Panasonic Cqvd6505 Or Similar

[The Jackal]

Hi All,

I have a gen 7 Celica (post facelift) and am doing research on a new head unit as the standard one is a bit pants.

I've looked at a few and really like something with a big touch screen so it is easy to select what you want to play from your CD/USB/MP3 device and so on.

I've seen this Panasonic one: Panasonic CQVD6505

I've looked at the Kenwood ones, but they are getting towards the completely silly money range.

The features I am looking for:

• Plays MP3s/Audio files -
  
• [optionally plays video files] -
  
• From a USB device or SD card.
  
• Can handle 4GB or higher storage devices
  
• easy to use so not fumbling in the dark
  
• must *not* have loads of annoying flashy lights as I find this irritating! ;)
  
• Cheap as chips! :D
  

Anyhow enough pre-amble,

Firstly I seem to be having trouble finding reviews for car audio players such as this one, so anyone know good sites for this?

Secondly I presume a double DIN will fit in the Celica fine, however do I need to get a specialised facade to fill in any gaps and if so from where/how much?

Thirdly, I'm thinking of having the car electronics people fit it since I hope they are more tech savvy than a Halfords monkey. Anyone had experience with them?

Thanks for any info.

PS: Should I also change my Speakers? If so any recommendations for a reasonable price?

PPS: Redpower DVD 590 looks ok, but is it actually any good?

[DefiantFrog]

Yeah, that Panasonic looks ok! There's an Alpine one thats very similar as well - might be worth looking at.

You do need a special adaptor to make it fit properly - comes as standard in the pre-facelift G7 to go round the Sony effort that was in there. I guess you either go to Toyota or a breakers to try and get one. If its any more than £20 I'll be surprised! You *may* need a new (pre-facelift) centre console (clock to heater controls) as well - I don't know if they post-facelift one will have the right holes drilled for fitting the double DIN surround or not. I don't know of anyone else that made one to make a doube DIN fit nicely with no gaps.

CEL are ok, although in my experience, can be quite expensive. Try Bass Junkies as well (other end of town, on Osmaston Road near the Westfield Centre - walk up from The Spot and its a few hundred meters on the right). Or have a go yourself! With the correct ISO adaptor (<insert stereo manufacturer here> to Toyota Cars - £10 - 15 from CEL, BassJunkies, or Halfords), the little plastic surround from a pre-facelift Celica, and a quick search on 'G7 Stereo Removal' on here, and you should be laughing!

You'll notice the difference in quality of the Amps when you swap over your stereo, but next step if you like good quality music, is to change the Speakers. Your current ones are made of cardboard, which isn't really the best. Which make is really down to personal preference. I've always liked Pioneer stuff. Others love JBL's, Sony's etc. Have a listen to a few sets and see what you like! I reckon if you spend approx £60 - £80 for each pair, you're probably not going far wrong! When you do it though, be aware of the changes to the amount of Bass to start off with - new Speakers are very tight, so don't handle bass too well to start with, they need losening off a bit. After a month or so of normal use they should sound fine.

[The Jackal]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

The Panasonic looks nice if a bit pricey! :( I saw the alpine ones too. I guess I will have to visit CEL/Halfords etc and have a gander at them in real life. One thing I worry about is them collapsing under a large storage device with 1,000s of tracks on it.

I could have a go myself, but as my car is still fairly new and I'm a bit lazy, paying £30 or whatever for professional fitting is worth it considering the cost of unit+speakers. (although I have got lots of offers of help from peeps at work)

My car is automatic climate control one so the facade for the in dash 6 disc changer+head unit is separate from the heater and clock unit, although are you actually saying to make it a nice fit I have to replace the whole centre console plastic trim bit? ( Failing that, polyfiller! :D )

I noticed CEL are expensive, something like £100 more than online, I looked at Bass Junkies site, but not much info on that so will have to visit at some point.

(Side point, why are both companies sites so horrid! As a programmer and web developer I shudder, plus they are not accessibility aware!)

As for running in the Speakers, yup thanks for the advice, sounds the same for when I bought mission Speakers for my home cinema, take a while to break in as it where.

Thanks!

[The Jackal]

FYI I found the dimensions of DIN and double DIN

DIN

180mm x 50mm

Double DIN

180mm x 100mm

Thus the post facelift gen 7 stereo "hole" is approx 25mm to wide.

Thanks.

[DefiantFrog]

My car is automatic climate control one so the facade for the in dash 6 disc changer+head unit is separate from the heater and clock unit, although are you actually saying to make it a nice fit I have to replace the whole centre console plastic trim bit? ( Failing that, polyfiller! :D )

My point was, if you manage to find the little plastic surround from a pre-facelift, I don't know if the post-facelift has the right holes in the back of the centre console to make it fit like it does in the pre-facelift! I'm sure its nothing a bit of glue wouldn't fix, but you never know, hence me saying that you *may* want to look at getting a pre-facelift console - clock, pocket, and stereo section (it comes apart in multiple sections - as I am sure you are aware!). You seem to suggest that because of a 6-disc changer, your console has more sections than most though...? I've never been in one with your current set up so can't really comment... Meh, anyways...

Well, if you go ahead, and don't want to pay the fitting price on the stereo, feel free to drop me a line - I don't mind lending a hand (as long as its a warm weekend afternoon!). I wouldn't be ever so keen on speaker fitting on someone else's car though, as there's a change I could break the plastic panelling and that'd be no good! :)

And, yeah, both sites aren't great, CEL's definately being the worse of the two! And while I take your point about the accessibility, you have to question the need - only someone who was visually impaired would have problems with the sites. And there's an assumption to me made that if they are visually impaired, why on earth would they be wanting to upgrade audio in a car thats illegal for them to drive!! Anyways... :)

[The Jackal]

Hi,

Thanks for that, especially the offer to help fitting. I've already received lots of offers from people at work. Personally I think I'll have little trouble fitting it, I'm just annoyed its so "difficult" to find the bits you need easily, especially with the days of the 'Tinternet!

Apparently I can order the double din surround from Toyota, however I will have to check this on Monday when the parts department opens.

The tricky bit now is to find a unit I like and can afford:

This is really nice but at near £500 a bit to much of silly money for my liking! :(

Kenwood DDX7029

Then there is this, which is cheap but how good? Who knows! Of course it could be really good since the Shinco dvd player I bought was really good!

RedPower DVD590

Edit: Oh just seen this on dabs:

SeViC 6.5" DVD player

Edit2: They dont stock it anymore, but motorworld do and they also stock Beat 600

, but I have no idea if its any good :( (PS linked to another site since motorworlds one will make your eyes bleed!)

Then of course there is the single DIN option:

JVC KD-BT1

The trouble I seem to be finding info on the following:

a) Whats the max capacity SD card the SD slots can cope with

B) If I use a USB card reader, the SD card should appear as a storage device and therefore size shouldn't matter.

c) I went to Bass Junkies and a few others but not a lot on display plus they didn't know about SD card size limits!

d) Do I need different fitting brackets for the Celica, or can I use the ones on the current unit?

e) Its all a PITA! :)

The 6 in 1 changer looks like this

which is ontop of the tape/radio unit. Of course if you look at the unit installation docs on this site you can see what it looks like. (Im to lazy to go out again to take a pic of it! lol)

As for the websites, well turn off javascript, or even simpler just trying to find stuff isnt that great.

Cheers for the help!

Mark.

PS: Anyone know of a good online store to buy from that is reliable and all that?

ta.

[The Jackal]

RE: Looks like this thread is about the same stuff.

[The Jackal]

RE: Fascia adapters, Toyota do not sell any fascia adapters besides the ones for their radio unit, and thus no plate for double DIN :(

Edit: Right I've done a lot of googling and it seems the parts you need for filling in the double din gaps are these

Part numbers 86221-52060 and 86221-52050. Im going to ring Toyota up again to see if the muppets actually stock and sell these!

Yes they do, £7.13 + vat each!

ta

[DefiantFrog]

Ahh, well done! Good bit of research there! :)