[C5] Swapping out aftermarket HU
10-02-2016, 01:18 AM
#1
Safety Car
Thread Starter
[C5] Swapping out aftermarket HU
When I bought my car it came with a Pioneer DEH-X7550SD.
I hate it. It sucks. The menus are overly complicated. It's a bitch to get the menu colors the way I want and it looks hideous. I generally just hate it's face.
So, I've been shopping Kenwood units on Crutchfield. A friend of mine has one in her jeep and while that model is discontinued...I love the bluetooth audio streaming features. That's really all I want...so I don't have to worry about dragging my sirius radio between 3 cars (which I almost always forget to do) when I pay for the internet streaming which I almost never use. I only want single DIN. I'm not paying $500 for a remolded dash.
My issue is with installation. Almost every single unit I look at says "modified fit." That I have to unbolt or cut out the rear mount to make room for the new HU. Since my current HU is already a few years old...and devices tend to get smaller as time goes on, I'm assuming this is already done.
As far as installation goes...the current HU is single din and has a Z06 engraved trim piece it fits in to so I also assume I don't need another one of those.
I also have installed aftermarket speakers and they worked so I also assume I don't need any converters or bypasses for any of the stock blose stuff.
Do I even have to purchase a new harness adapter? Comparing pictures of Pioneer and Kenwood HU's...they all appear to have the same exact harness/connectors on the back.
My last question has to do with illumination. The current HU doesn't dim. I'm assuming it has to do with something not being hooked up correctly. I wouldn't care if I could manually dim the HU but the stupid thing won't allow me. There is a dimmer function enabled in the HU but it does nothing so it's full bright all the time and burns my eyes at night.
I will most likely be purchasing 2 HU's so I can install one in my Impala (to make configuring settings easy) and leave my standalone sirius receiver in my beater which I spend most of my time in.
I am thinking somewhere along the lines of one of these:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX...0.html?tp=5684
Unless anyone has another recommendation. Only real difference I can see between this and other $200+ units is it's not an HD radio receiver. Not sure if I care about that. Plus this one specifically mentions Android charging via usb which is nice. I mean I have plugged my phone in to my current HU a couple of times and it does charge...but awfully slow and also causes erros on the HU and phone.
I hate it. It sucks. The menus are overly complicated. It's a bitch to get the menu colors the way I want and it looks hideous. I generally just hate it's face.
So, I've been shopping Kenwood units on Crutchfield. A friend of mine has one in her jeep and while that model is discontinued...I love the bluetooth audio streaming features. That's really all I want...so I don't have to worry about dragging my sirius radio between 3 cars (which I almost always forget to do) when I pay for the internet streaming which I almost never use. I only want single DIN. I'm not paying $500 for a remolded dash.
My issue is with installation. Almost every single unit I look at says "modified fit." That I have to unbolt or cut out the rear mount to make room for the new HU. Since my current HU is already a few years old...and devices tend to get smaller as time goes on, I'm assuming this is already done.
As far as installation goes...the current HU is single din and has a Z06 engraved trim piece it fits in to so I also assume I don't need another one of those.
I also have installed aftermarket speakers and they worked so I also assume I don't need any converters or bypasses for any of the stock blose stuff.
Do I even have to purchase a new harness adapter? Comparing pictures of Pioneer and Kenwood HU's...they all appear to have the same exact harness/connectors on the back.
My last question has to do with illumination. The current HU doesn't dim. I'm assuming it has to do with something not being hooked up correctly. I wouldn't care if I could manually dim the HU but the stupid thing won't allow me. There is a dimmer function enabled in the HU but it does nothing so it's full bright all the time and burns my eyes at night.
I will most likely be purchasing 2 HU's so I can install one in my Impala (to make configuring settings easy) and leave my standalone sirius receiver in my beater which I spend most of my time in.
I am thinking somewhere along the lines of one of these:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX...0.html?tp=5684
Unless anyone has another recommendation. Only real difference I can see between this and other $200+ units is it's not an HD radio receiver. Not sure if I care about that. Plus this one specifically mentions Android charging via usb which is nice. I mean I have plugged my phone in to my current HU a couple of times and it does charge...but awfully slow and also causes erros on the HU and phone.
Last edited by TGO; 10-02-2016 at 01:21 AM.
