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That would be awesome Michael, thanks in advance for taking the video for us! Also, I hope those guys in China are paying you for your thorough diagnostics and problem solving!
Do you mind if I pepper you with a few more questions…? I think a lot of us on here are wondering the same things...
• A lot of these HU's mention their own nav maps on a micro-sd card. I assume that would work without a data connection? Are the maps on a card able utilize apps like Google Maps or Waze?
• Did your head unit arrive in a decent time frame?
• If no phone/data connection is available, does the unit still have normal car stereo functions: radio, cd, mp3 through the usb or sd card?
• I haven't tried a hotspot before. Is the wifi connection automatic each time you get in the vehicle (after initial setup) or do you have to open some app or setting and login each time? I would be running an iphone 6, hopefully that’s not an issue. Also, does it stay connected, or does the connection drop? • How quick does it boot up? How quick is it between apps, menus, etc.
• Is the sound quality decent? I've read a lot of reviews mentioning static or poor FM reception. I assumed they didn't have things hooked up well but that does seem to be prevalent in the reviews... I believe Avin makes an adapter cord to hook the HU to the oem antenna (and same goes for the oem satellite antenna and bluetooth mic)… Are you doing the same? If not, would that make sense to look into for your HU? Those adapters/wires might be compatible? for example: https://avinusa.com/mercedes-benz-fa...a-adapter.html and example: https://avinusa.com/mercedes-benz-fa...h-adapter.html
• Have you tested the bluetooth yet? How's the sound quality of that (from inside the car, and to the person on the other line)?
• Does your head unit dim enough at night for you? I heard the new Dynavin n6 is great at that (by turning down the back light), but the Avant 2 is severely lacking in this area where you end up with a very bright screen that doesn't turn brightness down much at nighttime
• what are the various ways to connect the unit to the internet? is it: wifi via hotspot on phone, direct cord to phone (usb?), usb modem? And can I give the HU internet by hooking it up to the iPhone with a usb cord, and will this charge the iPhone at the same time? Does this change if you're using an android vs. an iPhone?
Where would you get the internet access from in the car? Don't they just sell SiriusXM "receivers" that can be integrated to the Android doo-hickey.... maybe via the Aux pluggy?
Where would you get the internet access from in the car? Don't they just sell SiriusXM "receivers" that can be integrated to the Android doo-hickey.... maybe via the Aux pluggy?
Dunno about that? Maybe?
I think I found Michael's HU for even cheaper... http://m.aliexpress.com/item/32272964124.html?aff_trace_key=44069518122203988&s k=Iq3beemqb%3A&cpt=1437537202164&productSubject=&p roductSubject=&productId=32272964124&productId=322 72964124&aff_platform=aaf&tracelog=wwwdetail2mobil esitedetail
OCKlasse- i have had a play with a similar unit from dynavin about 2 years go. I experienced interference and noise issue's with it. also it will only allow you to have RCA outputs. kinda defeats the purpose because then your forced to use the RCA output to run an amp and then distribute the sound to all the speakers. (so your better off with just the 6m long cable option). That said its been over 2 years and i would love to see if they have improved on this canbuss/ optical fiber box at all. i know on some websites its discontinued.
P.S the sound processor which enables harman kardon to sound so good is on the COMAND unit, so really you will not be retaining any harman kardon sound processing. you will only be using the Becker amplifier which are not very powerful anyways. so easier to just get an amp for that price and push abit more watts thought the harman kardon speakers, this will yield a much better sounding audio.
Tubaprde- yes you are correct that's the exact unit, just make sure the supplier has good rating etc. things can get quite messy with new sellers. (make sure they supply you a 6m long radio antenna cable. you might find it hard to explain to them what the cable is and why you need it better off buying it from the link i posted as that seller is aware. just remind them that you need the 2x 6m long cables
Alainy, that's the same unit as tubaprde posted and the unit i have in my car now. what i like about it these units is that unlike the the AVIN units, this does not have any visible cuts for micro sd cards. so it looks cleaner. to access the Micro SD cards you simply pry open the GPS / SD CARD buttons and behind it are the cards.
steering wheel control is not optional. it should be there from factory with these units because the controls run through CANBUS box (the red box that comes with the unit) also the unit is triggered to switch on via CANBUS, so i don't see how they can make an "option" to have steering wheel controls"
Thanks for getting back to Michael! How about the bluetooth, have you had a chance to check it out?
-How about boot time?
-Are you able to use the HU NAV if you lose a data connection?
-Does your hotspot/wifi/model stay connected or does it drop off sometimes?
-Does the HU dim at night, enough to where it's not a torch?
-Which ways can you feed the HU data? is it wifi hotspot, 3g modem, and ubs cord?
Also I was confused about this part, I thought you were saying earlier that the steering wheel controls worked with the unit you're testing? ....
"steering wheel control is not optional. it should be there from factory with these units because the controls run through CANBUS box (the red box that comes with the unit) also the unit is triggered to switch on via CANBUS, so i don't see how they can make an "option" to have steering wheel controls"
Boot time is about 30 seconds, AVIN boot time of 2 seconds makes me think the unit never actually goes to deep sleep and just tand by. so it will draw current while the car is off.
However with this unit it has a nifty setting for how long you want the unit to remain in stand by before it goes into deep sleep mode. 5min,30min,2 hours etc etc this is great for when you switch off the car at petrol stations or go to the shops etc.
For this unit Deep sleep it takes 30 seconds, stand by is 2 seconds.
The head unit comes with IGO maps,( I really like them as they have speeding alterts and traffic light camera alerts) the are 100% OFFLINE and no not require Internet connectivity.
You can either tether from your phone via wifi, or use a USB 3G modem and insert a prepaid sim card in it. (that's what i have done so i don't need to tether all the time) kills the battery of the phone if you dont remember to plug it into the charger.
The brightness is still high when you switch on your headlights (thats when the unit assumes its night time) , however the unit has a menu called (Display) with that you can adjust the brightness of the screen from very dull to super bright. the unit also allows you to turn off the screen if you wish to do so.
Dont worry about that part, i was confused by alainy's post. i though he meant if you want steering wheel control that you need to buy the option. i just wanted to clarify that its not an option and that its standard. just in my case the technicians forgot to enable it in the engineering menu of the unit.
this is purely my outtake, but if you listen to your music loud all the time, i would invest in a 4 channel amplifier 100-200wx4 should be plenty. this will eliminate allot of stress on the MOSFET amplifier modules located in the unit and will keep the unit running cool and thus increase its longevity.
Originally Posted by Xpresion
OCKlasse- i have had a play with a similar unit from dynavin about 2 years go. I experienced interference and noise issue's with it. also it will only allow you to have RCA outputs. kinda defeats the purpose because then your forced to use the RCA output to run an amp and then distribute the sound to all the speakers. (so your better off with just the 6m long cable option). That said its been over 2 years and i would love to see if they have improved on this canbuss/ optical fiber box at all. i know on some websites its discontinued.
P.S the sound processor which enables harman kardon to sound so good is on the COMAND unit, so really you will not be retaining any harman kardon sound processing. you will only be using the Becker amplifier which are not very powerful anyways. so easier to just get an amp for that price and push abit more watts thought the harman kardon speakers, this will yield a much better sounding audio.
Tubaprde- yes you are correct that's the exact unit, just make sure the supplier has good rating etc. things can get quite messy with new sellers. (make sure they supply you a 6m long radio antenna cable. you might find it hard to explain to them what the cable is and why you need it better off buying it from the link i posted as that seller is aware. just remind them that you need the 2x 6m long cables
Alainy, that's the same unit as tubaprde posted and the unit i have in my car now. what i like about it these units is that unlike the the AVIN units, this does not have any visible cuts for micro sd cards. so it looks cleaner. to access the Micro SD cards you simply pry open the GPS / SD CARD buttons and behind it are the cards.
steering wheel control is not optional. it should be there from factory with these units because the controls run through CANBUS box (the red box that comes with the unit) also the unit is triggered to switch on via CANBUS, so i don't see how they can make an "option" to have steering wheel controls"
What 4 channel amplifier would you recommend if I went with the Avin unit instead? I read somewhere here that the stock speakers have a very low specific ohmic tolerance and blow easily if an aftermarket amplifier is added and the volume is raised all the way up.
I chatted with a rep form Avin and they told me the quad core units would take a while before being pushed out but they are working on the 4.4 update.
Great info. Just in the process of upgrading my NTG1 in my 2006 C219/CLS350.
Basically want current maps and reverse camera.
A few questions:
My NTG1 (BE7039)seems to have 2 orange cables going to the trunk, I assume I need the 6m harness, (no HK kit here, but think got an Amp in the boot).
Great info. Just in the process of upgrading my NTG1 in my 2006 C219/CLS350.
Basically want current maps and reverse camera.
A few questions:
My NTG1 (BE7039)seems to have 2 orange cables going to the trunk, I assume I need the 6m harness, (no HK kit here, but think got an Amp in the boot).
What 4 channel amplifier would you recommend if I went with the Avin unit instead? I read somewhere here that the stock speakers have a very low specific ohmic tolerance and blow easily if an aftermarket amplifier is added and the volume is raised all the way up.
I chatted with a rep form Avin and they told me the quad core units would take a while before being pushed out but they are working on the 4.4 update.
Zubin, i would recommend any good quality amp with at least 4x 50w RMS so roughly 150w per channel. that's a very rough figure. but it will do the job. the 45 or 50w per channel that's with the units are very low for the HARMAN KARDON Speakers and you will soon realize that pushing the sound passed setting "20" you will hear distortion.
The speakers i beleive are 2 ohm rating something most amps can do,
About blowing up the speakers:
Firslty - you need to make sure you set your "gain" is adequately set so that when you max out your volume on the unit , your not over driving the speakers.
Secondly- the factory amp is designed not to push very low frequency to the door speakers, (low freq) (bass) will cause the speaker to move the most and if its doing that + the high freq (vocals you hear) it will blow in no time.
So what i'm trying to get at is, make sure you tune you audio correctly with the equalizer. don't crank up the low Hz on on the equalizer thinking that's how you can increase the bass to the sub. Instead increase the gain on the amplifier for you sub woofer. Tweakes like these will make the audio experience sound much better and can yield higher sound and avoid blowing up your speakers.
So far I have setup the subwoofer amp and tomorrow i will be wiring up my Door speakers amp. its 4 channel 4x 300W so roughly 120 - 150W RMS. Thats plenty and allot of power! i would go for something less but that's what i had laying around and i couldn't justify buying another amp. i will just run the gain low on this amp. less stress on the components anyways
Thanks for the video Michael. Please let us know what you think of the bluetooth quality once you have it setup. It sounds like your stereo will be awesome once it's all up and running!
Thanks for the video Michael. Please let us know what you think of the bluetooth quality once you have it setup. It sounds like your stereo will be awesome once it's all up and running!
So far i have been making lots of phone calls and have not had anyone say i cannot hear you or "please repeat" so i'm taking it as its good. i have not personally tested it with someone else calling me from the car. but i have good hearing so most likely i will say its ok haha.
I was considering that actually, however, the microphone plug in the Harman Kardon system cars is located in the boot, so that means running a third 6m cable for the microphone.
the issue i can foresee with that is possibly the fact that the signal transmitted for microphone is very low voltage, having it travel a 6m long cable would case the signal to degrade and most likely sound bad. i have not tested this, however for the time and effort i think its something i wont attempt as the current setup with the unit is adequate.
p.s you will need a very high quality 6m 3mm MONO extension cable for the microphone to possibly retain a good signal on it. something i don't believe you will easily find and might have to custom make.
This is the antenna cable but obviously in a 5-6m long version. you get the idea of what end connectors are on it.
The units puny 50Wx4 is not RMS so that's roughly 25WRMS. this is the same for AVIN and all other variants out there. some are even 45W x4 so even less.
Thats definitely not powerful enough for the loud music listeners. anything above #20 on the volume bar and you will realize the unit is struggling as the sound begins to clip. and you will start to smell the MOSFET amplifiers heating up and evaporating any residue on them from the technicians handling them in china. ((the smell will eventually go away.))
So what i have done is installed High to low converters and rand RCA cables to the amp where by i will powering all the car speakers including the center speaker!
The stereo unit has RCA output for all channels. however i did not want to run 4 x 6m long RCA cables from the front to the back! waaay to much cables. and besides the high to low converter allows me to control the signal level on the RCA output , so encase the amp cannot amplify enough i can increase the input signal on the RCA's and it will give it a nice kick.
SO, what i have done is used an old Sony X plode Splits unit and connected the center speaker to it, so now it the center speaker acts like the tweeters that are located at the top of the door trims. and WOW does that make a world of difference! it felt like i was listening to music on the old factory amp! i was very happy.
the rest of the speakers are running of the amp and i spliced into the front LEFT speaker to provide signal to the splits box for the center speaker.
Finally i removed the bottom well trim and secured the amp. i don't need the trim there anyways. if i have time i may consider putting the trim back and cutting tiny holes to run the wires through. but for now. i have had enough of wiring, haha.
**NOTE **
if you are going to install an amp, make sure to connect the NEGATIVE (-) to the chassis or to the big black box that you see the thick (-) wire from the battery is going to. DO NOT connect straight to the batter because that black box actually filters the alternator and other electrical noise that the amp will pick up if its not connected properly.
Looks great thus far Michael! So I'm on the fence between the Avin Avant 2 and the unit you purchased. I guess the difference between the two is that the avant 2 is dual-core but yours is quad-core? Do you think that makes much of a difference?
It seems like the Avant is attractive because of the great tech support provided, whereas your unit is a lot cheaper and in theory should be faster (although a 30second cold boot time is identical to the avant 2, from what I've read).
I'm probably going to have a professional install the head unit/aftermarket amp/wires for me anyway, so do you think I'll be OK to purchase your unit? Did it come with good instructions that I can hand the installer, or is it pretty much plug-and-play? Or, is it such a basic install that maybe even someone like myself can go it alone? I'm more worried about breaking pieces of the car when pulling out the trim and carpet, etc.
I'm sure this was covered, but what is the reason to go with the Chinese version from Ali when the Dynavin has a MOST compatible interface that requires no extra amp? If I wanted to wire speakers and add an amp, I wouldn't even mess with these - I'd just do an Alpine install.
I'm sure this was covered, but what is the reason to go with the Chinese version from Ali when the Dynavin has a MOST compatible interface that requires no extra amp? If I wanted to wire speakers and add an amp, I wouldn't even mess with these - I'd just do an Alpine install.
Are you sure about that? I thought the both Avin AND Dynavin require an aftermarket amp. citation:
"Some Mercedes E class and SLK cars are equipped with a fiber optic connection between the oem head unit and amplifier, NO aftermarket head unit is compatible with this connection.
The Dynavin MBE solves this problem with an amplifier bypass harness (available separately) to connect the dynaivn's speaker outputs directly to the speaker wire harness in the trunk, bypassing the oem fiber optic amp. This works fine with the base stereo system as it only has 4 channels, the upgraded audio options in these cars however have many more channels are will require the installation of an aftermarket amp, in this situation its a good idea to employ the help of a good car audio installer. '' http://www.jandtdistributing.com/col...bypass-harness
I think the reason why people go the Avin route, especially on the BMW forums is because it looks stock. Combine that with the android interface that can run a bazillion apps and it seems compelling. I dunno, maybe I'm missing something?
edit: I know that for at least the Avin unit sound will play out of all speakers except for the center and subwoofer. But those can be wired to work too its just not part of the plug and play connector. I wonder how it sounds with only 4x45w for the 10 remaining speakers though?
07-21-2015, 02:51 PM
better off buying it from the link i posted as that seller is aware. just remind them that you need the 2x 6m long cables
