[SR55_STi]

Just got my DNX 7120 installed. Here's what it looks in an 05 STi dash. The fit is perfect and looks OEM. I am thinking of getting an s204 dash kit or just spraying my existing dash piece with rubberized spray paint.



This is the Garmin nav screen. It picks up satellites in a split second. I love it!



The interface, as reported by many people, is not very intuitive. But I'm still figuring out how to use it and hopefully it will get easier. My only gripe is that it take a few seconds to boot and there is a slight delay when you push the buttons.

[SR55_STi]

Originally Posted by Co0KiEmAn

The install went off without a hitch. I ordered a generic Subaru Impreza hardness off of crutchfield.com and crimped into the new head unit's harness.

As for the head unit, the nav is spot on for the most part. It's what you'd expect from most Garmin products.

Sound quality with the stock speakers is noticeably better. Everything is clearer and the mids are more pronounced.

I've been switching back and forth between playing songs off of a usb thumb drive and a dvd full of music. The thumb drive (2gb) indexes much faster than the burned DVD. I recommend sticking with the usb input as it can take up to a minute+ for the DVD to index.

Using the touch screen to select a song while driving can be a bit tricky with our stock bouncy suspension :P.

Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase. This was my first time installing a head unit and it wasn't scary at all. If anyone has any specific questions, fire away.

Currently, I'm trying to customize the GUI wallpaper and startup screens. I'm having a heck of a time getting this to work. I pulled this bit of information off a Crutchfield forum that may help anyone in a similar predicament:

1. Connect USB that contains your customized startup screen ( for my test, I use a background with 480 x 234 pixels)
2. enter setup mode by:
- holding both SRC+EJECT and while holding it press the RESET button
- wait for the screen that displays:
- Kenwood Image
- OEM image
3. Select OEM Image
4. Select the file that you wanted to be the start-up screen, hit ENTER
5. You will be back to the screen described in (2)
6. Turn OFF unit by holding SRC
7. Turn ON unit by pressing SRC

The unit should start up with your customized startup screen.

Do you have any sweet STi startup screen wallpapers you'd be willing to share?

[G-REX]

Man I so would have bought it at that price, thanks for letting me know!

Since you've got the 7120 in there I've got a question. Does this have the adjustable color illumination? The only one that lists it is the 5120 but I have no idea why they would not make it a feature on the 7120 and 8120.

[SR55_STi]

Originally Posted by G-REX

Man I so would have bought it at that price, thanks for letting me know!

Since you've got the 7120 in there I've got a question. Does this have the adjustable color illumination? The only one that lists it is the 5120 but I have no idea why they would not make it a feature on the 7120 and 8120.

Nope. The 7120/8120 does not have color adjustable illumination like the 5120. This kinda bugged me at first, but the blue strip of lighting is so thin that it is barely noticeable. Changing the AV interface to a red theme actuallly looks pretty good with the STi cluster and Defi gauge.

So far, I really like this unit. What I don't like about it is that it LAGS! When you push a function button or change a track there is a slight pause before execution. It's not a ridiculously long pause, but enough to annoy me. But I've gained so much from upgrading to this unit that it is actually negligible.

So far, I like it a lot. I havne't used it with my Ipod yet, but I willl post a more thorough review later.

[G-REX]

First, thanks!!! Wow, hard to believe they couldn't slide that feature in for the higher end models. I bet you're right and a red theme would overpower the thin blue line.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger for the DNX-5120 with bluetooth, ipod, reverse camera, and JDM double-din surround (this is for 08's since the stock panel is bigger than double-din). Pretty psyched about it, it's my first serious head unit. My last STI just had a cheap used JVC but it played MP3s and that's all I needed.

I did read that there were some lag issues. I might glance at the guts of this thing and see what hard drive it's using. Maybe upgrading to a faster spinning drive could speed it up hopefully without the expense of much heat/noise.

Thanks buddy, looking forward to the full review!

[MikeO]

I'm looking at this unit right now for my 05 STI. I currently have a simple pioneer unit that plays my ipod, but it's a single din and to scroll through everything takes forever. I'm starting to want a nav unit more and more lately, so i think i might pull the trigger this summer.

The only thing that has me concerned is the hook ups for speakers and subs. Right now my speakers and such are all stock. After some sound deadening and paying off the rest of the car i am planning on getting amped front speakers, some decent rear speakers and probably an amp and sub.

Will i be able to run this well off of the 5120, or should i think about getting the 7120. The difference in price is hard for me to justify between the two when the two things i want most out of a head unit is the nav and ipod interface which is the same on both....

How much of an upgrade will i realistically get with an amp/sub setup from the 5120 to the 7120?

[G-REX]

By the way, anyone with an iPod touch hooking up to the DNX-5120 via the iPod cable the iPod's 2.0 firmware seems to be screwing things up. The Kenwood will sometimes read it and sometimes not. And typically when it does finally sync up it won't remember what playlist you're on and it'll restart from the first song playing in order.