Disco 3 Sound System

[RoboDouche]

Hey guys wondering if anyone has heard this?

I just spoke to my local car audio guys (Maroochy car sound) about getting some bits from them.

We were talking about me putting my new Sony double din CD player in my 2006 Disco 3 TDV6 HSE. He asks does it have the kardon/harman sound system? Yes it does. He says that it'll cost about $3000 to install as you have to keep the original system in as it's linked to the computer and they have to fit it somewhere else in the car?!

My car doesn't have the fancy centre console navigation computer, is this guy getting confused with the NAV system.

Can anyone shed some light?

[PeterOZ]

do you have the Hi ICE system?

[RoboDouche]

Nope. So thats what he was talking about I guess?

[101RRS]

If you want to retain full functionality of the cars systems then yes he is correct.

If you have a HSE but not the top end audio system then you will have the mid range system that I have in my RRS - the six stacker with full steering wheel controls.

If you replace this radio you will loose:

a. The dash clock - not such an issue
b. You might be able to rig up the steering wheel controls to work the radio but these steering wheel controls are what you use to navigate around the dash screen menu - if you already have this set up as you want it (such as the time the light stay on, km or miles, l/100km or mpg, temp in F or C etc) then not such as issue as this function will no lon ger be available.

If these functions are important then you install the old radio still fully connected (obviously not speakers etc) somewhere else in the car - under the back seat or behind a rear panel and put the new radio in with piggy backed steering wheel controls then full functionality is retained.

It just depends on what you want to retain or what you don't and how much trouble and expense you want to go to.

Garry

[jimc]

The issue with the HSE I understood from the fitter was the unit uses the cars CANBUS and an optic cable to access the amplifier under the drivers seat.

This meant that all speaker terminations occur under your seat instead of rear of the head unit. Its not impossible to change, however it adds to the complexity and cost of fitting the new head unit.

Thankfully I have the SE with low end head unit, which does not suffer the same issue.

[Epic pooh]

You can just add an airplay bt or wifi device to the vehicle and stream from your tablet/phone to the aux in of the stereo. That would give a modern interface etc without mucking around too much.

[PeterOZ]

Fidelity is pretty ordinary through the AUX input though.

[Epic pooh]

Yes that's true but I've found that a good quality cable and a good source (eg high bitrate mp3) gives pretty acceptable sound - certainly good enough to satisfy the kids. I'm told that a ground loop improves the sound significantly. It's on my "projects of interest list" for my vehicles upcoming 10th birthday !

Edit: the aux fidelity / level needs to be improved by the use of an inline adjustable preamp. Total cost of airplay and inline amp is around $100 if self fitted.

[RoboDouche]

Thanks for the advice very helpful!!!

So even though my HSE does not have the ICE system it's still going to be a massive pain in the ass because the speaker terminations occur under the seat?

I think it sounds like a bit of a nightmare.

The silly thing was I'm only replacing the head unit because I lost my AM button:(

[Epic pooh]

If that's the only reason to change it you would be able to get a replacement head unit or get that one fixed up a lot cheaper than that ex-uk or from a au land rover wrecker.

[TerryO]

Why not check around the Wreckers if anyone has a Logic7 system including speakers and door panels etc sitting around?
If its sound quality your after then its hard to go past the Logic7 system.

[Epic pooh]

How do you rate the D4 system compared to the Logic 7 ? Presumably your D4 has the top end D4 unit ?

After all these years I've heard very few oem systems that are even close to the Logc7 in mine in terms of quality and quantity of tunes.

[BSM]

The silly thing was I'm only replacing the head unit because I lost my AM button:(

This might seem, like a silly question, but how do you know you've lost the AM button? I thought my FM button had gone on the blnk, but discovered that by re-initialising the radio back to factory settings and then reprogramming all of the station pre-sets, it began to behave properly. Now I am no longer looking to replace my head unit.

[RoboDouche]

Yeah I tried that $300 for a new face for the stereo. I thought bugger it I'll get a new one but it's turned out very problematic.

So if I do have the top of the line one I'm buggered but is there any way I can tell if I have the normal one or the fancy player I cant really change?

[Epic pooh]

Is the head unit a 6cd stacker with cd465 on it (I think this is what you should have as this is the HSE head unit) ? Do the door tweeters say "logic 7" ? Does it have speakers in the rearmost pillar (one each pillar) ?

But I do think the advice from the car stereo guy is right - changing it is an expensive pita.

[RoboDouche]

Yep it's a CD465. No speakers on the rear pillar and cant see logic 7 printed anywhere?

[Epic pooh]

So that is the high line head unit without logic 7. Garry's comments above are what you will loose if you replace the HU and don't leave it in the vehicle per your installers comments. Personally I'd never change mine (I have logic 7 so 14 spkrs etc) but at some point I will modernise by something like what I've said above (wifi streaming from phone/tablet etc). If you were going to drop 3k on it, it would be worth exploring wreckers as Terry says and installing a logic 7 fit. Good luck !

[TerryO]

How do you rate the D4 system compared to the Logic 7 ? Presumably your D4 has the top end D4 unit ?

After all these years I've heard very few oem systems that are even close to the Logc7 in mine in terms of quality and quantity of tunes.


Hi Mick,

Yes the D4 has the Logic7 system fitted as well, from memory the D3's is a 385watt system and the early D4's is a 425watt system. Is there a difference? Yes the D4's is a little louder but not much and the quality of sound is no better.

The D4's Logic7 system has a single CD player, but is also connected to a six stacker DVD/CD player that is located in the rear storage compartment drivers side. I reckon it wouldn't be easy to install a D3 Logic7 complete system even in a D3 but it would be extremely hard to install a D4 system in a D3.

The D3 Logic7 system is extremely good personally I wouldn't bother with anything else.

[RoboDouche]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll install it and see how it goes what's the worst that could happen!!

[Tote]

+1 for the hard reset fixing odd problems with the mid line stereo. My 08 SE has had a couple of odd errors such as no sound output or not powering on that were fixed by a hard reset.
Regards,
Tote

[101RRS]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll install it and see how it goes what's the worst that could happen!!

Go into your dash menu and make sure everything is set up first as you will not be able to change them without the use of the steering wheel controls as you will loose the interface with the car's computer systems.

Garry