Kenwood DDX616 with Dual Zone

By Ricky C. – Product Specialist

The dreaded family road trip.  Driving thousands of miles, trapped, with your beloved family members who your patience is a situation we’re all dreadfully familiar with.  Rear-Seat entertainment systems have broken through and completely changed these mundane drives to the point where the whole family can be excited to get in the car and get going.

Dual Zone is a feature found on some In-Dash A/V Receivers, for example the Kenwood DDX616.  This feature sounds intriguing at first – control over multiple zones, but what does this newly acquired power mean?  Dual zone is an extremely convenient feature that allows two sources to be playing simultaneously.  While the front passengers are enjoying their favorite CD, the rear passengers can be watching their favorite movie.  This can also work for other sources, such as Bluetooth, HD Radio, Satellite Radio, or even Navigation directions.

Your standard car stereo will only play one source through your speakers.  In order to operate a separate source this feature will need to be present.  Once initial setup has been done, all you need to do to have full control over both sources is switch back and forth and adjust volume for either.  This volume adjustment can be made at any time, along with any other adjustments that may need to be made, such as playing and stopping media.  You can also change actively playing sources during playback on certain models.

Dual Zone is usually considered a higher end feature on audio/video receivers – and before making that purchase of the perfect In-Dash Navigation System, you may want to consider if it’s something you’d want to take advantage of.  After all, you can now pretty much integrate your entire life into your car stereo in today’s world, so ensuring the stereo you’re getting has all the features you’re truly after is an important thought to dwell on.