Harman Kardon Drive + Play

Saw it in a Circuit City Holiday catalog I got today.

Also looked at driveandplay.com that has some diagrams on installation.

Looks interesting.

 

How much is that Drive and Play? I looked at Circuit City online and found nothing at all about it.
thanks.

 

Oh nevermind, I just found it.
It's $199.

 

I just added Drive+Play to my '06 Prius today ... what a great system. I had the brains of the unit installed in the armrest console, allowing me to use the line-in and power supply with as little intrusion into the driving compartment as possible. The Drive+Play screen fits beautifully on the dash and the iPod controller fits nicely on the armrest.

The system works 99 percent like an iPod. If a phone call interrupts you, the iPod automatically pauses until you hang it up. The line-in connection is clean and sounds much better than the cassette deck connection I used in my old Infiniti G35.

I wish Harmon Kardon would come out with a version that included integrated Sirius or XM, otherwise I have no complaints.

 

Please provide some pictures. I would love to see what the finished project looks like.

 

How did you feed the audio from into the Prius audio system? I understand the drive and play has a 3.5mm audio out jack and an FM transmitter. Another way of asking the question is how do you switch the Prius audio system to the D+P audio instead of normal radio/CD/etc?

 

sneaky DH installed one for me as an early christmas present. he had me thinking we were going to do our own aux input using the stereo so i wouldn't suspect anything. so he got the main unit in there behind the dash, but didn't install any of the outside stuff (screen, controller) because he wanted it to be a surprise. he had me open the empty box last night.

he said installing it behind the dash was a pain, but mainly because he had to keep it secret and couldn't finish the job in one shot.

i'll post pics when he gets it all installed and we find a good place to put the screen and controller. the ipod is going in the box under the center console, that's about all we know right now.

 

So, tapping into the tape system isn't going to happen, huh? Tell your DH that he has disappointed a lot of us poor folks.

 

guess it isn't... unless someone else is willing to play around with the idea. we can write out what exactly we had planned to do if anyone's interested in picking up the idea.

and trust me, we are getting poorer by the day with his spending habit... :lol: i scolded him for exceeding our christmas budget this year.

 

well now he's saying he's thinking of routing it through the tape player anyway as a way to input.

he has to get in touch with the manufacturer of the stereo to see if he can get the info first, and we'll take it from there. been saying that for a while, but the holiday get-your-car-serviced rush is still upon us.

 

Hi:

Just got my new Prius Tuesday last week and I received a Drive + Play as a Christmas gift. I was planning on having it installed professionally, but somehow I got leery about anyone else (other than the dealer) tinkering with my car.

It was fairly easy to install. The control knob is glued on top of my center console (the cover slides down to become a cup holder), the text display is sitting on the left hand side of me (right infront of the small mirror), and the "brain" is under the front passenger seat. I had all the wires tied together using a simple cable tube (flat one).

Warning: If you are to glue your text display on the dash-- don't use the alcohol pad as it will rub some color off of the dash. I made that mistake--the damage was not bad, but I did notice the pad stained with a dark green color from the dash color.

To answer your question: the audio system turns to Drive + Play when you touch the "Disc-Aux" button on the audio console-- then you can play with the features of the unit using the control knob and the text display.

I highly recommend this product. However, there's one little thing that some may have already experienced. There's a little hum noise/static when the unit is on and the music is turned off or when music ends and switches to next. I was told that I could fix that by using a ground isolator. I ordered one from Crutchfield and will try if that works.

Regards,
Tommy

 

Here's how I set up my D+P on my '06 Super White.

Link to pictures:
http://photos.yahoo.com/gnrznx9


Regards,

 

this thread reminded me to take pictures of mine. they're in this thread: http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=14058&hl=

 

A pricey option, but I'm still curious... for a 2004 Prius (I assume w/o auxillary audio input) could you use the Drive and Play with the Coastaletech viewtech?

http://www.coastaletech.com/viewtech_2005.htm

Is there any other way of getting auxillary input rather than having to really on an FM modulator for the Drive + Play? It's such a neat device!

 

You have an '06 Prius, right? I have an '05 -- and, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think it has a Disc-Aux option.

I got a Drive and Play for Christmas also, and I'm having it installed behind the dash. But the guy at the installation place said that the only way to hook it up was with the FM transmitter cable, or the FM wireless (which is really static-y). Basically since the CD changer is internal to the unit, there's no CD changer port to patch into, and there's no aux input.

Is this right? I can probably deal with going in through the FM wire, but I would rather have it go through an aux port that I can select from the screen, if there is such a thing.

- Matt

 

There is a changer (aux) port in the back of the HU even with the JBL system. How do you think people install OEM XM or Sirius?
The problem with JBL though is that many third party aux-in and IPod adapters conflict with the built-in changer.

 

So one could use these iPod adapters like the HK Drive and Play (wired) via the CD changer port? Once I had my ipod I never used the CD changer... so would disconnecting the CD changer allow compatability ('04 JBL system) w/ the HK Drive and Play? Thanks for the input!

 

Unless you are looking to open the radio, you can't just 'disconnect' the changer. Besides, even if you disconnected the changer electronics, I am sure the HU AVC circuitry would still identify it as existing.

I don't know how the HK behaves, but a well behaved adapter could exist with existing equipment. Too many aftermarket manufacturers cut corners.