Eclipse CD5030 Headunit Review and Question
06-11-2009, 06:20 AM
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Eclipse CD5030 Headunit Review and Question
So I needed to get a new headunit, as my old Alpine finally bit the dust. My choices were the Alpine CDA-9886, CDA-9887, JVC KD-AVX77, and the Eclipse 7200MKII. As I was researching more and more, I really didn't need the JVC one, as I usually drive with the cover closed, and would never be watching a movie while driving. That beautiful screen would pretty much go to waste. Me being an Alpine guy, I was pretty partial to the Alpine decks, particularly the CDA-9887. I was looking into it, and it is a pretty sick deck. The only thing is that in order to be able to tune it to how I'd like for it to be, I'd have to purchase that Imprint system thing. Pretty much a big PITA IMO. Ditto for the 9886. So that left me with the Eclipse. I was ready to purchase it, but the 7200 has no internal amp, which means I would have to pretty much install a whole new system into my car. I was eventually going to do this anyways, but I'm still waiting on the new JL 900/5 HD amp to release. (Perfect size for the S). I saw the CD5030 in stock, and bought it. At first I was skeptical about it, me being an Alpine guy, but after installing it and playing with it for a day so far, I have to say it's quite an impressive deck.
One thing I hate about head units is the fact that you have to buy all these additional accessories and modules that have to hook into the head unit in order for all the full features to unlock. If you're spending 300-500 already on something, it should work out the box with all the features accessible. This Eclipse unit is actually like that. BT is built into the deck, and it comes with a mountable mic. I mounted mine up the A-Pillar and clipped it onto my driver's side visor. Auxiliary RCA's on the rear plug right up, and also there is a built in USB port for iPod/USB memory plug and play.
I quickly installed the headunit, and fired it up. Of course I had to start playing with the settings to get it to my sound liking. It has a built in 7 band EQ, Crossover, Time Correction, Multi-Harmonizer, and SVC. In other words, it's fully customizable. This is one of the main reasons I bought this deck over the Alpines. My older Alpine had all these features for me to tinker with, but all the newer decks do not. They require you to use the Imprint technology to get the sound to your liking. Granted the Imprint technology is great, I don't want to be forced into spending another $150 or so when I already spent $300. I like the freedom of a manual tune.
One added bonus was the BT functionality. I didn't think I'd use it at all, but once I set it up and wired the mic up, I figured I'd give it a shot. It synced up to my HTC Touch Diamond effortlessly, and within a minute, I was good to go. I quickly made a few phone calls, and no one had any problems hearing me. I made a phone call with the engine off, and another one driving around with the top up. Callers on the other end of the line said it was real clear. My friend even said it sounded better than my Jawbone 2! I still haven't tried this with the top down driving, but I will be doing that later today once I get out of work. (Not expecting too much with the top down). It not only does telephone bluetooth, but also A2DP bluetooth audio. I switched modes to BT Audio on the headunit, and it automatically started playing some music from my phone. Very nice feature.
The USB hookup is one of the best features for a headunit ever. I plugged in my iPod right through the USB, and the deck took over. I'm not a big fan of having to use the headunit to control the iPod, and a cool feature I found was that you can switch between manual and headunit control for the iPod. I quickly switched to manual mode, and while plugged into the USB, I was able to freely use the iPod. I also plugged in a thumb drive, and it worked perfectly fine. Read all the mp3's on it, and played them. Pretty frikkin dope.
It has 2 illumination settings, blue or red. Of course to match the interior I chose red, and though it's not amber, it looks pretty nice.
I wish I took pics throughout the install, but I didn't think of that. I'll be taking some pics of the deck later on tonight and will update.
Another nice bonus is the 5V preouts for amps. Once the JL 900/5 releases, it's most def being added to the fold along with some Hertz HSK components.
Overall, VERY happy with this deck. Eclipse has gotten back on track with their newer line of headunits since that fiasco they had of trying to go mainstream with Circuit City. I never thought I'd have another headunit besides an Alpine, but I can say without hesitation that this Eclipse deck has moved me away from Alpine.
One Question though, has anyone had any experience with the E-iSERV and steering wheel controls from Eclipse? They don't have the Honda software yet on the E-iSERV website for this deck, but once they do I was going to see if I could get it wired up so I can use my dash controls. The headunit harness had a brown wire and a brown/black wire that the installation manual says are for the dash steering controls, but there are no instructions on where to connect in Hondas. I didn't see a wire on my wiring harness that I got from Crutchfield to connect either brown wire into. Do I have to bypass the harness and tap into the dash control wire on the factory harness to get this to connect? Also, does anyone know what color wire that is on the factory harness for an 06 AP2?
Sorry for the long read!
Kudos to Fujitsu-Ten for putting out another quality product.
One thing I hate about head units is the fact that you have to buy all these additional accessories and modules that have to hook into the head unit in order for all the full features to unlock. If you're spending 300-500 already on something, it should work out the box with all the features accessible. This Eclipse unit is actually like that. BT is built into the deck, and it comes with a mountable mic. I mounted mine up the A-Pillar and clipped it onto my driver's side visor. Auxiliary RCA's on the rear plug right up, and also there is a built in USB port for iPod/USB memory plug and play.
I quickly installed the headunit, and fired it up. Of course I had to start playing with the settings to get it to my sound liking. It has a built in 7 band EQ, Crossover, Time Correction, Multi-Harmonizer, and SVC. In other words, it's fully customizable. This is one of the main reasons I bought this deck over the Alpines. My older Alpine had all these features for me to tinker with, but all the newer decks do not. They require you to use the Imprint technology to get the sound to your liking. Granted the Imprint technology is great, I don't want to be forced into spending another $150 or so when I already spent $300. I like the freedom of a manual tune.
One added bonus was the BT functionality. I didn't think I'd use it at all, but once I set it up and wired the mic up, I figured I'd give it a shot. It synced up to my HTC Touch Diamond effortlessly, and within a minute, I was good to go. I quickly made a few phone calls, and no one had any problems hearing me. I made a phone call with the engine off, and another one driving around with the top up. Callers on the other end of the line said it was real clear. My friend even said it sounded better than my Jawbone 2! I still haven't tried this with the top down driving, but I will be doing that later today once I get out of work. (Not expecting too much with the top down). It not only does telephone bluetooth, but also A2DP bluetooth audio. I switched modes to BT Audio on the headunit, and it automatically started playing some music from my phone. Very nice feature.
The USB hookup is one of the best features for a headunit ever. I plugged in my iPod right through the USB, and the deck took over. I'm not a big fan of having to use the headunit to control the iPod, and a cool feature I found was that you can switch between manual and headunit control for the iPod. I quickly switched to manual mode, and while plugged into the USB, I was able to freely use the iPod. I also plugged in a thumb drive, and it worked perfectly fine. Read all the mp3's on it, and played them. Pretty frikkin dope.
It has 2 illumination settings, blue or red. Of course to match the interior I chose red, and though it's not amber, it looks pretty nice.
I wish I took pics throughout the install, but I didn't think of that. I'll be taking some pics of the deck later on tonight and will update.
Another nice bonus is the 5V preouts for amps. Once the JL 900/5 releases, it's most def being added to the fold along with some Hertz HSK components.
Overall, VERY happy with this deck. Eclipse has gotten back on track with their newer line of headunits since that fiasco they had of trying to go mainstream with Circuit City. I never thought I'd have another headunit besides an Alpine, but I can say without hesitation that this Eclipse deck has moved me away from Alpine.
One Question though, has anyone had any experience with the E-iSERV and steering wheel controls from Eclipse? They don't have the Honda software yet on the E-iSERV website for this deck, but once they do I was going to see if I could get it wired up so I can use my dash controls. The headunit harness had a brown wire and a brown/black wire that the installation manual says are for the dash steering controls, but there are no instructions on where to connect in Hondas. I didn't see a wire on my wiring harness that I got from Crutchfield to connect either brown wire into. Do I have to bypass the harness and tap into the dash control wire on the factory harness to get this to connect? Also, does anyone know what color wire that is on the factory harness for an 06 AP2?
Sorry for the long read!
Kudos to Fujitsu-Ten for putting out another quality product.
06-11-2009, 07:32 AM
#2
So cool that you just wrote this up -- i've been without a radio for sometime now, after my s was broken into... and recently bought the cd5030 from crutchfield as well, installed it last night and love it! The main reason i bought it is because as you said, it comes with everything you need out of the box... full BT support and iPod/USB connectivity.. you saved me time by posting that great write up! 
There were a couple things I wasn't sure about:
1. Dash Control -- just like you, didn't know where to hook up the brown wires... (even though the eclipse documentation says it can hook up to dash controls)
2. "Dimmer" - i think there is an orange wire, or orange/white wire from the back of the headunit for dimmer functionality, but a corresponding connection was not there in the crutchfield harness i got -- did you do anything with this?
3. There was a blue wire for "amp power up" or something to that affect, another wire i left it unconected as i wasn't sure what to do with it
4. iPhone BlueTooth - Have not been able to get my iphone to recognize the headunit as a headset, but got it to work with my HTC Touch...
5. Headunit Trim -- didn't seem to fit nicely around the head unit... kinda had to force it in there, but seems a little loose on the bottom... did i do something wrong here? Per crutchfield's instructions, i re-used the stock mounting brackets, and didn't use the mounting sleeve provided by eclipse
I didn't know you could switch over to manually use the ipod/phone, so that's cool, and haven't tried a USB stick yet, but i bet that's great...
I plan on installing a set of infinity reference 6020cs tonight which should help polish off the sound...
Awesome deck!
There were a couple things I wasn't sure about:
1. Dash Control -- just like you, didn't know where to hook up the brown wires... (even though the eclipse documentation says it can hook up to dash controls)
2. "Dimmer" - i think there is an orange wire, or orange/white wire from the back of the headunit for dimmer functionality, but a corresponding connection was not there in the crutchfield harness i got -- did you do anything with this?
3. There was a blue wire for "amp power up" or something to that affect, another wire i left it unconected as i wasn't sure what to do with it
4. iPhone BlueTooth - Have not been able to get my iphone to recognize the headunit as a headset, but got it to work with my HTC Touch...
5. Headunit Trim -- didn't seem to fit nicely around the head unit... kinda had to force it in there, but seems a little loose on the bottom... did i do something wrong here? Per crutchfield's instructions, i re-used the stock mounting brackets, and didn't use the mounting sleeve provided by eclipse
I didn't know you could switch over to manually use the ipod/phone, so that's cool, and haven't tried a USB stick yet, but i bet that's great...
I plan on installing a set of infinity reference 6020cs tonight which should help polish off the sound...
Awesome deck!
06-11-2009, 07:53 AM
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Nice! Good to know someone else has this deck. Sounds like you ran into the same few quirks that I did with it.
1. Dash Control -
I'm still trying to figure this one out, I think you just need to splice into the wire on the factory harness and wait for the E-iSERV software to be up so we can download it onto the headunit, but I could be totally wrong. It's not connected as of now, as I don't know which wire to tap into. Any help anyone?
2. "Dimmer" -
This was not necessary to hook up, as there was not anything on the wiring harness from Crutchfield to wire it to so I taped it off and didn't use it either.
3. Blue wire for "amp power up" -
I didn't use this wire either, just taped it off and left alone too. Do you need this for an aftermarket amp or something? Not sure, hopefully someone can chime in on this and the Dash Controls.
4. iPhone BlueTooth -
I have no clue what's up with that, but my HTC works and so does yours. iFail anyone?? ^_^
5. Headunit Trim -
I had the same problem with my old alpine deck and this one. I just kinda pushed and forced it on, and it seems to be in place. I think the slot in the S with the door is just a tad bit small for a headunit with a frame.
Yeah, if you hit the mode button with the iPod plugged in, it switches to manual mode on the iPod so you can have full control of it from your iPod instead of the deck. One hit back and it's right back to full control on the deck. One real nice thing is the fact that there's almost no startup time when turning on the deck/switching modes. I always had to wait a second or two with Alpine decks. Not a huge deal, but its nice to get that instant on.
Which iPhone do you have btw? Have you tried plugging your iPhone into the usb slot and controlling it from the deck? I don't have an iPhone, but I have a bunch of friends that do. I didn't know how well the support went for it so I just installed an aux cable also just incase.
1. Dash Control -
I'm still trying to figure this one out, I think you just need to splice into the wire on the factory harness and wait for the E-iSERV software to be up so we can download it onto the headunit, but I could be totally wrong. It's not connected as of now, as I don't know which wire to tap into. Any help anyone?
2. "Dimmer" -
This was not necessary to hook up, as there was not anything on the wiring harness from Crutchfield to wire it to so I taped it off and didn't use it either.
3. Blue wire for "amp power up" -
I didn't use this wire either, just taped it off and left alone too. Do you need this for an aftermarket amp or something? Not sure, hopefully someone can chime in on this and the Dash Controls.
4. iPhone BlueTooth -
I have no clue what's up with that, but my HTC works and so does yours. iFail anyone?? ^_^
5. Headunit Trim -
I had the same problem with my old alpine deck and this one. I just kinda pushed and forced it on, and it seems to be in place. I think the slot in the S with the door is just a tad bit small for a headunit with a frame.
Yeah, if you hit the mode button with the iPod plugged in, it switches to manual mode on the iPod so you can have full control of it from your iPod instead of the deck. One hit back and it's right back to full control on the deck. One real nice thing is the fact that there's almost no startup time when turning on the deck/switching modes. I always had to wait a second or two with Alpine decks. Not a huge deal, but its nice to get that instant on.
Which iPhone do you have btw? Have you tried plugging your iPhone into the usb slot and controlling it from the deck? I don't have an iPhone, but I have a bunch of friends that do. I didn't know how well the support went for it so I just installed an aux cable also just incase.
06-11-2009, 08:04 AM
#4
Yeah, sounds like iFail. I have the 3G, and it connects perfectly via USB, but i'm not sure how well supported future versions will be. And you're definitely right about instant access -- as soon as I plug-in the phone, it fires up music; I was expecting something much slower/sluggish.
06-11-2009, 08:36 PM
#5
got the iphone to sync up via bluetooth, by having both the deck and iphone search for bluetooth devices... however the iphone showed up as "unknown" on the deck, and the deck showed up as a MAC address on the iphone... weird, anyways, it's awesome!
06-13-2009, 02:23 AM
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How was the speaker install? I'm about the pick up some Hertz components, and was debating whether I should do the install myself or pay a shop to do it...
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06-14-2009, 05:57 PM
#8
well.. this was the first time i've installed speakers... took about 3hrs and i was operating really slowly... the first side took the longest, once you get the process done, you can change a door in 30 minutes, including the cross over if you're using component speakers.
Pretty much I would say it's easy and not worth the 100-200 bucks if you've got time on your hands. Use this link as a great resource for the install, will probably be a bit different since you have an '06 -- i'm not sure where your tweeter is.
Pretty much I would say it's easy and not worth the 100-200 bucks if you've got time on your hands. Use this link as a great resource for the install, will probably be a bit different since you have an '06 -- i'm not sure where your tweeter is.
