Question for those who installed a Non-Factory Head Unit

actually just today it was between that one and the 8200. i went with the 8200 simply due to having good experiences with Panasonic a ways back. i'm really excited to have integration and control, but what's most exciting at this point is a decent quality graphical EQ. the single band midrange on Entune is leaving my newly installed system sounding like a cardboard box. once i tune that out then i'll be enjoying endless bells & whistles... and a really nice screen, too.

 

You'll love the time alignment and crossover features as well!

 

yes i will! part of the issue for me is coming from a very high end tweaked system in a previous car. now in the Tacoma, you can't mount both components of the Focal K2P's up front, only the tweeter up front, mid in the rear door, and a 6x9 in the front door. the problem is i now have two tweeters up front and my crossover'ed front channel is split up and time delayed. it's killing my ears, so tuning all this up (and probably using a low pass filter on my 6x9's to eliminate the tweeter there) is gonna be great.

 

what surround do you have? thats one of the better looking surrounds ive ever seen

 

Do you have the focal 3 way set up?

 

2 way, the K2P's.

 

You can use that set up front with a 6X9 adapter ring .. That's a nice set there!

 

there's a 6x9 adapter ring that can hold my 6.5" driver in the 6x9's spot?

 

Yes any audio shop should have that and an adapter for the tweeters

 

great, thanks for that. moving the 6.5's up front needs to happen for a clean soundstage. i can fake that by running the 6x9's through a low pass but that ain't the right way. now the question will be what to do for the rear doors if anything. a mid woofer back there would be nice but fitting a 6x9 there may not work... do you know?

btw a JL 13TW5-2 is coming with a Mr Marv box, so there's the bottom end. just don't want to miss the mid lows. anyone experienced with this?

 

Marv makes adapters as well.
What amp/amps you running?

 

JL HD600/4 under my seat for all 4 channels. the 13TW5 will be on a JL 500/1.

 

http://www.scosche.com/2012-toyota-tacoma-double-din-and-din-with-pocket-in-dash-install-kit

 

I have a Pioneer AVIC 6100NEX and its great! Has a nice large touch screen, has apple car play and also works well with android devices too. I did not lose any capabilities, though it does turn down the music during navigation a little more than id like. Still have steering wheel controls, but gained 4 full stereo level outputs for my door speakers and 1 for the subs, plus much better sound quality and the ability to play DVDs because my audio shop hooked it up and wired in a resistor for my parking brake sensor so the HU always thinks the truck is parked and will play DVDs for passengers on car trips

 

That's the unit I'm interested in. Seems like a good fit for me.

 

Just an FYI, the Kenwood ddx9903 is extremely discounted now as they will be replacing it with a new version. For about$500 you get a great unit with capacitive glass screen, the lowest priced comparable unit is the pioneer 8200 which is a few hundred dollars more.

I had replaced an old pioneer with the 4200nex and was very disappointed in it. The screen was poor and washed out in sunlight. The Kenwood is great, the screen is bright and looks very good.

If anybody is worried about diy installation don't be, if you can match colors you can do it. I used positaps instead of soldering, they give a solid connection and I've never had a problem with them.

 

For you guys with these aftermarket units: from what I've gathered, you can retain functionality of everything besides the stock bluetooth microphone, is this correct?

 

If you get the maestro unit, yes. Some others like the aswc may or may not retain all functionality.

 

I'm leaning towards the Kenwood Without Nav, JL audio components front C3-600, JL Audio 6x9 rear, custom built sub, and JL Audio 5 channel amp Class D, iDatalink Maestro. Roughly $2500 in parts before labor which I'm guessing another $1000 including miscellaneous wires clips etc.

Anyone willing to post pics of their install.. and component break down (what speaker/model) you went with.

What are your thoughts on 3 component systems.. JL has a 6.75 mid bass, 4" mid range, 1" tweeter

 

Is anyone with the Kenwood units having CarPlay issues. My Dnx893s was working great, then all of a sudden it's throwing a USB error ("an access error of the USB device has occurred") at me when I hook up my iPhone. The fact that it worked fine for weeks before this makes me think it's a software problem and something in the phone auto-updated..