Pioneer AVH-ZL5150 - New LHD 200mm Head Unit w/ CarPlay and Android Auto!

[Juzzotec]

Originally Posted by LimitedSlip

Thanks to everyone in this thread for all the clear and concise information, especially JBezugs and Juzzotec. It's great not to have to reinvent the wheel!

A few more questions if I may.

1. Does the AVH-ZL5150 use the factory overhead microphone for the voice command functions - no need to install a new mic?

2. Does the voice command sound similar and have the same command words as the factory unit?

3. Does the voice command offer control over most of the same options as the factory unit - no loss of any factory functionality?

Thanks again all!

No problem man, happy to help.

I'm not sure if these are questions for the late model 86/BRZ but in my 2015 GPS NAV Fujitsu unit, the microphone was built into the headunit.
Once upgraded to the AVH-ZL5150 I used the supplied mic installed behind the overhead mirror, its absolutely perfect combined with Carplay on this unit. Excellent clarity... if you're asking about oem functions using voice commands, I cannot answer as my 2015 Aus delivery 86 GTS never had these functions.

[JBezugs]

Originally Posted by LimitedSlip

Thanks to everyone in this thread for all the clear and concise information, especially JBezugs and Juzzotec. It's great not to have to reinvent the wheel!

A few more questions if I may.

1. Does the AVH-ZL5150 use the factory overhead microphone for the voice command functions - no need to install a new mic?

2. Does the voice command sound similar and have the same command words as the factory unit?

3. Does the voice command offer control over most of the same options as the factory unit - no loss of any factory functionality?

Thanks again all!

No problem! Someone has to be the guinea pig!

1. You could possibly wire in the factory mic, but it’s amplified so you’d need to give it a 5V source and then wire in the audio input manually to the new HU, but it’s not worth it. I ran the Pioneer mic that came with the new headunit straight to the factory location.

2. Voice commands for me have been through Siri (CarPlay), so it’s very intuitive, just like your phone. If you had Android, it would be through Google assistant or otherwise.

3. Full control, see above.

[LimitedSlip]

@JBezugs,


What seemed to make the biggest improvement in the sound quality over the factory HU, was it just better electronics in the new HU or did it take the AutoEQ and time alignment to bring out the best in the factory speakers?


To put it another way, did the new HU sound noticeably better than the factory HU before doing the AutoEQ and time alignment?


I'm not too concerned about overall volume, more just clarity and tonal balance.


Thanks once again!

[JBezugs]

Originally Posted by LimitedSlip

@JBezugs,


What seemed to make the biggest improvement in the sound quality over the factory HU, was it just better electronics in the new HU or did it take the AutoEQ and time alignment to bring out the best in the factory speakers?


To put it another way, did the new HU sound noticeably better than the factory HU before doing the AutoEQ and time alignment?


I'm not too concerned about overall volume, more just clarity and tonal balance.


Thanks once again!

Hey man, sorry for the late response, have had an insanely busy week.

To answer your question, the AutoEQ/TA truly brings the best out of the factory speakers, as you would expect. However, even with everything set flat on this headunit, the system sounds much cleaner and clearer than the factory unit.

This headunit, along with all other aftermarket headunits from reputable manufacturers, provide a clean and tonally flat output from the headunit out of the box. The colouring of your sound in the vehicle from that point would depend on your amplifiers (perhaps) and your speakers installed (more than likely). For the most part however, any adjustments to the EQ should be reasonably accurate as to what you are hearing.

I am an AV engineer so be forewarned about the incoming sonic descriptions: the stock Subaru headunit has a very muddy, boomy and clouded sound at factory, flat settings. In other words, flat is decidedly not flat.

For more context, at the time I had the factory head unit, I EQ'd it to get it as flat sounding as possible (with some mid warmth for some fun). If you looked at the curve on an RTA mic like I have, it would look reasonably flat. If you looked at the EQ settings on the factory head unit, you'd think I was an idiot. Check this thread to see what I mean.

[LimitedSlip]

To begin with, much thanks to JBezugs, Juzzotec, and all the other contributors to this thread.
After a lot of research I decided to go with the Pioneer AVH-ZL5150 and the complete Auto Harness House kit.
I was hoping for a fairly plug-and-play install. Oh well . . .

I have a U.S. spec 2017 Toyota 86, 860 Special Edition with a manual transmission.
This is essentially a BRZ Limited without the Performance Package and Subaru StarLink head unit.
My factory head unit is a Pioneer AVH-2558ZT with front panel part number AXLP-Q17U T10087.

While the BRZ and the 86 are "twins", it seems in some respects they are "fraternal" twins and not necessarily "identical" twins.
With that in mind I would like to provide an FYI addendum to this thread for those installing in a 2017 86 rather than a BRZ.
And maybe some of this will be helpful for the BRZ's as well!

***

The User Manual can be downloaded here:

https://www.pioneer.com.au/shop/car/avh-zl5150bt/

***

I soldered and heat shrinked all of my splices. Some of the wires that need to be spliced are a rather small gauge and:
a. would probably not make a reliable connection if only twisted together or crimped.
b. should probably have the physical strain relief that heat shrink provides.

I did not make any modifications to the vehicle factory wiring harness.

Just for reference here is a link to another thread with great pictures of the various head unit connectors and their pin outs.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128374

***

When I ordered the cable assembly from Auto Harness House I specified that I was installing a Pioneer head unit and it was in a 2017 Toyota 86.

I selected "Option 2 (Upgrade): (28-pin/Direct wire harness for Pioneer Headunits/USB harness/AM/FM adapter)"

http://www.autoharnesshouse.com/67122.html

***

The Auto Harness House cable assembly comes wired with a black 12 pin connector for use with a third-party steering wheel control decoder box such as an iDatalink Maestro. Since the Pioneer has a really nice built-in programmable decoder there is no need for an external decoder. Unfortunately, the steering wheel control signals stop at the 12 pin connector and won't make it to the Pioneer HU without some rewiring.

Steering wheel control wiring from the AHH 28 pin connector.
Pioneer refers to this as a "wired remote" in their documentation.
The three pins below are located in the 28 pin connector and need to be spliced to a 3.5mm stereo TRS mini plug which then plugs into the HU.
Notice that there is more than one 3.5mm female connector on the back of the HU. Use the correct one!

Pin 21 Input 1 (volume/seek buttons) goes to the 3.5mm mini plug tip
Pin 22 Input 2 (mode button) goes to the 3.5mm mini plug ring
Pin 23 Common goes to the 3.5mm mini plug sleeve

NOTE 1: The Auto Harness House cable assembly may have a wire connected from pin 24 to the 12 pin connector. This is not used by the vehicle or the Pioneer HU (maybe the additional SWC buttons in the BRZ use it?) and may be cut off and insulated so the 12 pin connector can be entirely removed.

NOTE 2: The SWC buttons function by adding or removing resistance to or from the circuit when a button is pressed. Because some of the changes in resistance are quite small, you should use a 3.5mm cable with larger diameter (smaller gauge number, lower resistance) conductors for the HU to reliably sense when the buttons are pressed. The 3.5mm cable that Pioneer supplies is good. The 3.5mm cable from AHH will probably work but has much smaller diameter (larger gauge number) conductors than the Pioneer cable.

***

Backup Camera
The Auto Harness House cable assembly has one yellow RCA connector. It carries the video from the backup camera.
Plug this yellow RCA connector into what Pioneer calls the "Brown (R.C IN)" connector.
I think (R.C IN) must translate to "Rear Camera Input".
Notice that AHH includes a 6 volt regulator chip already wired into their harness to provide the correct voltage for the camera.

***

The Auto Harness House cable assembly comes with the Auxiliary audio input signals terminated to two RCA connectors (red and white). These could be used with an adapter to convert the RCAs to the Pioneer 3.5mm TRS connector but it becomes rather a bulky mess with more potential points of failure. A cleaner solution is to simply cut off the RCA connectors and hard wire to the correct 3.5mm plug as below.

Auxiliary audio input wiring from the AHH 28 pin connector.
Pioneer refers to this as the "AUX input" and it appears that with an optional 4 conductor 3.5mm TRRS cable it can accept left and right audio as well as a video signal. For our purposes it will carry only the audio from the vehicle console 3.5mm auxiliary input down by the USB connector.
The three pins below are located in the 28 pin connector and need to be connected to a 3.5mm stereo TRS mini plug which then plugs into the HU.

Pin 26 Right + goes to the 3.5mm mini plug ring
Pin 27 Common goes to the 3.5mm mini plug sleeve
Pin 28 Left + goes to the 3.5mm mini plug tip

***

Rear Speakers
The Auto Harness House cable assembly that I received had the rear speaker connections reversed, left-to-right.
This would be the 6 pin connector, pins 1 and 3 (right rear speaker - purple) and pins 2 and 6 (left rear speaker - green).
After you have the HU connected (but before mounting it) play something through the HU (radio may be easiest) and use the balance and fader controls to verify the location of each speaker. If the rears are reversed it's fairly easy to pop the pins out of the 6 pin connector to make things right.

***

Auto EQ
One of the best reasons to get this HU is the "Automatic EQ and Time Alignment" feature. This process makes a great improvement in the sound quality of the factory speakers (or whatever speakers you use in the vehicle). However, to make this work you will need to purchase the optional "Pioneer CD-MC20 Auto-EQ Calibration Microphone". It's available on Amazon.com and elsewhere for about $20. You will only use this microphone during initial setup. This is NOT the microphone that comes with the HU for hands-free phone use. If you have wired the console Auxiliary audio input (down by the USB port) into the Pioneer AUX input (see above) you can plug the calibration mic in there.

***

Good luck

[JBezugs]

Originally Posted by LimitedSlip

To begin with, much thanks to JBezugs, Juzzotec, and all the other contributors to this thread.
After a lot of research I decided to go with the Pioneer AVH-ZL5150 and the complete Auto Harness House kit.
I was hoping for a fairly plug-and-play install. Oh well . . .

I have a U.S. spec 2017 Toyota 86, 860 Special Edition with a manual transmission.
This is essentially a BRZ Limited without the Performance Package and Subaru StarLink head unit.
My factory head unit is a Pioneer AVH-2558ZT with front panel part number AXLP-Q17U T10087.

While the BRZ and the 86 are "twins", it seems in some respects they are "fraternal" twins and not necessarily "identical" twins.
With that in mind I would like to provide an FYI addendum to this thread for those installing in a 2017 86 rather than a BRZ.
And maybe some of this will be helpful for the BRZ's as well!

***

I soldered and heat shrinked all of my splices. Some of the wires that need to be spliced are a rather small gauge and:
a. would probably not make a reliable connection if only twisted together or crimped.
b. should probably have the physical strain relief that heat shrink provides.

I did not make any modifications to the vehicle factory wiring harness.

Just for reference here is a link to another thread with great pictures of the various head unit connectors and their pin outs.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128374

***

When I ordered the cable assembly from Auto Harness House I specified that I was installing a Pioneer head unit and it was in a 2017 Toyota 86.

I selected "Option 2 (Upgrade): (28-pin/Direct wire harness for Pioneer Headunits/USB harness/AM/FM adapter)"

http://www.autoharnesshouse.com/67122.html

***

The Auto Harness House cable assembly comes wired with a black 12 pin connector for use with a third-party steering wheel control decoder box such as an iDatalink Maestro. Since the Pioneer has a really nice built-in programmable decoder there is no need for an external decoder. Unfortunately, the steering wheel control signals stop at the 12 pin connector and won't make it to the Pioneer HU without some rewiring.

Steering wheel control wiring from the AHH 28 pin connector.
Pioneer refers to this as a "wired remote" in their documentation.
The three pins below are located in the 28 pin connector and need to be spliced to a 3.5mm stereo TRS mini plug which then plugs into the HU.
Notice that there is more than one 3.5mm female connector on the back of the HU. Use the correct one!

Pin 21 Input 1 (volume/seek buttons) goes to the 3.5mm mini plug tip
Pin 22 Input 2 (mode button) goes to the 3.5mm mini plug ring
Pin 23 Common goes to the 3.5mm mini plug sleeve

NOTE 1: The Auto Harness House cable assembly may have a wire connected from pin 24 to the 12 pin connector. This is not used by the vehicle or the Pioneer HU (maybe the additional SWC buttons in the BRZ use it?) and may be cut off and insulated so the 12 pin connector can be entirely removed.

NOTE 2: The SWC buttons function by adding or removing resistance to or from the circuit when a button is pressed. Because some of the changes in resistance are quite small, you should use a 3.5mm cable with larger diameter (smaller gauge number, lower resistance) conductors for the HU to reliably sense when the buttons are pressed. The 3.5mm cable that Pioneer supplies is good. The 3.5mm cable from AHH will probably work but has much smaller diameter (larger gauge number) conductors than the Pioneer cable.

***

Backup Camera
The Auto Harness House cable assembly has one yellow RCA connector. It carries the video from the backup camera.
Plug this yellow RCA connector into what Pioneer calls the "Brown (R.C IN)" connector.
I think (R.C IN) must translate to "Rear Camera Input".
Notice that AHH includes a 6 volt regulator chip already wired into their harness to provide the correct voltage for the camera.

***

The Auto Harness House cable assembly comes with the Auxiliary audio input signals terminated to two RCA connectors (red and white). These could be used with an adapter to convert the RCAs to the Pioneer 3.5mm TRS connector but it becomes rather a bulky mess with more potential points of failure. A cleaner solution is to simply cut off the RCA connectors and hard wire to the correct 3.5mm plug as below.

Auxiliary audio input wiring from the AHH 28 pin connector.
Pioneer refers to this as the "AUX input" and it appears that with an optional 4 conductor 3.5mm TRRS cable it can accept left and right audio as well as a video signal. For our purposes it will carry only the audio from the vehicle console 3.5mm auxiliary input down by the USB connector.
The three pins below are located in the 28 pin connector and need to be connected to a 3.5mm stereo TRS mini plug which then plugs into the HU.

Pin 26 Right + goes to the 3.5mm mini plug ring
Pin 27 Common goes to the 3.5mm mini plug sleeve
Pin 28 Left + goes to the 3.5mm mini plug tip

***

Rear Speakers
The Auto Harness House cable assembly that I received had the rear speaker connections reversed, left-to-right.
This would be the 6 pin connector, pins 1 and 3 (right rear speaker - purple) and pins 2 and 6 (left rear speaker - green).
After you have the radio connected (but before mounting it) play something through the HU (radio may be easiest) and use the balance and fader controls to check the location of each speaker. If the rears are reversed it's fairly easy to pop the pins out of the 6 pin connector to make things right.

***

Nose Piece
The Pioneer AVH-ZL5150 HU has the "200 millimeter" nose piece that Toyobaru has adopted for their dashboards. However, the nose piece seems to be slightly smaller than the Toyota factory unit and leaves just enough of a gap in the dash around the nose piece to be noticed by picky people.
I bought a sheet of black adhesive-backed felt (craft store or WallyWorld) and cut four strips about half an inch wide, one for the length of each side of the nose piece. Attach one edge of a felt strip to each side of the nose piece about halfway back toward the radio chassis so the opposite edge of the felt will curve out behind the dashboard trim. This creates a non-reflective "skirt" around the nose piece and essentially blacks out the gap when the dash trim is in place.

***

Auto EQ
One of the best reasons to get this HU is the "Automatic EQ and Time Alignment" feature. This process makes a great improvement in the sound quality of the factory speakers (or whatever speakers you use in the vehicle). However, to make this work you will need to purchase the optional "Pioneer CD-MC20 Auto-EQ Calibration Microphone". It's available on Amazon.com and elsewhere for about $20. You will only use this microphone during initial setup. This is NOT the microphone that comes with the HU for hands-free phone use. If you have wired the console Auxiliary audio input (down by the USB port) into the Pioneer AUX input (see above) you can plug the calibration mic in there.

***

Good luck

Glad to hear you got it installed and are enjoying it! I’ll add your post to the OP tomorrow! I’ll amend mine to be more thorough as well.

[dma550]

Hey guys, any installers of this also do Satellite? I want it all! Bah, looks like they don't support it. Anyone find different?

[EdBoy]

Originally Posted by dma550

Hey guys, any installers of this also do Satellite? I want it all! Bah, looks like they don't support it. Anyone find different?

siriusxm?

but good to know this head unit exists, im still debating this or the kenwood ddx918ws or this. Anyone choose this over the kenwood?

[Nails]

Originally Posted by Juzzotec

My only gripe with this unit is uploading custom backgrounds.

Has anyone else ever been able to upload a pic and for it to display clearly, I’ve tried multiple resolutions and file types but they all come out pixelated and look nothing like they do through view.

It’s like it’s compressing the file but I’ve also tried low res and small file size with no success. Other than that, it’s great but dissapointed with that one feature.

@Juzzotec, I don't have the AVH-ZL5150BT head unit, but I have a suggestion. For the image you want to use for your custom background, did you try making it 840 pixels wide x 480 pixels tall? That is the native screen resolution for the unit and might display better. I have a feeling that it is just doing a piss poor job of scaling larger images to fit and this might be a way around the problem.

[Juzzotec]

Originally Posted by Nails

@Juzzotec, I don't have the AVH-ZL5150BT head unit, but I have a suggestion. For the image you want to use for your custom background, did you try making it 840 pixels wide x 480 pixels tall? That is the native screen resolution for the unit and might display better. I have a feeling that it is just doing a piss poor job of scaling larger images to fit and this might be a way around the problem.

Hi @Nails, that was the first resolution I tried 840x480 pixels.
I also tried various other resolutions, the problem is that this unit is not actually displaying in that resolution. It stretches the native res to the widescreen, so when you upload a picture as a background it looks distorted.

I've contacted Pioneer and they have replicated the issue with all the images I supplied them. They have forwarded this on to Pioneer Japan Tech Team who will hopefully provide a solution that I will share.

I have to say this is my only let down with this unit, my stock unit loaded up with a crisp background but my "upgraded" one is not capable.

Also would of been nice to include a HDMI in port instead of RCA.
Lets see if Pioneer can save the day.

[Nails]

Originally Posted by Juzzotec

Hi @Nails, that was the first resolution I tried 840x480 pixels.
I also tried various other resolutions, the problem is that this unit is not actually displaying in that resolution. It stretches the native res to the widescreen, so when you upload a picture as a background it looks distorted.

I've contacted Pioneer and they have replicated the issue with all the images I supplied them. They have forwarded this on to Pioneer Japan Tech Team who will hopefully provide a solution that I will share.

I have to say this is my only let down with this unit, my stock unit loaded up with a crisp background but my "upgraded" one is not capable.

Also would of been nice to include a HDMI in port instead of RCA.
Lets see if Pioneer can save the day.

Thanks for the info. I'll be very curious if Pioneer is able to provide you with a solution to the problem. I'm considering upgrading to this head unit and the custom background is one of the features I was looking forward to using.

[Juzzotec]

Originally Posted by Nails

Thanks for the info. I'll be very curious if Pioneer is able to provide you with a solution to the problem. I'm considering upgrading to this head unit and the custom background is one of the features I was looking forward to using.

I didn't think this would of been a problem in 2018.

If they cant resolve the problem, I'll likely return this unit and get the new Kenwood instead. Don't get me wrong it ticks all the boxes and is reliable for half the price of the comparable Kenwood unit but its simply lacking in the most basic of things.
Plus the Kenwood has Mini HDMI in and dual USB.

[blitzpa9]

I got this installed yesterday in my '13 with the AHH harness and adapters thanks to the helpful posts from this thread! So far so good on Day 1. Haven't tested all the features yet but very happy with the upgrade.

[JBezugs]

Originally Posted by blitzpa9

I got this installed yesterday in my '13 with the AHH harness and adapters thanks to the helpful posts from this thread! So far so good on Day 1. Haven't tested all the features yet but very happy with the upgrade.

Glad to hear! I’ve been so satisfied with this head unit over the past few months. Kicking myself for not changing my factory unit out earlier, but hey, better late than never!