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 List Price: $269.99 Sale Price: $223.00 
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JVC KD-R900 In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA Receiver with Built-in Bluetooth Hands-free, Dual USB Inputs, Aux Input, and RemoteBluetooth Wireless Technology with the included USB adapter allows hands-freecalls and audio streaming, offering both safety and convenience.
- MOS-FET 50W x 4 (20W RMS x 4) · TI/Burr-Brown 24-bit DAC · 3-Band Parametric iEQ · Bluetooth(R) Wireless Technology
- Front/Rear Dual USB Ports (WAV/MP3/WMA/WMA-DRM/iPod & iPhone Audio) · USB Audio for iPod/iPhone etc.
- CD Changer Ready · SAT Radio Ready · HD Radio Ready(R)** · HS-IVi Tuner
- Loudness Control in 3 Patterns · 5.0V Line Output Level · Gold-Plated Preout Terminals (Front + Rear + Subwoofer)
- Front AUX-IN · Full Dot LCD · Variable-Color Illumination · Steering Wheel Remote Ready
Rating
Somehow I became a JVC man. I started off in 2002 following a recommendation from a friend to get a deck that could read MP3s. Since then I’ve bought three more decks and always came back to JVC. They tend to have innovative features, such as initially the ability to read MP3s on CDs, and then a front panel USB ports. I really looked at the specs for Sony, Pioneer, Eclipse, and Kenwood, but they never compared feature wise.
So the RD-900 looks good and does a lot: Bluetooth, a USB port and a 3.5mm audio in on the front panel. With the RD-900 I bought the optional HD Radio adapter the KT-HD300. It works great. JVC paired down a lot of gimmicky cruft they had an previous models. You get the choose the color of the display, so you can match you cars lighting and gauges.
There is a front and rear USB port. One has to pick one for use with the tiny BT adapter. If you use USB sticks like me, it make sense to use the BT adapter on the rear. If you prefer to use a small USB hard drive or IPOD in your glove box or console, you might want to route the rear port there and put the BT adapter in the front port.
The HD Radio is cool. I live in a big city so I get good reception. Finding a place to put the HD Radio adapter is a pain. I would rather have bought a unit without a CD player and HD Radio built in.
There are a few nits. No hard radio presets: one has the scroll through a menu. The bluetooth could interact with my Nokia better — it turns on BT music streaming, but does not turn it off; placing calls should be easier; and when getting an SMS message, displaying it would be nicer than just alerting you that you have one. The fonts could be thicker. A previous JVC I had had that option. The front USB port comes off with the faceplate, which is annoying, cuz now you have to take out the USB stick and put that away when stowing the faceplate.
I can’t speak to the iPod or iPhone compatibility.
Oh I just noticed that the LEDs are polarized horizontally, making the display unreadable with polarized sunglasses unless one tilts their head.
A Recommendation:
If you are like me and have all your music on a USB thumbdrive, it becomes quite a pain to remove the thumbdrive when stowing the faceplate. My solution is to find a thumbdrive that minimally extends from the faceplate, and keep it on semi permanently. There are drives and microSDHC to USB adaptors that extend only 5mm or so. Brands to google for are “Eagletec Nano” and “Buffalo 5mm”. They come in up to 16GB in size.
Rating
This stereo works very well. The bluetooth is awesome. Very pleased with the whole transaction.
Rating
Bought this item a few weeks ago for $175 and had it installed in my convertible. Forget using bluetooth when the the top is down. lol. I didn’t expect it to work anyway.
If the volume is set to a reasonable level there are no problems in call quality and the seperate mic works far better than other products with the mic built into the face plate. If the volume is set too high, a feedback can be heard on the other side of the line making it difficult to hear you.
The look of the radio is great and the performance is very good.
The most impressive aspect is how my bluetooth enabled Nokia streams music to the radio effortlessly and the sound quality that it produces is wonderful. I wish that it displayed the name of the artist through this medium but if I want that I can hook up my iPod to the USB connection that is provided and it will display the artist and song title.
illumination variances are good to play with and I find it difficult to turn off the radio’s shop Demo function which changes the color randomly.
Remote is average and has to be pointed directly at the radio to work. Sometimes it doesn’t register the button pressed and when pressed again it double enters your choiuce making you skip the song or channel.
This radio definately does wht I bought it for and upgrades the enterior look of my car.
This radio originally listed for more than $250 and you can feel the qaulity when compared with cheaper brands
Equivelent specs in a different recognized brands cost way more and sometimes you do not get all the features that this radio provides or they are lacking in looks which the JVC definately has.
I will add the HD Radio tuner soon and then I will be set for a while.
Rating
This is my Third JVC deck, in my mind they offer the newest technologies for a good price, I upgraded from an Arsenal JVC touchscreen deck with an sd slot and many features, there was really nothing wrong with my old stereo but as times change my needs required more, I did some research and found this stereo, here are some great things about it, full iPhone support, Bluetooth connectivity, fast cd loading, 2 USB connections, many different colors, fast processing, HD radio support. First off being and iPhone owner connecting through the USB is great considering it charges the phone and also plays the audio through the USB no need to use the auxiliary connection. Navigating through songs is really easy and amazingly fast unlike other decks I have seem before, if you are like me and you stream podcast or use pandora or even YouTube using the phone it will play on the stereo which is great. When setting up the Bluetooth phone the beat place I found to put it was right in front of the driver by the steering wheel, other places people have had trouble hearing me, but once I moved it I haven’t got any complaints, making a call is very easy there is a phone button that let’s you browse through dialed, recieved, missed and phone bookso it’s literally hands free. My previous deck also had many colors to choose from so I guess to me It wasn’t such a major upgrade but I can see how it could also be a great feature, changing the color is easy and it does make it that much better. My only con with this is that the auxiliary connection is now located in the front so connecting an MP3 player is annoying because the cable is dangling, i like my old stereo how I had to run it through the back and I could hide it in the glove compartment, that being said I really need the auxiliary cable because I am a Zune user so having a cord attached to the face plate is annoying, as far as that goes I’m sure future product will offer zune support. Anyways the stereo is great it has excellent audio quality and bass controls for the sub. I’ve recommended it to alot of people, I’ve even given them a demo and everybody is impressed, and they assume it was expensive, when I tell them the price they don’t believe it, bang for the buck and the power of reasearching products before you commit.
Rating
Installed in 2006 Fusion. Everything installed and unit works perfect. I had a KD-G820 for a few years so I had no issue with buying another JVC. Only issue was pairing the radio with my Motorola KRZR. I ended up pairing the BT audio device then it paired up okay. They don’t show the outdated JVC-SIR as compatible with the KD-R900 but it works fine.
Pros
- value for money
- integrated bluetooth
- ability to add on HD or SAT radio
- iPod and iPhone capability
- quality of unit
Cons
- display font is a bit thin
- haven’t been able to transfer the phone book to unit(yet)
- no RDS for FM radio(cheaper radios have it)
- AM reception is weak(who cares)
Update(Nov.1/09)…
I was having problems with my KRZR K1 not storing names in the KD-R900(and KD-R800) phonebook via bluetooth. It turns out you cannot transfer the contacts from the SIM card. Only the phone stored contacts will transfer correctly. You will have to transfer each contact manually. Get the radio ready for transfer. In your KRZR contact list you go to >options >send contact >bluetooth >JVC Unit just repeat for each contact. If you try to send/store SIM contacts you get just get “No Name” displayed instead of the names.
Rating
I write very few reviews but feel this one is warranted and deserved. I purchased the Sony bt2700 previously and had terrible results with both the audio streaming via bluetooth as well as the microphone clarity since some genius engineered the built in mic behind the face plate. I was a bit apprehensive about purchasing this JVC model as it is not carried by Best Buy and the salesman told me they may not carry any JVC head units soon because the audio quality didn’t measure up to the competition.
I could not be more happy with this unit!
1. Installation was an absolute breeze. I purchased the Scosche FD1423B Pocket Installation Kit for 1999-Up Select Ford, and the Stereo Wire Harness Ford Expedition 98 99 00 01 02 (mine is 00′ expedition), and the installation was so simple. Red to red, green to green, etc.
2. Color variation is amazing with this unit. You can truly match any illumination setup in your vehicle so the unit looks like it just belongs there.
3. Blue tooth connection. The phone connection works flawlessly. The only hitch I have run into is the phone book transfer does not work on my HTC droid as of yet, but that will be fixed with the update to android 2.1 in late Jan. The external mic is placed in my gauge inset of the dash to hide it from outside noise yet be in line with my voice. The clarity is great and mic levels are adjustable. The audio playback via bluetooth is also great. Some minor freezes during song changes or if my phone is receiving emails and texts at the same time but that is the phone choking not the head unit. I love my music but am not and audiophile by any stretch of the word, but the sound quality of the music through my stock speaker system seems great for a unit that others comment on the “lack of excellence”. The only con I can really hit on the bluetooth is that it takes about 5-10 seconds to fully connect to my phone before audio playback is ready each time I start the car. Feels kinda slow but compared to the shortcomings of the Sony Bt2700 easily workable.
4. USB inputs. The USB connections are great as well. My wife has an Ipod touch which I connect to the usb extension cable which I ran under the dash and comes out just fwd of the center console. It scans, reads, and controls the Ipod touch from the head unit perfectly and is charging the Ipod while connected. The sound from it is amazing also as it it using the digital audio out on the Ipod vs the analog headphone jack. It of course can also connect to the Ipod touch via bluetooth but we prefer the usb connection for this. The front usb jack is where we plug in the bluetooth dongle (which I am convinced is why the bluetooth works so much better than built in bluetooth systems).
All in all I am very happy to write this review and have this unit.
Rating
My criteria when selecting my radio were that it be a CD receiver head unit that:
1. Plays mp3 formats;
2. Has integrated Bluetooth for phone calls;
3. Has some sort of auxiliary input for an external music player; and
4. Costs less than $200.
Additionally, this radio has the following:
1. Dual USB (plus the standard input jack); and
2. Bluetooth AD2P (music transfer via bluetooth).
I am very happy with my purchase. If I could make one or two comments based on some of the reviews for this model (and the KD-R800):
First, Bluetooth connections are really finnicky. Do your homework and make sure that your phone supports the appropriate Bluetooth version (in this case, version 2.0). My phone is a crummy “dumb phone,” and though it isn’t on JVC’s list of devices (it is Bluetooth 2.0), it works just fine. Getting your radio to link up with your phone requires getting the radio to make a connection with the phone, and the phone to make a connection with the radio. If this isn’t done correctly, your phone will not want to automatically connect to the radio when you start your car back up. It is an exercise that requires two pieces of equipment (your radio AND your phone), and so those that proclaim in their reviews that the problem is with the radio may not always be 100% accurate in their analysis.
Next, comments have been made (also in reference to the KD-R800; discussion is appropriate here because the mic is the same for both models) about the quality of the microphone and the “ugly” factor of having the exposed wire running on the inside of your car. The mic connection is a standard mic plug. If you really do not like the mic included, you can get a new one. As for the ugliness, it is really pretty easy to hide mic wire. I ran mine underneath the dash panels and snaked it out just above my steering wheel. Done that way, it is invisible. I did the same thing with the rear USB plug. It comes out next to my emergency brake and is hidden the whole way.
All in all, this is a great radio for the price and I am far from disappointed.
Rating
Excellent product. Great features, excellent sound. Extremely easy to install. Did I mention, great sound? Can you believe I look forward to being stuck in traffic! JVC, next time include push button (1-6) preset, instead of this model’s preset. Just a tad bit more convenient. Bluetooth – perfect. Won’t need an additional EQ with this model. It’s three band EQ is great. Clarity – perfect! Purchased for the front USB, and completely satisfied with this product. Has front and rear USB. Color changing and remote are pleasant bonus features.
Rating
I put this unit in my Mini Cooper S and have had zero issues with the sound, interface, or quality. I love it. The colors match the mini dash perfectly, the sound and features are great, and it’s easy to use. I got the bluetooth with the remote mic working for hands free phone calls, the front and rear USB and Iphone control rocks, and there is even an extra aux input in the front.
Rating
This radio has great sound. It made a hell of a difference over my sony head unit I had.