confuzed Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 Just ordered this little beauty... http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/pioneer- ... -9647.html Have also ordered the Connects2 fascia, with the "rubber touch" finish, and the various wiring harness adapters. Will let you know how it goes fitting it, when I get chance. Quote
magrillz Posted January 6, 2010 Posted January 6, 2010 Looks very nice and excellent for the money. Outof interest, where did you order the fascia from. Need to order a double din one at some point onece I work out what stereo to get! Quote
DontPanic Posted January 6, 2010 Posted January 6, 2010 Looks very nice and excellent for the money. Outof interest, where did you order the fascia from. Need to order a double din one at some point onece I work out what stereo to get! Looks like they sell the facia on the same site http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/connects ... -8806.html Cheers Dave Quote
confuzed Posted January 7, 2010 Author Posted January 7, 2010 DontPanic is right, I ordered the fascia from the same site. Obviously that's no good for a double-din HU. I'm hoping the "rubber touch" finish will be a bit nicer in the dash than the normal "hard" black plastic. I ordered the various wiring harnesses from Sextons. I haven't bought the PAC at the moment, I thought I'd try without first. I've found it very confusing trying to work out whether I'll definitely need it, there are stories on here with people fine without and others seem to suggest its essential when connecting a regular HU to the Bose. Quote
confuzed Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 The headunit and bits have been delivered to my office and are sat on my desk. I've been snowed in at home. Typical!!! And you just know when I do get in to work and collect the new bits I won't have time to fit it!!! Quote
magrillz Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Sorry for the late reply but thanks for the info guys. Thats typical isn't it about the delivery. Hope you get back to work soon then Don't think they do a rubber touch double din one so I'll have to stick with ICT or Autoleads. Quote
MAXlMUS Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Hey, Any further progress on the install.....I`m thinking of the same setup and want to see how easy it goes Max Quote
confuzed Posted January 13, 2010 Author Posted January 13, 2010 Afraid not mate, the stereo is still sitting on my desk at work and I still haven't been in to collect it. I'm hoping to pick it up and install it over the weekend. Quote
confuzed Posted January 14, 2010 Author Posted January 14, 2010 I've made it to the office today so I've got the head unit and bits, though I am wishing I'd left the Zed in the drive and worked from home again, it was hellish getting out of the village where I live. Anyways, fingers crossed I'll get on to installing over the weekend, assuming I make it home later!!! Quote
MAXlMUS Posted January 14, 2010 Posted January 14, 2010 In the same boat here......had to use my daughters Corsa sxi!!....to get anywhere near a main road. Max Quote
confuzed Posted January 17, 2010 Author Posted January 17, 2010 Right, I was able to get on with the install over the weekend and grabbed a selection of photos. First up, here is the head unit itself, and the rubber-touch fascia adapter. I'm very pleased with the fascia adapter. IMHO, the finish fits in better with the Zed's centre console than normal black plastic, plus the rubber finish is useful for "grip" in the little pocket. The adapter includes a variety of bits to allow for a variety of fitments. After a lot of head scratching and experimenting I decided to use the cage and the bezel included with the HU, but I very nearly added the side pieces to the kit to screw the HU in. You could also use the rubber-touch bezel included with the kit which would give a more "all in one" appearance, but with this HU it fouled the round bit around the control stick when flipping the face down to access the CD slot. I was tempted to try carving out that bit myself but soon decided I'd make a mess of it. Quote
confuzed Posted January 17, 2010 Author Posted January 17, 2010 Next, the wiring bits, to use the proper technical terminology. For anyone else considering this, I've shown how I've made the wiring ready to use: [*:w0klgcz0]crimped a spade connector on the blue/white wire on the ICT adapter to connect to the blue/white remote wire from the HU wiring harness [*:w0klgcz0]stripped back a section of the black ground wire on the ICT adapter, wound the black/white wire round it, wound an extra length of wire round it and soldered the join between those three wires. The join is well covered with insulation tape. The extra length of wire is the ground connection. I also crimped a ring connector on here for later. Its all easier to follow with the photo... Quote
speedy Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Is this system much better than the Boss GT pack? Quote
confuzed Posted January 17, 2010 Author Posted January 17, 2010 And here it is in the car... Without the face... With the face... Quote
confuzed Posted January 17, 2010 Author Posted January 17, 2010 Is this system much better than the Boss GT pack? Well, my expectations for sound quality and volume were set pretty low... this way of changing the headunit means you're still using the Bose amplifier and obviously I haven't changed any speakers, so I figured the sound wouldn't change much. However, I have been very surprised at how much of an improvement there is! The quality is improved and the sound seems fuller. The balance of sound is improved. I guess the bass is better controlled at the source, as the sub isn't as wooly. So yes, IMHO this is a great improvement over the stock Bose system, I'm really pleased with it Quote
speedy Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Is this system much better than the Boss GT pack? Well, my expectations for sound quality and volume were set pretty low... this way of changing the headunit means you're still using the Bose amplifier and obviously I haven't changed any speakers, so I figured the sound wouldn't change much. However, I have been very surprised at how much of an improvement there is! The quality is improved and the sound seems fuller. The balance of sound is improved. I guess the bass is better controlled at the source, as the sub isn't as wooly. So yes, IMHO this is a great improvement over the stock Bose system, I'm really pleased with it Cool, i saw you had to change the wiring but did most of it plug straight in? and did the steering wheel controls still work? Quote
confuzed Posted January 17, 2010 Author Posted January 17, 2010 Cool, i saw you had to change the wiring but did most of it plug straight in? and did the steering wheel controls still work? The steering wheel controls for the volume and the up/down rocker do work. Obviously the bluetooth buttons don't, but I didn't expect them to. Compared to other ICE installs I've done, this was the most difficult. You'll want to be confident with wire stripping (to splice in to the wire, not stripping an end) and soldering. The ground connections in the harness were easy enough as they can be done at a work bench or table. The worst part was having to strip back and solder to three wires in the car. Those three wires make the connection for the steering wheel controls. Its a shame the ICT wiring adapter doesn't include a plug for this as it would be possible to do so. I really didn't like having to make such a permanent change to the car, but I wanted the steering wheel controls more, so it had to be done. Quote
yokomo Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 +1 you got the same loom i did that need splicing for the remote , more lucky souls get the one wiht the plug on it. I guess its 2 brands and depending wher you buy from depends on if you get the plug or bare wires. you dont hav to solder either .... i used splice conectors that strip and conect no soldering and cutting needed. Quote
confuzed Posted January 17, 2010 Author Posted January 17, 2010 you dont hav to solder either .... i used splice conectors that strip and conect no soldering and cutting needed. That's true, I'd forgotten about those... I couldn't find anyone selling them locally. They would help a lot with the remote connection. I would still rather go for a good soldered joint for the ground, personally. Quote
speedy Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 you dont hav to solder either .... i used splice conectors that strip and conect no soldering and cutting needed. That's true, I'd forgotten about those... I couldn't find anyone selling them locally. They would help a lot with the remote connection. I would still rather go for a good soldered joint for the ground, personally. I like those but when i have had to adjust i have done in the past they are a git to get off and make a mess of the wire! Quote
MAXlMUS Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Install looks sweet m8.....I`m glad to hear the sound improved, personally I think the Bose is way overrated and poo Good Job! Max Quote
confuzed Posted January 18, 2010 Author Posted January 18, 2010 Install looks sweet m8.....I`m glad to hear the sound improved, personally I think the Bose is way overrated and poo I'm sure you're right, no doubt a dedicated amp and speaker upgrade would sound better! I was just surprised at how much of an improvement there was from simply changing the head unit. As I said, I expected pretty much no change. This set up is good enough for me I think. I've swapped HU and speakers in all my previous cars, so who knows, maybe in the future I'll get tempted to swap the door speakers for something better... I quite fancy a pair of Infinity Kappa components Quote
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