Forums / ICE / Sat Nav/Bluetooth etc. / So you want to add an after market head unit, but don't know where to start? - C4

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So you want to add an after market head unit, but don't know where to start?	Please Register to enjoy additional Member Benefits

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wozza

Wed May 12 2010, 02:45pm

Member No: #2

Joined: Aug 12 2006
Location: Manchester

So you want to add an aftermarket head unit, but don't know where to start?

As this crops up so often, I thought I might as well just do a small guide.

Few things first, depending on specification of the car you will be looking at between £60 and £120+ for adaptors alone. This is before you even take the head unit price into consideration. That is to keep full functionality of steering control functions. Volume, pause, skip tracks etc. Higher the specification of the car the more it is going to cost basically.

If you have the standard CD Changer, unfortunately it will stop working with an after market unit. Even if you fit a Blaupunkt unit.

The usual adaptors are listed below. Using purely Connects2 adaptors as they are the ones I have experience with. Others are available but avoid the Autoleads ones supplied by the likes of Halfords as they are known to cause battery drain issues..

Part numbers / Part reference in Blue

Steering control interface CTSCT003 - £50 caraudiodirect - ctsct003-can-bus-steering-control-adaptor

Patch leads for steering controls, MUST BE CONNECTS2 PARTS - £4 - £6

Kenwood Head units - CTKENWOODLEAD caraudiodirect - connects2-can-bus- kenwood-adaptor

Pioneer Head units - CTPIONEERLEAD caraudiodirect- connects2-can-bus- pioneer-adaptor

Alpine Head units - CTALPINELEAD caraudiodirect - connects2-can-bus- alpine-adaptor

JVC Head units - CTJVCLEAD caraudiodirect - connects2-can-bus- jvc-adaptor

Sony Head units - CTSONYLEAD caraudiodirect - connects2-can-bus- sony-adaptor

Panasonic Head units - CTPANASONICLEAD - Click Here -

Clarion Head units - CTCLARIONLEAD caraudiosecurity

Beat Head units - CTBEATLEAD caraudiosecurity

Blaupunkt Head units - CTBLAUPUNKTLEAD caraudiosecurity

Reverse Sensor Interface Connects2 CTRCT001 .... Will not work on most 2006 and earlier builds. 2007 and onwards should work perfectly. - £40 caraudiosecurity.com

Aerial Adaptors

Usually around £15 - £30.

Again this changes depending on head unit fitted and if the car has twin aerials. Usually, twin aerials are only found on Exclusive / VTS trim levels. However, not all are equipped with twin aerials. Those that are, don't always have them both wired up either.

Would provide links for these but there would be around 8 different aerial adaptors, which could confuse things. Check your head unit and see what connection it requires. Then check the aerial in your car and work it out from there. Just make sure it is amplified.

They will usually be active (amplified / boosted) Single Fakra to DIN or Fakra to ISO
Some will use active (amplified / boosted) Dual Fakra to DIN or ISO. If you have a twin aerial car.

You really have to physically check to find out which you will need.

Fitment issues

Be warned in Coupe's and Hatches there can be a slight lip, where you will be able to see the top of the Air Conditioning unit due to the fitment. Won't look quite as tidy. Again some head units are worse than others for this. Depends how much they stick out. This does not affect the functionality, purely the aesthetics.

You can purchase small spacers from places like Halfords, that will allow you to get rid of the majority of the gap should you wish. Usually around £10+

On the Picasso's there is a good chance you will no longer be able to close the flap to hide the unit. This has happened on most of the aftermarket installs I have seen.

Speakers

This also crops up quite often when people are looking at doing an overall upgrade.

The speakers in the C4 are 17cm or 6.5" front and rear. Fronts are easy to install rears can be more difficult. Always best to upgrade front speakers first though. Don't just go and add big rear speakers. On the parcel shelf. You might think it seems logical as they are further away to upgrade those first. However, all that will do is reduce sound quality and drag the sound stage further back. Upgrade the front speakers first. Someone once told me a great way of thinking about it, with a little question. "Would you go to a concert and sit with your back to the stage??"

So don't do effectively the same thing in your car, by upgrading the rear speakers and leaving the fronts standard. Your ears are positioned to best hear things in front of you. Keep that in mind.

Obviously if you have lots of passengers in the rear. Then it might be a good idea to upgrade those as well. However I would personally say just stick to the standard 17cm coaxial speakers.

caloyin

Sun Feb 27 2011, 01:03am

hi wozza, I would like to replace a basic radio I got with my C4GP by the RT5, but don't have either by default the twin aerials to fit the RT5 screen between them, instead I had a big trip computer screen (monochrome screen A). Could you give me an idea about how to get and set the twins aerials?

Dave_Retired. United Kingdom

Sun Feb 27 2011, 01:50am

Member No: #1

Joined: Aug 07 2006
Location: Northumberland

Wozza probably doesn't have time to cover this at the moment for personal reasons, but there is a guide in downloads created by Biohead for a C4.

It's basically the same for a C4GP so have a read of: - Click Here -


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