JVC KD-S100 Bongiovi unit
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:18 pm
Awhile back I stumbled upon this "$650 MSRP" unit at Crutchfield for $130 and posted on it here:
http://www.caraudiocentral.net/forums/s ... hp?t=11234
Based off that post I know a few people have bought this unit. I to have bought into this unit and recently installed it. I bought in to give the Bongiovi DSP a try, also the $130 price tag for a decent featured deck seems like a deal- especially noting the original MSRP of $650.
Some reviews/info I found:
http://www.bongioviacoustics.com/produc ... arket.html
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-b0QrA3t1x9 ... _and_specs
http://cnettv.cnet.com/jvc-bongiovi-kds ... 32003.html
http://www.bongioviacoustics.com/demo.html
I have had a decent amount of Head units. Ive had Alpine, Clarion, Pioneer, Aiwa, JVC and McIntosh. Ive owned low end units all the way up to the mighty McIntosh- So I would like to think I have a fair ammount of real world experience with a collection of various level decks.
If you come here expecting a good review then I have horrible news for you. However I am going to provide you with a fairly unbiased review. As I mentioned earlier I actually posted on it and got hyped up over it. Now I own it and would like to send it back for a refund.
The short and simple on this unit, if you want a factory upgrade and dont intend on adding amplifiers for cabin speakers and dont listen to your music loud, this unit is good. Being a Car Audio site you can imagine MOST of us intend on adding multiple amps, speakers, processors, etc. For people like this, this unit is NOT well suited.
I believe most of this unit is simple hype and an preset EQ on steroids. The issue with this EQ is you have NO control over it. When the Bongiovi circuit is turned off the sound is hollow with a steep midrange incline in the 3-400 Hz range- to the point where speakers seem out of phase. Its my belief this was done intentionally to get a "WOW" factor when you engage the Bongiovi circuit.
What is the Bongiovi circuit?
Well from what I can tell its heavily EQ'ing speakers. The extreme low ends are boosted up VERY high. The mid range bands are very low, and the high range again is very high. Its also my belief that there is some very mild speaker attenuation, where one speaker is slightly less volume than others. I orginally thought there may be some time alignment involved which there may be, but again its minute.
I have owned a unit with Time alignment and I can tell you when done properly it sounds awesome, for the driver. Everyone else will suffer though. I noticed a hint of a "reverb" like sound in some songs. I also noted the passenger side speaker seemed a bit louder than the drivers- which a 2 speaker setup is my current system.
In my personal taste when I set an EQ in a car its to a V Shape. I boost the bass and the treble while I fade the mid ranges. This is a general statement, I of course fine tune as needed and often forgo the sub-bass. The bottom line is this unit way overdoes the low end frequencies. Im talking 10+ dB gain... It is on the insane side. The higher end frequencies is less, but at higher volumes it breaks apart fairly horrible.
As I mentioned earlier, with the "Bongiovi" circuit turned off the setup is hollow, lifeless and almost sound out of phase. My previous head unit, even when set to fully falt sounds NOWHERE near this bad... Its a JVC also (AVX11). So I am fairly confident in my assessment of the non-biongiovi setup being altered from a true "flat" response.
Besides the Bongiovi circuit you have a basic Bass and treble setting. There is a Hi/Low/off setting for the internal amplifier- when set to low you cant got above 30 on volume. Set to high you get the full 50. There is also an amplifier "gain" common to JVC units of late, which is a nice touch.
There is also a filter for the subwoofer outputs which is nice and flexible if you add one. There are a few crossover points and you can select a few different slopes.
As you can see to this point the review has focused on the sound of the unit and features relating to the sound. Now lets look at the others...
This is a CD/MP3/USB player. Ive been spoiled by my previous JVC unit which plays MP3 DVDs. This unit feels like a step back from the DVD media- but it is what it is. I didnt test the CD section, but its pretty hard to screw it up and this is a JVC unit.
The USB section is pretty straight forward. I pop in my flash drive and within a few seconds Im listening to music. No skips, no crackles- just the digital impurities of being an MP3.
The unit is a bit on the ugly side, especially the dot matrix display. I dont care for the lack of adjustments on the brightness/tone of the display...
So thats my review... Not much else to say. I spent about 2 Hrs with this unit today... Looking for a new unit very soon.
http://www.caraudiocentral.net/forums/s ... hp?t=11234
Based off that post I know a few people have bought this unit. I to have bought into this unit and recently installed it. I bought in to give the Bongiovi DSP a try, also the $130 price tag for a decent featured deck seems like a deal- especially noting the original MSRP of $650.
Some reviews/info I found:
http://www.bongioviacoustics.com/produc ... arket.html
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-b0QrA3t1x9 ... _and_specs
http://cnettv.cnet.com/jvc-bongiovi-kds ... 32003.html
http://www.bongioviacoustics.com/demo.html
I have had a decent amount of Head units. Ive had Alpine, Clarion, Pioneer, Aiwa, JVC and McIntosh. Ive owned low end units all the way up to the mighty McIntosh- So I would like to think I have a fair ammount of real world experience with a collection of various level decks.
If you come here expecting a good review then I have horrible news for you. However I am going to provide you with a fairly unbiased review. As I mentioned earlier I actually posted on it and got hyped up over it. Now I own it and would like to send it back for a refund.
The short and simple on this unit, if you want a factory upgrade and dont intend on adding amplifiers for cabin speakers and dont listen to your music loud, this unit is good. Being a Car Audio site you can imagine MOST of us intend on adding multiple amps, speakers, processors, etc. For people like this, this unit is NOT well suited.
I believe most of this unit is simple hype and an preset EQ on steroids. The issue with this EQ is you have NO control over it. When the Bongiovi circuit is turned off the sound is hollow with a steep midrange incline in the 3-400 Hz range- to the point where speakers seem out of phase. Its my belief this was done intentionally to get a "WOW" factor when you engage the Bongiovi circuit.
What is the Bongiovi circuit?
Well from what I can tell its heavily EQ'ing speakers. The extreme low ends are boosted up VERY high. The mid range bands are very low, and the high range again is very high. Its also my belief that there is some very mild speaker attenuation, where one speaker is slightly less volume than others. I orginally thought there may be some time alignment involved which there may be, but again its minute.
I have owned a unit with Time alignment and I can tell you when done properly it sounds awesome, for the driver. Everyone else will suffer though. I noticed a hint of a "reverb" like sound in some songs. I also noted the passenger side speaker seemed a bit louder than the drivers- which a 2 speaker setup is my current system.
In my personal taste when I set an EQ in a car its to a V Shape. I boost the bass and the treble while I fade the mid ranges. This is a general statement, I of course fine tune as needed and often forgo the sub-bass. The bottom line is this unit way overdoes the low end frequencies. Im talking 10+ dB gain... It is on the insane side. The higher end frequencies is less, but at higher volumes it breaks apart fairly horrible.
As I mentioned earlier, with the "Bongiovi" circuit turned off the setup is hollow, lifeless and almost sound out of phase. My previous head unit, even when set to fully falt sounds NOWHERE near this bad... Its a JVC also (AVX11). So I am fairly confident in my assessment of the non-biongiovi setup being altered from a true "flat" response.
Besides the Bongiovi circuit you have a basic Bass and treble setting. There is a Hi/Low/off setting for the internal amplifier- when set to low you cant got above 30 on volume. Set to high you get the full 50. There is also an amplifier "gain" common to JVC units of late, which is a nice touch.
There is also a filter for the subwoofer outputs which is nice and flexible if you add one. There are a few crossover points and you can select a few different slopes.
As you can see to this point the review has focused on the sound of the unit and features relating to the sound. Now lets look at the others...
This is a CD/MP3/USB player. Ive been spoiled by my previous JVC unit which plays MP3 DVDs. This unit feels like a step back from the DVD media- but it is what it is. I didnt test the CD section, but its pretty hard to screw it up and this is a JVC unit.
The USB section is pretty straight forward. I pop in my flash drive and within a few seconds Im listening to music. No skips, no crackles- just the digital impurities of being an MP3.
The unit is a bit on the ugly side, especially the dot matrix display. I dont care for the lack of adjustments on the brightness/tone of the display...
So thats my review... Not much else to say. I spent about 2 Hrs with this unit today... Looking for a new unit very soon.