Stereo Ideas

[squamishdelica]

Hi fellow deli drivers.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a good affordable stereo with CD and MP3 jack that fits in well with a L400. I have grown tired of the hum of the engine.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr. Flibble]

In with the stock stereo, or as a replacement?

[squamishdelica]

As a replacement.
But how would a new stereo work with the stock?

[Mr. Flibble]

As a replacement.
But how would a new stereo work with the stock?

As far as I know, they don't work with the stock stereo, they have to be replaced. I am looking into keeping the remote Karaoke component working with mine and removing the stock stereo - if it can be done.

[Green1]

I am looking into keeping the remote Karaoke component working with mine and removing the stock stereo - if it can be done.

I get in trouble on here when I say something can't be done... but without a degree in electrical engineering, and a background in electronics fabrication, and a LOT of trial and error... I don't think you'll manage to build an adaptor to make that happen. the karaoke component is designed to work with the stock stereo only. it is not any form of standard interface that you will find to plug in to your new stereo. it does not simply connect to the speaker outputs or anything like that, it is a complete remote control interface with audio in and out feeds that works with the stock stereo.

It would be just about as easy to build a new stereo system from scratch (ie from capacitors, resistors, ic chips) as it would be to interface the kareoke system in to an existing aftermarket stereo.

[loki]

I am looking into keeping the remote Karaoke component working with mine and removing the stock stereo - if it can be done.

I get in trouble on here when I say something can't be done... but without a degree in electrical engineering, and a background in electronics fabrication, and a LOT of trial and error... I don't think you'll manage to build an adaptor to make that happen. the karaoke component is designed to work with the stock stereo only. it is not any form of standard interface that you will find to plug in to your new stereo. it does not simply connect to the speaker outputs or anything like that, it is a complete remote control interface with audio in and out feeds that works with the stock stereo.

It would be just about as easy to build a new stereo system from scratch (ie from capacitors, resistors, ic chips) as it would be to interface the kareoke system in to an existing aftermarket stereo.

Agreed, while not impossible as given enough time and money anything is possible I really don't think this is feasible. I would like to see it done though :). I'm tempted to, at some point, remove the stock stereo in my Royal and put a PC under the passenger seat where the cd changer is now, then I could put a couple touch screens one up front for the main stuff and gps navigation and on in the back like the original slave unit.

[username]

new stereo systems should be a required part of getting the vans in compliance when they are brought over. my original stereo is very eccentric, the speakers cut in and out, and the windshield wipers control the volume when they're on. gets louder when they go up, quieter when they go down. and half the time i turn it on it resets itself to 500am, at full volume.

[tonydca]

As a replacement.
But how would a new stereo work with the stock?

As far as I know, they don't work with the stock stereo, they have to be replaced. I am looking into keeping the remote Karaoke component working with mine and removing the stock stereo - if it can be done.

IF you have a Royal Exceed coming, I believe it uses an amplifier under one of the seats. I'm assuming that the karaoke setup does not use its own internal amplifier; that would be a huge waste of components.

If this is the case, there will likely be one or more cables from the dash stereo to the amp (probably four signals total: FL, FR, RL, RR) and the same from the karaoke bar.

If it were me, I'd keep the underseat amp and karaoke setup, and replace the stereo in the dash only. Might need a different harness to mate with the stereo, but you might be surprised -

I'm betting that the same stock dash stereo is used across the lineup (Exceed, Super, Royal, etc - the higher trim levels might have extra bits in line such as the under-seat amp, CD player, etc.); if so, your underseat amp will expect the standard stereo wiring harness, and you'll be in luck.

When I got my stereo replaced at Best Buy, the guy said "Standard wiring harness - no probs..."

If you need help finding which wires go where, I have a toner and meter and can give you a hand (I'm in Kits). Be fun to have a look at one of those karaoke setups!

Cheers,

Tony.

[Green1]

IF you have a Royal Exceed coming, I believe it uses an amplifier under one of the seats. I'm assuming that the karaoke setup does not use its own internal amplifier; that would be a huge waste of components.

If this is the case, there will likely be one or more cables from the dash stereo to the amp (probably four signals total: FL, FR, RL, RR) and the same from the karaoke bar.

There are no lines from the karaoke unit to the amp, the lines from the karaoke unit go only to the main head unit. the amp has lines from the head unit, and to the speakers. (the amp also does not work with after market stereos, so if you replace the head unit in a Royal you also have to do some splicing under the driver's seat to connect the speakers directly to the new head unit)

Might need a different harness to mate with the stereo, but you might be surprised

You can get a Mitsubishi harness for the new stereo, but if you have the under seat amp then there's no point as the lines feeding the amp come from a different connector anyway (the Mitsubishi harness a stereo shop would give you replaces one on the back of the stereo that only has about 3 lines to it, you might as well just splice them)

I'm betting that the same stock dash stereo is used across the lineup (Exceed, Super, Royal, etc - the higher trim levels might have extra bits in line such as the under-seat amp, CD player, etc.); if so, your underseat amp will expect the standard stereo wiring harness, and you'll be in luck.

nope, the royal stereo connecting to the underseat amp is different from ones that don't use the under seat amp.

When I got my stereo replaced at Best Buy, the guy said "Standard wiring harness - no probs..."

either you don't have the royal, or you didn't do the install, because the "standard wiring harness" isnt' much help on the royals, I ended up returning the harness plug they gave me, there was no point to using it.

[tonydca]

IF you have a Royal Exceed coming, I believe it uses an amplifier under one of the seats. I'm assuming that the karaoke setup does not use its own internal amplifier; that would be a huge waste of components.

If this is the case, there will likely be one or more cables from the dash stereo to the amp (probably four signals total: FL, FR, RL, RR) and the same from the karaoke bar.

There are no lines from the karaoke unit to the amp, the lines from the karaoke unit go only to the main head unit. the amp has lines from the head unit, and to the speakers. (the amp also does not work with after market stereos, so if you replace the head unit in a Royal you also have to do some splicing under the driver's seat to connect the speakers directly to the new head unit)

So does the karaoke unit have its own volume control locally? Or do you switch on the karaoke unit in the rear and use the front dash radio for volume control? (If that were the case it would seem a bit counter-intuitive).

I'm assuming that the karaoke drives the same speakers in the van as the radio. If so, it'd use the same downstream amplifier. So either the dash radio has a second aux. input for the karaoke machine, or the amp does.

And if the karaoke volume control is on the karaoke unit itself, then I'm betting that the karaoke unit interfaces direct to the amp.

If I were designing a car, I'd go with the latter, since it keeps the dash units common and interchangeable.

I could certainly be wrong without looking at it. I'm just saying Flibble, have a look before you start ripping stuff out.

[Green1]

So does the karaoke unit have its own volume control locally? Or do you switch on the karaoke unit in the rear and use the front dash radio for volume control? (If that were the case it would seem a bit counter-intuitive).

I'm assuming that the karaoke drives the same speakers in the van as the radio. If so, it'd use the same downstream amplifier. So either the dash radio has a second aux. input for the karaoke machine, or the amp does.

And if the karaoke volume control is on the karaoke unit itself, then I'm betting that the karaoke unit interfaces direct to the amp.

If I were designing a car, I'd go with the latter, since it keeps the dash units common and interchangeable.

I could certainly be wrong without looking at it. I'm just saying Flibble, have a look before you start ripping stuff out.

Think of the karaoke unit as a remote control for the main unit, if you adjust the volume on it, it simply adjusts the volume on the main unit. If you change inputs on it, it simply changes the input on the main unit. It doesn't do much of anything on it's own, it simply allows you to control the main head unit while sitting in the back seat. it also happens to have aux inputs and headphone outputs on it, but basically they are just wired from it to the main unit and controlled from either it or the head unit.

The closest analogy I can come up with is those little IR remote controls that ship with most modern stereos, except hard wired and capable of more functions. This is also why it doesn't work with after market stereos, it would be like removing your kenwood stereo, and expecting it's IR remote control to still control your new sony stereo which doesn't even have an IR receiver, sure it MIGHT be possible to hack together some form of adapter, but it won't simply "work" because the unit is just a remote control, it doesn't DO anything of it's own.

[tonydca]

Interesting. When I saw a karaoke unit on a high-end L300, it looked like you input/played music locally from the rear unit, not just have it slaved to the front.

Be interesting to see one up close at any rate...

[Green1]

Interesting. When I saw a karaoke unit on a high-end L300, it looked like you input/played music locally from the rear unit, not just have it slaved to the front.

Those inputs feed to the front, in fact I've known several people to hook their MP3 players to the input in the rear and control from the front before they replace their head units.

Now there is an odd option on them where you can select different inputs for different outputs (ie your main speakers can listen to the tape deck, while one headphone output in the back listens to fm and the other listens to the aux input) though I have never tried it to see if the stereo can actually do all 3 things at once. but even so, I'm pretty sure that it all goes through the main head unit. there is no way to have the rear unit "on" and doing something without the head unit also on, and no matter what you are doing in the back, if you adjust the volume in the front the volume of the main speakers will change (though you can also adjust it from the back)

The whole system is pretty ingenious really, but it's not 2 separate units (a head and a rear unit) they really function as one integrated thing, the rear unit can't do anything at all if the front unit isn't there (though the front one will still operate without the rear)

[Manitoba deli]

The factory amplifier might work with an aftermarket stereo, you just have to find someone with enough guts to hook it up and try. In two of my BMW's, I installed aftermarket stereo's, and hooked the speaker outputs to the factory amp, as this was what the factory deck's seemed to do.(no rca's) both worked fine. One car had a factory Pioneer system, and the other was a blapunkt (not sure of the spelling). Just ask your self "whats the worst that can happen" If your OK with the possibilities, go for it. (you can always try first with a $10 autowrecker deck)

Jason

[Green1]

The factory amplifier might work with an aftermarket stereo, you just have to find someone with enough guts to hook it up and try. In two of my BMW's, I installed aftermarket stereo's, and hooked the speaker outputs to the factory amp, as this was what the factory deck's seemed to do.(no rca's) both worked fine. One car had a factory Pioneer system, and the other was a blapunkt (not sure of the spelling). Just ask your self "whats the worst that can happen" If your OK with the possibilities, go for it. (you can always try first with a $10 autowrecker deck)

Jason

On the Royal, the factory stereo does not use RCA outputs, but it also does NOT use speaker level outputs, it also has a couple of control channels to the amp.
I'm not saying you couldn't come up with a way to use the amp, I'm just saying that it is MUCH easier to bypass it, and there's no reason to use it as your new head unit is likely quite capable of driving the speakers.