Here's a perfect way to replace your stock stereo with a Bluetooth-enabled, digital-media-friendly solution. Enjoy your favorite CDs, a one-wire iPod connection, streaming of MP3/AAC/WMA files from USB thumb drives, a front auxiliary input, and Kenwood audio perfection in a 50W x 4 stylish tuner.  Replace your stock stereo with a Bluetooth-enabled, digital-media-friendly solution. Click to enlarge. | Dial in Your Music
The KDC-BT742U will play your favorite CDs or burned CD-Rs, as well as MP3/WMA/AAC files from data CDs or USB devices. Load your flash drive with your favorite tunes and hit the road. iPod 1-wire Connection
If you own an iPod, simply connect it to a Kenwood CD receiver via the USB cable that comes with the iPod. Better yet, use the optional KCA-iP100 1-wire iPod Interface Cable for crystal clear digital audio playback. You'll supply power to your iPod as well as charge it while you enjoy your music. FM/AM Tuner
When you feel like letting someone else control the programming, switch to the radio. Features 18 FM and six AM presets for your convenience.  Add satellite radio or HD radio with Kenwood peripherals. |  Includes IR remote. Click to enlarge. | Built-In Bluetooth--Powered by Parrot
The built-in Bluetooth hands-free system enables easy, safe cellular phone communications from the car. Features include (not all features work on all phones): - Supports Hands-Free Profile
- Supports SMS
- Supports Voice Dialing
- Supports Automatic Phonebook Download
- Powered By Parrot
- Built-In Microphone with Noise Cancellation
HD and Satellite Radio Ready
The KDC-BT742U allows you to enjoy SIRIUS (requires CA-SR20V cable + Sirius Tuner) or XM (requires KCA-XM100V + XM Mini Tuner) radio in your vehicle. Enjoy a multitude of channels featuring music, news, talk shows, sports, and traffic information with CD quality sound. You also can add an HD Radio tuner. When you connect an HD radio tuner, features of the unit are disabled and changed to HD Radio tuner features. Superb Audio All the Time
When listening to music in a moving vehicle, sound quality can be degraded due to road and engine noise. Kenwood's exclusive Sound Excellence audio enhancement feature brings out all of the music masked by this noise, and also includes a unique iPod EQ function that improves the sound of any iPod by deactivating the EQ setting of the iPod and allowing you to select an EQ curve optimized for iPod playback in any vehicle at any speed. Supreme
When a music file is compressed, some frequencies signals are lost, particularly if it is encoded using a low bit rate. The Supreme technology is a Kenwood-original audio compensation technology that compensates for this loss and reproduces music in a more natural form, thereby making it possible to play music recorded using low bit rates (64k to 96k) in an audio-quality equivalent to music recorded using a higher bit rate (equivalent to 128k). Enjoy a natural, rich sound, even with lower compression ratios.  Front USB and AUX connectors for quick and easy access. | Front USB/AUX Connection
The KDC-BT742U features a USB and AUX connector up front that makes connecting a USB mass-storage device easier than ever. For the auxiliary input, input sensitivity correction adjusts volume or input level depending on the characteristics of the input source. Ready for System Expansion
In addition to the on-board 50W x 4 amplifier, the DPX503 boasts three 2.5V pre-amp outs for expanding your system. What's in the Box
Kenwood KDC-BT742U, sleeve, trim ring, wiring harness, installation tools, installation manual, operation manual, warranty card. |
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 Difficult to Set up, but a lot of cool features. |
| Review Date: September 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Michele Aguirre, |
This unit is NOT intuitive for setup and navigating through the menus is complicated. You pretty much need the manual next to you in case you want to dive into the menus. It's so bad that I keep the manual in my glove box just in case. It took me over an hour to go through all the menu items to get this deck set up properly. By the way, once you get everything set the way you want it, you should write the setttings down, since there are so many options to customize you'll forget them if you ever need to input the settings again. The manual is poorly written with insufficient explanation of what each menu and option means. Also, the manual has instructions for three different models. So, not every page applies to the unit. You have to be careful to take note of what options apply to this specific deck.
Aside from the user unfriendliness, there are A LOT of options you can set to fine-tune your music. Once you get everything set up, this is a pretty sweet deck for the ability to customize your music. Probably the best options for me is the ability to set high-pass frequencies to the speakers. The speakers in the back of my car are 4" diameter and cannot handle low frequencies well. No problem. I set the high-pass frequency to 100-Hz for the rear speakers, turned the music way up, and no distortion. Awesome.
Other pluses:
A. You can set the equalizer center frequencies for three bands, Q-Level, and Gain or choose from multiple presets like rock, jazz, easy listening, etc.
B. The deck can store multiple listening profiles. You get everything set up you want it, and save it as User 1, 2, or 3. This is pretty cool, as some of my music on my MP3 player needs extra bass output. I can simply recall the sound profile that I set up to have more bass, without having to pour through the maze of menus.
C. There are several settings for customizing the sound environment including the size vehicle you have, speaker size, speaker location (door, dash, etc.), speaker high-pass frequencies, using tweeters, using a subwoofer, the distance from the speakers to the audio center of the vehicle, compensation for specific listening locations within the vehicle, speaker delay, highway sound compensation, bass boost levels, and on and on.
D. Volume compensation for each input source, which levels the sound across all your input sources (CD, Tuner, MP3 Player).
E. Bluetooth sound quality is EXCELLENT and you can even adjust the mic gain and speaker settings.
F. A pretty wild feature is that the front speakers can be run independently of the rear speakers. That means you can listen to two different input sources at the same time. Pretty cool if you have kids that want to listen to something other than what you are.
I'm pretty happy with this deck now that I have finally set up the way I want it. The fact that I can set the high-pass frequency levels to the speakers is great. I can listen to my music loud and not have to worry with moving the fade setting away from my smaller speakers. |
ALMOST GREAT
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| Review Date: January 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: James L. Gadsden, Baltimore, MD USA |
The last two reviews were mostly dead on. There is so much to say about this unit I'll just interject my experience and differences of opinion and try to keep it short and sweet.
I have had the unit installed for about a week. I love the look and the clean sound. The amp in it is much better than the factory Explorer amp which I bypassed. I like the sound field and sound quality adjustability. This unit is good for us tweakers. EQ and crossover are welcome features. It has everything you would need and much more. The scrolling display shouldn't be a distraction to anybody. If so turn it off!
The only problem is that it has so many options, and does so much, that accessing it is a pain. I recommend familiarizing yourself with it BEFORE you hit the road. learning on the fly with this unit is dangerous and frustrating. This is what kept it from being great and getting that fifth star. Keep the manual handy because it will be awhile before all the functions and how to navigate become second nature.
I'm using an iPhone 3G with the bluetooth. Most people say they hear me clear. One said I sounded terrible. One said it sounded better than my Plantronics/Altec Lansing 903 Backbeat earphone headset. It all boils down to the noise level in your car. Quiet car good quality. The mic on the unit is good so it picks up the noise in a loud car especially in the rain. I haven't yet experimented with the mic gain level to see if it makes a difference.
So all-in-all it's a very good unit. All works as it should. It has loads of useful features and sounds great. In time the operation will be second nature and my only complaint will no longer be valid. |
Bluetooth problems with iPhone 3G, tricky UI, great sound & features
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| Review Date: March 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Dorfman, |
(In case anyone read this review before I updated it, the major changes are that I've spoken to Kenwood about the bluetooth issues, and I've realized the interface isn't as difficult as it seemed at first - if Amazon would let me, I would upgrade my rating to 3 stars).
First the bad news. When I talk to people with my iPhone 3G via the bluetooth capability, they can barely understand me. My voice sounds heavily digitized at best, "like a robot." During any given conversation, about half of what I say sounds like digital noise and is unintelligible. [edit:]After talking to Kenwood tech support, they acknowledged that several of their older units had exactly this problem, and it was fixed with a firmware update. They were not aware of an issue with this unit, and have now escalated a problem report to get it fixed. The current theory is that they have only tested the unit with iPhone firmware 2.1, and my iPhone has the latest firmware 2.2, and there may be an interoperability issue with it.[:edit]
I did try my iPhone with a Pioneer DEH-BT7000, and it sounds fine through that unit, not digitized or robotic at all.
[edit:]I have completely rewritten my account of the unit's interface. Originally I said it was horrible, and if you google this unit, you'll find similar complaints. With more time, I've realized that there is a decent logical consistency to this interface that makes most features fairly easy to remember. The problem is the manual does not explain it. Every button on the unit has a dual purpose; one by pressing it quickly, and one by holding it down for 1 sec.
Every button is labeled on the face plate with both it's primary and secondary purpose. All of the "secondary" purposes are indicated by a small solid white square. Some of the labels are a little too terse to realize what they mean before reading the manual, but once you realize what the label means, you won't forget.
For example, to turn FM station find on and off, you hold down the "AUTO" button for 1 sec. However AUTO is the secondary function for a button who's primary function is to activate/deactivate the bluetooth hands-free feature. The secondary label happens to be on a silver highlight while the button and primary label are in a black area, so they don't appear to have anything to do with each other, and the AUTO label appears to have nothing to do with anything.
Another good example is information scrolling on the display. The default is to constantly scroll the artist and song name across the display. However, you can set it to not scroll, if you find that distracting. But then how do you read the rest of it if you want to? The 7-way knob has a legend next to it. UP and Down switch between FM and AM in radio mode. However, up has a secondary label of SCRL. That means "to scroll the display, press this for 1 sec". I would never have guessed, but now that I know, I'll never forget.
So, I don't hate the interface any more. I would just say the manual does not explain this pattern, and it took a while for me to recognize it on my own. [:edit]
Another complaint is that it is difficult to press the knob without also tilting it, which often causes you to change what you're trying to select before you select it.
On the plus side, it sounds fantastic, and it has a ton of really cool features. I was particularly impressed by the ability to fine-tune the delay of audio generated by the different speakers to compensate for differences in speaker placement in different cars. This enables you to fine-tune the "audio center" of your car to coincide with the true physical center of the cabin - although I can't currently claim to be able to tell the difference after doing so.
Another silly plus is that this unit is gorgeous. I hate to admit it, but I love looking at it. The display is substantially clearer & more readable than the previous unit (the BT838u) and than the Pioneer BT700/70000 units.
I really hope Kenwood can get me past this bluetooth audio problem [edit] b/c I really want this unit to end up working for me. I like the features, display readability, non-flip-down face-plate, and front-mounted USB and AUX ports.
Other minor notes: the voice recognition function is a little weak, and tedious to program, but it works fine. [edit:]I was mistaken; the display auto-dims when you turn your headlights on[:edit]. The unit has a "play/pause" button [edit:which sounds obvious, but many mp3-focused units these days no longer have this throwback to the days of removable media; they expect you to turn the unit off when you don't want it to play.[:edit] |
Terrible Manual
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| Review Date: October 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: john02116, Boston |
I just got this unit today and spent twenty minutes sitting with the manual trying to figure it out. I'm halfway there. I sat down this afternoon with a highlighter and really studied the manual. I'm confident that, with another 20 or 30 minutes of set up in the car I'll be good to go.
It also has the dreaded "demo mode" which flashes all sorts of lights and useless information while your trying to set it up. Absolutely maddening! There's a way to turn that off. I'm going to try again tomorrow (page 8 at the very bottom of the list!).
It does have a lot of features, and once I'm set up, I'm sure I'll enjoy the unit. But right now I'm really wishing Apple would tackle the car audio market. I'd pay extra for something that didn't require a manual and a few hours to set up.
FYI "HD Radio Ready" with "Ready" in really small type underneath means this unit DOES NOT have an HD Radio tuner. Bummer. |
If you don't have an ipod, but want to shuffle more than 255 music files, this device is worthless.
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| Review Date: March 14, 2009 |
| Reviewer: David Luis Pereira, |
Bought this receiver at Frys after getting recommended by the sales floor associate. After banging my head for an hour trying to figure out how to use this thing while reading through a poorly written manual, I finally managed to get the phone connected and figure out how to shuffle through music.
--- A HUGE Drawback ----
Unfortunately we found out this device only supports within folder shuffle for usb connected devices (not including ipod). The next logical thing is to then put all your music in one folder. Unfortunately the device won't recognize more than 255 files within one folder. This is a real pain. Especially when you consider a mp3 CD could hold close to 255 mp3s. My whole point for getting this was to get away with having to burn mp3 cds all the time.
Pros
- nice to have caller id and phonebook support
- internal mic worked pretty good
Cons
- Music presets were not that different. Previous Scion stock radio had much better variety of audio equalizer presets.
- Navigation through menus is not intuitive and difficult using the knob
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