MFD problems after stereo install - advice please

I left you a voicemail. I'll hit you up later today and see if we can work through this.

 

I have no help at all to offer, but I'll be watching to see how this works out. Glad you're going first!

- D

 

Ah good news. Did you by any chance disconnect things without first disconnecting the battery ground? I was in a hurry to try something last night and did that, resulted in a "Problem" alert and big red exclamation triangle when I put it back together and powered up. But it cleared itself after a little while.

- D

 

glad to hear you got everything figured out. can't wait to see your final install.

 

I'm stoked it was something simple man!

Sorry I didn't get back to you but every time I planned on calling I would forget your number at home. Grr

 

Hey people,
I am having very similar issues and I am definitely more than a bit strung out about it, all help and advice is appreciated.

So I picked up a Kenwood Excelon KDCX993 after reading about it on here.

I went to get it installed today along with a PAC-SWI jack for the steering wheel.

I have aftermarket speakers in the doors and an alpine amp in the trunk.

I took this to a shop to get it done - they took out the factory head unit, and put in the new one and the jack.

I turned on the car after the install and the MFD was not functioning normally. There were no arrows going despite the ICE kicking in, no outside temp, no current reading. Climate control said that the A/C may have been disconnected and to check it.

He took out the new unit and put the stock stereo back in, and I just drove home a few minutes ago, I have to say things felt really weird, for one thing when in Park - you get no arrows going anywhere - it also feels like startup and idle is weird - the ICE doesnt really kick in for very long - but maybe I'm just sensitive right now.

Also, the air conditioning is acting up, when I set it to 'feet and defog' if you turn the temperature up past 75 you can hear the fans turn off and only blow at your feet.

I am like freeaking out over this, at this point I want my car back to normal - I don't think these guys know how to handle a prius - we set it up to try to install the new kenwood in the map compartment below the stock stereo, but I am having problems with the stock unit back in place! HELP plz - F8L?

 

ejmckee,

Give me a call tomorrow and I'll see if I can help. I can talk to your shop and see where they went wrong. The install is not at all difficult but some people don't know about the need to run the resistors or keeping the factory deck plugged in.

 

Grr - I didn't realize I needed that.. I see that on another thread now - I did try to check out what I would need on Crutchfield - outfit my car, and it doesn't seem to mention the need for the resistor unit.

Thanks for the reassurance/advice

 

LMAO! Thanks Kevin. I'm just glad you got your stuff figured out. That was a bad chemo week for me so I apologize for leaving you in the dark.

Eric, We'll get your situation figured out. Sounds like they just didn't use the resistor mod and now you can just have them install it the "stealth" way and be done with it.

 

ZOMG SUCCESS finally!

Okay I now am happy to have a stealth install kenwood unit, I have only used it for about 15 min on the ride home but after reading through the manual this thing has so many crazy features I can't wait to customize everything. I will definitely post some pics and such because I am psyched on this. F8L big props for giving over-the-phone advice.

My only slight issue right now is a high-pitch whine that seems to come up when I press on the accelarator and the ICE kicks in, when coasting and using electric it goes away. I can probably live with this because you cant hear it when the volume is up.

I will post more when I get the chance to play with it, but I made lots of people in the audio shop jealous with the Kenwood KDC-X993 especially at a price tag of $210. Thanks for all of the help. Great forum community.

 

Good to hear you got it all worked out man!

Wait till you start using the digital time alignment feature and get the vocals to come out of the area behind the MFD. Sounds SOOOO much better than the lead vocals coming from both doors :/ lol

Just play a good vocal track and start dialing in some time delay on the left front speaker. You may nee dot tone down the rears so they don't smear the image.

 

Hmm.. this will take some figuring out, I had them disconnect one of the speakers (center speaker?) because I read on here that it made everything sound way worse - is that the same one as the one behind the MFD?

 

Probably. I never had the center speaker. So now your system is like mine. Just play with the time alignment feature and you'll get your center image back but it won't sound bad like people claim with the factory setup.

 

F8L is talking about what audiophiles call "imaging" or the sense that the band is playing for you from the hood of your car rather than that a CD is playing a recorded version of a band out of the speakers on either side of the cabin. It's done in super high end installs with (to simplify) a combination of speaker placement and the time alignment feature of the head unit. It's an audio illusion so to speak. One that I haven't yet created!

- D

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

Here are some links with more info describing "Imaging and Staging"

Imaging, Staging and Directivity​

Imaging - is being able to pick certain sounds from different places. The singer would normally be located towards the middle of the car, guitars, trumpets, and other instruments towards the sides of the car. If you scatter speakers all around the car your imaging would be very poor, since you would be producing the same sound at different places. If you have a system with good imaging, the sound should seem to come from different instruments and voices, not speakers.
Staging - is the ability of a system to "fool you" into thinking that everything (including bass) is in front of you. The sound should be similar to a stage in a concert, where the singer would be in the front center, and the rest of the instruments and background vocalists would be located to the left and right (but always on the front).
Good staging and imaging are not so easy to implement. It takes a lot experimenting with speaker location and direction.
Directivity - of sound is related to frequency. At higher frequencies it is easier to pinpoint where the sound is coming from than lower frequencies. This can be used to our advantage in car stereo. Tweeters are the most important part of getting good staging. They should be aimed towards the middle of the car. A way to "bring" the bass to the front of the car is to fool our ears by overlapping frequencies played by midbases and subs, so that your midbases actually "pull" the bass to the front, since lower bass in not too directional. You should crossover your midbases as low as you can (without getting distortion). Then cut your subs at a bit higher frequency (preferably 60 HZ or less). This will mix the bass coming from the front and rear, making the bass seem to come from the front. Adding a center channel also improves staging, if it is set up correctly.


How to Get the Best Stereo Imaging & Soundstage

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-staging-problems-in-prius-stereo-issues.html

 

Nice write up and linkage, thanks!