Hello,
I am new on here and was hoping to find some people or someone who might have answers to what I have scoured the internet for and have yet to find. Has anyone had experience replacing the factory radio in the TECH model with an aftermarket one? I have only been able to find info on people doing it with the base models. There are some questions I have:

1) Will factory nav be lost? I am assuming so, since it is controlled by the factory radio.

2)Can the factory bluetooth mics be integrated with the aftermarket radio? Was told it could not by an audio shop. I like the stock look of the hidden mics and don't care of the visible aftermarket mic.

3) Since the hvac display is on the factory radio itself, can the hvac display be re-wired to the factory nav screen (even if I do lose the nav feature)? Or would I be kind of screwed at that point once the factory radio is removed?

4)Was also told that factory back up cam may not integrate with the new HU either and may have to buy a replacement cam that WOULD work with the new HU. Any info on that?

Any info would be so much appreciated!

 

Will not work.. the ELS system is too complicated. Even so, why would u put a new head unit just to have the top stock LCD display be useless... The wiring of the tech package is also completely different to the base system.

Most that i think will be possible, is to use blue tooth and mount a tablet in the cubby below as i saw Icrap did before.

OR

You cud bypass the entire ELS system, install a headunit in your glove box or centre console, run RCAs to amps, and then rewire each door speaker of your amps. You could then use this for music and sound, and the stock unit just for NAV.

But in my opinion... still a huge headache

 

I regret getting a tech because of this actually.. cuz it's not even that great tbh. In addition, the non-tech screen has the HVAC info on it, whereas the NAV display doesn't (the HVAC info is on the smaller screen in the tech). This sucks because, most people will remove all the buttons in the center and put in an aftermarket unit there. But for those with the TECH, you'd have to relocate the little screen to an awkward place if you want to preserve the HVAC info (or for a greater pain in the ass, replace your nav with a non-TECH display to hopefully preserve HVAC info).

Totally not worth it if you have a tech IMO

 

My aftermarket tablet install is far more useful than a tech lmao.

 

Thanks for the input. I am also feeling like it would be a huge headache. The main reason I want a new HU is that the stock HU has the "bass roll off" thing that Acura has pre-programmed in (which I am sure you know about), so the bass decreases and cuts frequencies out as the volume increases (safety feature for the stock speakers). Sucks when you have an aftermarket sub bc it is really noticeable imo. Drives me crazy. mids and highs sound pretty good tho as I have a dsp, but I imagine would sound even cleaner combined with a new HU. Was also thinking of maybe just putting a single DIN in the place of the 6-CD changer so I could keep the hvac display in the stock radio...thoughts??

 

I completely agree with you. I am now regretting getting the tech package. Was not planning on it, but I happened to come across one by accident that was around the same price as the used base models (mine was used as well) and thought "why the heck not?" But now I'm not so stoked, since my audio is more important to me than bells and whistles on a tech pckg. Oh well though, at least my speaks and amps are aftermarket, so I can still enjoy it...to a point

 

yeah.. I mean, the car was born in 09, so I'm not at all surprised at how dated the TECH feels to me. I think the only thing that has really changed about the TECH package during this time was the quality of the screen (someone can correct me if I'm wrong). This didn't really bother me because I thought about getting an aftermarket unit anyway. Buzzkill... the TECH is way harder to rework than the base not just because of ELS audio, but physically because of the HVAC being displayed on a screen that gets deleted if a double din unit were to be there. It seems like there's no good place to relocate this screen either as it's such an awkward size.

A single din unit where the changer is sounds nice, but I think the nav makes use of the changer ... don't quote me on that but you might wanna do some more research. Maybe the changer itself contains the hard drive that the nav requires. I think it's been covered somewhere on here before.

 

Pretty sure you can just unplug the changer and everything else will still work fine.

 

Well I know the nav dvd drive is in the trunk mounted under the rear deck, so I doubt the nav makes use of the CD changer. But knowing how the ELS model is, there could be that slight possibility of the nav making some sort of funky use with that CD changer, for some stupid reason. But I would think it should unplug with no issues as iCrap said.

 

 

I think this would work. Its like i said before about mounting a single din into centre console or glove box. Same idea. I dont think the cd changer would affect anything. Neibur has mounted a single din into his cubby where your cd changer is. Look his build up.

I get why you want to use an aftermarket stereo for your amps... its way better. But like bfore, you will only get music and sound from that stereo and not your stock one.

 

Cool, thanks D4nnyD for pointing me to Neibur's build. I just took a look - dude has a nice set up. I may do the single din if I end up deciding to still go down the route of a new HU.

I also found some info yesterday on the iDataLink Maestro RR. Seems like there may be hope for a double din for ELS people, but i want to call them and ask more questions. SEEMS like all the important functions (specifically the hvac) can be retained and displayed on the aftermarket HU. Don't know about factory bluetooth mics, but that may be the only thing not retained for the TSX - some vehicles will. When I find out more info from them, I will post it.

 

Ok, so I talked to the company that makes the iDataLink and they said it would not retain the HVAC display for the Tsx Tech Pkg. Only retains the steering wheel controls. The guy I spoke with said some aftermarket HUs have that HVAC screen built in (which is what I was seeing on their website), but does not always mean it is functional for any specific car. Just depends on the vehicle. But he said for Japanese vehicles, there is not much more than the steering wheel controls that can be retained. :/