Even though it took way longer than I had thought (LED headlamps for the win) I'm quite happy with the results. I looked long and hard for the "optimal" stereo upgrade. Spent lots of time up at Crutchfield testing out various head units. Came down to Alpine vs. JVC. I went with the latter because it lets you have "iPhone control" as well as "head unit control." The Alpine only does the latter. Also, the JVC's iPhone control still lets the head unit do basic things like forward, revers, next, previous and pause. So it was a win + win.

JVC KD-A615 head unit
Infinity Reference 6030cs two way component set

A few months back I bought a set of AP2 door panels so I was also really excited to go from the crappy AP1 speakers to a component set.

Swapped out my Kenwood Z828 this weekend for the above. Rigged up a velcro + adhesive solution for the Infinity crossover box. I stuck it in that little inside door panel that you can only get to when the panel is off. Had to drill some holes through it and run some extra wires (hence the late night work in the dark w/ the LED headlamp) but it ended up going together pretty well. The velcro kept the box in place overnight while the adhesive cured.

Infinity also gives you plenty of brackets so that you can mount their tweeters using the OEM Honda tweeter brackets. Same for the 6.5s. Good thing too as I needed those adapters to get the 6.5s to mount properly to the Honda OEM brackets. They also give you just enough extra space as the Infinity speakers are a bit deeper than the Hondas.

Sound is vastly improved. I still wish I had more volume and bass at 70+ mph but for just a head unit + speaker upgrade I have to say this combo works really well. If I have it cranked above 40 (JVC volume setting not MPH) with any serious EQ things get a bit distorted. Works fine w/ flat EQ pretty much up to max volume (50) though. Can clearly hear vocals and instruments now at any speed. This definitely wasn't true before.

I spent less than $300 for both directly from the Crutchfield shop. That was less than the Alpine head unit I was looking at. They gave me wires and printout instructions to boot. I ended up not using their harness of course since I went the DCI route. I also had my own spare wire to run from the OEM speaker clips to the crossover and out to the 6's and tweeters.

DCI works flawlessly. Ironically, this JVC unit doesn't have the quirks listed on the Modifry site. It works just like the Alpine's it seems (ie., channel + vol goes up and down the FM presets). I also love that this JVC puts all your presets in one seamless group (1-18) instead of the ridiculous FM1, FM2, and FM3 groups.

Just connected the SCV wire so haven't had a chance to test that.

Dimmer doesn't seem to work right either, but the JVC harness didn't seem to have a wire for that.

Anyhow, woohoo!

D

PS. The color display control (can use separate colors for buttons and display) on the JVC is amazing. At first I thought this was a bit gimmicky. But after tweaking it to my tastes can't imagine getting an aftermarket unit without interface color control.

 

so with this head unit you can control the music from your iPhone itself and not just the headunit doing controls? It also charges the iPhone as well? Have you got pandora to work?

Also, are you running the components without an amp?

 

Yup, can control my iPhone from the iPhone, the head unit, or my left hand side in dash controls. Nice feature of the DCI is that the big fat "mode" button can be programmed (in "tap mode") to advance to the next track, which of course 90% of us all do when in shuffle mode.

Yes, charges fine.

Yes, Pandora works but you can't control next/previous using any head or dash controls. You have to use the iPhone controls.

That's fine for me. I don't just use Pandora anyhow and expect more sites like that to gain popularity in the near future (eg., Rhapsody, Jango, etc...). If Apple changes their API to allow developers to interface with the next/prev/forward/reverse commands then we'd get that for free. Currently, any such command routed to an iPhone triggers the iPod. This is why Alpine had to write a separate app for their X305S to work properly with their Pandora interface.

Maybe I should write a JVC (or generic) Pandora app? ;-)

Running the components w/o an amp for now. Works fine.

Next step will likely be some rear speakers and/or some subs. Will probably start upgrading the suspension and intake/exhaust next though. Gotta balance the budget expenses.

 

that's pretty awesome. how hard was the DCI install? I'm highly considering changing out my old alpine deck. How many preouts does the JVC have?

EDIT: NVM found out that it has a separate rear output that can be switched to sub. I might have to buy this headunit. Always had alpine headunits and know about their sq, any comments on how the JVC sounds? probably wont matter too much to me since I have amps for my speakers.

 

DCI install was simple. Get the adapter harness from them and it will be easy. The JVC has 4 (5v) pre outs (FL, FR, RL, RR). I'm not sure if these can be used in conjunction with the internal amp but I don't see why not.

The internal amp rear output can also be set to "rear" or "sub" mode.

So your install will go like this.

Honda wires plug directly into the Modifry wire harness. That then connects to BOTH your DCI control unit and your JVC head unit harness. The DCI basically intercepts some signals from the Honda wires (which are of course connected to the controls) then "does the right thing" with the signal and passes it along to your head unit.

It's just a matter of matching up wires. The hardest part is if you want to run the separate "speed control volume" wire. But that's actually pretty easy too. Just run out to your local Radio Shack first and get a wire tap so you don't have to splice the S2Ks speed wire under the passenger dash.

 

Thanks for all the help dude. I won't be using the internal amp at all. I was actually looking at the speakers you bought too. LOL I feel like such a biter. How are the tweeters on the speakers? I'm picky about my treble being too harsh. I currently have alpine components and I blew out one of my tweeters.

 

Tweeters sound great to me. Trick is to set the crossover to 0db. Best to go listen yourself though.

 

Very good 411!!!!
Pics would be a blessing!

 

I'll try to get some pics of the finished install with pointers to interior details. I was rushing way too hard against the setting sun yesterday (a battle which I decisively lost). In the aftermath, I struggled to keep the projective alive amidst misplaced tools, equipment, components, adhesives, keys, etc...

Things get much harder after nightfall when working in your driveway from your shop which happens to be located in your house.

I have a decent Zoom Q3 recorder at work which does excellent recording. Not sure how YouTube would mess that up. But I can probably keep the full HD audio up. Should be a fun lunchtime project.

 

If your deck maxes at 50, you shouldn't every turn the deck higher than 40 unless you want to blow those new speakers.

I have a similar setup, except with a Pioneer deck, and yes, it is awesome to control the iphone through the dash controls or the iphone itself at will.