Pioneer AVIC reviews?

[processengr]

Originally Posted by Mike621

Looks great! Makes me want one for my car...

I have only had it in for a week now, I will write a review after living with it longer. Large bundle of wires on this unit, in addition to the wiring that goes into the adapter. I used a split conduit to bundle them, and pull them though the back while easing in the unit from the front. I can say that the fm is slightly more sensitive than the oem panasonic, and the GPS is faster than the Magellan Maestro 4350 I have, even with the antenna in the glovebox. The bluetooth is much clearer than a VR3 headunit in this car previously, and a clarion unit we have in the 97. I am very pleased with it so far...In fact, I wanted to buy another unit for the 97, but the price went back up over $400...

[SURTEESS]

I run my antennas to the rear boot lid - since it is not metal .......

[Black88GTA]

I just installed an ebay D3 on Saturday. Fits very nicely in the stock location, and the door shuts with no problems. I have the antenna placed on the rear deck, just to the side of the plastic housing for the rear wiper motor, and it seems to work great there (based on my limited testing). Although, I've had a similar setup on my BMW for a few years now with an AVIC-N3 and have never had a problem with signal. The used one I bought came with an outdated nav disc from 2007. I didn't even open it - I just downloaded the .isos for the latest available discs and burned them. My burned map disc seems to work flawlessly.

I routed the iPod cable through the area where the factory ashtray fits. I bought a 5.5 gen iPod video specifically to go with this unit, as I didn't own one before - the iPod I got seems to be the best for this unit, as (from what I have read online) it is the most advanced model available that will work with it without having problems. It works great with the deck, although I haven't tried using video yet.

I spent an hour today making a custom dock for it out of an old ashtray with a broken cover (see pics). Not a pro job, but it should help to shield the 'pod from heat, and cushion / cradle it nicely over bumps, and prevent it from banging around. I lined the inside with various sizes of weatherstripping I had here that was left over from other projects. One nice thing is that there's enough room back there to completely fold up the cable and hide it behind my unmolested "good" ashtray, so you wouldn't even know it's there until you pull the ashtray out.

My one gripe - the factory stereo trim ring has a "lip" that extends out and is a bit close to the volume knob, making it a little annoying to access the volume control. And the sheer amount of wires / cabling coming out the back of this unit make it kind of a ***** to get it in the dash properly. I had to tweak the factory radio cage a little bit in the back to get enough clearance for the antenna connection and one of the wiring harnesses, but nothing serious.

I replaced a Dual deck w/ motorized face that crapped out on me. Night and day difference - the sound quality of the Pioneer is TONS better, and the reception problems I had with the Dual since day one are completely eliminated. The tuner on the Pioneer is incredible. The Pioneer has a million equalizer options, different staging presets, a built in high pass filter...I still haven't had time to explore it all yet.

So far, very happy

[Johnybeas]

is anyone able to give me a better idea what wires go to what when I get around to installing my 900bt? I just got it and I got the converter from SVXdc and all the wires are labeled but it seems like there are more than are in the svx harness and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to with it all! help!

[Black88GTA]

I just did this on Saturday, so a lot of it is fresh in my head.

Most of the wires are self-explanatory, and are pretty straightforward - +12v switched (red), +12v constant (yellow), ground (black), power antenna (blue), dash illumination (orange), dimmer (orange and white) and 8 speaker wires (sets of purple, green, white, and gray, IIRC). Speaker + are solid, speaker - have a black stripe through them. When I did my D3, I connected the illumination wire to the illumination lead on the harness, and just taped off the dimmer wire connection. The others that I can think of that you may encounter (off the top of my head):

Mute wire - yellow + brown, I think it was. Do nothing with this. Mainly for old mobile phone equipment that uses a mute signal to shut the stereo up when a call comes in. I don't know if the F900BT even has this wire. **I used it as part of the "bypass" mod on my D3, although I don't know if the bypass mod is valid on an F900BT - avic411.com has more information on this.

Speed sensor input (pink) - Improves accuracy of nav system, used to compensate as much as possible for areas with no satellite signal, via a "dead reckoning" system based on speed input. There will be two bundles of wires to the left of the stereo compartment, up at the top. Find the red and yellow wire - this is your speed sensor lead. Tap into it and connect it to the speed sense wire from your deck.

Reverse signal input (purple) - Not necessary to hook this up, unless using a rearview camera. A signal on this wire will activate your back-up cam (if installed) automatically when you switch into reverse. Connect to the positive wire of one of your reverse lights.

There is an additional blue and white wire - I forget what Pioneer called it, but it is a constant turn-on signal to your amplifiers. The power antenna lead does the same thing, but with one major difference - the PA lead will shut down the signal when any source other than the tuner is used (although this is a switchable option on the D3). Meaning if you connect your amps to the "power antenna" wire, and run off an iPod, your amps won't work. So use this other blue / white as the turn-on for amps.

And of course, there are 3 sets of RCA preamp outputs, as well as some A/V ins and outs.

There may be more, but that's all I remember off the top of my head. Hope this is helpful. Good luck with it.

EDIT: These wires were what I found when I installed my AVIC-D3. Your F900BT may have slightly different colors or maybe a few different wires in there that I didn't encounter. All should be explained with the installation manual that should have come with your deck...

[Johnybeas]

thanks, that helps a little I've gotta try and start tackling that today or tomorrow as well as all the other small things I was going to do. thanks!

[Johnybeas]

Ok so I finally got around to start installing my 900bt today!

black88gta your explination was very helpful, I am also doing the hardware bypass and all the wires luckily were the same colors, also all the wires from the converter harness were practically all the same colors as well with the exception of the extra cables that didn't plug in but your explanations have helped a ton but I have a few questions:

1 where did you end up grounding the two wires for the bypass?

2 what harness am I looking for that speed sensor wire in? Can you be more specific, for exaple what it connects to? Or show a picture if you have one?

3 what input or output do I hook the cables that are going to go to my amp for the sub and speakers, and how do I hook up all of that to the deck? If I use stock wires for the speakers is that the easiest way?

Ps I'm taking all sorts of pictures so everyone can see how I did it and others can hopefully benifit.

[laserx]

I have the AVIC D3 installed. A great system and a perfect fit in the SVX...it looks like it belongs in the car. My son mounted the antenna's on the front roof passenger side for both the GPS and Sirus. They don't spoil the look. The Ipod and USB adapters are in the glove box.

[Black88GTA]

Originally Posted by Johnybeas

Ok so I finally got around to start installing my 900bt today!

black88gta your explination was very helpful, I am also doing the hardware bypass and all the wires luckily were the same colors, also all the wires from the converter harness were practically all the same colors as well with the exception of the extra cables that didn't plug in but your explanations have helped a ton but I have a few questions:

1 where did you end up grounding the two wires for the bypass?

I tapped them into the black ground wire on the harness.

2 what harness am I looking for that speed sensor wire in? Can you be more specific, for exaple what it connects to? Or show a picture if you have one?

Sorry, no pics...there are two bundles of wires visible running through the upper left area of the stereo compartment. Look for the only red / yellow wire in one of the bundles. I think it was buried in the center of the slightly thicker bundle, IIRC...I had to hunt through the wires to find it.

3 what input or output do I hook the cables that are going to go to my amp for the sub and speakers, and how do I hook up all of that to the deck? If I use stock wires for the speakers is that the easiest way?

Hook the subwoofer RCA cable to the "non-fading" set of outputs, and the speaker RCA cables to the front and rear outputs. Make sure you don't mix these up, or your fader won't work properly.

I assume you are amplifying all your speakers? If so, you don't need to worry about the factory wiring, as you will be running all new wires from the amp to your speakers. If you are running your speakers off of deck power, you will have to connect the factory speaker leads to your speakers. AFAIK, there are no aftermarket snap on connectors that will work with the SVX plugs - you will have to snip them off and connect either slide terminals to the bare wires, or solder the leads straight onto the speakers.

Ps I'm taking all sorts of pictures so everyone can see how I did it and others can hopefully benifit.

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[Black88GTA]

Originally Posted by laserx

I have the AVIC D3 installed. A great system and a perfect fit in the SVX...it looks like it belongs in the car. My son mounted the antenna's on the front roof passenger side for both the GPS and Sirus. They don't spoil the look. The Ipod and USB adapters are in the glove box.

Yes, it does fit perfectly...btw, avic411.com has a section specifically for custom backgrounds...and there's an "official Subaru background" thread. No SVX ones unfortunately, but there are some really nice Subie themed custom backgrounds. They are supposedly easy to load on the D3 too, I just haven't done it yet.

I'm putting my antenna on the rear deck, up by the glass (inside the car). I test fit it there when I installed the system, and I haven't had any signal problems, so that's where I will permanently mount it. Been running the same way with an AVIC-N3 in my BMW for years, and never had signal probs with that car either.

I have my iPod cable coming through the back of the dock I made. The iPod doesn't move around at ALL in there,and it looks really clean, IMO.

[Johnybeas]

I put mine in, it was a struggle, because I had it in pretty easy the first time I slid it in, but then some of the wires were blocking some bolts that I had to put back in so I pulled it back out.

Then I freakin spent over an hour fighting it trying to get everything perfect so it would fit back in nicely! Gosh that was the hardest part! The rest was a cake walk!

I'll post some pics in here as well as do a how to of sorts, of how I put mine in. It's def an awesome deck though! I love it!

I can't wait to hook up my subs and new speakers... only thing I'm not lookin forward to is pullin all that crap back out just to run the wires....

[Johnybeas]

ok so everything was working perfectly until today things decided to just **** themselves, I think it's the connection to the speed sensor that screwed everything up, all of a sudden my tac engine temp and speedometer went to 0 mid driving and the hvac stopped working. also I had grounded the mute and parking brake wires both seperately to two spots behind the deck and the bypass is having issues and won't play my dvd's while driving, but whether or not the parking brake is engaged has no effect. I have to be at a complete stop for it to work. I'm really pissed off, irritated, and frustrated. I'm going to be pulling everything back out and trying to fix what ever is wrong. anyone have any ideas of how to better connect to the speed sensor? I used a piggyback connection here are a few pics.




and here are the ground locations and wires for the mute and parking brake

[Black88GTA]

You did move the mute wire in the connector when you did the bypass, right? On the D3 at least, you have to de-pin the mute from the connector and move it to the socket directly above it, THEN ground it. I don't know for sure about yours, but I bet it is the same.

It sounds like you blew a fuse somewhere. Check to make sure there are no loose / frayed wires grounding on things they shouldn't be. I hooked up my speed sense wire with a scotch-lock (like you did) and it works fine. I normally avoid using scotchlocks, as I hate them, but due to the location of that wire it was very hard to do a mil-splice without risking cutting through the wire.

I haven't tested my bypass out yet, actually, so I don't even know if mine works yet or not, although I haven't gotten any malfunctions or errors. It may be detecting that the car is moving through the speed sensor, and shutting those functions down that way. Have you looked on avic411.com?

[laserx]

Did the bypass on mine and it works perfectly and real easy to do.

[Johnybeas]

ya I followed the guide on avic 411 on how to do the bypass and moved it from the location it was in to where they said to do it.

I guess I'll pull it out and make sure everything is still good I taped off the wires I wasn't using yet so I don't know how that could have happened but I'll look at the fuses to check as well. I think I might just change them and ground them all through the black wire. thanks guys