Hi...

This is my first post and I wanted to say, thank you all for all of the great knowledge on this site. This weekend I just installed my AVIC-Z1 and it went virtually flawlessly (taking only about 3 hours).

I have to say that without the collective knowledge of this community that wouldn't have been possible.

that said, I'll pass on my lessons learned so that others might benefit.

LESSONS LEARNED:

* Running the GPS to the high center break light is EASY, if you go at it backwards. Remove the trim and grab handle from the driver side door. Pull the roof liner out (just a little) by the rear passenger door (on SCREW). thread the fish tape a little at a time, from the drivers door to the driver side passenger door, pull out a bunch of slack and then feed the fishtape sidways to the rear lights. You can't help but then be able to grab the tape. attach the nav side of the GPS wire, and pull it all the way back. this took 10 minutes tops after I stopped fiddling around trying the fish it the other way.

* Read the directions on how to hook up the iPOD connector (if applicable). Reversing the in's and outs will leave you will full control over your iPod but no sound. This was very distrubing and took several hours (and ultimately a call to Crutchfield) to figure out.

* Don't forget the PAC SWIC-PS for your steering wheel controls. I did. and the folks at Crutchfield didn't mention it at the time of order. After I worked out that I did need one, I ordered it and they shipped it overnight at their expense.

* If you have the audiophile system (as I did) you will need radio shack part number 2761770 this is a 5V DC voltage regulator, use this instead of a resistor. This will (as opposed to a resistor) ensure that you always get 5 volts regardless of the input voltage (assuming that the input is >5V), where as a resistor will simply drop input volatage by a certian amount. Put this inline on the blue wire white stripe on the Sub Harnis to prevent it from popping.

* HIGH PASS FILTER. This is a configuration thing not an install thing, again if you have the audiophile system, when you set up your sub, in the Z1, and set the sub's cross over frequency. THAT WILL ****NOT**** automatically set the cross over frequency for the mains. You need to do that seperately in the HIGH PASS FILTER section of AV SETTINGS. I nearly destroy'd a perfectly good set of mains pumping waaaaaay more bass than they were built to handle before I worked this out.

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Thats it. Thanks to the folks here on this forum, everything else was a breeze. the only other thing I'd recomend is that you buy your unit from a reptuable dealer who includes harnesses and stuff. Having a matched harness for the unit and the sub saved a ton of time the one I got was even color coded the same as the factory, so it was a breeze. Well worth the additional 200 I paid above some low rent online retailer.

Thanks again everyone.

leigh.

 

Excellent points...haha that's funny I was in the EXACT same situation. I was about to go insane until I finally figured it out. Enjoy the Z1

 

Thanks for the input Imcmulle...I'm coidering intalling oeof these also and yourfeedack is appreciated.

One question - How do I know if I havea subwoofer or not?

 

I think all the audiophile systems had subwoofers, so if you know if you have that system, then you should have it. When you pull your factory head unit out, there will be 3 plugs on the audiophile, the smallest of which is the subwoofer hookup.

otherwise you can look for it, the amp / sub woofer assembly is under the driver side rear passenger seat in the SCrews...

I'm sure there are way more experienced folks here who have even better answers than those two, but those be the ones I got.

L

 

I installed the Z1 this past weekend myself, wasn't bad at all. Still waiting to hook up my backup camera though ... hopefully soon.