Thank you for sharing!
2015 CRV Head Unit Replacement Experience
Hey guys,
I used lots of info on here to to plan my head unit install. This post will rehash a bit of what is already known about replacing the head unit, but I wanted to get all of the info into one place.
As we all know the stock head unit, speaker, and sub combo is trash. I elected to make my first upgrade to the head unit and will piece out the rest of the upgrade over time. I eventually settled on a Kenwood DMX905S but started with a pioneer avh-W4400NEX. I'll get into that in a bit.
Removal of trim and head unit. Good YouTube video for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtTw4DURgGw
Antenna retention: Metra 40-HD11
Dash Kit: Scosche HA1714B Dash kit is fine. Not the worst I've seen, not the best either.
I used an iDatalink Maestro RR and HO2 harness for the integration with the OEM system. It works great for all of the integrated stuff, keeps the clock and date updated in the i-Mid and allows for retention of both cameras (rear-view and lanewatch) with Kenwood/JVC receivers (Only rear-view camera and manually triggered Lane Watch with the Pioneer).
USB retention cables were PAC Audio USB-TY1 (Thanks Phanoko)
This cable works great on the gray cable, but you need to trim a small piece off the green cable to make it work. As far as I can tell, the green cable is the one that will support Apple Car Play/Android Auto on both the Pioneer and Kenwood head units.
HDMI retention - I used the Axxess AX-HON-HD1 (Again thanks to Phanoko)
Retention worked perfectly on the Pioneer, but no HDMI on the Kenwood, so I sent it back.
Lastly the OEM GPS plug is a direct fit for the Kenwood receiver which allowed me to keep the OEM antenna. With the Pioneer, you can use an adapter and keep the OEM antenna but the adapter is a bit pricey. I hear you can get it from this website (discountcarstereo.com/gt5-avic.f.html), but I have no experience with this.
On to why I switched from the Pioneer and hopefully this will keep you from repeating my mistakes.
Pioneer - I picked it because it retained both USB ports and the HDMI and had 2 camera input plus the iDatalink maestro inputs. I have always used pioneer radios and was interested in the auto eq setup as well.
The good: Wireless CarPlay! The install was straightforward as the wiring harness colors match the maestro perfectly. The audio quality out of the OEM speakers was amazing with the Auto EQ function and you could tweak things even further if you liked. I also prefer the menus of the pioneer system.
The problems: You could manually trigger the Lane Watch camera but the automatic triggering was only possible with a Kenwood/JVC or purchase of (12voltdata.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=421&t=19078). Alternatively you could purchase another piece of hardware to handle the camera switching (pac-audio.com/catalog/video-integration/vs41) but the $$ was adding up and I still wouldn't have parking guides on the rear-view.
The Kenwood:
The Good: Capacitive touchscreen is awesome (but picks up lots of fingerprints), retains Lane Watch auto triggering and manual triggering via the standard button on the headlight stalk, guidelines in the rear camera, USB retention x2, great idatalink maestro integration.
The problems: CarPlay is wired. Wiring harness colors don't match the maestro and several ended up not being used (VSS in particular), No HDMI, although you can get this in the next step up in their lineup, No auto EQ and I haven't been able to get the manual EQ, crossover, and timing to match the sound quality of the pioneer Auto EQ, I personally prefer the menus and layout of the pioneer.
My next steps will be subwoofer replacement and then 4 door speaker replacement. I'll probably go with a kicker Key amp or an Alpine powerpack for the door speakers and a monoblock amp plus a compact sub to replace the stock under the passenger seat. If I run into any more Issues I'll try to post some updates.
I used lots of info on here to to plan my head unit install. This post will rehash a bit of what is already known about replacing the head unit, but I wanted to get all of the info into one place.
As we all know the stock head unit, speaker, and sub combo is trash. I elected to make my first upgrade to the head unit and will piece out the rest of the upgrade over time. I eventually settled on a Kenwood DMX905S but started with a pioneer avh-W4400NEX. I'll get into that in a bit.
Removal of trim and head unit. Good YouTube video for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtTw4DURgGw
Antenna retention: Metra 40-HD11
Dash Kit: Scosche HA1714B Dash kit is fine. Not the worst I've seen, not the best either.
I used an iDatalink Maestro RR and HO2 harness for the integration with the OEM system. It works great for all of the integrated stuff, keeps the clock and date updated in the i-Mid and allows for retention of both cameras (rear-view and lanewatch) with Kenwood/JVC receivers (Only rear-view camera and manually triggered Lane Watch with the Pioneer).
USB retention cables were PAC Audio USB-TY1 (Thanks Phanoko)
This cable works great on the gray cable, but you need to trim a small piece off the green cable to make it work. As far as I can tell, the green cable is the one that will support Apple Car Play/Android Auto on both the Pioneer and Kenwood head units.
HDMI retention - I used the Axxess AX-HON-HD1 (Again thanks to Phanoko)
Retention worked perfectly on the Pioneer, but no HDMI on the Kenwood, so I sent it back.
Lastly the OEM GPS plug is a direct fit for the Kenwood receiver which allowed me to keep the OEM antenna. With the Pioneer, you can use an adapter and keep the OEM antenna but the adapter is a bit pricey. I hear you can get it from this website (discountcarstereo.com/gt5-avic.f.html), but I have no experience with this.
On to why I switched from the Pioneer and hopefully this will keep you from repeating my mistakes.
Pioneer - I picked it because it retained both USB ports and the HDMI and had 2 camera input plus the iDatalink maestro inputs. I have always used pioneer radios and was interested in the auto eq setup as well.
The good: Wireless CarPlay! The install was straightforward as the wiring harness colors match the maestro perfectly. The audio quality out of the OEM speakers was amazing with the Auto EQ function and you could tweak things even further if you liked. I also prefer the menus of the pioneer system.
The problems: You could manually trigger the Lane Watch camera but the automatic triggering was only possible with a Kenwood/JVC or purchase of (12voltdata.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=421&t=19078). Alternatively you could purchase another piece of hardware to handle the camera switching (pac-audio.com/catalog/video-integration/vs41) but the $$ was adding up and I still wouldn't have parking guides on the rear-view.
The Kenwood:
The Good: Capacitive touchscreen is awesome (but picks up lots of fingerprints), retains Lane Watch auto triggering and manual triggering via the standard button on the headlight stalk, guidelines in the rear camera, USB retention x2, great idatalink maestro integration.
The problems: CarPlay is wired. Wiring harness colors don't match the maestro and several ended up not being used (VSS in particular), No HDMI, although you can get this in the next step up in their lineup, No auto EQ and I haven't been able to get the manual EQ, crossover, and timing to match the sound quality of the pioneer Auto EQ, I personally prefer the menus and layout of the pioneer.
My next steps will be subwoofer replacement and then 4 door speaker replacement. I'll probably go with a kicker Key amp or an Alpine powerpack for the door speakers and a monoblock amp plus a compact sub to replace the stock under the passenger seat. If I run into any more Issues I'll try to post some updates.
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Great post! You've added a lot of good and useful info. I am in the planning stage for my upgrade in my '07 in the spring/early summer. I've tentatively chosen the 8905, which is the same as yours except with an optical drive and slightly larger screen. I could go back and look harder at your choice, the 905, as I won't use the optical drive, and the only reason I chose it was for use by a future buyer or inheritor. But my entire music collection is ripped, so I have no need for it. I use an Android phone. Still working on the music playback plans. My phone has 256Gb of space (using a microSD card) for music storage, but I may instead opt to use a thumb drive. Still looking at that and considering which will work best for me. The 5-volt pre-outs are good as I will be adding an external amplifier and a powered under-seat sub. So, very similar to your plan. Keep us posted on how it progresses! I'll be especially interested on your final choices for the amp and the speakers and sub, and your reasons for those.
Great deal of info, OP! Do you by chance have any pics of the finished install?
Looking great! Questions: Does it sound better than the OEM HU already (with the stock speakers)? Also, does it show you individual tire pressures? How does the idatalink connect to the ODBII port? I wondered about that since my '07 did not have Nav and so will need a direct connection to the port. I think. Thanks for any help.
Yes the new HU definitely made a difference in the sound quality. The Auto EQ on the pioneer made it sound better than I thought the stock ones were capable. The Kenwood sounds better, but I'm still trying to figure out the eq settings with the stock speakers. The 2015 CR-Vs don't have direct tire pressure monitoring, only indirect. Because of this the car is incapable of displaying tire pressure. The HU can, just not the CR-V. The idatalink has an ODBII plug in for the port. It uses this to get engine MIL and door codes. It probably does other stuff too, but I have a reader for that, so I haven't messed with it at all. As far as speed and GPS, I think it gets all of that from the GPS antenna (not sure though).
I forgot about the updated TPMS system. I'm not sure it's better. The new head unit came with a GPS antenna, right? I'm glad it sounds better. New speakers should make it incrementally even better. I'm thinking 50wpc should then be sufficient in an amp to cause a huge sound upgrade.
I think I'm going to pay some place to do mine. What was the next one up? The one that I think you said would also do the HDMI.
Hey prymas13-- Purchased everything you listed in here right down to the Kenwood. Planning on doing the install next week.. Do you have any concerns about losing access to the 'secret menu' the stock head unit has. I've wandered around in there before and there seemed to be a number of diagnostic and calibration operations in there that I can't imagine even with the iDatalink the Kenwood can reproduce.Hey guys,
I used lots of info on here to to plan my head unit install. This post will rehash a bit of what is already known about replacing the head unit, but I wanted to get all of the info into one place.
As we all know the stock head unit, speaker, and sub combo is trash. I elected to make my first upgrade to the head unit and will piece out the rest of the upgrade over time. I eventually settled on a Kenwood DMX905S but started with a pioneer avh-W4400NEX. I'll get into that in a bit.
Removal of trim and head unit. Good YouTube video for this titled "How to remove the head unit, stereo on Honda CR-V 2012-2017" (Post limit won't let me link)
Antenna retention: Metra 40-HD11 [
Dash Kit: Scosche HA1714B Dash kit is fine. Not the worst I've seen, not the best either.
I used an iDatalink Maestro RR and HO2 harness for the integration with the OEM system. It works great for all of the integrated stuff, keeps the clock and date updated in the i-Mid and allows for retention of both cameras (rear-view and lanewatch) with Kenwood/JVC receivers (Only rear-view camera and manually triggered Lane Watch with the Pioneer).
USB retention cables were PAC Audio USB-TY1 (Thanks Phanoko)
This cable works great on the gray cable, but you need to trim a small piece off the green cable to make it work. As far as I can tell, the green cable is the one that will support Apple Car Play/Android Auto on both the Pioneer and Kenwood head units.
HDMI retention - I used the Axxess AX-HON-HD1 (Again thanks to Phanoko)
Retention worked perfectly on the Pioneer, but no HDMI on the Kenwood, so I sent it back.
Lastly the OEM GPS plug is a direct fit for the Kenwood receiver which allowed me to keep the OEM antenna. With the Pioneer, you can use an adapter and keep the OEM antenna but the adapter is a bit pricey. I hear you can get it from this website (discountcarstereo[dot]com/gt5-avic.f.html), but I have no experience with this.
On to why I switched from the Pioneer and hopefully this will keep you from repeating my mistakes.
Pioneer - I picked it because it retained both USB ports and the HDMI and had 2 camera input plus the iDatalink maestro inputs. I have always used pioneer radios and was interested in the auto eq setup as well.
The good: Wireless CarPlay! The install was straightforward as the wiring harness colors match the maestro perfectly. The audio quality out of the OEM speakers was amazing with the Auto EQ function and you could tweak things even further if you liked. I also prefer the menus of the pioneer system.
The problems: You could manually trigger the Lane Watch camera but the automatic triggering was only possible with a Kenwood/JVC or purchase of (12voltdata[dot]com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=421&t=19078). Alternatively you could purchase another piece of hardware to handle the camera switching (pac-audio[dot]com/catalog/video-integration/vs41) but the $$ was adding up and I still wouldn't have parking guides on the rear-view.
The Kenwood:
The Good: Capacitive touchscreen is awesome (but picks up lots of fingerprints), retains Lane Watch auto triggering and manual triggering via the standard button on the headlight stalk, guidelines in the rear camera, USB retention x2, great idatalink maestro integration.
The problems: CarPlay is wired. Wiring harness colors don't match the maestro and several ended up not being used (VSS in particular), No HDMI, although you can get this in the next step up in their lineup, No auto EQ and I haven't been able to get the manual EQ, crossover, and timing to match the sound quality of the pioneer Auto EQ, I personally prefer the menus and layout of the pioneer.
My next steps will be subwoofer replacement and then 4 door speaker replacement. I'll probably go with a kicker Key amp or an Alpine powerpack for the door speakers and a monoblock amp plus a compact sub to replace the stock under the passenger seat. If I run into any more Issues I'll try to post some updates.
Yes the new HU came with a GPS, I just didn't find a good spot within the dash to securely mount it. It was easier for me to just re-use the OEM one as I liked the fact that it was mounted under the plastic just in front of the i-MID.The new head unit came with a GPS antenna, right? I'm glad it sounds better.
DDX9905s is the next one up. I think you need an adapter to do HDMI with their audio-in, but I wasn't using the HDMI so I didn't look too far into it.I think I'm going to pay some place to do mine. What was the next one up? The one that I think you said would also do the HDMI.
I hope you enjoy it! Just get a good cloth to wipe the fingerprints though. That is probably the only thing I don't like about the capacitive touch screen.Hey prymas13-- Purchased everything you listed in here right down to the Kenwood. Planning on doing the install next week.. Do you have any concerns about losing access to the 'secret menu' the stock head unit has. I've wandered around in there before and there seemed to be a number of diagnostic and calibration operations in there that I can't imagine even with the iDatalink the Kenwood can reproduce.
I thought for a few minutes about losing some of that functionality, but I've never seen anyone on the forums mention ever needing the calibration stuff in there. AFAIK a lot of the menus were strictly head unit calibration and such. I think I remember seeing some menus for the climate control in there as well. I'd be shocked if the dealer wasn't able to access that stuff via their software though. And the menu navigation on that Head Unit was terrible. Even if it had good sound quality I probably would have eventually gone office space on that thing if I had kept it.
I really only got the idatalink to integrate the lanewatch and the iMID. There is some ODB port integration, but I haven't needed or used it. The new gauges are interesting, but I'm not real concerned how many G's I'm pulling with the CR-V
The one caveat I would give is that I have an EX-L. Those with the touring package with radar, ACC, etc. need to do their own research on how this would affect them.
I installed my JVC receiver (kw-m740bt) into my 12 EX using the maestro Rr and my iMid doesn't display anything besides the analog clock which is set to 24h. I also can't switch it to 12 hour or even adjust the time.Hey guys,
I used lots of info on here to to plan my head unit install. This post will rehash a bit of what is already known about replacing the head unit, but I wanted to get all of the info into one place.
As we all know the stock head unit, speaker, and sub combo is trash. I elected to make my first upgrade to the head unit and will piece out the rest of the upgrade over time. I eventually settled on a Kenwood DMX905S but started with a pioneer avh-W4400NEX. I'll get into that in a bit.
Removal of trim and head unit. Good YouTube video for this
Antenna retention: Metra 40-HD11
Dash Kit: Scosche HA1714B Dash kit is fine. Not the worst I've seen, not the best either.
I used an iDatalink Maestro RR and HO2 harness for the integration with the OEM system. It works great for all of the integrated stuff, keeps the clock and date updated in the i-Mid and allows for retention of both cameras (rear-view and lanewatch) with Kenwood/JVC receivers (Only rear-view camera and manually triggered Lane Watch with the Pioneer).
USB retention cables were PAC Audio USB-TY1 (Thanks Phanoko)
This cable works great on the gray cable, but you need to trim a small piece off the green cable to make it work. As far as I can tell, the green cable is the one that will support Apple Car Play/Android Auto on both the Pioneer and Kenwood head units.
HDMI retention - I used the Axxess AX-HON-HD1 (Again thanks to Phanoko)
Retention worked perfectly on the Pioneer, but no HDMI on the Kenwood, so I sent it back.
Lastly the OEM GPS plug is a direct fit for the Kenwood receiver which allowed me to keep the OEM antenna. With the Pioneer, you can use an adapter and keep the OEM antenna but the adapter is a bit pricey. I hear you can get it from this website (discountcarstereo.com/gt5-avic.f.html), but I have no experience with this.
On to why I switched from the Pioneer and hopefully this will keep you from repeating my mistakes.
Pioneer - I picked it because it retained both USB ports and the HDMI and had 2 camera input plus the iDatalink maestro inputs. I have always used pioneer radios and was interested in the auto eq setup as well.
The good: Wireless CarPlay! The install was straightforward as the wiring harness colors match the maestro perfectly. The audio quality out of the OEM speakers was amazing with the Auto EQ function and you could tweak things even further if you liked. I also prefer the menus of the pioneer system.
The problems: You could manually trigger the Lane Watch camera but the automatic triggering was only possible with a Kenwood/JVC or purchase of (12voltdata.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=421&t=19078). Alternatively you could purchase another piece of hardware to handle the camera switching (pac-audio.com/catalog/video-integration/vs41) but the $$ was adding up and I still wouldn't have parking guides on the rear-view.
The Kenwood:
The Good: Capacitive touchscreen is awesome (but picks up lots of fingerprints), retains Lane Watch auto triggering and manual triggering via the standard button on the headlight stalk, guidelines in the rear camera, USB retention x2, great idatalink maestro integration.
The problems: CarPlay is wired. Wiring harness colors don't match the maestro and several ended up not being used (VSS in particular), No HDMI, although you can get this in the next step up in their lineup, No auto EQ and I haven't been able to get the manual EQ, crossover, and timing to match the sound quality of the pioneer Auto EQ, I personally prefer the menus and layout of the pioneer.
My next steps will be subwoofer replacement and then 4 door speaker replacement. I'll probably go with a kicker Key amp or an Alpine powerpack for the door speakers and a monoblock amp plus a compact sub to replace the stock under the passenger seat. If I run into any more Issues I'll try to post some updates.
I also can't scroll through the screens to show remaining fuel or anything like that.
Ideas?
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
How does an analog clock display 24h time? The 12h face divided into 24 hours?... besides the analog clock which is set to 24h. I also can't switch it to 12 hour or even adjust the time.
The analog clock displays but also shows digital in 24hHow does an analog clock display 24h time? The 12h face divided into 24 hours?
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Looks great! I've always liked Kenwood heads, Kenwood amps, and Pioneer speakers.
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
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