Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega Electrical and Audio Help => Topic started by: Nickffc on 03 December 2006, 11:09:25
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i know this has probably been covered....but..... anyone got any suggestions for a decent head unit...CD/MP3/TUNER....i was looking at a double din unit with a screen....but i'm not sure ....??..but....i still want steering wheel control....dash readout and traffic master........and i'm not loaded!
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Double din unit will really restrict your choice. Tunnie has done some research on these though.
If your budget is limited, you'll have to consider secondhand. This will again restrict your choice.
To keep controls, you'll need an adaptor. Again, not the cheapest route.
Not sure how TM will fit into all this!
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I seem to remember tunnie was unable to get a normal sized double-DIN head unit to fit ...
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I seem to remember tunnie was unable to get a normal sized double-DIN head unit to fit ...
The problem was with the surround... ...his single din unit with adapter looks much better imho...
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I would go with a good second hand unit. The steering adaptors are not cheap either. What is your budget going to be?
Go for something by Pioneer/Alpine/Kenwood/JVC and you will be ok.
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hmmm.. buget is gonna be around £300 plus the extra looms i might need for the display and steering wheel????
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hmmm.. buget is gonna be around £300 plus the extra looms i might need for the display and steering wheel????
Hello!
I live in Hayes - Middlesex too... think i seen a MV6 estate around is it ex-plod?
If you looking at a double din i assume you have a facelift omega? (leccy window buttons on door, not center console?)
Please avoid double din, i tried a Kenwood unit and it sucked. Problems are there are very few decent mid range units out there, i paid around £220 ish for the Kenwood one, and it felt cheap and looked cheap. As Hilper pointed out the surround is the problem.
There is a double din slot for the HU however the surround where all the buttons are is an odd shape, and there are NO manafactures out there who make a double din facia adaptor for the omega.. which sucks.
I now have an Alpine single DIN headunit, which sounds soooo much better and looks better. feels well made and solid. You need the steering wheel adaptor too, they are around £40 of fleabay... all fitted in mine and sounds great. Although you do loose some of the display, but i can live with that. I can afford the screen adaptor yet.
I also have a Vibe CR10 Active sub in the boot, which sounds fantasic, i'll get some pics up if you like... or show it off since your in hayes too ;)
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hmmm.. buget is gonna be around £300 plus the extra looms i might need for the display and steering wheel????
Well that is a decent wedge to spend. :)
Personally I would go with the Pioneer DEH-P8600MP. Get a good one second hand for around £200.
It is a stunning piece of kit (have one in the MV6) with 3 sets of pre-outs and so much control over everything through the head unit.
With a Burr Brown digital converter in there too you have awesome sound quality to boot.
Quite simply, for the money, there is no better headunit (although I am sure Hillper will suggest a Becker unit, which is also excellent... and very OEM looking ;))
Oh and you can easily get the adaptors for the steering controls
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hmmm.. buget is gonna be around £300 plus the extra looms i might need for the display and steering wheel????
With a Burr Brown digital converter in there too you have awesome sound quality to boot.
Which is now Texas Instruments following the merger in 2000.
Remember, its still a car so quailty will only ever be acceptable.....not true HiFi
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Yes yes.... ::)
Bl**dy audiophiles! ;D
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Reminds me I need to fit the Infinity speakers I've got lying around.
Definately want an amp next, but Ebay ones get too pricey
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Not at all Martin. You just have to be patient.
I just bought a Pioneer GM-X952 2 channel (2x100w rms, 1x300w rms @ 4ohm) for the massive sum of £12.50! :)
Great amp, working beautifully in my car right now. :)
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So Dave what would you say is worth looking at, my problem is I know a lot more about home cinema than ICE.
Don't want to pay over the odds for a noddy amp!!
I need to pull my HU some time anyway to fit some trim and also work out if I can wire the traffic master back in
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Mark is the expert (and Hillper knows his stuff!), but these are my views.
Genesis... Totally over the top hand made amps. Best you can buy this side of silly money. Very highly recommended by those who know much better than me! I will get one one, one day... :)
Alpine, pre 2001 V12 series. Bl**dy fantastic amps! Later models are quite simply not as good.
Soundstream. Very very well made amps, not cheap!
Pioneer also make some very good chunky amps. I am a fan of the older amps. They just seem to be more "substantial"
What do you want the amp for? normal mids and tweeters or to drive a sub?
A superb source of information is the talk audio forum. http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/index.php
Also, the for sale section has some real bargains in there (note, you have to register to gain access)
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Driving components with their own crossover - want to spend not too much!
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Well personally I would not change the standard speakers initially. I would simply amp the standard ones. I think you will be very impressed by the improvement. :)
A 4x 30-40w rms amp will do the job beautifully. Below are a couple of amps that will do the job very well.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Genisis-Profile-Four-Ultra-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ270062251815QQihZ017QQcategoryZ4950QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Oh yes, this is the business, an amp that would impress even Mark! ;)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alpine-MRV-F307-V12-4-3-2-ch-4-x-90W-max_W0QQitemZ290057027037QQihZ019QQcategoryZ4950QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
or...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alpine-V12-MULTI-CHANNEL-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ200053984732QQihZ010QQcategoryZ4950QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Now if I didn't have a 4 channel amp waiting, I would be seriously tempted by this! Proper V12 Alpine amp. Very very good piece of kit.
Are you pleanning to fit a sub too Martin? This would be the top of my list, makes a huge difference to the sound.
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The head unit I had fitted to my Carlton and my first two Omegas, it has MD which I like as they are easy to use.
The speakers I am considering fitting were bought to replace burnt out ones in the 2.0CD, but when I refittedthe original H/U it was unable to drive them. Also the sticky speaker worked a bit better - well enough to sell the car.
They cost me nearly £100 (too much I know) and did sound better than the standard fit in the cars which worked!
That amp is cheap I will be bidding on it tonight.
If there are no rear tweeters (still unsure) I'm going to move the original fronts to the back.
This time I will be mounting the crossovers in the car rather than in the door and running extra cables rather than hacking the original wiring about.
But the Infinitys definately need amping as they stressed my MD head unit quite a bit.
I had been looking at Pioneer amps but I don't know too much about them, I upset a Sony salesman once as I asked if they did amps for grownups as well as the Xplod range - as it all looks suitable for boomy boy racers rather than high sound quality. (They should have released a QS range for the grownups ;D ;D).
As to subs - more likely to get one for home first if I had a spare £500 but would rather get a new TV or a PS3.
Biggest problem with car subs is where to fit them.
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Unfortunately I haven't got anymore old speaker cable left as I reused HiFi stuff from when I replaced the cables on the front speakers in the house, since they were bigger and suitable for biwiring I bought new cable and used the old in the car!!!!
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Sub goes in the boot Martin! ;)
As for size, well it all depends on what you go for.
Where space is a premium, get an Infinity Basslink. This is an active sub (has amp built in).
Cost is around £80 s/h on ebay or £130ish new. Very small but has 10" sub and passive radiator. For its size it kicks out some bl**dy impressive bass!
I used to have one and I highly recommend them. Just play with placement in the boot as this makes a big difference to the sound.
Honestly, this is the best single upgrade you can do.
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Boot!!!!! ;D :-[ :o
No room in boot as there is a huge 70l gas tank in there - well there is room but behind the tank towards the boot lid opening. Would be muffled - thinking of bass speakers in parcel shelf. (ALA Carlton) they have the holes there already.
However how is this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=005&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=150066569998&rd=1&rd=1
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Just had a closer look - Kenwood writen on it!
arghh!
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I repaired a KAC series amp for Laidback66 not so long ago, was quite impressed with the design....still not true Hifi though.
As for speakers in the parcel shelf, some of the less informed car audio lot disapprove of this but, I think it can be made to work well with correct speaker selection.
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I repaired a KAC series amp for Laidback66 not so long ago, was quite impressed with the design....still not true Hifi though.
As for speakers in the parcel shelf, some of the less informed car audio lot disapprove of this but, I think it can be made to work well with correct speaker selection.
ICE amps I do need a bit of hand holdng - been looking at Pioneer due to being a good name and I have some Pioneer stuff in the house, those Alpine amps look good as well.
Basically want 60-100w RMS per channel if 2 channel front pair else 4 channel rears as well.
I think I might have a nose in a local ICE place sometime
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I remember when I fitted the 605cs to the 2.0CD I have great difficulty mounting the cross overs in the door. I suppose a facelift is even tighter.
I will have to do the speakers over Christmas - they cost me enough and do sound better than standard.
However I think that the facelift tweater location is not as good as the pre facelift
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I have recently replaced the fron speakers in my pre facelift i used alpine e-type 6.5 inch components (was going to use the r type but honestly there is not much difference). I got them from caraudiodirect http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ they only cost me about £35 and they sound great possible the best sound i have got without using a cross-over. Would say go for one of the top end alpine units the 9855 for example and get a link lead. Other than that the sony bt-5000 is good for undr £300 and should link in no probs. Would porbably go for a seperate sub and amp in the rear possible one of the JBL gt seires as they are really unbeatble for the money, try and head for a box though instead of free air as you will loose loads of punch.
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There's no reason why speakers in the parcel shelf won't sound good. I mean, bass only speakers. I think Infinity make some specifically for shelves.
Improving just the bass response of the system will make a drastic improvement.
I'd go for simplicity and find a two channel Alpine amp for two shelf speakers and high pass the new front components. That way, the headunit will be able to drive them well.
I fitted the crossovers in the front of the door pocket. Drilled holes through the door card. I Velcro'd them in place so they can be moved for cleaning or removal.
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I seem to remember tunnie was unable to get a normal sized double-DIN head unit to fit ...
The problem was with the surround... ...his single din unit with adapter looks much better imho...
For what it's worth, my ex police '03 came with a squared off Double Din filler plate that extended all the way to bottom and replaced the ashtray. Someone had cut off the top bar before I got to it, but the effect can be seen.
Front view
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o54/ddichiera/RIMG3787.jpg)
Rear view
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o54/ddichiera/RIMG3786.jpg)
Closeup of spacer, you can see the handmade aspect quite clearly here - the spacer is glued to the fascia. Also, you can see where the top part has been cut off.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o54/ddichiera/RIMG3788.jpg)
Crucial part where it extends below the normal Din opening into the ashtray area
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o54/ddichiera/RIMG3789.jpg)
Dominic
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'Hand made' is the only solution, unfortunately.
There is only one type of fascia adaptor on sale
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Hillper/th_69d387c5.jpg) (http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Hillper/69d387c5.jpg)
and it's not exactly ideal. No one has yet found a good use for the cubby hole.
I did consider making my own adaptor from fibreglass, but then dismissed the idea as sheer lunacy!
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No one has yet found a good use for the cubby hole.
Aint it any good for puttin your Werthers in Hillper? ;D
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and it's not exactly ideal. No one has yet found a good use for the cubby hole.
Home for the LPG controller
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No one has yet found a good use for the cubby hole.
Aint it any good for puttin your Werthers in Hillper? ;D
I gave up on storing them there as they all fall out when 'accelerating', believe it or not!
That's the trouble. If you do find something that fits in, it'll fall out when subjected to the excessive lateral forces that a 2.2 can exert!