Phoenix Gold Phorum

I am looking to buy a decent head unit for my daily (beater) driver. It has M25, ZX350 and RSD65cs and RSD10. My wife bought me an Ipod for christmas and I have a 90 mile round trip commute and spend a little over 2 hours driving every day. I have 10% ebay coupon that expires today and I just don't have time to research everything, so I am asking for recommendations.

I have had good luck with Kenwood in the past, but currently have a low end Alpine, but I am not married to those brands. I don't want ot spend aton of money though either.

1- I am looking for a Head unit with Ipod controls. Are any brand better than others? It seems it would beneifcial to have Ipod control rather than just a USB input. I don't need a super fancy interface, but I do want to be safe not fooling around an Ipod.

2- Is the HD Radio worth the price of an adapter? I notice that Alpine HD adapter is pretty pricy ($200) while Kenwood's is cheaper ($120) Or is just a waste of money?

3- Blue Tooth adapter (Built in for the radio) Does those worth well. It would be nice to have a hands free for talking on the phone. Does it work well through the radio, or should I just buy a Blue Tooth Headset.

kenwood x592 is like $100 new on amazon.com....

if you use the ipod docking cable you can control the ipod through the dead unit just fine (and charge it)

i pretty much am in deep lust with this deck, it does it all, hp and lp crossovers, strong preouts, 24bit DAC

Im an alpine guy for the most part. I've had great success and SQ with HU's from all price ranges from them. Its what I've always put them in my daily drivers in the past, and Ive had ... lets see...8 or 9 decks total and 6 have been alpines...all have been really great...simple looks, no unecessary glitz or glam, and again..good SQ for the money. Most of their new units are IPOD ready and some even include the cable...if not its a 25 dollar add on ...

Bfowler wrote:kenwood x592 is like $100 new on amazon.com....

if you use the ipod docking cable you can control the ipod through the dead unit just fine (and charge it)

i pretty much am in deep lust with this deck, it does it all, hp and lp crossovers, strong preouts, 24bit DAC

x2 I have the headunit and love it. and for the price for everything you get.... GOOD GOD it pwnz and sounds great. the screen isn't too crazy with hella good colors but its not meant for that at all which is why i got it. I wanted good DAC's and the ipod that charges via usb and i can control it with the remote so I can drive better haha

I have the model one down on the X592 in my daily driver, over here it's labelled the KDC-6641.

Awesome deck, the SQ is superb, and for a daily driver it's the dog's nads.

I haven't yet tried out the Ipod controls (don't have an Ipod), but I use it with a decent sized memory stick and it works really well for me.