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Swapping standard head unit for premium

A

AdamW

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Location
Surbiton
Car
Gen7 2.0 Sport
My 2005 Accord Sport has the standard single CD head unit. I would like to swap it out for the 6 disc (non sat nav) premium HU. There seem to be lots on eBay.

Two questions:

How easy is it to swap them out?

Will there be any improvement in sound (I understand the premium has an amp)?

Thanks
 
Having just fixed my faulty unit I can tell you it's quite easy to remove/replace but the premium system also has speakers in the rear door cards.
I can imagine lots of additional wiring will be involved and you'll probably have to remove the rear doors to run the new wires through. You'll also need to wire in the honda amp inside the boot panel which again will require wiring for power/signal. I think the premium system also has a subwoofer in the parcel shelf(saloon) or boot panel(tourer) so that will need wiring too.
Oh, and iirc all 8 speakers will need upgrading to whatever honda fitted (or better) in the premium setup.
Lots of time and money, if you ask me you'd be better off fitting an aftermarket job with sd card/aux in/ iPod connection and do away with the CDs joining the 21st century in the process !

With regards to the wiring, I'm sure someone on here will have done it and can advise if that's the route you want to take
 
I doubt it's compatible. The premium unit is an all in one module that controls ac sat Nav, stereo and clock.It sounds like alot of hard work for a sat Nav that isn't very good imo.
 
Thanks both.

I was looking to get the 6 disc dual climate HU without sat nav. Thought that it might be as simple as "plug and play" on a straight swap, but sounds like maybe not.

I can see that improving the sound would be too much work based on Andy's info, but do you think/know if the 6 disc unit would just work through the existing speakers I have (i.e. I wouldn't change anything other than the head unit itself)? Wondering what would happen if I just plugged it in to the same connectors as used by current standard unit?

Would still be worth doing that if it works, as although sound would be no better, I'd have 6 CD changer rather than 1 CD slot.

Appreciate your help.
 
If your after sound improvement it would be best to just upgrade the speakers.

However if you want that sat nav unit the best way to go is a complete after market type which replaces the OEM stereo unit with an after market version of the honda OEM unit. It does have that Chinese look but It does give you load of other options like adding cameras and storing music on SD cards etc.
Ive seen various videos of installations on you tube.

I believe it is designed for Accords which have the non sat nav stereo. chew is right, the premium OEM sat nav honda system controls all the AC and heater blowers etc. So this option cant be used for the people who already have the original honda OEM sat nav unit

Heres a link.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Headunit-Indash-Auto-Radio-DVD-GPS-Navigation-Stereo-For-Honda-Accord-2003-2007-/261199772818?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cd0b83c92

or this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Multimedia-GPS-Navigation-Stereo-For-2003-2004-2005-2006-2007-Honda-Accord/231028074608?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3D5a1ac04d63e24f53985377358d468ca8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D261199772818&rt=nc


An idea of how they install
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj0NtraOVIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af6zkB7MBvk



or the other option is to install a proper double din headunit in the large cubby compartment below your standard headunit using this fascia adapter. This option will allow you to choose a high end double din unit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-Din-Stereo-Facia-for-HONDA-Accord-Radio-Panel-Fascia-Plate-Frame-CD-Trim-/221718504944?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item339f73e5f0

I would ***ume you would need some sort of Y harness to combine it with your existing loom which i think should be available.

Hope this helps
 
Thanks Alex. Really helpful.

Any tips for upgrades to the 6x9 speakers in rear?

Thanks
 
Your welcome dude.

Not to sure on the rear speakers. I think most 6x9 will fit but I have read somewhere that only two screws of the four may align up. Not sure if this applies to all 6x9 speakers or specific models.manufacturers.

There are also a lot of threads of using bose speakers from Audi's and retrofitting them into 7th gen accords. Quite a popular mod I think with alittle fettling.

The door speakers need to be quite slim too as there isn't much space in there.
 
Ive installed the above unit in my mates accord.

From memory easy enough to install. I did a writeup on here. Have a searcg
 
Thanks both re the Bose upgrade. Do you think it will work and/or make much of a difference given I only have the standard single CD head unit?

Will setup an ebay search in the meantime.
 
Upgrading the door speakers should work and should provide a vast improvement in sound quality. Various people from other forums have reported this.
However upgrading the 6x9s on the rear shelf have only reported a marginal difference and some say its better leaving them as standard (if you have the pioneer ones)

I havent done any modifications as of yet to my soudn system and still researching it at the moment.
The premium sound system is good although it does lack sound stage and presence in the lower volumes
 
I'm using infinty reference 6 x 9 on the shelf and cerwin vega 17cm components at the front with the standard tweeters and it sounds great.
I used the front speaker adapters for the civic ep series at the front as they fit perfectly and are available on eBay.
bass is improved and the quality from the cerwins is excellent (but you pay for it)
 
I like the idea of putting the cerwin vega speakers in the front doors with the civic ep adapters.

Andy - do you have the model number for the 17cm cerwins?
 
They are HED365's but I don't think they make them anymore. Tbh anything else in cerwins range or infinity will sound great. From what I've heard in the past if you really want absolute clarity of sound then Focal would be top of my list.
The 6x9's are infinty reference series 9603i, which can be picked up fairly cheap 50 -70 pounds if you look around.
 
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