lol... yes!!! by looking at the nav screen I also just saw where they are from... lol.. nice.. they're local.

 

this is the car portal kenwood piece correct? and if im not mistaken i thought you lost touch screen controls and you have to use the remote? atleast thats what i remember my kenwood rep tellin me if i hear him correctly. its a nice piece overall dont get me wrong, but i would much rather keep the stock the way it is and go with something like an Audiocontrol piece (ie Audiocontrol DQL-8) this piece is identical to the Kenwood 8120 and 812, which i had in my ford explorer. it does have a very user friendly interface and the Garmin nav is great. i wsnt very fond of the built in BT however... they had a lot of problems with it this year. very nice and clean install tho!

 

Yes you are correct it is the Kenwood Carportal piece. However the touch screen capabilities are fully functional as well as steering wheel controls.

Believe me you, we carry Audio Control and that option was considered. Unfortunately the sound that the customer wanted to achieve was beyond the range of the DQL-8. It is not the DQL-8 that restricts his sound range, rather the fact that the DQL-8 will receive a less clean signal from the OEM radio.

We also went with the Carportal because as you can see, he does not lose any of his OEM functions. Fuel remaining, mpg, AC. . .etc

If you guys have any further questions, shoot! I will try to get a video of it in action.

 

in order to retain the SWIX you had to use a 3rd party piece correct? such as Peripheral, Pie, Etc.... correct? i havent used a car portal piece so im curious. it would be great if they integrated the SWIX in the Kenwood piece to save a lil cashhhh . nice to know its touch screen tho. ipod vid capabilities too right?

 

I want this! become a vendor and give us all special pricingggggggg!!!!!!!

 

Can you please elaborate on the boldfaced print above? What was the difference in measurable specs, between the two sources?

 

measurable differences? OEM vs Kenwood?

 

eww

 

audioshoppe... i think dillyo is talkin about the measurable differences between the Kenwood car portal compared to the Audiocontrol DQL-8. cuz to my knowledge the Audiocontrol can achieve up to 8v on preouts and kenwood only 5v. not to mention the Audiocontrol piece has an amazing crossover/equalizer set up. If tuned properly IMO the audiocontrol would work better. just maintain factory interface... i think audiocontrol is the best OEM integration company out. so how do you figure it will achieve a less clean signal with the DQL-8 with OEM compared to Carportal with OEM?

 

The Carportal has nothing to do with OEM A/V. The DQL-8 gets its signal source from the OEM HU... how clean is this compared with the kenwoods? this is what we are referring to... Carportal is more user-friendly as well.

 

i agree with you audioshoppe as far as the Video and integration goes, but we are talkin SQ. how do you figure that the "signal" is inferior with the DQL-8 compared to that of the Car Portal. If a customer wants a user friendly piece that you can integrate ipod, sat, BT, nav and all the other stupid crap that customers want then the car portal is a great piece. however most new cars, such as the G37, has all these options from the factory or can be purchased through the factory. what most ppl want is the capabilities to add aftermarket amplifiers and speakers to an already great OEM system in your higher end cars (ie BMW, MB, Infiniti). and IMO i think the Audiocontrol has superior SQ then Kenwood. but as far as Video interfacing, user friendliness, and integration of accesories the car portal is better. Now on to the SQ (sound quality for those who didnt know). first and foremost the audiocontrol DQL-8 has a 7.5v rms output compared to a max 5v of that on the carportal by Kenwood. higher voltage=better sound quality. next lets look at the signal to noise ratio, this is the level between the noise floor and signal output. the S/N ratio of the Kenwood is only 70db! compared to the audio control which is 105 and/or GREATER. this also means better SQ (less hiss, etc etc)... 2 for 2. There is a lot more to this but id just be stating the obvious (for more www.mobileaudiocontrol.com or www.kenwoodusa.com). Lastly, the way you intgrated the piece is using a Kenwood aftermarket screen correct? so you pretty much removed OEM screen and swapped... how are all the OEM functions and buttons still being used? PAC Swi-Jack? or other source? seems like an awful lot of buttons to program to the 3rd party unit.... cheers

 

BTW... not tryin to flame or bag on you... just tryin to understand all of this. your shop seems outstanding and by your pics you guys do awesome work so keep it up!

 

No offense taken..

We are not going to argue about the SQ of the DQL-8 vs the Kenwood. I have tried several step-down Audio Control pieces with different applications and have found a few issues with the interface....Audio Control is the best step down just is not the best option the factory radio is to limited... this customer wants bullet proof functionality. We have combined the simplicity of the Carportal combined with an LRX amp. An LRX amp will pick up the factory OEM noise through the DQL-8. The biggest advantage the DQL-8 gives us over our current setup is its comprehensive EQ control...All OEM functions and buttons still work through the screen........On a side note if customer wants to add to his sound he has the option of using an Alto Mobile.

 

mmmmm audison .... thats what im goin with in my vehicle too! you guys have a lot of great product at your place. arc, audison, mmats, etc etc. well continue with the good work, nice to see the car portal applied correctly and relatively seemless! still think ill be using the DQL-8 in mine but now you have def brought another option on my horizon. again, great stuff audioshoppe!

 

I was actually referring to the OEM source signal. This is the statement that was made:

Unfortunately the sound that the customer wanted to achieve was beyond the range of the DQL-8. It is not the DQL-8 that restricts his sound range, rather the fact that the DQL-8 will receive a less clean signal from the OEM radio.

There is no reason to believe that the signal that the OEM source puts out is altered in any way by the component it's feeding. If one were to tell me that the output of the Kenwood was better than the Audiocontrol piece or vice versa, then I would tend to accept that.

The way I understood the referenced statement was that with the Audiocontrol piece, the OEM HU must feed it a signal. With the Kenwood piece, there is no need for a signal input from the OEM HU. So, my question was, if this is the case, what are the measurable differences in signal out put between the Kenwood piece and the OEM HU?