A little more of an update. The guys I have been emailing said that text works with the non-navi and he believes it works with navi as well. Also, the $159 kit does not include a y-cable for XM, but for $20, they will include one. They are sending me one today to test and see if it all works and if it works well, great, but if it doesn't, they will let me return it. I will let you know what I find out.

 

I ordered the unit too... I wish I had known about the Y cable, but if I'm using text it won't matter. When I get it installed I'll post a new update as well.

 

I ordered the Neo unit last night. Anyone have any idea on how long it should take to receive this?

Also, after searching the forums, I think the best photos of how to take apart the center dash and console are

here, posts 92-93

and

here, post 1.

Still, I don't think I have all the information I need to be confident about installing this myself. If anyone has found better pictures (especially of the back of the head unit) I'd like to see them.

 

HI. I got the Dice unit, and before I open it, I see on the box that it does work with 04+ TL with XM radio, but if you have NAV, you must have the y-harness, so I will have to order that. SO that brings the price to the same as the Neo unit. But I hooked it up, and it seems to work - other than the no text. Oh, and I see they have 10% off right now, so that saves a few bucks. So I barely missed this sale.

Things I like:
1. Disc one changes songs, 2 is playlists, 3 is albums, 4 is chapters (which I don't know how to use). So you can go to disc 2 and move up and down through the playlists, then when you find the right one, hit disc 1 and move through the songs. I don't think the playlist name shows up on the display, so you are a little blind that way.
2. You can control from both the ipod and your controls. You don't have to choose which way with a dip-switch.

Things I don't like:
1. The unit is made of plastic and is pretty light. Seems cheaper made than the USA Spec, but I doubt that makes any difference.
2. I would have loved the random button on the deck to work, but it does not. You would have to make the change on the ipod. USA Spec does not have this either, so its not a big loss
3. The cable from the Dice unit to the deck is pretty short, like maybe 18", about half the length of the USA Spec.

Up in the air:
Text display. I will have to wait for the y-harness to see this part.



Maryland Mike, I used the 2nd link you had. I take of the left metal trip using the butter knife techique, take off the panel under the steering with (1 nut on right bottom) and the left just to the right of that next to the radio (4 nuts total) I think. Then it is pretty easy to get to everything. The plug is at the back of the radio, closest to the left side at the back bottom. ITs not too hard.

 

From Looking 4 Instructions to Access back of Radio/NAV to install USA Adapter for ipod:

http://home.usadatanet.net/bclaps/TLAuxcableinstall.pdf

Now added to the Audio/Electronic FAQ.

 

I ordered mine Feb 21, they charged my card Feb 23 and it came UPS Feb 28 to Chicago from California. I will probably get around to installing it next weekend.

 

How about you install it tonight!! We are all looking forward to see if this damn thing actually shows the text and how nice it is. Skip dinner and love your car

 

Thanks for the updates guys.

Just one thing I wanted to add - The Neo car adapter that is on sale right now for 179.99 does not come with a Y cable. The Y cable is an additional $19.99. So if any of you out there that wants the Neo adapter and you have Navi or want to keep your XM, the total is going to come up to 200 bucks (even with the ongoing sale). Just a heads up

Keep the updates coming!

 

I was looking thru this thread and am a bit confused on one thing.
I understand that you supposedly lose the XM screen on your car (assuming you have Navi) but does this apply to just the XM1 screen the XM2 screen or both?
You don't lose the XM in the car totally do you?

I have an '04 TL w/ Navi

-disco-

 

I have been lurking on this thread for a month since I bought my 05 TL w/Navi. I have purchased the NEO unit and am installing it tomorrow. Will report back.

 

Awesome, let us know how it goes...

 

Update on my DICE experience. I called them yesterday to find out about a price match sinc they are on sale all of a sudden. The guy I needed to talk to wasn't in yet.

Later in the day I got an e-mail explaining that it would be at least two weeks before the glitches are fixed on the text version of the unit.

He said he would let me know when it was ready to go and my order is still open. I asked him about the HD adapter since they are including the iPod cable now as a special. He said it would be 2-3 months before it was completed. I am debating on waiting for the HD so I can have both for about $40 more.

 

You will lose XM totally if you go the NEO with text route. If you go the NEO without text route (as I plan to) you can keep XM.

 

When I contacted Dice about the Y-cable I needed, he said they would not have it for about 2 weeks, but gave me the Honda Part Number 08A31-0F1-000. The two closest Honda deals have it in stock, one for 21.75 and the other for 17.40 (I thought they would all have the same price). So I will pick it up tonight and finish my install and report back.

 

First post!

Just bought an 2006 5AT TL w/ Navi (black/black) yesterday. Snowed here today and its a mess. I'll take some pics after I get it cleaned up. Awesome car - hate how it sounds with the griffin FM modulator on the iPod right now.

I just ordered the NEO w/ TEXT. I don't use XM - just the iPod. Can't wait to give it a try. If any of you get your NEO or DICE with text installed, we all want pictures, videos, more information about how the iPod control works from the headunit, etc. I can't find any instruction manuals for either unit. Even scans of a manual would be something nice to read.

Assuming mine gets here next week, it'll still be next weekend before I can get it installed.

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the clarification Mike.
I could have sworn that someone wrote that they were able to use the Acura Music Link for the Ipod on an '04 Tl

Is that True?

 

They should design some switch built on to the cradle that can route the text ability from the Neo to XM so that people can keep both and just switch back and forth between text and non-text version. Is there a modification we can do to achieve this?

 

i was thinking the samething.it should work.

 

Well, I picked up the Y cable from Honda today and hooked up my Dice unit, and still no text. But I am wondering if this is really the right Y cable. The middle connection of the cable (bottom part of the "Y") is at the radio. Or in other words, the radio is connected directly to the Dice Unit and the Nav Unit. But if unit is supposed to send text to the Nav, and the XM is disconnected, the shouldn't the dice unit be the thing that is connected directly to both the Radio and the Nav? I will ask Dice this too, but I don't know if they work on the weekend.

 

I just got my Neo Prolink w/ Text kit today! I have a busy weekend, but hopefully I can get the guys in my service dept. to install it for me. We'll see how it goes. And of course, I will take some pics and post 'em for y'all too!

Oh yeah, it's an old school 15Gig Ipod that's goin' into the '07 TL-S! Haha!

 

Can you look at your cable and see if the middle connector is one than plugs into the deck, or is it the connector that plugs into your Neo box?

 

I installed my Neo tonight. I only had a couple hours, so I didn't get to work everything out. I ended up disconnecting XM and I still don't have text on the display. I will try to figure that out in the next week.

First off, I dont know how some of these people are using a coat hanger to push in the harness. I have small fingers and hands, so I was able to connect it after fighting with it for 15 or 20 minutes.

I took off the long trim piece along the console, the two panels below the steering wheel and the panel next to the radio on the driver side. You can see the plug plain as day, but removing it and reconnecting the new harness is a chore without removing the radio. I decided not to remove the radio since I didn't have the time and was confident I could maneuver my fingers enough behind the radio to get everything in place. It took some work, but everything ended up fine.

The cables that come with the Neo unit are very short. The harness is about 9 inches. The cable that goes from the harness to the Neo unit is about 15 inches and the ipod cable coming out of the unit is about 20 inches. i ran the cable that goes from the harness to the unit under the panel that is on the side of the radio to under the driver's seat and the ipod cable up into the compartment below the radio, which fits my 80g video perfectly. I dont like the look of the snap-on or velco ipod holders. I had one and it rubbed on my old ipod, scratching the back up.

I only have a temporary set-up. I want to figure out how the text works or reconnect XM. when i had XM connected, you could hear it under the ipod. The ipod sounds great though, I was impressed on how good a 128 AAC actually sounds. I'm usually very picky about audio quality and I have to say, everything I have played so far sounds great.

 

one more point...

ipod volume does not work as a pre-amp like it does in an FM modulation set-up.

 

Thanks for letting us know how it went so far. The cable lengths sound about the same as the Dice unit. I wonder if they are the same thing. Does your unit have a couple switches that switches it between CDC mode and Sat mode? Also, when you say you dis-connected XM, is there a second plug for that, or is the same wire that you plug the y cable into?

 

I'm at about the same place as Blackbudget. Unit is installed but Text not working yet. I also have crosstalk with the XM preview channel at a low level in the background. My radio preset buttons aren't usable either. Will continue to work out these issues.

 

For those of you with the new NEO Prolink w/ Text, how is the iPod control from the radio supposed to work? Do certain stations map to particular functions? Just wondering what the process is to select and load a playlist, etc.

Thanks.

 

Yes, the Neo unit has the 4 switches (2 for CDC, 2 for Sat). I'm pretty positive I have them in the right configuration. The directions are pretty straight forward. My scanner is broken, but I can take some photos of the directions that come with the unit. Why they dont have them on the site is beyond me.

There is a second plug for XM. You disconnect the XM harness from the back of the radio and plug it into one of the female plugs on the Y harness. The other female takes the Neo unit and the male end goes into the radio where XM was. The trouble with getting the harness back into the radio was the stiffness and bulkiness of the wire harness. There just wasn't very much flexibility in it for the amount of room you have to work with. Just be persistent and you should be able to piss your wife off enough to get her to do it in less than a half hour.

The Neo unit itself was pretty small, probably 5in x 3in x 1.5in and it is plastic.

The only radio buttons I have used to control the ipod so far have been the seek buttons, which work well.

 

Well I just tried to install the Neo on my '05 TL and failed. The black plastic screw under the stearing wheel wouldn't come out. It spun and spun but wouldn't budge. Screwed by a screw. (It's the screw shown in the second image on page 3 of this PDF.)

Circuit City said they'll install it for $80 - maybe they'll have better luck.

 

I just got the NEO Prolink w/ text in the mail today. Not sure if I'm going to have time to install it right now, but I'll see what I can do. It's going in my 06 TL 5AT Navi.

For those of you who are interested, I've scanned the install/userguide. It's an interesting read and shows the install process, the dipswitch settings, and how the iPod is operated in the different modes.

Page 1 (Front and Back)
Page 2 (Inside)

The thing that concerns me is that no one has been successful in getting text to work. Has anyone got it working yet?

 

Now that you've seen that, compare it to the Dice Electronics Honda R3/R4 Installation Manual . They definitely look like the same unit. The way songs, playlists, and tracks are selected are pretty much word-for-word. The dip switch settings are the same, etc.

In any event, I just scheduled a local NEO dealer to install the Prolink this Friday afternoon. They quoted a cost of $35. While the system is apart, I will make sure that the text is working before I let them put it all back together again.

 

So, for those of us wanting to ditch XM in favor of having Text, we don't need the "Y" cable, and the Prolink will just plug straight into the back of the deck?

For those of you who installed and wanted text to work, did you try it without the "Y" cable?

 

You can turn it all you want but it will not come loose because it really is not a screw. It is clip holding the trim to the metal. Just pry it down with a butter knife or flat head screwdriver and it will come easily.

 

Well, I tried again, and thanks to tlwanted I was able to pry that clip-in-disguise out of the panel.

Unfortunately, there wasn't nearly enough room behind the radio to allow me to see what I needed to do. Worse yet, in the process of removing the silver trim piece (twice) I bent it badly near top where it tapers to a thin, fragile edge. I'll be needing to order a replacement part -- any idea how I go about that?

Ugh.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I am worried about doing that when i remove mine. You can get them for $80ish from an online Acura parts seller.

Yea, it looks like the Dice and Neo unit are the same thing. The operate the same and the manuals are about the same. No text for me, either, with and without the Y-Cable.

 

When I got mine, I did not have a Y cable, and I hooked it up and it did not work. I then got the Y cable, and that did not work either. The instructions for both units mention that the Sat cable (XM cable) needs to be disconnected to work. The Neo instructions say that it does not need to be unplugged if you are not going to use Text. But to plug in the Neo and Dice unit, you have to unplug the that one cable to hook them up. Is the XM cable really a second cable behind the radio that we can't see that we need to un-hook?

 

That's a great question. I just fired off an e-mail to NEO tech support to see if they can answer this question for us. I'd love to have the answer to this before the local shop installs my adapter on Friday. I'd hate to have to rip it all apart after it's all put back together again.

I'll let you know what I find out.

 

The XM module is located behind the trunk lining on the right side. I wonder if this plays any role in the installation. For instance, you need to use the Y-adaptor, plug both XM and Neo into the CDC plug (original location of the XM) behind the head unit, and then disconnect the antenna from the XM module in the trunk.

A phone call to Neo would help clarify what is missing.

 

Based on this email from Logan at NEO, it would seem that the xm connection is somewhere else on the back of the radio, and we will still need to use the included Y cable. Here is the email:

2.) Does the "Y" cable allow both the Prolink & the XM to be connected
to the headunit at the same time or is the "Y" cable because I have the
Navigation system and need to use it regardless of which mode I run it in?

YES IF IN CDC MODE, XM CAN NOT BE CONNECTED IN SAT MODE. YOU WILL NEED IT
REGARDLESS IF YOU HAVE NAV.

3.) How does one "disconnect XM" on an Acura TL w/ Navigation? Is it a
different port on the back of the radio? Any tips/hints on identifying the
connector and how to remove it?

UNPLUG IT FROM THE TUNER IN THE CAR.

Not the most helpful, I know. How else can we find out where the XM connects into the radio?

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but the DICE unit does not skip? Is the the preferred unit for iPod integration in a 04 TL, or is there something better?

 

Not sure if this unit plays better, with the skipping and such, as the other units. I think it is still too early to tell. I have not had trouble with mine, but have not used it a lot yet.



Well, we can always remove the radio, per the instructions here: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90964 but it looks like lots of work and requires a special tool. It may be easier to uplug the XM from the other end. Someone mentioned it was in the trunk on the right side. Anyone have instructions on where it is and how to unplug that?