Who is running what?

Since the extra fiddly bits on the factory analog radio are essentially worthless (phone, etc), and the powers that be want to be able to listen to MP3 files on our innumerable road trips between home and the 150-mile distant children's hospital, a new rig is in order.

I considered the ACM, and procured a broken one with hopes of repairing it.

That won't happen, because this one was beyond all repair, but at least I had a change to see how it worked. Analog audio in, convert to digital, then covert to fiber optic. Seems like the remote CD (in the trunk/boot) sends OPTICAL up to the head unit; the ACM IS the CD unit less the mechanical, plus an A/D convertor and a LOT more computer than it needs.

So, it seems that aftermarket is the way to go...looking for recommendations!

2002 by the way, so it must be a shallow unit.

 

AfterMarket is clearly the way to go. You get significant upgrade/options at reasonable price. I installed a Kenwood 691HD, However, after all the work I would recommend a radio similar to the Pioneer Nex6000. You can google these and in particular look at the back of the radios. It is not ABOUT the shallowness of the radio unit when it comes to our Cat but where the wires connect.


My Kenwood was fine when first connected and it rested perfectly flush to the dash. Then I installsed the rearview camera and the RCA plug hit the Vent blower causing me to pull the radio out about 0.75 in. You can see the problem when comparing the back of the radios.


Basically, you want a radio where the rear connections are in the bottom half of the 2 DIN design...no connections (if possible) in the top half of the 2 Din.


Again, look at the rear of the Radio and you will clearly understand.


I love my Kenwood 691 but will probably move to the Pioneer.


Cheers

 

Will all of the steering wheel controls still work with these aftermarket units?

 

Crutchfield and the like sell a device to allow the controls to still play.

 

I installed one from Crutchfield using with Kenwood. Works like a charm

 

Just installed a unit today.
Original issue was Radio Cassette (no CD) and in the UK no DAB radio.

Options looked into CD changer unit in trunk but cost into £70-£100.
Sat nav unit is nice but again gets costly
ACM unit looked excellent but cost is horrific for what it is.

Already had a Double din JVC KW-DB60AT from our other car.

Used a Connects2 (Metra online in the USA) Din fascia adaptor (mine is Black), Connects2 ISO adaptor with steering control unit.

The steering controls give Vol up/down, Input select and channel change as the original HU. The volume is incremental which means it goes up or down on each press of the volume button (you get used to it)

Double din doesnt have a lot of space due to air ventilation duct behind HU.
I ground the heatsink flat and cut the lip on the vent which leaves a small hole. So stuck duct tape across the join. Still a tight fit but just about went in.
Looks Ok and near to factory fit.
Next job is replace door speakers with something better, and already sorting small sub in trunk.

Still undecided whether to run wire for sub from battery (fused), or use +12VDC Accessory supply in trunk, which has 30amp fuse. The Amp I am using only has 20/25 amps max. But boy does that stock wire look a bit thin?

 

I have an alpine, kenwood was the worst at Bluetooth streaming audio. The alpine allows me to get in my car and it immediately starts playing my Bluetooth audio stream flawlessly 100% of the time. My kenwood unit (which is made by JVC) worked only about 70% of the time which was frustrating having to try and get them to work while driving and dangerous might I add...but I am considering a dual din unit and cutting down the vent behind the dash that is keeping me from doing so.

 

I just installed a radio in my car bought the ISO harness convertor, I have the alpine system (non nav) bought a double din nav system. The radio powers on and everything but there is no sound, I think its something to do with the white connector that was on the original Alpine radio on the bottom right if the radio (when facing from the rear see pictures) is this a fiber optic cable or something that communicated with the amp in the back? how do you guys wire up the after market radios to this connector?

 

Just as an fyi. If you go with a single din, typically you sit it on top of the little compartment thing, I had to switch mine to the bottom so it would sit flush.

 

Hi Jarrod, you swapped our your amp though correct? My question was is it possible to use the built in alpine amp with aftermarket stereo? It seems the built in amp has some proprietary optic connection. I'm not sure if the speakers are wired through this connection (the white one in my above photo) to the amp or if they go through the radio harness. I bought an iso converter harness which was for my stereo type (jaguar alpine non nav), however I do not hear any sound coming through the speakers from my radio. Not sure how to get this rigged up

 

Yea I'm running 2 aftermarket amps.
There's got to be a way to do it. It's probably not easy though. I've never messed with that stuff. I like amps that I can tune the speakers with. But I'm overly into how my music sounds.