JVC Head unit?

[Venom04]

JVC KW-AVX740 DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Thinking of getting this for my 04. Does anybody have any thoughts about JVC units? Is the sound better then stock with the right harness using all stock speakers on a Mach 460?

 

[Venom04]

Wow! Not one person knows anything about JVC or whether an aftermarket head unit sounds better then stock?

 

[jjscobra18]

May want to try posting in interior forum. Personally I prefer Pioneer. As far as sound it all depends on the install and what kind of sound you are looking for. Basically it will give you a little more control over tuning the stock speakers but do not expert a extreme sound difference. If your just wanting a different look and head unit go for it. If you want more sound you may want to look into replacing the stock components. The stock system is not a bad system at all, it all depends on your taste just my .02.

 

[baldtaco]

Check out the Pioneer 4300dvd much better touch screen than the Jvc and better sound quality if your ever change the amps.

 

[SilverCobra7]

JVC's are pretty good units! I've owned a few in my previous cars... The sound will be better than stock since they have more sound adjustability(EQ). I would get it! I'm thinking of replacing mine to since I don't really own CDs anymore... Haven't really thought of a brand.

 

[Taz]

JVC KW-AVX740 DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Thinking of getting this for my 04. Does anybody have any thoughts about JVC units? Is the sound better then stock with the right harness using all stock speakers on a Mach 460?

JVC has been around for a long, long time. It's always been good stuff. JVC and Kenwood merged a couple years ago, and the JVC car equipment has become even more competitive since the two companies have been sharing technology.

I've had a JVC KW-NT3HDT in my Cobra since January and love it.

One thing you need to remember is that the factory Mach 460 head unit has built-in band-pass filters. These remove the low frequencies from the signals being channeled to the tweeter-mid speakers from its internal amps and filter the highs out of the line-level outputs that feed signals to the amps behind the seats that power the mid-woofer speakers.

To protect the OEM tweeter-mid speakers when you switch to any aftermarket head unit, you'll need to install speaker-level high-pass filters in the wiring to those. To keep the imaging from becoming muddy, you should also install line-level low-pass filters in the signal lines feeding the amps in back.

When I installed my JVC, I found all of the necessary filters at Parts Express.

I recommend using THESE 66uF caps inline with the positive leads to your tweeter-mid speakers (You'll need 4.) They'll give you a 6 dB per octave rolloff below 600 Hz.

For the line level outputs to your Mach 460 amps, I recommend THIS kit. The FMOD kit is pricey, but it's a great plug-and-play solution for filtering out the highs from the line-level cables going to your amps. This kit will provide a 12 dB per octave rolloff above 500 Hz.

If you poke around on Parts Express, you'll find lots of high- and low-pass filters that will enable you to choose different crossover frequencies, but I believe the ones I have suggested will give you the cleanest sound and best imaging, regardless of which head unit you select.

Hope this helps.

:thumbsup:

 

[Venom04]

Thanks Taz!! Great info. I'll check it :beer:

 

[Venom04]

If the head unit comes with built in low and high pass filters then i would not need the add on filters. Right?

 

[Taz]

If the head unit comes with built in low and high pass filters then i would not need the add on filters. Right?

I believe you'll find that those built-in high/low filters are for use with a subwoofer. They only alter the signals between the unit's subwoofer output and all the rest of your speakers, so you will still need the external filters for use with your Mach speakers.

When I installed my JVC, I added a monoblock subwoofer amp and a 12-inch sub to provide the deep bass that was missing. I am using my head unit's built-in high and low pass filters with that. This reduces the load on the other components, because they are no longer trying to reproduce those frequencies. The result is less distortion/cleaner sound.

 

[Taz]

I just checked my JVC owner's manual, and the highest crossover frequency available for the built-in bandpass circuitry is 150 Hz. This is really not high enough to work properly with anything other than a subwoofer system. I'd be willing to bet the model you are considering is very close to this, if not exactly the same.

To avoid hacking up your factory wiring, you'll probably want to use a Metra harness adapter kit, which will allow you to plug your aftermarket equipment directly into your existing harnesses.

Below is a diagram showing the way I connected my high- and low-pass filters into my wiring between the JVC and the Metra connectors. Yours will look a little different, because your '04 uses different style connectors, so you'll have a different adapter kit. But at least you can see where the filters go in the signal circuits.

:thumbsup:

 

[Venom04]

Thanks again Taz!! You have shed a lot of light on this crazy ass system we have.