Kenwood XD-A81 Mini Audio System

Ahhhh....the pleasures and privileges of having a teenage son. If you have one, you may well know that there's a bit of sarcasm buried beneath the surface of that statement. And yes, I do love my son immensely. But when it comes to the Kenwood XD-A81 mini-stereo system, our opinions diverge.

He loves the unit. I hate it.

Oh - don't get me wrong about the quality of this system. It's top notch. All those things a youngster enjoys are built right in. There's 3D sound processing, a full function 10-key remote, a digital to analog coverter, dual cassette deck, 100 watts per channel power.... and on and on. In fact I helped him pick it out - and thought that the price value ratio ($399.00 at our local Circuit City) was the best of the bunch.

But I should have known that this stereo would soon go from being a attractive stereo system with a smooth silver finish....to a monster with the manners of an aborigine. Did I mention that I hate it?

Know why I hate it the most? Because of the demon buried inside of it that rears its ugly head at the most inopportune times. That demon goes by the soft name of "bass boost"....but I do believe a more appropriate moniker would be "parent infuriation button". The bass boost feature, at least according to Kenwood on their homepage, "is designed to increase the bass output by a pre-set amount to produce a richer, fuller sound." But what it really does is shake the rafters when it is cranked up by a teenager.

And guess what? That demon button seems to have a remote connection inside my brain - because when he hits the button I am out of my comfortable chair and on my way to his room. "Could you please turn it down, son. It is literally shaking the floor above your room." And his response? "Gee, Dad - it's hardly turned up at all. It's not even loud down here."

Dialogue ensues and he finally agrees to cancel out the bass boost. And then it is just loud, but the vibration ceases....and my middle age nerve endings begin to calm down as I ascend the stairs.

I know, I know. What is one man's poison is another man's golden nectar. The reasoning behind Kenwood's feature laden unit is probably quite sound....so to speak. The purchaser of their unit is not going to be someone in their 40s, but someone no doubt under the age of 30....and probably specifically a lad of 17 or 18. So they've loaded up the goodie wagon with features that appeal to the younger set.

You've got the dual cassette decks to record a high quality duplicate tape for your car. Check. You've got the three disc capacity so you can listen to Slim Shady, Slipknot and DMX without changing cds. Check. You've got the remote that makes that trip from your couch to the stereo unnecessary. Check. And you've got that bass boost button that will impress your friends and strike terror in your parents. Check. No - make that checkmate.

Oh - and on top of that - this unit features a tool called Smart Menu Control. Which means that the owner....the young owner....can throw away the owners manual without looking at it. The unit will give you instructions right on the front display panel that will prompt you how to set it up, and what buttons operate which features. You can thus get those reverberations just right without your parents being able to figure out how to disarm the unit.

And yes - it has the big old subwoofer....and the super-tweeter....and the detachable grills to show off same. Boy, I remember when I could actually "talk" the language of subwoofers and tweeters...and now I think of them as tools of the devil.

This is a superb piece of stereo engineering coupled with top-notch sound quality. A teenager will think it is the best thing they could ever own.

Do yourself a big favor. Keep it out of your house.

Did I mention that I hate it?