Fitting a new head unit
Discussion
I was thinking about replacing the factory unit in the car and read a bit of the chim chim thread and the gto link from it and I'm wondering is this guy the only way I can replace my head unit? Does Holden not carry a replacement fascia? what is the difficulty with removal and replacement? Does it come with a standard european ISO connector? Also what head units are the most popular at the moment? I've found a UK site selling double din units ranging from as little as £160 to nearly £2K but what makes one dearer than the next is not so clear. granted the most expensive is a pioneer unit with built in satnav but the rest are just radios from what I can see. from around £500 up you get units that are also DVD players. does anybody produce a WiFi head unit that can transmit wirelessly to monitors in the back seat?
pioneer is a stunning piece of kit and for the price you'd expect it. There are alternative double din fitting kits but the colour/finish isnt as good apparently - what do you expect for 30$ US. There are also single din adaptor kits, I've got one here I've never fitted but picked it up from ebay for about 15 quid. Figured it was good to have as a solution in case the factory unit fails before I can justify the cost of buying the pioneer.
Hi,
I've just done this myself so can tell you a bit about it. There are a few people around here who have, so you'll get plenty of advice.
The reason you need a facia adaptor like that of chimchim is because the hole left by our standard radio unit is not standard Double DIN. When I did it the only option appeared to be chimchim. Very good, very expensive, and just a little bit fragile. But excellent none the less. There now appears to be a unit made by a company called Metra - you can find details on the LS2gto.com forum. Chimchim is about $175 shipped and a perfect match where the Metra is (apparently) not such a good match, but pretty good, and costs more like $30 shipped.
Your choice of unit is simply down to you - a braod range of units for a range of prices. I have the Alpine IVA-W200Ri which is about £600 and is a DVD player amongst other things. Top kit.
Our car has a standard ISO connector for the radio, although the permanent and switched 12V are swapped around for some reason. So pretty easy to wire the radio in. Getting the dash to pieces is also pretty easy - check out the LS2gto forum Audio pages for details - or I can mail you a pictorial guide to taking your car to bits if you want (I got these from Swordfishcoupe who got them from Crutchfield.com).
We also have ISO aerial as well, so depending on your radio you might be able to plug that in directly without an adaptor. I could on my Alpine.
One thing to be careful of though - our speakers are 2 ohm and most replacement head units are 4 ohm. Run the two together and you risk blowing up your new HU (might not of course, but after spending £600 on a new one are you going to tak the risk?). That lead me to replacing my speakers as well.....
Hope that helps.
Steve
I've just done this myself so can tell you a bit about it. There are a few people around here who have, so you'll get plenty of advice.
The reason you need a facia adaptor like that of chimchim is because the hole left by our standard radio unit is not standard Double DIN. When I did it the only option appeared to be chimchim. Very good, very expensive, and just a little bit fragile. But excellent none the less. There now appears to be a unit made by a company called Metra - you can find details on the LS2gto.com forum. Chimchim is about $175 shipped and a perfect match where the Metra is (apparently) not such a good match, but pretty good, and costs more like $30 shipped.
Your choice of unit is simply down to you - a braod range of units for a range of prices. I have the Alpine IVA-W200Ri which is about £600 and is a DVD player amongst other things. Top kit.
Our car has a standard ISO connector for the radio, although the permanent and switched 12V are swapped around for some reason. So pretty easy to wire the radio in. Getting the dash to pieces is also pretty easy - check out the LS2gto forum Audio pages for details - or I can mail you a pictorial guide to taking your car to bits if you want (I got these from Swordfishcoupe who got them from Crutchfield.com).
We also have ISO aerial as well, so depending on your radio you might be able to plug that in directly without an adaptor. I could on my Alpine.
One thing to be careful of though - our speakers are 2 ohm and most replacement head units are 4 ohm. Run the two together and you risk blowing up your new HU (might not of course, but after spending £600 on a new one are you going to tak the risk?). That lead me to replacing my speakers as well.....
Hope that helps.
Steve
I've just ordered a single DIN/wee dookit adapter plate through the Sound In Motion lads over here (Campsie and Ballymena branches), they've sourced a company based near London who bring in US facias, and I've been ballmarked a figure of 20-25 notes, so I doubt it's the Chim version...
Hopefully they'll get it soon enough so that I can add comments to this further...
I've 3 Kenwood headunits lying here:-
Top of the range Minidisc unit from about 5 years ago
Top of the range CD/MP3 unit from about 3 years ago
CD/DVD/Flip out screen from last year (put in with PS2 etc for Total Vauxhall shoot of old Astra Turbo)
The latter of the above will be taking over the job up front, and I've a pair of Genesis Amps, Rockford EQ and a stack of other goodies lying from previous installs ready to fill the rest of the holes...
Hopefully they'll get it soon enough so that I can add comments to this further...
I've 3 Kenwood headunits lying here:-
Top of the range Minidisc unit from about 5 years ago
Top of the range CD/MP3 unit from about 3 years ago
CD/DVD/Flip out screen from last year (put in with PS2 etc for Total Vauxhall shoot of old Astra Turbo)
The latter of the above will be taking over the job up front, and I've a pair of Genesis Amps, Rockford EQ and a stack of other goodies lying from previous installs ready to fill the rest of the holes...
baz7175 said:
I've just ordered a single DIN/wee dookit adapter plate through the Sound In Motion lads over here (Campsie and Ballymena branches), they've sourced a company based near London who bring in US facias, and I've been ballmarked a figure of 20-25 notes, so I doubt it's the Chim version...
Hopefully they'll get it soon enough so that I can add comments to this further...
I've 3 Kenwood headunits lying here:-
Top of the range Minidisc unit from about 5 years ago
Top of the range CD/MP3 unit from about 3 years ago
CD/DVD/Flip out screen from last year (put in with PS2 etc for Total Vauxhall shoot of old Astra Turbo)
The latter of the above will be taking over the job up front, and I've a pair of Genesis Amps, Rockford EQ and a stack of other goodies lying from previous installs ready to fill the rest of the holes...
Hopefully they'll get it soon enough so that I can add comments to this further...
I've 3 Kenwood headunits lying here:-
Top of the range Minidisc unit from about 5 years ago
Top of the range CD/MP3 unit from about 3 years ago
CD/DVD/Flip out screen from last year (put in with PS2 etc for Total Vauxhall shoot of old Astra Turbo)
The latter of the above will be taking over the job up front, and I've a pair of Genesis Amps, Rockford EQ and a stack of other goodies lying from previous installs ready to fill the rest of the holes...
excellent, will have to get in touch with them. I see they haven't got a website yet though. thanks for all the input from the other posters as well. hopefully I will get smtg sorted out. not sure yet what I will go with.
like yourself I have a few old units lying about that would be good enough. all single din though.
Hello,
Not sorry the stock head has nothing other than standard speaker terminals as output (no inputs either), hence the sub is wired to the rear speaker outputs. There is chap in the US and Aus which can add additional addons etc but not cheap.
Re the single din kits, when I got my car I managed to get the dealer to get me the single din piece so I could use my older Kenwood mp3. It is probably the same US model you are getting, sorry fella, but I was very disappointed in it and now it is just sat in the garage in the original bag. The texture and colour is not a good match - but as you say it is cheap etc.
Hope it's not the same one - sorry, I can't remember the make of it.
Cheers
Steven
Not sorry the stock head has nothing other than standard speaker terminals as output (no inputs either), hence the sub is wired to the rear speaker outputs. There is chap in the US and Aus which can add additional addons etc but not cheap.
Re the single din kits, when I got my car I managed to get the dealer to get me the single din piece so I could use my older Kenwood mp3. It is probably the same US model you are getting, sorry fella, but I was very disappointed in it and now it is just sat in the garage in the original bag. The texture and colour is not a good match - but as you say it is cheap etc.
Hope it's not the same one - sorry, I can't remember the make of it.
Cheers
Steven
Edited by swordfishcoupe on Tuesday 10th April 21:12
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