Kenwood KDC-MP919 Car CD / MP3 Player

EXPERIENCE USING THIS PRODUCT:
I had the head unit for exactly one year and a half before it just decided to break one day. Here is the story: I went to get gas for my car one day (head unit working fine). I pull up to the gas station and turn off the car. I get my gas and I am ready to leave. I start up the car and boom it was broke just like that. It played music like normal, but it had no display. I was so mad. I drove home and immediately went on the Internet to see if anyone had the same problem as me. Sure enough many people had the same exact problem. A head unit that played music, but had a broken display. I had found a forum with many people whom also owned the KDC MP919. One guy claimed it costed him 80 bucks just to have Kenwood look at the thing. Plus an additional fee for the parts that were needed to fix the problem. I could not believe it would cost me 80 bucks to have Kenwood look at it when I bought it for $300. That's like a 1/3 of what I paid for the damn thing! Oh well. I read some more posts that were on the forum. One said I fixed my KDC MP919 for $20 and you can too. This got my attention. So I read what he had to say. He claimed that a flex cable within the unit had broke and needed to be replaced along with the piece it was soldered too. He said that 2 parts needed to be replaced that added to about $20. The 2 parts that were needed were part #E58-0903-05 and part #J84-0121-12. He also said that they could be purchased at eastcosttransistor.com. So I ended up purchasing these 2 pieces, but I ended up spending $40. (I couldn't solder the one piece to the other because it was too intricate, so I paid a professional who charged me $20). I later found another website that showed me exactly how to replace the 2 pieces within the unit. Here is the link...hope it helps. It helped me. http://www.fuddle.org/forum_viewtopic.php?9.24

WHY I BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT:
I bought this product for a couple of different reasons. My first reason for buying this product was price. I believed that I was getting a good head unit for a fantastic price. I bought the head unit on the Internet for about $300 plus S&H. At the time this exact head unit was going for about $500+ tax at Best Buy. So as you can see I was saving over 200 dollars. My second reason for buying this head unit was because of its awesome reviews/ratings it had received when it initially came out. No one new that the KDC-MP919 would break about 1 year and 6 months after being used regularly on a daily basis. Another reason I bought this unit was because it had a non-fading output. I knew that I could utilize this because I would be adding 2 subs in the near future. (Non-fading allows you to control the amount of bass you want to be expelled by the subs. In addition it works with the speakers so one doesn't over power the other). My fourth reason for buying this unit is that it was put in the newer mazdaspeed protege as stock equipment. I knew that this unit would fit exactly in my car considering that I drive a protege5 which has the same exact dash as a mazdaspeed protege.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS PRODUCT:
The KDC MP919 is one of the best sounding head units that I have ever heard. I get so many compliments on the way it sounds. My friend has had top of the line head units made by pioneer which I believe sounds no where near as good as this one. I love that it has a non-fading output that allows me to control the bass. I love that it has an ATT button on the controller which allows me to drop the volume in an instance. (Good for if your cell phone rings etc.) I also love that it is 50 watts X 4 and has a detachable faceplate.

WHAT I HATE ABOUT THIS PRODUCT:
I hate that it has a serious flaw. I don't want to have to fix this unit every year and a half. I don't know why Kenwood does not fix the unit for free or at least reinburst me for the parts I used to fix it. The unit should not be so hard to use with such few buttons on the head units faceplate.