Questions About Double Din Unit...

[will75]

hi all

ive just bought a 2nd hand previous model avensis 2.0 cdx auto with only 52k on the clock and fsh . it's my second car; my first was a 1988 saab 900 turbo 16 convertible. bit of a change eh? well, i liked the saab, but i should add that i really only liked it when it ran . the past 5 months it spent more time in the garage than on the road :ffs:. i got so sick of this that i decided to go for pretty much the most reliable car my money could buy, which brings me here :D. i'm really pleased with the avensis so far. it's not as powerful as my old saab, but it has enough oomph and anyway it invites a much more relaxed, and relaxing, style of driving. the auto box, low noise levels, leather interior and sunroof all add to the fantastic sense of comfort the car gives me.

but now to my question.

the car has a sony wx-c570r cd radio cassette player installed. in principle it's quite a decent stereo but the problem is that it doesn't have a removable front, and the decoy cover (which looks like an ashtray) is missing as well. in the area i live in, this is asking for serious, expensive trouble :cacker:. now the simplest solution would of course be to simply replace it with a new stereo. i wouldnt mind doing this but the problem is that the sony is a double din unit, i.e. it's 100 mm high. i've found a few stores online that sell double din units, so one possibility is to replace it with one that has a detachable front panel. (i guess the sony stalk on the steering wheel column could be removed by a specialist.) i've found at least one candidate that isn't too expensive, a pioneer at £349:

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/p...cts_id/103.html

the other possibility, i suppose, would be to go for a normal, single din unit. this would increase my options exponentially, which would be nice. however, of course i don't want to be left with a gaping hole in the dash :o. i've tried to find fascia adapters online but can't seem to find a store that sells them for the previous model avensis. i did find the following one:

http://www.raysmith.co.uk/product_info.php...d9cdf72b80ce32a

...but as it doesnt mention any years i suspect it's for the current model...

judging from the owners manual, i gather that when the stereo was installed an auxiliary box was removed from the fascia to make space for it. this makes me wonder whether it would be possible to get one of these boxes through a toyota dealer, and install a single din stereo .

any thoughts or advice will be much appreciated!

[Mackers]

can you get a pic of ya stereo, i have a "2000" model and found that the replacement stereo only fitted where the CD part is, due to the fact the the "upper part" (the display and buttons) stays.

[will75]

can you get a pic of ya stereo, i have a "2000" model and found that the replacement stereo only fitted where the CD part is, due to the fact the the "upper part" (the display and buttons) stays.

←

thanks for your quick reply mackers. the unit looks like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Toyota-Avensis-CD-Ta...bayphotohosting

as you can see, the part with the main control buttons is actually the lower part on this unit. anyway, even if i could get away with replacing only part of the stereo i'd still be very hesitant about leaving something in my car at night. my old saab was vandalised twice in two weeks' time :ffs:, once for the stereo, once just for fun :censor:. i had to find a secure car park for it, which i would now like to be able to do without. (the area isn't that bad but to my mind part of the problem was that it was a convertible and really stood out from the other cars in the street anyway.)

i've just sent off an e-ticket to car audio direct to see if they know of a fascia adapter. according to the autoleads web page there is no such adapter available for the cdx model (http://www.autoleads.co.uk/database/Avensis.html) :o, but i find that a bit hard to believe.

[Mackers]

you could use a normal radio and AUTOLEADS to a universal single DIN pocket. hope that helps

[Bilal8210]

hey i changed my same double din unit as it was giving me trouble. apparently its a problem with a lot of them on the cd player. neway all i did was take it out an go to my local shop to get some new leads. i used a normal single din unit and just got a lil box from my local scrap yard from a gs version of the avensis as they only come with a single unit as standard. then it looked normal, u can choose to have ur unit either higher up or lower down and then replace the hole with a box! hope that helps!

fanxx

[sjrainsford]

Yeah, you will pay a premium for a double din unit i'm afraid.

If I were you, i'd get some interior panels out of a GS model. These had a single din stereo. The plastic panels just pull out, like the stereo surround and vent surrounds. That's if you want to move away from wood look of course. You could just choose the options stated above though of course!!

[will75]

Yeah, you will pay a premium for a double din unit i'm afraid.

If I were you, i'd get some interior panels out of a GS model. These had a single din stereo. The plastic panels just pull out, like the stereo surround and vent surrounds. That's if you want to move away from wood look of course. You could just choose the options stated above though of course!!

thanks a lot for your replies :thumbsup:!! i have a few more questions about the various options. haven't done anything like this before, so these questions are probably going to be pretty stupid... :huh:

re a universal single DIN pocket, I've searched the autoleads page but can't seem to find anything of this description. on a toyota supra mk forum i read a message from a guy who had found such a unit at Halfords

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/printthread.php?t=5846 (scroll down to the first message by lovatt)

...but again the Halfords website doesn't seem to list a universal one (and i can't find one for an old-shape avensis cdx either)

i've also googled for a universal pocket, but again no luck. (well, it's how i found the message on the supra forum.) if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be really great.

re the second option, i.e. taking some bits from a gs, am i right in understanding that i could get away with just the box (as bilal8210 seems to suggest)? or is there perhaps some mechanism inside that i'll have to take as well? i'd rather keep the wood on my car's fascia, so if i am to take any bits from a gs, this should be as minimal as possible. i'd be very happy if i could just slot in a box and then be left with a single-din sized gap above it.

thanks again in advance for your advice!

[will75]

quick update: a very helpful chappie at car audio direct has now responded to my query about a suitable fascia adaptor. he suggests the following:

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_in...products_id=657

when you follow the link you'll see it's listed as a volvio fascia, but he says it's actually universal. sounds good. has anyone else tried fitting this adaptor by any chance?