Choosing A New Head Unit

Parthiban · January 31, 2009

That's a great finish you've got with the facia, did it take long to match it that well?

Stereo looks nice too, does it all look good when powered up?

johnboy · January 31, 2009

some shots of mine powered up, i need to do my facia now B)

johnboy · January 31, 2009

Forgot to say Steve, the facia looks very good, and glad your pleased with the unit.

Steviewevie · January 31, 2009

That's a great finish you've got with the facia, did it take long to match it that well?
Stereo looks nice too, does it all look good when powered up?

Thanks. Yep it looks good powered up, same as Johnboy's one. To achieve that finish wasn't hard really. Just a case of sanding it down and priming it, and then seeing if I was happy with the finish when the primer was on. The primer shows up the state of the surface very well, and it took a few goes before I was finally happy with the effect. Then the top coats were the same satin black from Halfords that Wozza describes in his walkthrough of painting the fascia (I used a black primer though, not grey).

Forgot to say Steve, the facia looks very good, and glad your pleased with the unit.

Thanks, yep, it sounds great, thanks for the recommendation ! :D

DJ Wozza · February 2, 2009

Good work Stevie :D

BTW link to the guide how to do the facia is in my signature

Cous3 · February 5, 2009

Top notch work on the surround Steve, told ya it wasn't hard to do didn't I...........The Halfords Satin Black is a good match to the OEM dash.

Looks the Mutz Nutz mate....very very nice and well worth the time and effort. You will soon wonder why you put up with the old OEM unit, honestly changing it over is one of the nicest and best mods, especially when you take time to install it like this. Hope you enjoy it mate!!

Keith

Steviewevie · February 5, 2009

Thanks Keith. You were right that it was easy. You were also right that I'm now wondering why I put up with the OEM head unit for so long, the new one is soooooooooooo much better and I love it ! :D

new666uk · March 28, 2009

Hi - love this Pioneer unit and thinking of replacing my OEM with one. Quick question for anyone who has one - is the mp3 connector only on the rear of the unit? I ran wiring in the back of my last car (BMW 325 coupe) behind the dash and up through the transmission tunnel but a front 3.5mm jack would be some much easier.

Not a fan of ipods - too much style over substance so anything 'made for ipod' doensn't really help me. Don't need to charge via the cable, my mp3 has what often seems like an infinate power supply.

thanks

Here's a pic of the head unit finally installed. Not the best picture in the world but it gives you an idea.

Close-up of the new fascia after sanding/painting etc. I don't think I did too bad a job getting it closer to the look of the factory plastic. Is that a fingerprint I can see on it though ?

Parthiban · March 28, 2009

I'm not sure but I think this unit has a USB port at the rear - just run the USB cable into the glovebox and plug your MP3 player in there.........much neater than a front 3.5mm jack which is why I think it's not there :)

new666uk · March 28, 2009

Thanks for the quick answer Parthiban. I'm not sure that would work though. I have an iRiver iHP140 (not as slick as the look of the original 40gb ipods but kicked its pretty behind on specs). It has the standard 3.5mm jack connector as you'd expect plus a 3.5mm optical in and out. The USB as far as I can tell from plugging it into the PC switches it into a file transfer mode to drag and drop files and music so I don't think I can connect via the USB.

Long story short, I'm looking for a double DIN head unit to replace the standard OEM. The only "must have" is connectivity for my mp3 and Bluetooth for handsfree phone calls. Budget is around the £2-250 mark hence the Pioneer FH-P80BT or Kenwood DPX503U. The Pioneer just looks nicer and I'd pay extra for that alone.

thanks!

I'm not sure but I think this unit has a USB port at the rear - just run the USB cable into the glovebox and plug your MP3 player in there.........much neater than a front 3.5mm jack which is why I think it's not there :)

Parthiban · March 28, 2009

Hopefully Steviewevie or one of the others who has this headunit can confirm but that's exactly what I thought headunits with USB needed - they use the 'mass storage' method to read all the files on the player, same as if you simply plugged in an external hard drive (which is also an option for headunits with USB)

Only thing you would need to check is the size of drive the USB port is compatible with, as long as the size is fine then there should be no problem.

Steviewevie · March 29, 2009

Yes, the USB port is at the back of that Pioneer head unit. As Parthiban said, according to the instructions, other than the iPod functionality you can plug in anything to the USB that has your music files in a folder structure, e.g. a memory stick, and you will be able to play them.

Also, it does have a 3.5mm jack at the rear for connection of devices via "AUX".

You can download the manuals for the unit if you go to the Pioneer UK support section, then enter "FH-P80BT" and search.

SHAHZ · February 26, 2010

Regarding iPod compatibility I think it's to do with the way they provide power over the iPod connector.
The old iPods used to use the firewire pins for power - and the very recent models, ie iPhone 3G & iPod Touch 2G had these connections removed and charge only via the USB pins.

A lot of people never notice the difference as it's the same connector and the majority of iPods charge fine with these - but only the new ones don't charge - but in my experience with accessories they do actually still play music down the connector.

Come across this post the other day whilei was looking for something, tried plugging my Iphone to my grom when i first got it ages ago and it come up the message saying it wasnt compatable blah blah and just thought it wouldnt play music Just tried and its works.....result dont need to carry the ipod as well now, cheers Aido!! :winky: