BeatSonic Dash/Harness Kit and Pioneer AVH-X550BHS.. help!

[brianlo622]

Hi all,

So I tried installing my Pioneer with the beatsonic kit last night and ran into a few issues.

1.) When I take the factory radio out I see that inside the compartment to the right there is a bolt with some wires grounded to it already. I want to use this bolt to ground my radio but I can't get enough angle to get to it.. does anyone have a suggestion?

2.) So for now I use some electrical tape to have the ground wire make contact to some metal just for testing. The deck turned on but it sounded like crap. For some reason my front left speaker is not working. I connected the BeatSonic Harness to the pioneer harness color matched but I am suspecting that the factory amp that powers the front speakers is not powered on.. do I have to do anything to get that turned on?

3.) Note - I ordered my antenna adaptor but it did not arrive yet so I am not using the radio antenna at the moment, does that make a difference?

4.) Also, the screws that came with the beatsonic dash kit are not long enough. After you put the factory radio bracket on the pioneer and then try to use the screws to secure the beatsonic side panels to the radio, it just wont screw on. I am gonna run to OSH after work to find some screws that work. This is just a heads up.

If anyone have any ideas/suggestions to my problems it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!!

Brian

[brianlo622]

Alright false alarm everyone got everything figured out.

1.) Just use a thin profile rachet/socket and that bolt will come out. Yes, it is a good place to ground the aftermarket headunit.. make sure to get some ring terminals.

2.) Factory amp is turned on using the blue remote wire. The reason why there was no sound coming from my left front and right rear was because i did a poor job crimping the bullet connectors. Rechecked everything and everything sounds great now.

3.) still no radio antenna adapter.. sonic electronix shipping sucks!!

4.) Confirmed that you do need some longer screws to make the beatsonic dash kit fit on a pioneer unit.

I am blown away how much better my car sounds now with just replacing the headunit. Cant wait til my tax return money comes to get a full system (wideband front stage, mosconi 6 to 8 DSP, arc audio amps, 8" sub, custom trunk installation.

Brian

[Dezoris]

Originally Posted by brianlo622

Alright false alarm everyone got everything figured out.

1.) Just use a thin profile rachet/socket and that bolt will come out. Yes, it is a good place to ground the aftermarket headunit.. make sure to get some ring terminals.

2.) Factory amp is turned on using the blue remote wire. The reason why there was no sound coming from my left front and right rear was because i did a poor job crimping the bullet connectors. Rechecked everything and everything sounds great now.

3.) still no radio antenna adapter.. sonic electronix shipping sucks!!

4.) Confirmed that you do need some longer screws to make the beatsonic dash kit fit on a pioneer unit.

I am blown away how much better my car sounds now with just replacing the headunit. Cant wait til my tax return money comes to get a full system (wideband front stage, mosconi 6 to 8 DSP, arc audio amps, 8" sub, custom trunk installation.

Brian

I think the headunit swap and real speakers will be the best bang.

[brianlo622]

Originally Posted by Dezoris

I think the headunit swap and real speakers will be the best bang.

Not sure why, but with JUST the headunit upgrade, the system is already sounding much better.. it is using the same factory amp so I really did not anticipate it to sound any different.

Yes, I will be running wideband speakers and they need A LOT more than the 18 watt RMS or so provided by the headunit so I have to get aftermarket amp and a digitial signal processor to drive them. Underpowering those speakers (which is roughly $1000) will damage them

Brian

[mbh1101]

Getting ready to do the same setup with my head unit. Do you have to have the antenna adapter? I was planning on ordering the beatsonic kit with the harness and wiring kit. is that included?

[DkY in Vcr]

@mbh1101: Yeah, I used the same BeatSonic kit, and it worked like a charm, but I needed the Metra 40-LX11 antenna adapter, which I already had in advance:
http://www.metraonline.com/part/Lexus_Antenna_40-LX11
@brianlo622: Thanks for this thread, it had me looking for the better ground location you mentioned... I was ready to try re-use the factory deck ground, but the one reference was much better. I also grounded the parking brake lead to that one too (but you didn't hear that from me).

[mbh1101]

Originally Posted by DkY in Vcr

@mbh1101: Yeah, I used the same BeatSonic kit, and it worked like a charm, but I needed the Metra 40-LX11 antenna adapter, which I already had in advance:
http://www.metraonline.com/part/Lexus_Antenna_40-LX11
@brianlo622: Thanks for this thread, it had me looking for the better ground location you mentioned... I was ready to try re-use the factory deck ground, but the one reference was much better. I also grounded the parking brake lead to that one too (but you didn't hear that from me).

Alright cool. Ordered all my stuff today, can't wait to get rid of this bespoke crap!

[ThaBigUnit]

I actually just ordered this exact same unit off amazon. Getting it for only $380...hopefully it's not a refurbished one or something. Anyway, I already have the beat-sonic wiring kit (no hardware is in the small box) but that's all. What exactly else do I need to order that will be compatible with this pioneer unit and what are the part numbers if anyone knows! Wiring dask kit? Antenna adapter? Please and thank you!!

[ThaBigUnit]

Also I wanted to do the install myself so is there any DIY video that shows the install or can anyone make one

[DkY in Vcr]

Alright, I'll try to help out here & describe it as simply as I can.
The harness that comes with your Pioneer should look like this:

... and the harness that comes with the Beatsonic BH-1 is like this:


The first thing is to make as many connections between those two harness as you can in the comfort of your home. These two harnesses will snap nicely into the back of the Pioneer & to the stock wiring harness that comes to the stock deck.

You can almost tell that there are wires between the two that happily match up. You'll want to have bullet connectors handy to connect from the Pioneer harness to the Beatsonic (don't hold me to it, I think I had 16 ga... 18+ might work too). I also had some butt connectors hand for when I needed them (definitely 18-22ga for those).

That should take care of most of the basics: battery, accessory, speakers (front will be on one of the BH-1 harnesses, rears on the other 6-pin harness).

Then pop off the plastic plate around the deck. It comes right out if you pry it towards you, but I caution to use interior trim tools. I have a set I bought for $15. ... and it doesn't hurt to drape a towel over the open cavity left by your vacant deck, just so you don't scratch up your pretty A/C controls, shifter, & whatnot.

Then, after removing the deck with just the four bolts, I just transferred the stock metal side brackets to the new deck, added the black plastic Beatsonic pieces to get the deck ready for reinstall, then I finished these wiring connections at the car:
• ground (I added the parking brake safety as well), grounded on handy screw right there in the right side of that deck cavity
• remote wire (I already had a JL amp in there, so it was direct connect)
• accessory splice to BU camera (Y-split was already there)
• reverse sensor wire
• microphone
• GPS sensor
• antenna adapter (the previously mentioned Metra adapter), obvious antenna plus, plus a blue wire that goes to the 'powered antenna' wire out of the deck.

I see that the Metra adapter is available at Bestbuy for maybe $13?

I hope I helped more than confused... and some of the info here is specific to my install & won't help you (depending on what else you might be installing), but I'm open to any questions you have!

- Donn

[mbh1101]

Is there a DIY for a radio install using the beatsonic or metra kit ? I am installing the avh-x5500BH this week sometime and was thinking about doing one if there wasn't. I haven't come across any yet.

[DkY in Vcr]

... you mean... the one I "should have" done?
I hadn't seen any, and was so worried with my limited daylight hours when I did mine, that I didn't bother documenting it.

(Oh, my shame...)

[Lverasky]

do you have a picture? can I see your new Pioneer setup.

[mbh1101]

Originally Posted by peace_noel

do you have a picture? can I see your new Pioneer setup.

Ill post a pic of mine when i get it installed.