Hi peeps
its been many many years since i upgraded an oem stereo.
my stilo mp3 headunit had served me well for the last 6 years and will now be going into the wifes stilo.
last week we went to legoland in windsor, and quiet frankly it was the journey from hell, the traffic was murder with all the road works, then having a 6 year old and twin 2 year olds in the back screaming and fighting i decided to upgrade the sound system
what ive installed is the pioneer avh 3200bt, the reason why i choose this system above the 3200dvd was because of the dual zone feature. the unit is touted as being able to play a dvd in the rear and listen to music in the front, what they dont tell you though, and its not in ANY of the paperwork or online manual is you need a 4 way amp connected to the rca connections and not though the normal iso block. currently ive connected it to the iso block and the speakers will only play one source. very bad form on part of pioneer as the extra kit needed would have been a deal breaker for me, and now i have to bite the bullet and get one........
with the head unit ive got 2 veba lcd 5.8inch desplays for the rear. i was chewing over getting the larger 6.9inch but im glad i opted for the smaller screens. in a larger car like a land rover you would benifit form those screens but in the stilo where the leg room is not as ample those sized screens would be overkill.
I was going to cut my head rests about, but ive found that the little stands wedge nicely between the head rest and seat if you put the rests up, this also has the added bonus of being able to quickly remove them, and not damaging the interiour of the car if and when i come to sell her.
ive also got an infinity bassbox + amp in the boot.
tbh i was very happy with the sound quality of the oem vistion mp3 unit, and never felt the urge to upgrade the sounds in the car other than the bass box, but this head unit really has brought the speakers to life, im suprised how good the speakers are in the car as standard, the only rattles im getting is from loose objects in the door pockets, so i now have no plans on replacing the original speakers.
i purchased also the stalk controls from celsus, they are suppose to work with the stilo but ive had no joy there, i think i will be calling them to see what they say as the head unit is compatible.
i will try to take some pics tomorrow, overall im very impressed with the head unit, the bluetooth on there is parrot and is fault less when making calls, my wife didnt realise i was talking to her hands free its that clear, phone book intergration is also very useful very easy to use, but it dosent seem to support audio streaming for some strange reason.
the other niggle i have with the head unit is it cannot read sdhc cards!, but you can put the same card into a card holder and put it into the usb port and it will read. strange.....
now im off to find a rca to iso connector and a cheapo 4 channel amp, pref a small one i can hide behind the glove compartment, any ideas there and what sort of wattage should i be looking at for the oem speakers.
cheers
roy
its been many many years since i upgraded an oem stereo.
my stilo mp3 headunit had served me well for the last 6 years and will now be going into the wifes stilo.
last week we went to legoland in windsor, and quiet frankly it was the journey from hell, the traffic was murder with all the road works, then having a 6 year old and twin 2 year olds in the back screaming and fighting i decided to upgrade the sound system
what ive installed is the pioneer avh 3200bt, the reason why i choose this system above the 3200dvd was because of the dual zone feature. the unit is touted as being able to play a dvd in the rear and listen to music in the front, what they dont tell you though, and its not in ANY of the paperwork or online manual is you need a 4 way amp connected to the rca connections and not though the normal iso block. currently ive connected it to the iso block and the speakers will only play one source. very bad form on part of pioneer as the extra kit needed would have been a deal breaker for me, and now i have to bite the bullet and get one........
with the head unit ive got 2 veba lcd 5.8inch desplays for the rear. i was chewing over getting the larger 6.9inch but im glad i opted for the smaller screens. in a larger car like a land rover you would benifit form those screens but in the stilo where the leg room is not as ample those sized screens would be overkill.
I was going to cut my head rests about, but ive found that the little stands wedge nicely between the head rest and seat if you put the rests up, this also has the added bonus of being able to quickly remove them, and not damaging the interiour of the car if and when i come to sell her.
ive also got an infinity bassbox + amp in the boot.
tbh i was very happy with the sound quality of the oem vistion mp3 unit, and never felt the urge to upgrade the sounds in the car other than the bass box, but this head unit really has brought the speakers to life, im suprised how good the speakers are in the car as standard, the only rattles im getting is from loose objects in the door pockets, so i now have no plans on replacing the original speakers.
i purchased also the stalk controls from celsus, they are suppose to work with the stilo but ive had no joy there, i think i will be calling them to see what they say as the head unit is compatible.
i will try to take some pics tomorrow, overall im very impressed with the head unit, the bluetooth on there is parrot and is fault less when making calls, my wife didnt realise i was talking to her hands free its that clear, phone book intergration is also very useful very easy to use, but it dosent seem to support audio streaming for some strange reason.
the other niggle i have with the head unit is it cannot read sdhc cards!, but you can put the same card into a card holder and put it into the usb port and it will read. strange.....
now im off to find a rca to iso connector and a cheapo 4 channel amp, pref a small one i can hide behind the glove compartment, any ideas there and what sort of wattage should i be looking at for the oem speakers.
cheers
roy
