wheel remote.

The display is bright and functional, I have seen better but I prefer an uncluttered display that is easy to read at a glance.

I had the MP3 CD changer before this set-up and would not go back to it, although I have it connected to this H/U but have not really used it since getting the HDD.
 
I own a Kenwood KCD 7534U head unit with a Western Digital passport 60gb HDD connected to the USB port. I have been very happy with the head unit, it sounds very good although it is connected to amps. My only criticism is the access time when first switching the system on, as I have around 12Gb of MP3's on the HDD I have tried to change the file structure but nothing has seemed to improve things, it still takes around 2 minutes to access on first boot up or even when you switch from radio to USB:confused:, the more you put on the HDD the slower access times get . The voice file search system is a nice touch, making things easy to navigate using the steering wheel remote.

The display is bright and functional, I have seen better but I prefer an uncluttered display that is easy to read at a glance.

I had the MP3 CD changer before this set-up and would not go back to it, although I have it connected to this H/U but have not really used it since getting the HDD.

TWO MINUTES!!!!!

Have you got a quite complete directory structure? I bet if you tried 4-5Gb of tracks in say 9-10 folders it would be seconds?
 
I've got 100+ albums totalling around 9GB, each in an "Artist - Album Name" folder and my MP56 takes between 10-20 seconds from first turn on, although evey now and again it can take 50 seconds (no idea why!). Switching from other sources (Radio/CD/memory card) takes about 3 seconds.

I might try splitting my albums down into a smaller amount of folders in the root. Something like, A-D, E-H, etc. Mainly to help me find stuff quicker without crashing the car!
 
I've got 100+ albums totalling around 9GB, each in an "Artist - Album Name" folder and my MP56 takes between 10-20 seconds from first turn on, although evey now and again it can take 50 seconds (no idea why!). Switching from other sources (Radio/CD/memory card) takes about 3 seconds.

I might try splitting my albums down into a smaller amount of folders in the root. Something like, A-D, E-H, etc. Mainly to help me find stuff quicker without crashing the car!

And are those files in MP3 format, and you haven't had to fiddle with file names/tags etc?
 
And are those files in MP3 format, and you haven't had to fiddle with file names/tags etc?

All MP3, but I have run "folder sort" (as mentioned earlier) on the drive to get them all in the right order. Also, tidied up the names of the folders but don't think that made any difference and was just for me really :)

Too be honest, I think but the kenwood and blaupunkt have good and bad points and they are "cuting edge" technology. I'm happy with mine (MP56) but I know in 6 moths there will be something better out. Early adopter fun :)
 
Well, there's some new USB Kenwoods out it seems, and Clarion are jumping on the USB boat as well with some new models...

I'm waiting for reviews on those...
 
I'm looking for a new head unit for my car that will read and play MP3s from a memory card.

The MP56 looks potentially perfect, but almost every review seems to go on about the hard drive and no mention of how the card reader performs in regards to speed/ease of access and how many MP3s the unit will recognise from a single memory card (I'm sure I've read there is a max number on other models?) :eek:

Can anyone help?
 
I'm looking for a new head unit for my car that will read and play MP3s from a memory card.

The MP56 looks potentially perfect

Can anyone help?

I'm exactly the same, but the SD/MMC route seems to be almost ignored by the major manufacturers. I Liked the look and concept of the Blaupunkt Melbourne, but the rest of it is so basic it's almost like they designed it to be useless! A reviewer on here also said navigating the memory was a bitch too.

I'm a bit of an ICE amateur, can anyone explain why are manufacturers are so reluctant to adopt memory cards???
 

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