Stereo Upgrade

[Delankster]

Righto chaps,

Me new Car (Mk2 2.0 Tdci) turns up next week :D so first job is to upgrade the nasty looking ford 6000 cd stereo.

Been looking around and quite fancy the look of a Sony XAV-63 Double Din 6.1" or maybe the JVC KW-AV60 Double Din

anyone of you guys had dealing with any of these head units ?

or could recomend a unit below my £300 budget ?

i'd also like some advice on a new facia plate. After reading Brigante's guide on fitting an Aftermarket Stereo, most informative thanks mate,

i had a look around the web and come across Autoleads DFP-07-17 Ford Focus Facia

i like the idea of it having wider sides to the facia. that way it takes up the gap that the 6000cd leaves

and makes the need of an additional adaptor to make the new unit marry up redundant.

Just think the piture gives the impression that its of a low quality, slightly rippled in places and not worthy of putting in my new pride and joy ?

Cheers in advance

[Brigante]

I was just about to advice on a head unit then I saw you've already seen my guide lol so you'd probably know which I'd recommend.

What are your needs exactly? What do you want it to do?

For 300quid you could get the bluetooth version of my head unit and the fitting kit.

If you want satnav as well for that price, your looking at a none brand chinese OEM look head unit like what Liam has just bought himself. Must say his does look quality for the price.

Concerning the new head unit surround, I was thinking of the same one so its got a proper double din hole so a fascia adaptor isn't needed.

But then if you've seen my guide on a dummy head unit you'll know why I actually needed the fascia adaptor cause otherwise I wouldnt be able to mount the dummy head unit properly.

I'd recommend getting the new head unit surround and carbon wrapping it.

[Mike77]

I've just got myself the JVC kw-av60bt, on eBay its now as cheap as £235, bluetooth included with a seperate Mic for better call quality. Not fitted it yet as its meant to be for Christmas lol, but itching to crack on with it. Regarding the fascia, I opted for the fitting kit rather than the one your looking at, but even if you think the quality looks a little crap, you could always vinyl wrap it as so many others have done, seems to be one of the mods that's classed as standard on here, and it does lift the interior heaps. Headunit choice is down to personal choice, but the JVC ticks all the boxes for me...

[Mike77]

Just a note,,, looked at your link for the JVC, and it doesn't say 'bt' after the unit name, which means that paticular model may not have bluetooth, and only bluetooth ready. Either way its way over priced... Get on eBay and type in JVC kw-av60 bt. As above, £234.99, well worth the money.

[Hassen]

In the same situation as you and considering different headunits as an upgrade. The current favourite is the SONY Xav-601BT £289 on amazon is the cheapest I found.

Also, this fitting kit might be of interest as it has a few more bits needed to fit the headunit for not a lot more money.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400332733370?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[Brigante]

In the same situation as you and considering different headunits as an upgrade. The current favourite is the SONY Xav-601BT £289 on Amazon is the cheapest I found.

Also, this fitting kit might be of interest as it has a few more bits needed to fit the headunit for not a lot more money.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400332733370?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Just a heads up on that kit, looked at the same one. But it will actually still require a bit of rewiring.

I asked the seller about it when i was sourcing a kit, n they said i needed the 63quid kit instead for a plug n play job.

[Brigante]

Out of curiousity, what's everyone here thinking in terms of car security?

We all spending 100s of pounds on nice shiny new touch screen head units. Which will obviously be a lot more appealing to scummy theives.

So whats stopping your windows getting smashed in n your new head unit being ripped out the dash?

[Delankster]

Thanks for all the replies chaps,

Just to clear up a few things, not really that bothered about sat nav i have it on my phone and rarely have to use it.

Other than that i like the idea of dvd playback but tbh im not sure id use it much, would be nice to have never-the-less.

Much more important would be to have a usb port on the back of the unit. Most of my music is now stored on a usb stick, since having over £1000 of cd's stolen it has made me tentative about leaving cd's in the car.

The ability to take calls thru the unit would be nice too.

Another thing i would like it to have is a detachable faceplate, but theres not many i have seen out there with this feature.

Would also like the option of adding a reversing camera at some point, looks like a great add-on.

I did like the look of the unit liam just got, but doubt i would go for an non-brand unit.

i have primarily always had Kenwood stereo's in my cars, mainly down to liking the aesthetics of their units but also their great sound.

quite like the idea of vinyl wrapping the facia, might have to go for that option.

is it easy to do or would you leave it to a profesional ??

As for car security, well being on the recieving end a few times i primarily would like a removable faceplate

but if not i will be looking into beefing up the Alarm.

[Mike77]

The JVC unit with the bluetooth has all the things your after, rear USB, rear camera out lead, and a detachable face plate. And the ability to match the colour of your dash lights. These are the reasons I got mine, I'm sure others out there will fit the bill too, but for the features I wanted, and the price, it was the one for me. As for the carbon wrapping, its easy enough, I'm sure not many ppl on here had tried it before, but most of us are now masters at it lol. A hairdryer, scissors, sharp craft knife and a small squeegee is all that is needed,,, oh and a little patience.

[Brigante]

Concerning dvd playback, as long as you go for a touch screen head unit it almost definitely will have a dvd player. Don't think I'd ever watch a dvd in the car but like you said it's just a nice feature to have.

I wasn't fussed about a satnav built in either as I have use a tomtom with lifetime map updates. But saying that, if your phones an iPhone you could get a cable for about 20quid and then you could use your phones apps on the headunit including the satnav.

I would of liked a rear usb input, but my head unit was a birthday present from my Missus so I didn't want her spending too much on it. I think it's the pioneer 3400 or summin that has a rear usb. I'm not too fussed about it though as I got myself a sandisk cruzer which is a very tiny usb, it sticks out the head unit front usb socket by maybe 3-4mm, so it's definitely not in the way and you'd never notice it.

Most head units, if they don't come with bluetooth as standard, also have a bluetooth version for around 50quid more. Mines the 1400dvd for example n it doesnt have bluetooth, but then theres the 2400bt which is exactly the same unit but with bluetooth. Like someome else said, look for head units that end in BT

With the camera, most touchscreen head units do come with a camera input, but make sure by reading the specs or contacting the seller.

Vinyl wrappings easy. I used to have all my interior parts carbon wrapped. Just take your time, don't rush and keep the wrap warm and you'll do a nice job. I sinse went down the harder messier stinkier route of hydrodippimg mine instead. Well worth it in the end but hard to get right and wouldn't recommend it as theres a lot of effort involved and easy to get really wrong. Plus it !Removed! stinks horrible due to the chemicals involved.

Concerning car security, when i first started looking at head unitsm which was a long thought out process, i really wanted a detachable faceplate for the security feature, but as you said not many of them have this feature n ones that do are usually expensive.

Thing is, if you remove the face plate it actually makes it more suseptable to thieves. Cause if you remove it, it advertises theres something worth nicking still in the dash and expensive enough that you'd go to the trouble of removing the face plate.

So they'll still smash your window and rip the actual head unit out the dash. Then all they'll do is stroll into halfrauds n lift a faceplate off a display unit.

With having a better alarm, again it probably wont stop em still smashing the window. Whether or not theu got the bottle to still climb in the car n rip the unit out with the alarm going thats another story.

So what i've done is create a fake, factory looking and very convincing faceplate from a stock 6006cd that simply sticks over the front of my head unit so you'd never know it was under there.

[Brigante]

Apologies for the amount of spelling errors in the previous post, fat thumbs n small touch keys on a phone don't go well together.

[Stoney871]

Apologies for the amount of spelling errors in the previous post, fat thumbs n small touch keys on a phone don't go well together.

Never happydmp toy me ;)

[Brigante]

Never happydmp toy me ;)

I'd just finished typing it all up, then read back through it and thought oh !Removed! hell. !Removed! touchscreens

[Delankster]

hi chaps,

just an update on my progress. me new Focus turned up sat :D along with a jvc kw-av60bt along with a fitting kit and facia adapter the same as Brigante's,

decided against the full facia in the end as i will be attemping a dummy face plate aswell ;)

Planning on fitting it all tomorow once ive recovered from all the xmas spirit i've had!!

will post up some pics once im done

[Stoney871]

Good effort there.

So you're going to modify your old radio face like charlie?

[Mike77]

hi chaps,

just an update on my progress. me new Focus turned up sat :D along with a jvc kw-av60bt along with a fitting kit and facia adapter the same as Brigante's,

decided against the full facia in the end as i will be attemping a dummy face plate aswell ;)

Planning on fitting it all tomorow once ive recovered from all the xmas spirit i've had!!

will post up some pics once im done

Lol, same radio as mine, and u started fitting it today, been a bit of a nightmare really, as I got the reversing camera also, but the dam wire isn't long enough to reach the back of the headunit. Also got to wire into the reverse light, and fit all the wires for the amp and sub, but I've carbon wrapped the 2 bits of the surround and got the radio ready to slot into place,,, the headache continues tomorrow lol.

[Delankster]

the plan is something similar. Will be fitting the stereo normally tomorow, then once im back to work next week will start the butchering of the 6000 cd.

im hopping that with the removable face plate of the jvc i wont have to be so drastic cutting the old head unit apart.

[Delankster]

started fitting it today

cool did you get the steering wheel adaptor lead aswell ?

[Mike77]

Yeah that all works, confused me a little though because it has a 3mm jack plug on it, as does my Mic for the bluetooth but only one hole in the back of the head unit,,, but found out I don't need to use the one for the steering wheel thing, so happy days.

[Brigante]

Alright mike..

What you mean your camera wire isn't long enough to reach the head unit? Mine was plenty long enough.

What route you taking?

[Mike77]

Alright pal, I'm about 12inches short, just went through the tailgate, through the grommet into the roof, along the roof under the headlining and down passenger footwell and it stops under the glovebox :-\

[Brigante]

weird, is it a 6 metre cable? mine seemed ample and think I had at least a foot or 2 of excess

so you used the same route i did in my guide?

am i right in saying you've got the number plate holder camera?

[Brigante]

oh and on the subject of vinyl wrapping, for a reasonable fee to be agreed, i can now offer carbon dipping as a service if anyone is interested. see the wing mirror covers in the buy and sell section as examples of the quality of my work. much better finish than wrapping.

[Mike77]

Yeah mate, I got the reg plate holder with the camera in. Think it may have been a 5 metre cable, because I can't see any other route that would save on wire, as I said, I'm a bit ocd like that, so looks like I'm gonna have to go to maplins in the morning see if I can find a way of extending it. Any idea what I should be asking for ??? Also, I think I have the right idea here but just wanna run it by you. For the camera wiring in the boot, I have 2 wires left to connect, 1 red 1 black I think, but not to much wire to play with. Were is the best place to connect these. I sure they need connecting to the reverse light wires, which I'm hoping I can locate in the grommet between the tailgate and the roof of the car... Is this correct. Also, is there a way to display the rear view camera whilst driving, a bit like a rear view mirror if you get what I mean...?

[Brigante]

!Removed! phone double posting when I havent even finished typing.

Disregard this post n read the one bellow when its finished.

Really wish there was a delete button not just an edit button.