JVC KD-HDR1 Car CD/ MP3 Player

I received my JVC KD-HDR1 radio 2 days after its official release(3/13/06) on Wednesday (March 15th 2006) and installed it late that evening. To make a long story short, as far as the FM HD audio goes, it's impeccable. The broadcasters setup their audio chains to preserve the digital audio integrity in that mode and it just shines straight through in HD mode. The radio automatically switches over to HD mode when the signal is present. I'm in the Akron Ohio area where there aren't any AM HD broadcasters so I can only tell you about listening to FM HD. The HD audio combined with their Circle Surround presets, create a fabulous sound stage even with my stock speakers that came with my 98 Chevy Cavalier. That Circle Surround feature by itself, is worth the price of admission. Conventional FM stations sound much clearer and you will hear instruments both in front and behind you with or without an HD signal including your CD/mp3 collections. It's a beautiful radio that is highly selective on both AM and FM. I'm surprised at the attention given to its tuner section. I believe JVC employs some sort of DSP (DIAS)signal processing to reduce noise on all analog signals when they're weak. The DSP noise reduction is based on the superior digital(chip-based) tuner technology design, versus the common place conventional analog tuner technology.This Digital Integrated Alignment System,works wonders while trying to hold on to weak analog stations and the selectivity is far superior to the stock Delco radio that I ripped out of the car. The only fault I've found with the radio involves it's FM Stereo capture threshold. It's a little tight for my standards much like the set I took out of the car. That translates to the "standard issue" noise reduction over stereo separation philosophy that became very popular. I'm used to the "old school" radios that fought to the grizzly death to hold on to Stereo at all costs. They don't make those any more. I picked up an FM preamp and modified it to pass-through AM while amplifying FM signals. I threw that in series with the antenna input on the JVC, hooked it up to the power-sense line and viola: way better FM stereo capture. The FM Selectivity is excellent. It's very easy to get channels right next to strong channels on both FM and AM. This translates to worry-free mobile reception while traveling out of the primary coverage area of the station you're tuned to, or the added luxury of at least clearly hearing stations one or two towns over on FM. The radio is ipod-ready, satellite radio-ready so you can "have your cake and eat it too" with every conceived premium audio source available at your fingertips. The Disc player delivers excellent sound regardless of format. This includes CD audio, mp3 and wma audio. In addition to all of that source compatibility, you have at your disposal, a powerful 7 band equalizer equipped with a user-defined preset as well as about 6 other preconfigured ones. Te KD-HDR1 also comes with a "keychainable" remote that handles volume up-down and other source-related functions. In my humble opinion, JVC "hit one out of the park" by providing an excellent Head unit receiver replete with 20X4 watts rms and 3 preamp outs. This is a radio worth LISTENING to as well as cranking up. You don't have to rattle your seats to appreciate cutting edge broadcast technology, and an intriguing surround-stereo sound field with or without external amplifiers. Those of you who picked up this radio, are ultimately in for a real treat, and this is coming from a guy that doesn't have any additional amps or sub woofers or for that matter, fancy speakers. If I can hear the dramatic difference under those conditions, just imagine what more creative installations will reveal!