Replacement Stereo For VZ. Options? - Car Audio - Whirlpool Forums

My wife has a VZ Adventra which has the standard Blaupunkt double DIN stereo. Not sure what happened to it, but it's glitchy as hell. A lot of button presses don't register and it'll randomly change radio stations. Anyway, it drives her (and me) crazy. Considered replacing it with the same, but thought I would see what else is out there. I don't want to spend much, I don't think it's worth it in this car as it has high kms and not sure how much longer we'll have it. Was just thinking that if we're replacing it, might be nice for her to be able to make/receive calls over BT, possibly even have a reversing camera.

I see there's a lot of cheapy stuff on ebay which has mixed reviews. Some people seem to think that the Joying/Pumpkin/Eonon stuff is OK. Are these hard to install? I don't mind having a crack at it myself, as long as it's fairly straightforward. I don't want to get too technical. A few things I'm unsure about:

• What is the general performance and reliability of these head units? I’m concerned that it will be laggy and buggy, or difficult for her to use.
• Do they come with either microphone on the head unit itself, or with an additional mic that can be run up the A-pillar?
• Would this require fascia or antenna adaptor? If so, where do I find them and how much am I looking at roughly?
• How much would I be looking at to do the reversing camera? How difficult are they to put in?
• Would the steering wheel buttons (mode, next and previous on the left, and mute, volume up and volume down on the right) still work with a new head unit? Any adaptors or modification required?

I guess the other alternative is to get a basic Kenwood/Pioneer, something like this;https://www.jbhifi.com.au/gps-car-audio/kenwood/kenwood-dpx-5100bt-2-din-cd-receiver-with-bluetooth/592350/

Which I assume will allow for the phone calls, but have none of the other smarts like GPS and a possible reversing camera.

Don't mind paying someone to install it all if it's going to get too complex for me, but that's going to push the price up. Ideally I'd like to keep things cheap and simple.

Thanks guys.

you can get iso patch leads, eg holden to iso and a kenwood to iso and most major brands of head units.

a quick look at the joying website suggests that the head unit comes with a iso patch lead, so you would only require the holden to iso ( will need to suit your model)

As for facia plate required and how to lots of info on various commodore forums,

I recently changed the stereo in my VX clubsport, and i did the following:

– Single DIN unit with bluetooth (comes with mic that you would mount somewhere like the A pillar as you suggested). – Special wiring adapter to allow me to retain the steering wheel controls: CHLVTVXC (you probably would need a slightly different version – CHLVYVZC perhaps?). – Wiring harness to adapt from ISO to head unit (brand specific). – Facia panel to let me use a single DIN unit in a double DIN space.

No wires needed to be cut. Installation is simple.

i_like_chicken writes...

Some people seem to think that the Joying/Pumpkin/Eonon stuff is OK. Are these hard to install? I don't mind having a crack at it myself, as long as it's fairly straightforward

I've got a Joying in my VZ and it's brilliant especially compared to the factory unit, if I was to do it again I'd go the same route rather than a kenwood/pioneer/sony etc.

What is the general performance and reliability of these head units? I’m concerned that it will be laggy and buggy, or difficult for her to use.

I've had mine in the VZ for about 1 year or so, only tiny issue I've had is where the unit is supposed to indefinitely sleep so it's instantly available when you start the car, it occasionally goes through a full boot which takes 30-45seconds. Only does this maybe once or twice a month, and it's really no big deal. Note the older (non intel CPU) models only sleep for 4hrs max so have to go through the full boot each time, but this should only affect you if you buy a used or discontinued model.

Do they come with either microphone on the head unit itself, or with an additional mic that can be run up the A-pillar?

Yes, there is a mic in the unit and they come with an external mic – though to be honest the phone side of things is where the unit is let down compared to name brands – people on the other end complain about an echo (some people say this is due to the onboard mic staying enabled with the external plugged in, and there is a supposed fix for it but I haven't personally done this), additionally phone book sync is manual so if you update your contacts on the phone they don't automatically go across to the unit you must re-sync. Also SMS and the likes don't go through to the head unit/cant send from the head unit, though again others have said they've fixed this, it just doesn't bother me enough to fix yet.

Would this require fascia or antenna adaptor? If so, where do I find them and how much am I looking at roughly?

Yes, you need a fascia, antenna adapter, mounting kit and wiring harness – all available in a kit from ebay for about $40.

How much would I be looking at to do the reversing camera? How difficult are they to put in?

They can be had cheap as ($10-$15) from ebay, not overly difficult to put in though you'll have to remove trim such as the door sill protectors to run the wiring from the front to back of the car – you'll also need to splice the power in to the reverse lights at the boot to power the camera and run the earth wire to any screw/bolt that goes into metal.

Would the steering wheel buttons (mode, next and previous on the left, and mute, volume up and volume down on the right) still work with a new head unit? Any adaptors or modification required?

With the joying (and likely pumpkin/eonon as they're basically the same just rebranded) you can do this without any extra adapters etc, but note the wiring diagram they send with the HU doesn't work for the VZ – with mine to get it working I had to wire the "key 1" to the first steering wheel wire in the factory harness, and "key 2" to BOTH the 2nd steering wheel wire and ground – just to the 2nd wire or just to ground wouldn't work properly. Note the holden to ISO harness etc doesn't pass the steering wheel wires through so you'll need to make a wire for these 2 to plug into the factory harness. I believe most branded HUs require you to run their converter for steering wheel keys (and from memory they weren't cheap) so the minor hassle here is worth it IMO.

Thanks for the answers guys, particularly yours Wazzap. I think a Joying or similar might be the way to go. Are you able to link me to which stereo and adapter/mount/fascia you got?

Wazzap writes...

Yes, there is a mic in the unit and they come with an external mic

The phone usage would be minimal to be honest. Just a nice to have. For the sake of ease of install, and to avoid the echo you mentioned, do you think it's viable to just leave off the external mic and purely use the mic on the head unit?

note the wiring diagram they send with the HU doesn't work for the VZ – with mine to get it working I had to wire the "key 1" to the first steering wheel wire in the factory harness, and "key 2" to BOTH the 2nd steering wheel wire and ground – just to the 2nd wire or just to ground wouldn't work properly. Note the holden to ISO harness etc doesn't pass the steering wheel wires through so you'll need to make a wire for these 2 to plug into the factory harness.I believe most branded HUs require you to run their converter for steering wheel keys (and from memory they weren't cheap) so the minor hassle here is worth it IMO.

I got a little lost at this part, although it sounds achievable which is encouraging.

How long would you say the install took in total? Any special tools required?

i_like_chicken writes...

Thanks for the answers guys, particularly yours Wazzap. I think a Joying or similar might be the way to go. Are you able to link me to which stereo and adapter/mount/fascia you got?

I didn't actually buy the kit, and to me the fascia looks like it may be a bit big (maybe the joying is over the standard double din size, though the gap in the VZ dash is also larger than double din), but https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VY-VZ-COMMODORE-Car-Radio-Stereo-DOUBLE-DIN-BLACK-Fascia-Complete-install-Kit/262901415324?hash=item3d36253d9c:g:kgYAAOSwLpdW98x4 looks like the right one (available in black or grey).

The phone usage would be minimal to be honest. Just a nice to have. For the sake of ease of install, and to avoid the echo you mentioned, do you think it's viable to just leave off the external mic and purely use the mic on the head unit?

From what others say the issue is that the mic on the unit is unshielded and both mics connect together, some solve the issue by cutting the wire on the mic on the unit (though they say this stops voice commands working, if you care about them), though others say this didn't help. If it's minimal usage just use it – on mine it's clear to people that I'm in the car, but if we desperately need to have a conversation it's bearable (it's actually quite clear in the car, it's the other end that hear the echo), and if it's not a desperately needed convo then it's probably best to wait until you're not in the car – this is the main reason I haven't fixed the issue on mine.

I got a little lost at this part, although it sounds achievable which is encouraging.

It may make more sense when you're doing the install but basically the joying harness has 2 wires labelled key 1 and key 2 – these normally connect directly to 1 wire each in your factory harness, but for the VZ you need to connect key 1 to 1 wire, and key 2 to 2 wires (being the 2nd wire from the wheel plus one going to ground).

How long would you say the install took in total? Any special tools required?

Really depends what you're doing at the same time – if you were for example just to be removing the existing unit and replacing it with the new one you could probably do this in about 10mins (insert keys from the install kit into existing stereo, pull out of dash, plug the 2 adapters in, install new stereo and fascia...done) but any other stuff (mounting the GPS antenna anywhere other than right on top of the radio, installing a reverse camera, putting the USB cables somewhere accessible, running the external mic somewhere etc) add time. Mine took a couple of hours because I had an amp/sub that I had to rewire now that the stereo has pre-outs (rather than the line converters it ran off before) and I had to remove the factory bluetooth kit, install the new mic/GPS antenna in better locations, install and wire up a reverse camera etc.Special tools wise it's mainly the tool to remove the factory stereo (comes in the kit linked above, or you can make your own easy enough), and if you're removing trim to run the mic/gps/reverse camera you'll probably want trim removal tools (only a few $$ on ebay most likely) and a few screwdrivers. Any wiring you need to do will also require a crimp tool/crimp connectors or solder/soldering iron/heatshrink (for your own future sanity don't use scotch locks!).