Well I finally did it .. the xm commander is installed. I decided to mount the display in the sunglass holder. (don't wear sunglasses anyway) The plus is that it flips up and disappears. I wanted to keep the power outlet and still use the upper storage area so this was the next logical space. Seems to work well.





Stuart

 

Nice work! The install looks like OEM. I like the fact that your XM Commander is within eye level. A definite improvement on safety over my Roadie install.

 

Thanks!... the sunglass holder angles down just enough to make viewing the display about perfect.

Stuart

 

funny just 45 mins ago on my way home my wife announced she would like XM in the 2003 Honda Pilot. i flipped the sunglasses holder open (same size as the tsx) and decided that would be a good location in that car.

 

Looks good. I have my 03 TL-S XM there as well. It gets old when surfing, keeping your arm up there. Im still holding out for the connection to run XM through the Navi.

 

Yeah ...reaching up is a little different but the remote seems to work well in that position. And ... if I decide to change it later there is only a small hole drilled in the very back of the sunglass case. (can't hardly see it with or without the xm unit installed).

Bass Mechanic - I do like your install ... very professional .. just wasn't ready to start cutting on her quite yet (the small hole was nerve racking enough )

Stuart

 

Hey Sjavera,

Great job on the install. If it's not too much trouble, could you post step by step directions?


thanks, jp

 

you know i have deided that i will be installing my XM in my wifes pilot on the windshield just below the headliner. im going to make a triangular plastic bracket that follows the slope of the glass and holds the display at the perfect veiwing angle next to the rear view mirror ill take pics when im done.

 

Thanks! I will try to take some pics and post instruction this week.

Stuart

 

Stuart,
PLEASE post the pics and instructions for XM install. I had never considered the sunglass holder. PERFECT! Please help the rest of us know how to do this R-I-G-H-T.
Thanks.

 

I think I may put my commander in the sunglass holder this weekend... hmmmm. ... that's a lot of disassembling of the car, tho. have you had any headliner or pillar rattles since you did this?

 

That's about where I flush-mounted my Alpine XM controller inmy CR-V. I took the flush-mount trim ring and color-matched it with vinyl spray to the interior.

 

 

Can you please tell me how the power and antenna were connected to the XM unit?
Can I use batteries (no power witing). What about the antenna? Why did we need to drill a hole? Do I really need to remove any trim or headliner? Basically, don't I just stick the XM unit in the sunglass holder? Thanks for any responses.

 

You need to drill a hole for the wires: Power, signal cables to the SHOND adapter, and antenna cable.

No batteries. You need it wired, and you need it mounted. If you just sat the thing in the sungless holder, every time you pressed a button it would move, and you'd get in a wreck trying to press the power button or something.

Look, doing this up high is no cakewalk. If you don't feel like you've got a good handle on what ti takes, I would suggest either paying a high-end shop to do it, or going back to NOT AN ASHTRAY. (Although after tearing apart my center console this AM, I don't think I'm suggesting that for anyone as simple, either.)

 

Thanks! I was really hoping that it would be "easy" and that I would not need to unscrew or unclip my TSX interior trim. Maybe some day I will install an XM, but I'd appreciate if someone couls show some pics of the wiring. BTW - when you say SHOUND adapter, do you mean the FM modulator?

 

NOOOOO! FM Modulators are from SATAN!

Please read here:
http://acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3148

ttyl,

ElD

 

sjavera, thanks for the inspiration. I had previously planned to put my commander in the not an ashtray, but ended up putting it in the sunglass holder and I'm glad I did.

I took some pics of my install, although I forgot some of the more important pics (like the tuner itself )
http://www.truedesign.org/tsxmod1/

What did you use to attach the commander controller to the foam in the sunglass holder? I tried little round velcro sticky things, and it worked great until the sticky came off of the foam after about 20 minutes.

Oh, and thanks to everyone who posted detailed instructions on how to take things apart without scratching the trim. I managed to do it all almost completely scratch free.

 

Hello All ..

I promise I will post some pics and instructions this week. I have been out of town and not able.

Regard what I used to mount the xm to the foam ... I used some velcro called Velcro Extreme ... its actually a velcro brand. Item number is 90800. I bought it at Wal-mart I think. Very sticky and seems to work fine ... i have not had any problems so far. If anyone comes up with a better way to mount to the foam, please post.

I will get some instructions up soon ... it really wasn't as bad as I thought.

sjavera

 

Nice install. The second pic with the XM commander lit up looks amazing.

 

Looks good! I did mine in the ashtray of my 2004 Accord..





Do you notice that the audio level of the XM is lower than that of CD or FM? I am thinking of a small line driver/inline amp to boost the signal between the commander and the aux input adapter.

 

Yah, its lower. It's high enough that I want to try it without an amp/driver, but its just low enough that it might bother me. I finished my install Sunday night and my wife took the TSX out of town Monday morning so I haven't had much in-car-on-the-road time with the intsall yet.