Bajie

Seriously thinking about getting one of these.
I've searched some of the threads on this subject but none seemed to answer my questions.
A question is regarding security. Can't see anything saying you can take the fascia with you when leaving the car parked.
I listen to a few urban stations ... what is the radio reception like.
The unit has 4 channel pre-out, can one of these be used for a subwoofer.
I have three amps to run to so need the questions answered [even if they are foolishly basic] before committing my hard earned

If the Dension is not the way to go, any advice on a similar solution?

12LEE

The fascia's removable. You could use a set of the preouts for the sub. Best to use an inline sub level controller and an amp with a LPF. Tuner reception is OK, not outstanding.

UHF

Been looking into this at length.

The Dension headunit plays mp3's from the hard disk, has a pretty standard radio receiver and has stereo pre outs (which i think are only 2v), so its pretty basic in terms of functionality.

I think the best way to do it is have a high end (as high as you can afford) Head Unit and then find a slave MP3 unit.

You choices for this are as follows, in no particular order:

1). MStation - Currently very cheap hard disk based unit but need to have its display mounted on the dash, you then simply choose AUX on your HU and then choose tracks using the display you've stuck to your dash

2). Dension DMP3 - Same as above, a little less crude but essentially the same thing, again, use it with a regular HU, will take any IDE hard disk so possibilities for 250Gb!!!

3). Kenwood Keg - My personal favourite and i'm buying one soon, simply buy a Kenwood Head Unit and the Keg is a Hard disk based unit which fits in the boot and is controlled through the head unit just like a CD Changer would, it has a removeable hard disk catridge which is 10Gb, but since its a rebranded Phatnoise unit from the US you can get 20gb - 80Gb carts for it, which are basically 2.5" hdd inside a holder, unsure as to upgrading the disk yourself tho.

4). IPod - Get one of these and mount it in a dashboard cradle and hook it into your head units AUX in, there are kits available which then allow your head unit to actually control which songs you play rather than having to use the IPOD controls so you could theoretically hide the IPod away.

The reason i'm going Kenwood despite the extra cost and relatively small storage compared to the other solutions is that it enables me to have a high end head unit (with 3x4v preouts and a nice screen etc), there are no other dash mount screens or devices required and it can all be controlled via the head unit. The Keg also has a USB 2 cradle which you can plug the disk into for syncing music up at home.

Failing that I trying to find a DVD head unit with a nice touch screen which would play a DVD full of MP3's (4.7Gb and then 9Gb when the dual layer burners come down), but they're seriously expensive and I havent found one yet which is capable of loading MP3's from disk (they all just seem to play movie DVD's which for me is a bit pointless)

Edited to say, that on the point of preouts, I cant live without 3 but you might (I like to have distinct front/rear and sub channels for my amps). The Dension says 4 channel preouts but what that means in the real world is 2 preouts (ie. front left/right and rear left/right), most people with just those choose to run the sub on the front channels and a rear shelf off the rear channels, then leave the front door speakers running from the HU. But ideally if you've getting into amps and want total flexibility and control you'll want 3x4v (or more v) preouts.

Hope that helps.

Bajie

UHF

Thanks for the in-depth info.
I went for the Dension as I wanted to be hard disc based. The problem I have now is I have three amps to attach and thought there were enough pre-outs to facilitate my needs. Obviously this is no longer the case

Amp-wise I have a Caliber 4Channel amp which will run speakers front and rear and two rockford Fosgate Punch amps each one running a 12" subwoofer.

I'll look int the Kenwood Kegs but will also have to get a headunit.
This may get a bit too expensive ...