I just went to Kromer Radio here in Toronto to see what my options were for upgrading my audio system. Thus far I've been working under the assumption that I can't neatly change out my radio head unit but when I went there the guy looked it up and apparently very recently there has been a kit made for the 2006 Prius to install aftermarket head units. He also directed me to an Alpine CDA9857 which was on sale for 299 CAD. It has a port to connect an IPOD and a 3 line display to scroll through albums, song titles, etc... Also you can scroll quickly through the lists with the buttons 1-6 on the head unit, scrolling 10-60% ahead/back. So for a little more than the DICE you can end up with a new head unit with nice ipod features very similar to the dice (charging too), 3 PreOuts, 50W Max x 4/ 18W RMS and CD-R/RW/MP3/WMA playback. Should give you a better quality signal and is much easier if you want to install an amp for your speakers or have nice control of a sub. What'd you guys think? Pros/Cons? Also quotes a Boston Acoustic SL60 for $499 CAD... sounds kinda steep? They sounded amazing though compared to everything else there.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dzoutzidis @ Feb 4 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]385169[/snapback]</div> Sounds interesting, does it integrate with the MFD and the steering comtrol?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JacquesR @ Feb 4 2007, 07:49 PM) [snapback]385259[/snapback]</div> He's checking that out for me. Hopefully he'll get back to me soon and I'll post his reply.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dzoutzidis @ Feb 4 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]385169[/snapback]</div> Are you talking about an installation kit so an after-market radio will fit in a Prius? There has been one for the 04+ Prius for a while. Check E-Bay for one. I believe the problem is that the radio will not work with the display. Now if there is an adapter that will allow an after-market radio work with the display, that would be something.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JacquesR @ Feb 4 2007, 05:49 PM) [snapback]385259[/snapback]</div> My guess is MFD integration "No" and steering wheel control integration "Maybe" PAC makes a steering wheel integration control unit (not sure about Prius compatability) to work with aftermarket head units....most of these require a head unit that can take the steering wheel control inputs (volume+/-, mode, tune+/-) as an IR signal....ie the kind that come from a wireless remote control.....the unit essentially takes the input from the steering wheel control and translates them into the corresponding IR remote control signals for the head unit to receive. I can't really conceive of any way to get the MFD touchscreen to interact with the aftermarket head unit. BTW, Metra makes a plastic kit to integrate aftermerket head units into the Prius...has for a while, I think. Cheers
Well, I'm still waiting to hear back about if the MDF or steering wheel would still work for the audio control but if for example just the steering wheel works then I figure it'd still be the way to go. You could have your MDF showing you your milage or temp controls or whatever you want to see and right under that the new head unit would show you all the audio stuff you'd want to see. The big thing here I would think is the signal that would come out of the aftermarket head unit over the stock one. It should be cleaner and more powerful I'd think and way easier to add aftermarket stuff like amps, subs etc... I also think the fast scroll ability with the Alpine head unit is nice and you can actually have more than 99 songs listed per playlist. That'd really help me since I've got 6000+ songs on my computer and like to listen to them all at once pretty much. The salesman told me that the unit can only seem to handle playlists of up to 5000 songs. After that apparently it starts acting strangely. I think I can live with a 5000 song cap, but the 99 playlist 99 songs per playlist thing would be annoying. Would I get a better, cleaner more powerful signal out of the new head unit w/o amp than I would with the stock radio w/o amp?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dzoutzidis @ Feb 5 2007, 08:02 AM) [snapback]385546[/snapback]</div> dzoutzidis - Considering that the MDC display will only show you the current song and everything else is off-limits while the vehicle is moving, I would have to say I would definitely prefer the Alpine unit vs one that could be seen and controlled by the MDF. I have a 2007 and I've been looking at the DICE unit. But now I'm going to wait to see from what they say about this. If the steering wheel controls work and I can connect my iPod to it and see everything and quickly change songs, playlists, etc., while moving, I would prefer that.
I've got some bad news. Looks like the Alpine head unit doesn't integrate at all with the steering wheel or the screen. It doesn't kill the screen at least so that's good! I would miss the steeringwheel controls... I use them exclusively.... but installing a new head unit that integrates with an IPOD like this one does seems to have some other nice benifits so.... it's pretty much a toss up.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dzoutzidis @ Feb 5 2007, 05:48 PM) [snapback]385740[/snapback]</div> Go to: http://www.pac-audio.com/products/products...eel%20Interface and read up on this device. I think it should work to give you steering wheel control over the Alpine you're considering. Integration with the MFD is another story.....maybe someday......seems like somebody should be able to develop a CAN-BUS integration unit that would enable two-way communication between the MFD and other aftermarket devices. Cheers
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GeoGeek @ Feb 6 2007, 11:52 AM) [snapback]386008[/snapback]</div> That product looked pretty interesting. Crutchfield is selling it for $70. I didn't even consider this but some of the description about this steeringwheel integration unit made me worry.... would installing a new head unit for my radio affect my steeringwheel controls for things like my defroster and temperature control?
There haven't been any posts to this thread for quite a while, but I thought I would add my two cents. If you have the JBL sound system and you have the nav package, you should know that the audio directions produced by the nav are routed through the head unit in the dash and the amplifier underneath the passenger seat to the tweeter in the driver door post. Take out and replace the factory radio head and/or the amp and you will lose the voice directions functionality from the GPS. Fairfieldwizard
