Agreed. Maybe an aftermarket unit can provide better sound (?). I don't know. Or give more options for upgrading the amp? While I want better sound and maybe a new amp, the tradeoff of having to get a tacky looking aftermarket unit was a dealbreaker... so GROM was the right move for me. $150 for the unit + $50 for bluetooth mic is a solid deal.

 

My JVC unit is pretty close to the green. I have the display as simplified as I can. Sound quality is really really good. This unit has no cd player. Fine with me. It's all Bluetooth or AUX cable. My only complaint is non OEM looks and the fact that Bluetooth takes quite a few minutes to automatically sync. First world problems.

 

My factory nav/radio on my Jeep does that too. Sometimes if you push a button before it connects it locks up with no way to restart it. That includes shutting the car off and opening the door to door to cut off power.
Junk

 

Im happy with the way mine looks

 

Do you use the phone? How is it?

 

My truck has the hi-line head unit and amp under the driver's seat made by Alpine and the Harmon Kardon speakers so I'm fine w/ how it sounds. In my opinion almost all aftermarket head units look tacky. I just like the stock look, so the GROM unit was the way to go for me. I've been very happy with it.

 

I installed a Kenwood BT955HD last year. This is the most understated looking yet feature rich unit I could find. Sounds quality is fantastic. What I love most is that BOTH the backlighting and the screen lighting can be matched to ANY car interior lighting. I have the color spectrum matched perfectly to the LR green. Will post pics when I get back in town.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tZ9c2ca...C-BT955HD.html

 

I have the base model so the system sounded like crap and I figured I had to upgrade everything.

I was professionally required to have an HD radio in my vehicle so I went for a Kenwood head unit and the installation looks exactly like the one pictured above by Daedrix.

To my surprise I found the sound improved dramatically using the existing speakers.

I later added a 3 channel JL amp under the passenger seat which feeds the front doors and tweeters on the A pillars as well as a 12" JL Sub in the cargo area.

factory amp still feeds the rear door speakers which still sound like crap. Still have to troubleshoot that. No highs in them at all. I'm perfectly capable of figuring out why but just haven't done it yet.

 

I decided to go the extreme route. I wanted BT, SiriusXM, HDRadio, CarPlay, DVD, AppRadio, multi-usb inputs, HDMI input, Aux input, A/V input, SDCard and Navigation, rear view camera input along with audio/video output.
Cut-up the center fascia and installed Pioneer AVH4000NEX double-din head unit, utilized the factory amp(hi-line factory system) to power the speakers and added mono-bloc amp for 10" sub(low profile). Went ahead and added the head rest monitors. Since the Hi-line system has rear headphone amp/jack, and the pioneer has dual-zone sound(works with the audio/video output), I connected the headphone jack to the second zone. Kids can watch a movie and hear the audio thru the headphones while I play my music, although I usually only listen to my music when they are not in the vehicle.
The system is connected to a 480gb solid state drive via usb hidden in glove compartment which holds around 400 ripped DVD movies. The second usb input is ran to iPhone 6 for Apple CarPlay or playing audio from iTunes Match, Pandora.
HDMI is wired to apple digital a/v adapter to play video from iPhone, like youtube or movies purchased thru iTunes, Disney or UltraViolet.
SDCard is 256gb and also contains around 100 more movies and about 100 gb of FLAC format music(for when signal is weak on iPhone)
I also have Pioneer AVIC-U260 navigation module hooked up, but normally only use the iPhone navigation. I added a rear view camera and on the A/V input I added a digital TV Tuner(only works when car is parked, signal is lost when moving)
I love to push the boundaries, haven't figured where to put the kitchen sink.

 

Does Kenwood make a similar unit without the CD?