JVC KD-SH99

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Crutchfield

Year / Model Reviewed:
2001 JVC KD-SH99

Summary:
This thing is amazing! Read almost all the other reviews and you'll get the same impression... 4V pre-outs (F/R/sub), 3-band parametric EQ with center and width settings for each band, front- and rear-panel aux inputs, a nice clean look, a nice smooth volume knob, independant subwoofer level control, defeatable internal amp, etc, etc... This unit couldn't have a better feature set for the serious car audio fanatic! With this unit as the center of your system, the sky is pretty much the limit. Add a DVD player along with a CD changer, hook them both up at the same time. Put a MD player into the front-panel input as well. Hook up 3 separate amps to the pre-outs to run your bass and front and rear sound stages all separately. Bass control is very precise, with 12 discrete levels selectable from the dash. Also included (but, unfortunately, not defeatable like the internal amp) is a built-in crossover for the subwoofer, with 3 possible settings. It would have been cool if this could be bypassed, but you can just set it to the highest setting and use the crossover on the amp, if you prefer. My system consists of this unit hooked up to a JL 500/1 running 2 Infinity 12"s, a Pioneer 100x2 running MTX 6.5" components up front and a Sony 55x2 running 6x9's in the back. Once all the amplifier levels were set correctly, I haven't had to even look at or touch anything in the back! All tweaking can be confined to the dash unit. I'm too cheap to install an in-car DVD, but it's especially cool that I can hook up my laptop in seconds to the front panel and pop in an action movie for earth-shaking explosions! As far as weaknesses, they are few and far between. From time to time, the eject mechanism messes up and the CD gets stuck halfway out. You have to kind of flick it and it will come right out every time, but it is rather annoying. Sometimes you can hear a little noise as the CD switches between tracks (more with mp3's). Nothing too serious, but you can definately hear it when the volume's up loud. JVC often uses BBE sound processing in their car units (such as the KD-SH9750). This one doesn't have it. BBE makes the mids and highs sound clearer. It's not a problem as long as you buy good speakers. The silver face does attract thieves, so you'll have to remove the faceplate and take it with you in "sketchy" places. When you burn an mp3 CD with multiple folders, you have to press 2 buttons each time you want to skip to the next folder. The KD-SH9750 (newer) addresses this problem by adding folder skip buttons. Overall, I really like this unit. I bought a newer KD-SH9750, which is basically this thing's replacement. I was disappointed with the sound quality, even though it has BBE. They also did away with the Parametric EQ and the front-panel input! For shame! I actually went back to the old unit and the newer one is now sitting on my shelf!

Strengths:
Kick-ass feature set, Nice look, good feel

Weaknesses:
CD's sometimes don't eject all the way without help, Slight learning curve to do complicated stuff, Makes noise in speakers when switching tracks sometimes, Attracts thieves with silver faceplate

Similar Products Used:
JVC KD-SH9750 Mp3 (the new version -- not as good!)

Price Paid:  $147.00 from eBay - private selle

Year / Model Reviewed:
 KD-SH99

Summary:
I had a hard time deciding on what stereo to install in my sports car -- I had a few criteria such as MP3 decoding, removable face (my car has t-tops), pre-out jacks and a clean, uncluttered face. I found info about the KD-SH99 online and finally decided on this one. Only problem was that JVC no longer made it and it was rather hard to find! I have a JVC KD-MX3000 (combo CD and MD player) in my other vehicle, so I was already strong on the JVC brand. When I saw that the KD-SH99 not only had all the features I wanted (and a few more!) PLUS had a front-panel aux jack (so I can play my MDs), I was sold. Once it arrived and was installed, I was amazed at how good it looked and how incredible it sounded. I had recorded three MP3 discs (about 135 songs at 160Kbps on each disc -- over 10 hours of music) while waiting for the deck to arrive and even though I'm apparently a couple of years too late in coming to the MP3 party, I sure do love it. The sound quality is terrific and no longer do I need to have two dozen CDs cluttering up my car. The KD-SH99 has very few control buttons to access its myriad functions, so there's a slight learning curve. I like it though, because it lends itself to a very clean, refined look for the deck. The display is nice and sharp, although in my particular car, it's definitely hard to see on sunny days... probably because I have t-tops. At night, this deck looks phenomenal... no other way to describe it. JVC did a great job. I am very spoiled with MiniDiscs in that you can name the tracks -- well, MP3 is a step better. The ID3 tag is ripped right off the CD along with the music and when the song begins playing in the JVC deck, first the album and artist name scroll across the screen, and then the song's title. This will obviously vary for song's that are downloaded and renamed before recording, but it's a great feature! Another neat little feature on the display is that the clock can be switched on or off -- I have a clock in my dash already, so the one on the stereo is unnecessary. When turned off, it switches to a track number display, which is especially cool when playing an MP3 disc with well over 100 songs. It's just wild to see track number 83 playing! Even on the internal amp (19 watts RMS x 4 channels), this deck sounds terrific. I'm very much looking forward to hooking it up to an external amp and turning the deck amp off. I like that it has not only 4V preouts for the front and rear channels, but an independent subwoofer out as well. As I bought this deck used (perfect condition) for $147, obviously it's an excellent value, easily outstripping decks available on the market now at twice the price. If you're considering this deck and can find one, I highly recommend it.

Strengths:
Multiple EQ presets plus user-defined EQs, great display, motorized multi-angle face, 24-bit DAC conversion, great sound, front-panel aux jack, fantastic head unit to build a system around.

Weaknesses:
Display hard to see on sunny days. I can live with it.

Similar Products Used:
Sony, other JVC non-MP3 decks.

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Ebay

Year / Model Reviewed:
2002 KD-Sh99

Summary:
I bought it along with a SH77 because of their appearance. Installed one in my show truck and the other in my daily driver. They do look pretty good once installed. Hard to work the controls. Not good sound quality compared to models from other companies costing the same. Pulled one and installed a Blaupunkt back in it because the tuner and sound quality were higher with the Blau.

Strengths:
Appearance

Weaknesses:
Poor Sound quality. Cheapo colors in screen. Tuner is just fair in my area.

Similar Products Used:
Alpine, Pioneer, Blaupunkt, Clarion Pro and several others.

Price Paid:  $300.00 from sounddomain

Year / Model Reviewed:
 kd-sh99

Summary:
I had the unit for about 1-2 years and it has been flawless, the quality compared to my friend's decks is great. The only problem with this wonderful deck is that it really stands out to theives. Mine was stolen a few weeks ago because it was too silvery. You just need to remember to take off the faceplate. Don't think that because u live in a gated neighborhood that it wont get stolen because i live in the safest community and the theives just came right in and out with this unit

Strengths:
mp3 playback tag reader quality is astounding ability to change freq on low mid high

Weaknesses:
Hard to remember to hide face plate

Similar Products Used:
none that have been mp3

Price Paid:  $230.00 from ubid

Year / Model Reviewed:
 KD-SH707

Summary:
I had to put the SH707 review here because, as usual, the site is about 1 year behind in updating the database. Absolutely an incredible unit! I have had mucho trouble w/ JVC home products, so I was wary of this unit, even though I had a great, cheap JVC deck some years back. This was the only unit that had everything I wanted: *graphic* EQ, separate sub output and level control, Mp3, cdrw, motor face, and 1/8" plug front input for external portables. (this was originally for my Minidisc, but that's gone the wayside) Ease of operation is great, even with all these controls, there are very few buttons for all the features. The sound is second to none, I get get this unit sounding ANY way I like it. The Digifine 2.2 series I imagine fixed all the probs people were having with the sh77&99 (door, etc.) I can't think of a single bad thing about this unit and would recommend to all but those who like "gadgets" on the front face. My system: KD-SH707 (custom dash kit, they don't make one for Lexus) Stock Nakamichi Separates in the front (only a 1" tweet & 3" mid-bass, could stand an upgrade to 6 1/2's); Boston RX67 6 1/2's in the rear (the stocks were fried when I got the car) 7" stock sub mated to a pioneer GM-X262 200w bridged amp (this setup is SOOO much better than stock)

Strengths:
sound, ease of use, looks, list of features.

Weaknesses:
a little slow loading, hardly though; door opens face up, buttons could scratch home-made discs if not careful

Similar Products Used:
1st CD unit, but several tape units in the past: sony, JVC, alpine