Customer Reviews

JVC KT-HD300 Add-On HD Radio Tuner Works with J-Bus (Silver)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There isn't much that this is supposed to do other than give HD radio and it seems to be working like a champ.

I had this wired in to my JVC KD-AVX77.

I wish I could rate HD radio in general, though. It's all hype with little substance. If you're deciding between buying the HD radio kit or adding an amp or getting a higher end deck, go with the other options. Only add this if you have a lot of cash and just want to blow it on something to say, "Hey, I have HD radio!"

I have this connected to a kw-avx820. This unit actually improved my non HD reception and the HD unit works great.

I got this for my JVC-AVX820. I live around 60 miles from nashville which is where most of the fm broadcasts are transmitted.

Positive: When it works, it sounds great. Install seemed easy as it only needs to plug in your power, ground, and the antenna, then the antenna goes back in to your dvd player. The company i went to just installed it below my dvd player on my 2008 Ford Mustang and it took less than an hour. Locally (within 50 miles) I have around 8 stations that really broadcast digitally (provides the rds data such as artist name and song title and it sounds like better quality aka 128kb) and they happen to be my favorite stations too, some of the other stations just broadcast the same low-bit songs over a digital transmission and you can tell, or they still broadcast in analog only. I even have some stations that broadcast different streams on the same channel. You just hit an up arrow on my dvd player and it will change between the normal Nashville 101 The beatz to a 101 Jazz Channel. However I am finding that the digital signal drops while you drive which has never happened to me on analog! You would think that since you get a station in analog that sounds great (the signal doesn't drop) that in digital it would be even better, but that is apparently not true. The digital signal is different and you need a strong signal all the time or it will switch back to analog which leaves me to my first negative comment.

Negative: My unit keeps switching from digital to analog and the digital broadcast is significantly louder! So it keeps going quiet or getting loud as i drive. It happens when i'm driving around all the time unless i'm in the city where it's broadcasted aka Nashville.

Final thoughts: Don't waste your money on this unit. I would rather listen to "normal" radio that doesn't cut in and out! After installing, i found myself listening to my iPhone due to this problem, plus my iPhone sounds better with 256kb songs. Since it requires more money to take this unit out i have decided to leave it in rather than returning it, but what a piece of junk!

Especially on AM radio, there is a huge difference between HD and standard AM. FM saw a boost as well. I would even dare to say the quality is better than satellite. The only catch is whether or not your city has HD radio and the terrain you have to travel. Bridges and downtown makes the signal stop and start which can be annoying, but depending on the station, switching can be seamless. Some radio stations have a very slight delay in the HD broadcast that results in an echo-like occurrence when switching. Other stations just switch without missing anything.
These issues are not the problem of the device as much as they are the nature of current HD Radio offerings. It can only get better.
One suggested improvement for JVC on this is to have a larger buffer to avoid skipping when going under bridges. If I am way-speeding, it may not happen, but at any normal speeds it will drop HD to standard, then take about 5 seconds or more to get back to HD.
Once the HD Radio bugs are worked out with the stations, this will be even better. The quality is tops when you can get a great signal though.

This add-on HD tuner was very easy to install, as long as you are comfortable with removing the stereo from the dash. Just requires a power source and plugs into the back of your JVC stereo. HD makes good FM stations sound even better but it really shines on the AM band. The best part is the fact that stations that broadcast in HD usually have a second broadcast station with different programming, so you have even more choices.

i live in the bronx ny and i tell you that you dont get much digital reception here , it is so annoying to listen to the stations going from digital to analog every 2 sec. . since digital and analog are off by like a sec. you hear things repeated in a song . i just disconnected it and got it back to analog. that was money lost because i cant return it.

I recently purchased a KW-XR810 Radio and bought this adapter to get HD radio. Ive never had HD radio before so I cant directly compare it to other units. In case others are wondering. This unit will replace your head unit AM/FM tuner completely.

Size and Mounting
Some people claim the unit is big. I dont think its that big but like I said I have nothing to compare it too. I was able to zip tie it to my shifter linkages in the center console. The instructions say to place it under the seat. which should be fine except the dont offer any mounting options of any kind. Its just a box with a 5' antenna extension.

Head Unit Connection
This was very simple. Just plug the J-Bus wire into the back of the receiver and connect the power and ground wires to the radio connections, and of course remove the antenna from the head unit and plug it in. My particular receiver configured everything for me.

Signal Quality
If I remember correctly, the head unit I bought has a 9.3 sensitivity rating for the FM tuner. This unit has 11.2. LOWER is better, however both are in whats considered the good range of 8-12. When I bought it I didn't think much of this. However, in my situation the head unit pulled in all the stations I normally listen to just like my previous clarion and stock head unit. This unit did not (Not clearly anyways). I live right between two major cities where most of the stations are broadcast. Now I have 2 favorite stations and wouldn't you know it. When I'm further south at home I get one and the other has static. When I go north to work, it switches around. Except its not really full of static it just doesn't keep a good enough signal to lock HD and keeps alternating between them. The bottom line here is that I cant get the one station near home so its definitely worse than the head unit. Depending on your locations it may not be any problem for you.

AM Radio doesn't seem to work at all. I fooled with all the settings I could find and checked the manual and it wont work. I only listen to one AM station and its now on an FM multicast station so I'm happy anyways.

Sound Quality
This seems to depend a lot on each particular station, MOST of the stations sound a lot better with HD radio. Others sound only marginally better. Overall though I am completely happy with the HD quality.

Customization and OSD
Well, there are two problems here. The first thing im not happy about is that it puts the channel name instead of frequency. Such as WXLZ or whatever. Id rather have 93.1 format. You can get that if you cycle through the display button but it will change back after a few seconds. The other thing is that you can choose to either have it only LOCK on HD or regular stations or auto. Well, if you lock on regular stations there is no point in getting this. If you lock on HD only it will cut in and out if reception is not good. Auto will alternate between them which it does extremely well. However the sound difference when it switches over is ANNOYING. I wish you could set this feature by station so if there is 1 or 2 problem stations you could tell it to lock on analog only and be done with it.

The Bottom Line
I like the unit but when your paying ~$100 just for a radio tuner, they could have at least put a better one in there than what they have. If I did it over and it wasn't so nice to have it integrated into the head unit I probably would have bought a portable unit or a ZuneHD for slightly more and plugged them in the aux jack. But as it stands I would buy it again.

The product was a perfect fit obviously. However, everything that was included was also really good. I had no problems setting it up, and using it within minutes. The only complaint is not from the seller, but from the manufacturer. There is no mounting kit included with this product, so I had to figure that part out myself.

i live near kansas city and had a jvc hd head unit when they first came out. I payed $159 for this unit that had hd built in. My experience w/ hd was great! around here the stations came in crystal clear w/ very little, if any, switching back and forth from hd to analog. i sold the vehicle it was in so i decided to buy another jvc hd radio or so i thought. when they first came out it was hd or it wasn't. now their hd ready. so i install it expecting to hear all hd stations that i miss but now i need to spend $90 to make it work. i think it is BS. my old hd radio was no bigger than anyother head unit i've ever had. so why do you need this huge box to make it work now?

i was under the impression that i would have cd quality sound they failed to tell me they threw that cd around for two weeks first