Kenwood 6025 is PnP in the msp, pops right in there and everything plugs right in and works- sub, amp, sirius with the Kenwood tuner. That was the biggest thing for me, I wanted to be able to use the sirius tuner I already had.
FYI, I checked with Kenwood and the 902 sirius tuner is compatible with all current siruis ready kenwood stuff, even though there is a 903 tuner out now. I don't know what the difference between the two is, but the older one works with new kenwood stuff.
Its a lot simpler to use. It has a multi-position face plate that lets you tilt the faceplate into 3 positions + normal. The graphics seem similar- it can do all kinds of distracting pictures and things like the stock unit. The technical specs are similar as far as I can tell. Sound quality seems comparable. I'm far from an audiophile, though.
My stock HU was broken, so it wasn't so much an upgrade as just getting back to the status quo.
I tried to remove the head unit, but the antenna wire was all jammed up in there and didn't want to let it come out. I got so frustrated with the thing that I pulled it out of the back of the radio inadvertently and destroyed the antenna wire. So Sirius & CD worked, but no normal radio.
I may ship it back to kenwood for repair and sell it. I like the new one better, it sounds as good and is way easier to use.
I had some trouble taking it out also....I ended up saying screw it, I'll plug this baby in without taking the deck out, 20 minutes later, boom, it slipped in. I had to hold it funny but it fit.
My HU is dead now. I'm wondering if I should upgrade or try to get warranty work on it. Will mazda replace it with the exact same model? Hopefully they don' make this model anymore. I never liked the head unit much to begin with, and it is pretty buggy. I kept having the stuck head unit problem, and this last time it seems locked up for good. I'd kinda like to upgrade to a better/more reliable unit, but I don't have a lot of cash to shell out on it right now.
I wonder if this model is as buggy as the stock one.
