I will first start by saying, I know nothing about car stereos. Well..I should rephrase and state that I have limited knowledge anyway. My stock head unit and all my speakers are toast and Ive been wanting to replace them for quite some time so now onto my questions...

Do those Android Head Units on ebay - like http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-2-Double-2-Din-Android-Car-DVD-Player-Head-Unit-GPS-Sat-Navi-BT-Radio-Wifi-3G-/161676876555?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25a4b15b0b one - restrict you from downloading certain Apps from Google Play? I am looking to run Waze, Pandora, Sirius.

Alot of people just go with Tablets. I have nothing against doing this except that it takes a bit more fab work but seems overall cheaper aswell. I reviewed two threads where they converted them in C6's to Tablets but it got me to wondering about F-Bodies because I'm unsure if it will fit without heavy modification. Can anyone confirm any fitment issues with a tablet and possibly using the Metra Bezel unit I showed above? Or basically what would be necessary to get one to fit?

I also heard that whichever Tablet I choose must have USB to Audio support for it to work. is this true or will the Headphone port work aswell? While I know what USB to Audio support will work, I dont know how to check to see what tablets do and dont support this. I saw plenty of cheap tablets on eBay from iRulu but I'm unsure if they support this or not. It seems Nexus is the go to tablet.

My speakers are shot, Will aftermarket speakers beable to use the stock wiring and if so which ones? Also will any 6.5" speaker fit? I was thinking of using Kickers but I once again am unsure what I want to get in this department. I'm not going to go down the road at 100% volume and I can sacrifice alittle bit of quality for a bargain price but I dont want complete crap either.

Next thing is amp. Im almost certain I will need an amp for my speakers. question is how will it adapt to a tablet head unit?

sorry for the multiple questions.

 

I just purchased speaker replacements from Kee Audio and am very happy with them so far, finishing the install today in fact.

http://www.keeaudio.com/keeaudiospecials.html

And they are on sale right now.

For the Head unit I am looking at this one: Pioneer DEH-X8600BH - single din though.

.

 

Can I make an honest suggestion?

STAY AWAY FROM THAT EBAY CHINESE GARBAGE, it doesn't even give a brand name and that is a HUGE RED FLAG.

as for your tablet questions, audio out thru the USB is ideal as it would simplify the connections to the tablet and give the best possible sound, but the headphone plug is fine, I've been using a tablet (or other type of MP3 player as an audio source feeding into my Pioneer headunits for the better part of a decade now.

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT just go on ebay and buy a cheap tablet, there is a reason those guys are so cheap I wouldn't even force a kid to use something so crappy, you'll want a tablet in the 7" screen size, but it needs to have a small bezel (space from screen edge to edge of tablet) so it will fit and from what I've seen it's next to impossible to find a GOOD brand 7" tablet under 100 bucks, so 40 for the iRulu 7" on Amazon is a MAJOR red flag (well that and it only having 512MB of RAM with 4.2.2 that NEEDS 1 GB min).

There are quite a few options for how to wire them up, to me the easiest is to also buy a regular single din radio with all the connections needed to wire up the amps and hide it somewhere in the car and have teh tablet simply feed into it, this way allows you to keep the FM radio and CD playing capacity that the other options don't.

 

Sheesh, they're kind of pricey for speakers alone. Will aftermarket speakers still work with factory wiring? If not then I guess the price would be justified.

 

Almost done........few comparison stock/upgrade shots:

 

those prices are not at all bad when you consider the quality of what your getting, these are not some junk 40 dollar sony 2 way speakers from walmart, there are component speakers on the market that cost more for 1 set then the the entire stage 2 package.

these cars do NOT use the traditional 2 way speaker that is the most common type of aftermarket speaker, you NEED a COMPONENT speaker (that can be coaxially mounted for the camaros) for the front doors and a 6.5" "sub" that is dual voice coil for the sails then the speakers in the hatch area, so unless you go and buy the Pyle junk subs and some cheap *** crappy components your going to be well over 200 bucks just getting those 2 sets of speakers, more to find a component that can be coaxially mounted (it's not seen on the lower end stuff and is fairly rare on midrange stuff) for use in a camaro.

 

I see. And once again pardon my mal knowledge but this is the first time I've had to touch anything sound related in a car in a very long time.

From what I've seen people have been using the Android Nexus Tablets from Asus is this about right? I read a thread that a Nexus 7 2013 wouldn't require any cutting. I am assuming a OTG cable would be necessary on top of which a powered USB Hub to connect your GPS antenna and any other devices. On a general question can an Android support an external hard drive? Would be nice to have a few DVD's downloaded. Since Kee Audio has all the homework done then I will just bite the bullet and get those speakers. Meanwhile though about the wiring. I saw a C6 guy retain FM radio and I'm curious as to how he did that. Reason being is if it's possible to retain FM Radio then I can still use Sirius Satalite Radio.

Now as far as wiring is concerned... Do FBody's have a wiring harness adapter that I can connect into the existing harness and start splicing at the connecting harness (so I can connect and disconnect and not have to worry about screwing up my factory wiring) Second and more importantly .. the stock units have Theftlock and I believe that means once they're taken out the unit seizes. Meanwhile will VATS or any other security system in this car conflict with what I'm doing? Also what would be the best way to supply power to the unit? I know USB power is 5.5 Volts so something will have to step it down.

Finally the sound itself. Can I place a small amp in my stock head unit to deliver the signal to my four front speakers and also the factory amp? I'm assuming I would need a 5 channel amp for this?

 

the Nexus 7 is one of the slimmer bezels which is why it's often used, personally I prefer to use a device with a MicroSD card slot so I can ADD additional storage to the device instead of having to buy the expensive higher capacity version of the device, some models have a adapter that allows the use of a USB flash drive, but those often take the place of the USB connection, I just prefer to keep my storage internal, depending on your music collection size you can rip movies down to MP4 format using programs like DVDFab then copy the video files to your device.

instead of trying to mess with a bunch of strange wiring the easiest way to set things up is to install a regular single DIN radio using a wire harness adapter (so you leave all stock wiring alone).

basically like what this guy did, if you read thru the thread, except for all the extra amps and subs that he added and maybe hiding the HU https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...reo-build.html

 

Only small issue with that is losing my HVAC controls and it gets too hot down here to go without A/C in a DD.

Also I meant to say I have a 7" wide screen Winbook Tablet here thats laying around doing absolutely nothing. It comes loaded with Windows 8.1 on it and it is fairly decent as far as speed and performance is concerned. I was just thinking maybe I can use it instead and use an Android Emulator like Bluestacks to run my Android Apps like Waze, Google Maps, or anything else I wanna use. Only downfall is no instant notifications of emails, ect and Bluetooth calling may not be an option... On a slight upside, running windows applications and mild windows games in a car would be kind of sweet.

I was outside earlier just test fitting it to the STOCK bezel (1.5" Din) by removing it just to get an idea of what I'm getting into. The stock bezel is just barely too wide but not tall enough as the unit is hitting the ASR / Fog Light switches. however it fits perfectly in the frame for the radio. I was wondering if the Metra unit will correct this. I will buy one and find out because I feel I will need it one way or the other. I was also thinking of custom fabbing a bracket to go around the tablet and just cutting the lower portion of my current bracket (between the stereo and HVAC controls) so it will fit... Only issue is the bracket would need to be refined because it would be visable so Im going to see what I come up with on the Metra unit first.

Now as far as wiring is concerned - what is slightly confusing me and losing me is exactly how to interface the tablet with the speakers...(Especially since I dont know anything about the stock wiring to the stereo). I really prefer using an wiring adapter and and making my splices after the adapter so I dont screw up the stock harness. But here's what I have questions on...

The Winbook Tablet has MiniHDMI audio output, a USB port, and also a simple headphone jack. The USB port could be use to add a audio card if necessary, but I don't know if it can support audio directly over USB.

What I am trying to figure out is what would I need to interface the tablet (and any tablet for that matter) to an amp and then to my speakers?

Lets say for example I went with the headphone jack method, how would I get that to an amp and then to the speakers? would the cable beable to connect directly to an amp or what adapter would I need?

Also what if I wanted to use a USB to audio? What would interface between that and an amp?

thanks.

 

I was using Dementia's build as an example, you could move the headunit elsewhere (like the glove box or center console for example) so you keep the HVAC controls, or those could be relocated slightly (some guys have moved the HVAC to the glovebox), you don't have to do a carbon copy of what he did, just use the concepts of it which are:

from tablet to HEADUNIT to stock or aftermarket amps.

having the HEADUNIT (aftermarket stereo) allows you to pick one with the features you want like bluetooth calling, FM and Satellite radio and all those types of features, give me a little bit and I'll skecth up a basic diagram of how things would go and add it to this post, remember the Headunit doesn't have to go in the stock location.


Edit: Attached is the basic diagram using the headphone jack method to aux in on the aftermarket radio, you get power from a cigarette lighter adapter that puts out the required AMPS (tablets take like 2 amps to charge and most of them do at best 1 amp per port so you have to find one that puts out the proper amperage), the headphone cable goes to the aux input on the radio, the radio has it's wire harness that gets wired to a metra or scoche ( or whatever brand of choice) vehicle specific wires harness adapter you buy then that simply PLUGS IN to the stock plug that came out of the back of the factory radio (not shown is an additional add-on unit to retain factory steering wheel controls for the HEADUNIT) then your basically done IF you keep the stock amp and just upgrade the speakers which you can do with the level 2 setup from KeeAudio.

I don't know how old you are but if your old enough to remember the days of having a tape deck and using one of those corded cassettes to plug in a portable CD player to play your cd's it's basically the same concept.

Alternatively if you went to a higher power aftermarket amp then you would run a few sets of RCA cables from the aftermarket HU to some aftermarket amps and run new wiring to the speakers from there, but at least for now I think you don't need to even worry yourself with a more complex system like that.

 

I see, I get it now. In this case should it matter what head unit I choose since the Amp is whats really powering the speakers? Any Headunit in particular that should be sought after? Other minor issue is that I'll have to extend the stereo wiring harness if I relocate it. I'm still not 100% sure where I would mount the HU... Unless maybe I could get away with somehow running a HU without a faceplate and mounting it in the factory location with the Tablet infront of the faceplate ...

I ran into this image:

This is pretty nice.

If something like this were to be done though would you beable to listen to music while listening to your GPS at the same time? or on a more complicated scale, if you wanted to listen Sirius Music while listening to GPS?

---

On a side note I've still been looking into installing the tablet without a head unit and so far here's what I've gathered that would be necessary.

Wiring Harness: Metra 70-1858 - $5
USB Aux In / Out: Behringer U-Control UCA222 - $34
Aux to Analog Adapter: Sirius Radio Aux In to Analog Adapter - $10
USB GPS Antenna: BU-353-S4 Weather-proof USB GPS Receiver - $30
Powered USB HUB - USB 3.0 Hub - $15
RCA to Wire Connectors: - $10
Cigarette Lighter: 10 AMP Cigarette Lighter - $15
AC/DC Power Inverter: 150 W Power Strip - $23

Edit: Now here's how I believe it works.

POWER:
Stereo Harness Adapter Power wire to Cigarette Lighter.
Cigarette Lighter to Power Strip Inverter
Power Strip Inverter: Outlet 1 to Tablet || Outlet 2 to Powered USB Hub
Powered USB Hub to USB Analog Converter

SIGNALS:
Tablet to Powered USB Hub
Powered USB Hub to USB Analog Converter
USB Analog Converter: IN PORTS from Sirius Radio || OUT PORTS to Analog male connectors which splice into the Stereo Harness Adapter to the Stereo Speakers (Force the out ports to listen to the in ports in Windows which will force the audio directly to the car's amp when Sirius is on).
GPS Antenna - Connected to the USB HUB.

Im not 100% sure on all this but I think this will do the job... I'm kinda unsure about the power supply stuff though - can you give me your opinion?

 

I have no experience doing this without a headunit, I've always had a good radio so I can't advise on the procedure to do it without the headunit, other then knowing it is possible.

as for a headunit recommendation I generally go with Pioneer, but Kenwood is also a good brand, avoid Sony, Jensen or any of the cheaper brands, the specific model depends on which features you are looking to have.

if you use the GPS on the tablet it will chime in while playing the music on the tablet but since the Sirius is on a separate input you wouldn't here the prompts from the GPS while on the Sirius.

 

Although uncommon, there are "mini-amps"/"pre-amps" that are basically what is inside an average aftermarket headunit (4 X 50Watt). If you don't want to deal with a single-din aftermarket headunit, you can look for one of those "mini-amps" instead. I don't know of any models, but this was discussed in another thread a while back. If I find it, I'll post it. However, going this route, you won't have a AM/FM tuner or CD Player or any other features you get with a headunit (unless the tablet you get has that). That is if you want to keep the stock Monsoon setup. If you are going full aftermarket with replacement amps and speakers, then you don't need a "mini-amp"/"pre-amp"; you can plug directly into the replacement amp that drives the replacement speakers.

 

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...ng-amp-hu.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...h-install.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...4th-gen-t.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...nstall-c6.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2113259

 

If you are looking for something easier to install than an actual tablet but still runs an Android OS, take a look at this. Its gotten a lot of good positive reviews and might be a much better alternative..

http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/a...steroid-smart/

 

I meant to ask regarding the Kee Audio Package. I'm guessing that stage 1 is exactly like a stock speaker? Or is even stage 1 an upgrade?

 

since this will likely become a searched topic from time to time, I would like to chime in since I have one of the Ebay units in my GTO. this one to be exact

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Android-7-Double-2Din-3G-Wifi-Car-GPS-Navigation-DVD-Player-BT-Radio-iPod-Map-/251960845011?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aaa0962d3
I debated over it for about a month and half tried to do some digging and it was very difficult to find information and the general consensus was they are terrible glitchy and limited app store use.

WRONG!

On a whim I decided to give it a shot for myself since it was cheaper than the alternative and if it sucked oh well ( i know kind of dumb but IT PAYED OFF)

So far i have not encountered any limitations of the app store I havnt downloaded slacker or pandora, but I did download aptoid and go launcher so I could change the skin and UI so it looked like my phone. no hangups it connects to my home wifi for downloads as i didnt go after the 3g dongle.

essentially what you are getting is a double din head unit package with the standard aftermarket stereo connnections, a touch screen, and an android OS depending on which one you buy it can be different verisons. The OS has been "Jailbreaked" and it has specific apps that are for the cd/dvd palyer, MP3 player, GPS, and a few others that control the unit itself. These apps you cannot find on the appstore, however that doesnt stop you from installing your own. The unit has bluetooth but not in the same sense as a normal Android device. Its an app that allows you to connect to your phone. This app allows for making and taking phonecalls, accessing your contacts list and making calls through the head unit, and allows you to stream music from you phone (essentially using slacker for me to listen to music. I have not tried tethering the device to see if I can get wifi via mobile hotspot as I have a short commute and rarely get to play with all of the features included.

The main apps for playing musics themselves seem a little less refined in appearence than what you would expect from JVC, ALpine, or even Sony. This however doesnt limit the function of them and for the price its a lot of bang for the buck. There is a am/fm app but it seems to not work with mine as I think the antenna adapter came unplugged during install but its nothing but country in my area anyway so I dont listen to the radio that often. however it does pick up the strongest local station in my area and sounds just fine. Has a built in EQ for the messing with the audio settings with some preset genre profiles built in.

I have never experienced any lag or glitchiness once the unit is running, however every now and then when I first start the car when its loading the Cd app (my primary listening mode) that app will stop on the load screen, but doesnt affect the primary function, just return to home and relaunch the app on your own and it comes right up. The unit always launches what ever you were doing before you shut off from the last run and starts back at the exact listening point as well, just like a traditional stereo. This brings me to one of the more negative things, essentially its a computer so its boot time could be an issue for some, once the car has started (ive timed this haha) it takes between 23-24 seconds for music to start playing, however the unit it self as usable at around 18-20 seconds, it seems the other time is needed to launch the Cd player app in my sitiuation. Volume or other programs can be controlled at the 18-20 mark.

There are apps to allow you to change the boot screen icon (i currently have the GM logo for mine as I cant find a good pontiac logo thats not overly digitized. If availible there is an app to change button colors (i have one but apparently the leds are blue and not multicolored ? There is a tutorial video preinstalled that illustrates all the apps and functions since the unit itself is foreign and none of the preinstalled apps are available elsewhere this was a nice touch. It also gives you the passcode for admin rights to make further changes (thanks jailbreak) This is where you load some of the images for the boot screen as well.

I dont think I would lump this unit in with the parrot headunit which I understand does have limited app access. I tried to give a pretty unbiased review here since I have one, but also understand that it might not be for everyone. To call them cheap chinese garbage is not accurate though, its a quality unit and functions seamlessly aside from the part previously mentioned. Never clunky and the touch screen is incredibly responsive even with the protective cover it arrived with.

I liked it because it takes alot of the custom work out of the equation with the same functionality as using a tablet, but you get micro sd input, cd, and aux input on the face of the unit. its the same as any double din stereo just with android as the OS.

Ive been considering purchasing a second one to put in my firebird to replace my Kenwood, mostly becasue of the customization features to make it intergrate with the car better since you can install go launcher and have custom skins for the UI.

Im sure I left some feature out, so if someone has questions please ask away, or if you want to know if an app will work on it as longs as its free i can download it and check it out.

Long story short I wouldnt write these off as an option without talking to someone that has one

 

I installed the Pumpkin 6.95" Android 4.4.4 last weekend. I have yet to find an app I can't use. GPS works great, audio sounds amazing. I previously had a Pioneer stereo. If I can do it on my phone/tablet I can do it on this head unit. iHeart radio, pandora, google maps, plex even Between Bluetooth, WiFI, Android you have 0 limits. You just need an App.

Yes it is chinese but what is made in american anymore anyway? Show me head unit that will do the same things this one but made in America and I will gladly pay a little more for it. Sadly America is lazy now days. Unless you want to jump on the Crapple bandwagon and use nothing but Crapple.

http://www.autopumpkin.com/2-din-uni...-free-mic.html

Need Metra 95-3312G Double DIN Stereo Install Dash Kit to install it. I did have to modify the opening a little to make it fit head unit a little. Only took maybe 15 mins to do.

 

How's the screen on that unit ? Is it visible in the day with sunshine on it ?

 

Well. I met with Ian Kee himself at Gathering 19 and after actually seeing those speakers compared to my stock ones I have to admit thats one heck of an upgrade. He offered me a very reasonable price too but unfortunately I cant budge till my next pay day.