1 din or 2 din, that is the question

[ragrim]

ok, so im hooking up my amps subs and speakers to my new VZ on the weekend and my old kenwood headunit is a 1 din, its nothing special just 4 pre outs usb mp3 etc..

now im debating should i get 1 of them 1 din brackets and just use my old headunit, or should i shop around and get a 2 din headunit to fill the gap properly and maybe look for something that supports the steering wheel controls from the VZ?

i dont want a DVD screen cause well its over priced for the limited use it would get, ive considered one of them no name 2 din touch screen head units on ebay simply cause they are cheap, but there lays the problem, they are cheap.

so yeah, should i go a 1 din or 2 din headunit? what looks better? is there any benefit to a 2 din?

any advice appreciated

[bezz]

go single din if you dont want the dvd screen and stuff, more bang for your buck!

[ragrim]

yeah thats what i thought but them single din brackets look a bit dodgy.

i did some research last night though and i think im better off buying a decent single din unit, as you said more bang for buck.

[StoneX]

Yeah, you get much more features in a single DIN. Since DIN is a standard size, there's a huge variety of pockets you can put in below the head unit. You just need to find one that looks best to you.

[bezz]

i ended up just grabbing a cheap pocket from autobarn for mine.. did the job although it was slightly too small so it needed a little bit of 'modification' to fit snugly.

I'll see if i can find a pic of it...
edit: cant really make it out that much, but you get the gist... it integrates nicely.

[ragrim]

im heading to autobarn after work today i might get one of them single din adapters just incase i go that way.

its such a hard decision, i want to keep the stock headunit for all its features like steering wheel controls and my nokia bluetooth that displays on the head unit and instrument cluster when the phone rings

[VryNeat]

in regards to u wanting the steering wheel controls to work my mate tried this and he was told to set it up would cost him roughly 200 thats in W.A tho so it could be different for you

[ragrim]

yeah i just called autobarn and they said its $199

but they did mention something called a rockford fosgate 360 which turns your speaker outputs on your stock headunit into RCA's has an aux input and sub pre out and a bluetooth conectivity so you can conect it to a laptop and change the LPF/HPF and a few other things all for $450. seems like that might be a good idea allthough i still want MP3 and USB support which standard headunit doesnt have.

[VryNeat]

wow that just confused the **** out of me

[ragrim]

haha.

this is the rockford thing i was talking about, maybe a bit less confusing

Rockford Fosgate® - 3SIXTY.1

[Tasmaniak]

I've used that 360 a couple of times and found it to be a really powerful unit. combined with a JL SSI it's the perfect unit for late model BMWs

[holdenboy]

Yep the 360 is a good unit, if you want to spend that sort of cash the 360 is the way to go.

[danja]

I believe JL Audio have a similar product
JL Audio: Products

No idea if they are any good, but noticed them the other day.

[ragrim]

as much as id love to try that rockford 360 i just cant justify that sort of money, especially since i still cant play MP3's or have a USB slot.

for the moment i think ill put my old kenwood headunit in and shop around for a new headunit that has bluetooth and supports the steering wheel control modules.

[Phreddy]

Ummmm....

Blaupunkt low-level outputs? You betcha! :D

Might this do the job?? Plenty of happy customers....

[ScreamingV6]

Hi Ragrim,
I have single din Kenwood H/U In my VZ and in install it i used a plastic adapter, which has a pocket underneath. To solve the steering wheel control issue I installed a CAT 10 which controls all of the steering wheel's remote functions. There is no delay between pushing the steering wheel control and the H/U reacting, which I thought there might have been. The main reason I went for this method over a RCA conversion on the factory H/U was that I wanted to be able to play MP3 discs and I also wanted 3 lots of RCA outs. Another reason was that I wanted to be able to control my sub via my aftermarket H/U, and use the H/U's EQ's.
Hope this helps.

And by the way, if you want to keep your factory H/U but have low level outputs for an amp, and don't what I have decribed above, PHREDDY is the dude to see!

[ragrim]

Ummmm....

Blaupunkt low-level outputs? You betcha! :D

Might this do the job?? Plenty of happy customers....

probably a bit too much work for me, very cool mod though.

for the moment i have some $15 signal converters, ive heard some people have luck with them so im installing my amps and subs tomorrow to see how it goes, if i dont like it im going to install my old kenwood headunit into 1 of them 1 din adapters and later down the track ill invest in a decent headunit and the converter to use the steering wheel controls.