Home > Consumer Reviews > Kenwood Excelon KDC-X492 CD/MP3 Receiver with front USB and Auxiliary inputs

My husband purchased this radio for me as I already had a Kenwood system and he thought I would like this one as well. Well, I have been trying to like this system but it is not user friendly at all. I've had difficulty setting the clock (still not set, just gave up), adjusting the frequency is no easy task and why does it not have a graphics display. It only shows the demo, clock or a blank screen. Don't get me wrong this system has great quality sound as you would expect from a Kenwood, it is just lacking in a lot of areas. My previous Kenwood started skipping on the CDs but it still had great sound, was user friendly and had awesome graphics. The Kenwood X492 is very disappointing. I don't recommend this system, particularly if you've already had a great system, it's hard to accept anything less.

I really like this deck for the most part. Since my car already had one of those optional plastic stereo mounting adapters AND a harness to use factory wiring, installation took less than 5 minutes! That's where things started to get frustrating. I've never owned ANY stereo that is so complicated to program! I suppose that's what I get for buying a deck with so many features. If you know any rocket scientists, you might want to call one before you begin to go through any of the steps to program stuff. I still have a few things I can't figure out, but most of it is done. And the On/Off button totally SUCKS! Kenwood is so proud of their little red lighted diamond symbol so they should make THAT the power button (didn't they used to in the past?). A bigger power button, maybe in a seperate color, would be nice. Now for the good: The sound quality of this deck far surpasses any deck I've ever owned! I've owned many Kenwood decks, plus several Alpines, Sony, Pioneer, JVC (yuck!), Sanyo, and several other brands but THIS DECK surpasses ALL others I've owned for sound quality. I totally love the 3-way crossovers built in, and the HP and LP filters work great! There is one adjustment (I think System Q or something in that menu) that took me a few hours to figure out (okay, maybe 20 minutes) but once I figured out how to program it, I found I could turn my volume up much louder because my front speakers didn't get the lower and midrange frequencies that were overpowering and distorting them. In fact my dash speakers began to smile back at me! NOW it sounds awesome all around. I bought this deck in December and still have not played ONE cd in it! Only because I love the front USB port so much! Heck, every cd I would normally play are on my little flash drive plus tons of MP3 songs I've bought online, so now I'm up to over 2000 songs to play without having to carry or try to hide a case full of cd's. Heck, I don't even listen to the radio any more! The USB thing is addicting! I think the remote is a bit larger than it needs to be (I always liked Alpines small, thin remotes) but it does what is should. My biggest complaint about this deck is that you can NOT fast forward anything you're listening to from the USB drive using the remote! I hate this! All you can do is go up or down in your folders or to next/last song. Obviously nobody in Kenwood's Designing Departments owns or uses this deck, at least with anything in the USB slot. All in all, this in an extremely nice deck once you take a few days to get every function programmed. Can't wait to get my 3 Kenwood amps and my Clarion crossover all installed and hooked up! So, it's 4-1/2 Stars for this deck, but 1 Star for the bulky, almost worthless remote. I guess I should be happy with this deck since it only cost me $140 plus shipping. Had I spent much more I would have probably sent it back and got something less complicated to program or turn on/off.

very nice deck, sounds great, bought from 6th ave was here in 2 days totally pleased! controls ipod, great remote, way better than the decks in b buy etc.. for way less money buy it and use the money you saved for an amp!

The Excelon series is Kenwood's finest. This stereo gives you USB input, is bluetooth ready and has an aux in plug. It also comes with a remote and is easy to use. I highly recommend buying one if you're looking for a reliable USB car stereo for a great price.