Could this be the definitive stereo/ Nav upgrade?

[strummagnet]

I have been pondering on an upgrade to the current RNS-D offering in the D2 and happened upon this as a solution:

https://www.kenwood.eu/car/navigatio...ia/DMX9720XDS/

Chap on Youtube: https://youtu.be/b5N0rzlwcJM


It is a 'floating' screen akin to the modern way of doing things. Just looking for opinions from the forum.

One thing I did like is you can customise the buttons to have the same backlighting as the rest of the car through an RGB interface.

I did look at the Alpine unit but the lack of a volume knob and the white backlighting has put me off. https://youtu.be/LDnUZm_l7X4

What say you all?

[MikkiJayne]

Its an impressive piece of kit, but unfortunately far too tall for the D2 dash at 262wx181h, and would obscure all of the upper switches and the top of the hvac controls





Even if the top switches were relocated you'd still lose seat heaters, windscreen demist and recirculate from the hvac.

Something similar with an 8" screen would probably be doable. As you noticed though, the Kenwood seems to be the only one with a proper volume button which is so annoying. Also, none of the other vendors of these floating screen units appear to be inclined to show dimensions of the actual panel so its hard to determine what would and wouldn't work.

[strummagnet]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Its an impressive piece of kit, but unfortunately far too tall for the D2 dash at 262wx181h, and would obscure all of the upper switches and the top of the hvac controls





Even if the top switches were relocated you'd still lose seat heaters, windscreen demist and recirculate from the hvac.

Something similar with an 8" screen would probably be doable. As you noticed though, the Kenwood seems to be the only one with a proper volume button which is so annoying. Also, none of the other vendors of these floating screen units appear to be inclined to show dimensions of the actual panel so its hard to determine what would and wouldn't work.

Ah! Never thought to consider the switchear across the top row....... Just thought the dash had the 'presence' to carry the design.

[strummagnet]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Its an impressive piece of kit, but unfortunately far too tall for the D2 dash at 262wx181h, and would obscure all of the upper switches and the top of the hvac controls

Even if the top switches were relocated you'd still lose seat heaters, windscreen demist and recirculate from the hvac.

Something similar with an 8" screen would probably be doable. As you noticed though, the Kenwood seems to be the only one with a proper volume button which is so annoying. Also, none of the other vendors of these floating screen units appear to be inclined to show dimensions of the actual panel so its hard to determine what would and wouldn't work.

Well then I thought the Alpine iLX-903:

https://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/...View/ilx-f903d

might be worth a compromise. No control knob for volume but I found in the manual that you can change the button colour background and turn the white backlighting off, though whether the button background colour is an 'Audi red' remains to be seen.

Im just getting 'hung up' on the floating dash design.



Its a shame the vertical adjustment isnt motorised eh MJ?

[MikkiJayne]

Also a fairly impressive machine, although a shame it doesn't have a high definition screen like the Kenwood. Given the amazing displays available for phones and tablets I remain disappointed that most of the car audio manufacturers are still using 480p

At least the Alpine has a mute button to make up for no volume knob, although are they actually buttons? "touch-responsive hard-keys" implies they're just sensors, not actual switches.

Floating displays are a reasonable way to get more real estate than a simple double-din, but most of them seem to assume there is nothing else important around the head unit and no one seems interested in a wide-format version, which is the one dimension in which we have plenty of room

BTW I tried last year to make my own head unit based on off the shelf HD touch screens and a Raspberry Pi. The hardware is simple, but alas the software support is rubbish and has nothing like the polish of a mainstream head unit, and because the Pi doesn't have any form of power control getting it to power up and down is messy, complicated and slow.

[Markiii]

I'm pretty happy with the joying 9" i have in mine, whats bugging me most s the location, when you lose nav instructions in the cluster i really find the stock HU position way too low

I have an idea for a replacement with a screen above the vents. Just pondering what i put where the HU normally sits

[MikkiJayne]

Single din swap with a phone cubby? Not that single din parts are particularly easy to find now.

I was looking at an MMI swap with the screen popping out of the top using D3 bits, maybe an A3 control panel in the dash, but given how troublesome that mechanism seems to be, plus the headache of component protection, its looking less appealing.

[strummagnet]

Originally Posted by Markiii

I have an idea for a replacement with a screen above the vents. Just pondering what i put where the HU normally sits

Cool box for a picnic?

or

Subwoofer?

[27litres]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Also a fairly impressive machine, although a shame it doesn't have a high definition screen like the Kenwood. Given the amazing displays available for phones and tablets I remain disappointed that most of the car audio manufacturers are still using 480p

I can remember thinking when fitting an aftermarket Clarion to my A4, and again when looking for FLAC solutions (when all you could get was CD and MP3, no USB back then) that aftermarket head unit manufacturers always seemed a generation or two behind market trends.

But you also reminded me about this story, which might go to durability concerns:
The Smoking Tire's Matt Farah once told a story of the latest Corvette (may have been the launch of the C8) having a 720p touch screen and complaining to a GM engineer about Tesla having 1080p screens in their cars. The Engineer went on to say (paraphrasing) let's see where those screens are after 10 years and 100,000 miles in Arizona. Basically referring to those types of screens lacking durability in an automotive application (vibration, heat, UV etc).
Some Model S's must be up there now, so how have their screens stood the test of time?

[Ronin]

My android unit (as seen in my thread) has a 1080p screen and Oasis DVD does look great on it

EDIT: its actually 1024x600, but does support 1080p playback