2ForMe's Audio Build (Android goodness inside!)

[2forme]

Ok, my audio build is finally finished. Strap in, because this is going to be a long post.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank http://www.audiowerks.net (Audiowerks) in Tewksbury, MA. They did the entire design and install of the system. Troy, Matt, and Mike do PHENOMINAL jobs. So if you're looking for fantastic audio work, check them out.

Now, with my shameless plug out of the way, on to the build/review....

Front Speakers: Hertz HSK 163 3 way components

These speakers are the real deal. They sound absolutely amazing at all volumes. For the woofers, I used @phenryiv1's spacers, which made for a perfect fit. No modifications were necessary. The mids and tweeters fit nicely in the stock locations on the dash. Some very easy, and very basic brackets had to be fabbed up for them.

Amplifier: Hertz HDP5

The HDP5 is a 5 channel high efficiency amplifier. It's small for the power that it packs. 70W RMS x 4 for speakers and 380W RMS for subs. The small size of the amp allowed it to be installed opposite of the stock amp, under the trunk cover. Some removal and light modification of the stock styrofoam was necessary, but nothing too extreme. It's a really clean look and opens up more trunk real estate.

Subwoofers: Hertz ES250 (x2)

These subwoofers pound. The custom enclosure was made by Audiowerks, and as you can see by the pictures, they almost look factory. Very clean, pretty light, and doesn't take up a ton of real estate. The bass is very smooth and sounds natural.

Head Unit: Adayo AN6B01 (Rydeen DV621)


I saved this for last because of how blown away I am by this unit. 99% of you have never heard of this unit or the company. You are truly missing out.

I've played with and owned a number of double din "all-in-one" head units ranging from Kenwoods, to Pioneers, to Alpines, and even a Clarion mixed in there. They all pale in comparison.

I'll start with how the unit looks. It's a rather standard layout for a 6.1" double din unit. At the top, you have the CD/DVD drive, and microSD slot that comes prefilled with a 4GB card loaded with North American maps for the included iGO navigation app. To the left, you have the main buttons of "Menu", "Home", and "Back". You can probably guess where this is going.... Also along the left is a decent size volume knob, microphone for hands free, and a little plastic door that opens up to the full size SD card slot, USB slot, and 3.5mm audio/video jack.

In the box was a plethora of connetions. Your typical stuff like car hookups, speaker connections, front/rear/sub out, rear audio/video in/out, GPS dongle, and also an Apple cable for connecting to your iCrap. Also, connection for steering wheel controls... but more on that later. There are also USB connections for BOTH a WiFi dongle and 3G dongle. A 150Mbps USB Wireless N dongle is included. Capping off the package is a remote, guide, and stylus (which isn't necessary to operate the unit).

This head unit runs on TRUE Android. It is only 2.2, so some of the number snobs might scoff, but the unit itself runs buttery smooth.... similar to my Nexus 7 tablet. I threw everything at it that I could. Live Wallpaper, playing music, using the OFFLINE navigation app, connecting to bluetooth. Nothing so much as stuttered the unit. The interface is VERY fast and smooth. I may take a video of it at some point, just to show everyone. The launcher is AOSP android with a slight modification. Along the bottom on the home screens, there is a dock of sorts that contains the functions pertinent to being a head unit (Music, iPod, Radio, Aux In, Bluetooth, Equalizer, Video Out, Navigation, etc). You can still customize the home screens (5) with all the widget goodness of android. Oh, and yes, there is the full Android market. And yes, Torque works (but you need the Wifi version of the ELM).






The radio interface is rather old school. Changing the station was quick and reception is great.



Playing music off an SD card or USB stick is also quick and easy. The interface is basic, with the major tag info displayed as well as a decent size album art, if available. Again all functions were fast and fluid.


Once you hook up an Apple device, it recognizes and opens the iPod app. This allows you to view all the Music, Videos, and Photos on your iDevice. While playing music, you have access to all the songs, as well as playlists and any sorting options you would want (artist, album, genre, etc). Reading, displaying, and navigating was quick and responsive. Even scrolling through the lists was fluid.

The equalizer is pretty basic. You have your High/Low/Mid frequency adjustments. Note, this is for the speaker out only. Subwoofers have their own control page. So you can adjust the frequency gain, as well as high/mid/low filters. On the second tab, there was sound stage position adjustment, and subwoofer level. In the settings menu of Android, there is a filter for the subwoofer as well. Not sure why it wasn't on this page.



There is a customizable steering wheel control interface. You can program any button on your steering wheel to whatever function you want, not just what the car manufacturer designed it to be. This doesn't apply to us as the 86 doesn't have steering wheel controls (one of my few gripes with the car, actually), but in other cars, this is pretty damn cool.


I haven't had the chance to test out the dual zone video features, or auxiliary input features, or the video playback features. I grounded the brake line so Watching videos should be enabled. I know I am able to input an address in the gps while driving. Speaking of...

The navigation, is one of the best systems I've used. The amount of options on it are ridiculous. I took a couple screen shots, but they don't come near the amount of customization you can do. I'd need to do an entire video just to cover it all. You have options for 2d/3d, elevation 3d (hills and valleys are reflected in the 3d), 3d buildings, points of interest actually show up on the map without having to search for them, you can customize your car icon to any one of the 107 included 3d models (most are actual cars, sadly no BRZ was included). They also include fun things, like mario in a mario kart and tanks, motorcycles, a chick on a vespa, etc. Google search is one of the options for inputting a destination. I have my phone tethered to the unit so it has internet wherever my phone does. This is only like 25% of the navigation has to offer. The actual movement on the screen while driving was very smooth, not stuttery like a lot of GPS systems. Oh yea, traffic works great too and you have the option to display alternate routes while driving along the one you're currently on.




Of course if any of the included apps don't fit your fancy, you are more than able to download an app that does, off the Android market.

I'm sure I've missed quite a bit, but I think this unit and android as a whole has a real chance to take off here. The user experience is the best I've seen (even from really high end units). If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try and post up pictures or videos to help explain anything.

Lastly, the LED's light up either blue or red. The red matches our interiors pretty well.

[JoeBoxer]

Damn I am very impressed, if you don't mind me asking how much was everything roughly? You can pm me if you don't want to say. I have had the Hertz speakers recommended to me and you are making it really difficult to not copy your whole setup.

[Norkoastal]

Nice deck.. This is where android should be thriving.. Im wondering if the unit can be flashed like a phone to keep up with newer apps..

[Yruyur]

Very nice write up. I love the stereo. Looks like it 599 plus shipping in eBay. I was holding out for the clarion mirage but will be looking into this one.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[wootwoot]

how many channels do you need for the three way system? I thought the crossover had one input and three outputs, one for each speaker.... but you have four 70W channels... are you using the other two for something else not listed or do you need all four for the three way system?

[Yruyur]

Is that screen capacitive touch? How is the daylight reflection? How is the Mic for the phone, any chance of hooking it up to the stock microphone in the car?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Foobar]

Nice! I like the sub enclosure! Any chance they're selling that or do they have to fabricate for each car individually?

How fast does the android head unit take to boot up, does it have its own battery to stay in a standby state for quick availability?

Does the unit have backup camera inputs and reverse gear detection?

Finally, did you have harnesses for everything or did you have to cut into stock wiring?

Awesome build!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Thobjo]

Sick man!

[2forme]

Originally Posted by wootwoot

how many channels do you need for the three way system? I thought the crossover had one input and three outputs, one for each speaker.... but you have four 70W channels... are you using the other two for something else not listed or do you need all four for the three way system?

The 3 ways only need 1 channel a piece. They come with their own crossover. I was merely stating what the amplifier is capable of.

Originally Posted by Yruyur

Is that screen capacitive touch? How is the daylight reflection? How is the Mic for the phone, any chance of hooking it up to the stock microphone in the car?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

The screen isn't capacitive, but it almost reacts like one. It detects pretty much anything except the lightest of touches. I'm very impressed for a resistive screen.

Originally Posted by Foobar

Nice! I like the sub enclosure! Any chance they're selling that or do they have to fabricate for each car individually?

How fast does the android head unit take to boot up, does it have its own battery to stay in a standby state for quick availability?

Does the unit have backup camera inputs and reverse gear detection?

Finally, did you have harnesses for everything or did you have to cut into stock wiring?

Awesome build!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

They built mine individually, however I talked to them and if there was enough interest, they'd be willing to do a group thing at a discounted rate. I'll talk to them and see if they'd be interested in doing a package deal the audio set up too. Can't hurt to ask.

The unit doesn't have a battery for standby, but comes up very quickly. By the time I'm seat belted in and the engine has done it's initial rev down, it's ready. I can do a video to show bootup time if you'd like a better idea.

Yes, it has a backup camera input and reverse gear lead.

They actually had a wiring kit to use the stock harness. Pretty much plug and play. I'm not sure if they ran wires for the component speakers or just tapped into the stock wires. I'll ask and get back to everyone.

Originally Posted by Yruyur

Very nice write up. I love the stereo. Looks like it 599 plus shipping in eBay. I was holding out for the clarion mirage but will be looking into this one.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I'm actually trying to talk the shop into becoming a dealer of the head unit. I'd much rather deal with a person, than deal with someone on ebay. This was the first install they've done with the unit and they were pretty impressed.

[brichard0625]

Exactly the type of headunit i was looking for...i wanted something where i can run torque on my screen...Question with torque u said it needed wifi/usb....are saying that it wont work with a bluetooth obd2?

[2forme]

Originally Posted by brichard0625

Exactly the type of headunit i was looking for...i wanted something where i can run torque on my screen...Question with torque u said it needed wifi/usb....are saying that it wont work with a bluetooth obd2?

Out of the box, I haven't found a way to take the bluetooth out of pairing mode.

What I mean is, my phone can find the head unit and transfer everything from contacts to call logs, etc. It acts perfectly for music playing and hands free calling, but I haven't been able to find a way enter bluetooth settings to pair the head unit to the OBDII scanner. It may come in a software update, but as it sits out of the box, it's only a 1 way bluetooth pairing.

With that said, there are 2 USB ports out of the back. A USB hub can be run off either of these if you needed more than 2. I am currently using one for the WiFi dongle. If you wanted to go the USB ELM route, I'm sure that would work fine. I bit the bullet and grabbed the WiFi version of the scanner.

[travace]

that headunit is dope. looking into it now

[brichard0625]

Originally Posted by 2forme

Out of the box, I haven't found a way to take the bluetooth out of pairing mode.

What I mean is, my phone can find the head unit and transfer everything from contacts to call logs, etc. It acts perfectly for music playing and hands free calling, but I haven't been able to find a way enter bluetooth settings to pair the head unit to the OBDII scanner. It may come in a software update, but as it sits out of the box, it's only a 1 way bluetooth pairing.

With that said, there are 2 USB ports out of the back. A USB hub can be run off either of these if you needed more than 2. I am currently using one for the WiFi dongle. If you wanted to go the USB ELM route, I'm sure that would work fine. I bit the bullet and grabbed the WiFi version of the scanner.

OOO ok now i see what u mean! I was actually going to pick that headunit like a month ago but i decided to wait...Just havent heard anything about it until now. Glad you like it. I guess i might have to get it after all.

[2forme]

Correction, Torque USB only works in Android 3.1 and above. I think I read somewhere that a firmware update was planned. Maybe ICS is on the way. Not sure though.