Kenwood Excelon 969

JunkMall, you will not be able to do this because of an added security feature on those units called EEPROM. Basically there is a chip on the faceplate that is programmed to work with only that unit. If you put your 869 faceplate on the 969 it should only open half way but nothing lights up. The reason it does that is so that installers would know that it's not going to be a power issue. What your friend should do is go back to the dealer that he bought it from and have them order a new faceplate and the shop would be able to program the blank EEPROM for him.

When you got the deck there was a little yellow card with the mannual, that card has the id numbers that Kenwood needs to get you a new "face plate",  the plate will only work with its orginal deck.