Kenwood KDC-X896 In-Dash Receiver Teardown

Overall Significance

While the popularity of aftermarket automotive audio receivers has diminished over the years in the U.S, makers of these products continue to add features in these products to keep them interesting. Audio receiver OEMs are integrating more and more features into these products to keep up with the consumers' insatiable demand for mobile media. With the increased popularity of devices such as the iPhone, iPod and Android mobile platforms, the audio receiver manufacturers find it necessary to include and interface products with these mobile devices. The receiver of this analysis is an example of this in that, it includes multiple interface and control functions for some of the most popular mobile devices and applications.

Kenwood KDC-X896 In-Dash Receiver Main Image

The KDC-X896 is a single DIN CD receiver for the aftermarket automotive audio market. This high-end device features built-in HD Radio, Bluetooth hands-free calling, and Bluetooth A2DP music streaming via a smartphone or tablet. It also is SiriusXM ready which allows for an optional SiriusXM tuner module to directly connect to the back panel of the receiver. The front panel houses USB and 3.5mm auxiliary inputs which allows this receiver to interface with iPhone/iPod, external hard drives, and USB Thumb drives. Users can control the attached USB device through this receiver. This receiver also interfaces with the Pandora App for the iPhone. It allows the user to control Pandora features, such as Thumbs-Up & Bookmark Artist, through the Kenwood receiver instead of using the iPhone's touchscreen. A Kenwood App can be downloaded from Google Play that organizes a user's Android music library. This App prepares the music library for interface with this receiver in such way that makes it easy to control the music library through this receiver. These features are viewed on a three-line dot-matrix display with variable color illumination of the display.

Target Market

Aftermarket Automotive Audio

Kenwood KDC-X896 In-Dash Receiver - Main PCB Top

Mar. 2012 per press release

Pricing and Availability

$280.00 MSRP

The KDC-X896 retails for $259.99 USD per Crutchfield a Kenwood authorized dealer at the time of writing.

Globally - Aftermarket Distributors and Resellers

Kenwood KDC-X896 In-Dash Receiver - Disassembly View 1

1,000,000 Total Units
1 Total Years

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed an Annual Production Volume of 1000000 units and a Product Lifetime Volume of 1 year(s).

Teardown volume and production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

Kenwood KDC-X896 In-Dash Receiver Cost Analysis

Total BOM: $71.51
Top Cost Drivers below: $42.41
% of Total BOM 59%

Main Cost Drivers below

CD Drive - Slot Load, Internal- (Qty: 1)
Parrot FC6000S Bluetooth Media Connectivity Module - Bluetooth 3.0, Audio Streaming, Up to 10 Paired Phones, Automotive- (Qty: 1)
Display Module - 3.2' Diagonal, 3-Line, Dot Matrix- (Qty: 1)
ST Microelectronics STA680Q Baseband Processor - HD 1.5 Radio, 2-Channel, Automotive- (Qty: 1)
Apex Circuit 2-Layer - FR4, Lead-Free- (Qty: 2)
JCV8020 CPU - ARM Core- (Qty: 1)
Remote Control Unit- (Qty: 2)
Renesas R5F3650MDFB MCU - 32-Bit, 512+16KB ROM, 8KB Flash, 31KB RAM, 111 I/O Pins, 26-Channel 10-Bit ADC- (Qty: 1)
ST Microelectronics TDA7706CB Radio Tuner - AM/FM/Weather Band, w/ Integrated VCO & PLL Synthesizer- (Qty: 1)
Enclosure, Main, Top - Stamped / Formed Electro-Galvanized Steel- (Qty: 1)

Not Included in Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

We do provide an Excel tab 'Overall Costs' where a user can enter their known pre and post production costs to build a per unit cost reflective of theirs actual expenditures.

Country of Origin

For the purposes of this analysis, we are assuming the following country(ies) of origin for each level of assembly, based on a combination of 'Made In' markings, and/or assumptions based on our knowledge of such equipment.

Bluetooth Media Connectivity Module - Malaysia
Box Contents - Malaysia
Display - Malaysia
Front Panel PCB - Malaysia
Main PCB - Malaysia
Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly - Malaysia
Storage Device - Malaysia

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as display modules and optical drives), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Design Complexity

Component counts by assembly and the number of assembly are indicators of design complexity and efficiency.

Component Qty: 625 - Main PCB
Component Qty: 1 - Storage Device
Component Qty: 99 - Bluetooth Media Connectivity Module
Component Qty: 68 - Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly
Component Qty: 100 - Front Panel PCB
Component Qty: 24 - Box Contents
Component Qty: 1 - Display
Component Qty: 918 - Grand Total

For in-dash receivers we see that the component count is mostly directly related to the feature set of the device. The total component count of the KDC-X896 is 918 components. This is an increase in components compared to the KDC-252U's 774 total component count. The increase in components is mainly attributed to the addition of the Bluetooth Media Connectivity module in this device. Otherwise, these two Kenwood in-dash receivers are very comparable in design.

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design. The cost of manufacturing is also, to some extent, decreased in this case because of assumed labor rate applied for China.

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

Design Notes

At the core of the KDC-X896 is an ARM-based CPU (JCV8020) of unknown origin. The audio side is supported by an ST Microelectronics TDA7720 audio processor, a Toshiba Semiconductor audio power amplifier (TB2931HQ), and a ST Microelectronics TDA7706CB radio tuner IC (AM/FM/Weather Band). Another core silicon is a Renesas 32-Bit MCU on the Front Panel PCB which we believe to be functioning as a LCD driver.

The KDC-X896 also features a Bluetooth Media Connectivity module from Parrot (FC6000S), which itself features a Parrot 6i chip at it's core, and an Infineon PM8763A single-chip Bluetooth solution (V2.1 + EDR). Lastly, compared to the KDC-252U, the core silicon associated with the CD player is integrated in the drive and not part of the Main PCB.

Kenwood KDC-X896 In-Dash Receiver - Box Contents