It's amazing how far your dollar goes these days when it comes to buying a new car stereo. Kenwood's KDC-152 CD receiver lives at the budget end of the their lineup, but you'll be pleasantly surprised at the performance and features it offers.

Start with a firm foundation of power
The typical factory radio is woefully underpowered, as you can tell by the muddy and indistinct sound you hear when you get up to highway speeds. This Kenwood's built-in amplifier delivers impressive power, and you'll notice a big bump in performance right away, whether you're using your factory speakers or some aftermarket models.

More media options
Chances are, you've got an an iPod® or some type of portable player. You and your friends can plug into the receiver's handy front-panel minijack input and listen to your favourite tunes while you drive. If you're spinning CDs, you'll enjoy superior sound quality from your discs — soundstaging and stereo separation are crisp and clean. And you can burn the music on your computer onto a disc and hit the road — the KDC-152 plays discs loaded with MP3 and WMA files, so you can enjoy long road trips without having to swap out discs.

Sound adjustments
Forget about the limited tone controls you'll find on a factory radio. The KDC-152 gives you a 3-band EQ and a bass boost, along with a Supreme Setting feature to improve the sound of MP3 files. And you can store a different EQ curve for each source — one for the radio, one for the aux input, and one for CDs.

Even cooler, if you add a powered sub to your system, you can turn it up and down with the receiver's sub level control, a great feature if you listen to a wide variety of music. And, speaking of control, Kenwood includes a wireless remote for your convenience.