The owner of this Kia Sportage contacted us awhile back looking to upgrade his head unit. To be honest, our first pick was to go with an android unit as there are ready made harnesses with can bus and SPDIF interface that will make the entire install a lot more straight forward. However, this customer decided on the Kenwood and was willing to make the necessary compromises.
What compromises? Glad you asked. The main thing that we can tell is that you will lose the functionality of the factory subwoofer. Secondly, which is less apparent, is that the audio signal will bypass the factory amplifier, which depending on the head unit you install, may or may not matter. A head unit with good built-in power output may not sound much different.
The install can be a tricky one, so those who endeavour going through with the same should at least have some know-how on audio wiring as you will need to do a bunch of connections at the factory amplifier side.
For those who prefer a more easier path, we highly recommend going with a good android unit to avoid the hassle. Furthermore you will retain the subwoofer that way, which is a big plus.
Featured Product
Kenwood DMX5023S – https://www.fasmoto.com/kenwood-dmx5023s
Kia Sportage Dash Kit – https://www.fasmoto.com/Kia-sportage-yr-09-12-dashboard-kit-car-audio-player-installation-casing
Blaupunkt RC 3.0 – https://www.fasmoto.com/blaupunkt-rc-3
Akeeyo AKY-T1Lite – https://www.fasmoto.com/aky-t1-lite
