MOD 134 - CLARION & ANDROID 10 HU
So its been a while since the last mod.... Regular readers will know I have done a fair bit of work on the audio system over the last year or two. I thought it was done with audio upgrades, but I had problems with my NBT and CIC HU (CAN wire issues). On top of this I had an old school Clarion HXD2 sitting in the cupboard looking for a home..... So after much deliberation I decided to get rid of the OEM HU and go a completely different route.
The major problem with this plan, is the OEM HU is the heart of the cars entertainment and information systems. Importantly providing an output to the in dash screen. There are android systems on the market that provide an updated screen display but generally they require the HU to plug into for power, audio etc. But to make room in the dash for the clarion, the NBT HU had to go. With the NBT HU gone, there would be no screen, telephone, nav etc
The solution came in the form of an Android 10 HU that with a bit of fancy wiring can run independently (does not piggy back off the OEM HU) and interfaces with the Clarion HU via an aux input
There is no way I could ever get this to work, so I bundled everything up and took it over to Automotive Integration in Moorabbin. Matt is a top guy who really knows his stuff. Not only did he get everything working together, but he also got the steering wheel controls idrive, reverse cameras and parking sensors fixed. Along the way sorted out a parasitic battery draw and tidied up all my RGB AE wiring.... I would totally recommend Automotive Integration to anyone in Melb who needs electrical work done
For an old school HU the Clarion sounds amazing.
In terms of sound quality, it is at another level, even compared to master digital Flac files.
The system needs to be tuned again to balance the 8 output channels from the Clarion and Ill need to install some new dash trim but that is for another day
