Replacing the crappy Head unit

ozkan bicer

Active Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Messages
116
Location
istanbul , Turkey
Hi everyone,
I have just got a 2015 Subaru Levorg 1.6 Gt in Turkey and I am dying to replace the factory installed head unit which is nothing but junk.

I can find head unit, wiring harness online but the frame which goes around the A/C knobs and Hazard light button is nowhere to be found.

Can anyone help me find it? I saw on a couple of videos that you have a carbon looking frame in the US versions of WRX. I need that!!
 

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ozkan bicer

Active Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Messages
116
Location
istanbul , Turkey
I finally got rid of that crappy Clarion HU and installed a Pioneer F77DAB. Retaining steering wheel controls and backup camera was not easy and cost a bit. I ordered a lot of wiring harnesses from different vendors as there was none specifically built for Levorg. You will need the following:

1-A 28pin Subaru wiring harness ( I have some if you want to do the install yourself)
2-NEW METRA 95-8907HG DOUBLE DIN DASH KIT FOR 2015-UP SUBARU IMPREZA/CROSSTREK
3-NEW AXXESS AX-CAM6V 12-VOLT TO 6-VOLT STEP-DOWN CONVERTER
4- METRA 70-1761 TOYOTA FACTORY RADIO WIRING HARNESS ADAPTER
5-Metra 40-LX11 (40lx11) Select 2002-Up Toyota/Lexus Antenna Adapter Cable
6-ASWC-1 Metra Axxess Universal OEM Steering Wheel Control Module (ASWC) or Idatalink Maestro MSW
7- USB panel if you want to keep the USB ports. Retaining the factory USBs are tricky and not worth the effort. I went with this piece which is a nice addition to the car.Now I have 2 usb ports and an HDMI port .
8-Some closed end cripm caps or soldering the wires together after putting together the harness.

I did the install myself and I could retain steering wheel controls, backup camera and USB ports. The voice command works depending on the phone you have. I am using an Android phone and google voice command works just fine.

And the sound quality is way better than that shitty Clarion HU.
 

Admin

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Dec 28, 2013
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17
Thanks for sharing! I am sure this will help many current/future Levorg owners.
 

ozkan bicer

Active Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Messages
116
Location
istanbul , Turkey
you are welcome. If anyone needs 28 pin Subaru harnesses which are not easy to come by, just drop me a line. I have quite many of them ready to go. I had a company built these specifically for Levorg. Wires are color coded and 15 cm long.
 

Sancho

New Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2015
Messages
18
Which head unit did you have originally? There's two different stock models.
 

Sancho

New Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2015
Messages
18
Ah, OK. I've read pretty bad reviews about that one on the XV forum.
My car has the unit with navigation. That's supposed to be better on all accounts, so that's why I'm insisting on keeping it and just upgrading the speakers.
 
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Feb 21, 2017
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Brisbane
Do yourself a favour, if you upgrade the speakers install a 4 channel amp to run them, you will not regret it. And do front and rear doors speakers.
 

Peter Harrison

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Joined
Jun 1, 2017
Messages
28
Location
Jamaica
you are welcome. If anyone needs 28 pin Subaru harnesses which are not easy to come by, just drop me a line. I have quite many of them ready to go. I had a company built these specifically for Levorg. Wires are color coded and 15 cm long.
I need 1! What is the cost and where are you?
 

SkyBeam

Member
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
41
I got my one upgraded in the past two days now. However I have decided to do some experiment and go for this one here.

Actually first they sent me the wrong cable. Actually it was the Subaru 20-Pin connector. But they have been able to send me another 28-Pin Harness. Unfortunately also this one was not complete. The 28-Pin connector got much more features as they use with the harness shipped:

  • Reverse input not used
  • No 6V power supply for reverse cam on 28-Pin
  • Parking break input pin not used
  • Microphone delivered instead using Levorg buit-in mic

I have decided to extend the hardness slightly:

  • Connected input on pin 2 (brown/yellow) connected (28-pin connector)
  • Camera 6V supplied to pin 11 (white) (generated from blue ACC pin via step-down converter from AXXESS)
  • Supplying 5V on pin 4 (gray/blue) for mic-amplifier taken from USB (not tested yet if it works)

I have decided to go for a separate amplifier and decided for a very small Pioneer GM-D1004. First I tried to connect the pre-amp outs from the chinese HU to the AMP. This didn't work very well. The output was pretty loud and there were clicking noises which seem to have always the same volume no matter the selected volume, but pretty loud base noise. Strange enough the noise also completely disappeared when the HU was on mute but the noise re-appears when unmuting, even if nothing played. Finally I changed the cabling to use speaker-level inputs on the AMP which is much better now. I can still hear some repeating "chirp" noise every few seconds but this might be solvable by a filter and it's not hearable during driving or when anything is played. The channels are just not dead-silent when nothing is played. I guess the HU is guilty here.
BTW: I have fitted the amplifier in the dash right below the 2DIN HU slot. There is sufficient space. I have to see whether this becomes a temperature/heat issue later. Up to now it works fine and keeps the cabling short.

The second issue I have is that the steering-wheel controls are detected properly but randomly the buttons are mixed/not recognized correctly. I can program them but after a while all buttons turn to "volume up" action. I will likely try to attach the AXXESS ASWC-1 between the HU and the steering wheel. Perhaps this will solve the problem.

I have also added a Kenwood KSC-SW11 Subwoofer which perfectly fits under the seat (put my one under passanger seat). The cabling can be easily run under the carpet via the holes which are already there. I have routed my cables to the center console and from there to the radio. The Subwoofer is a good support at high volumes but less noticable on low volumes. Perhaps because I have connected it to the Subwoofer output of the HU. I need to experiment a little. The volume control pod is placed within the center console glove-compartment (drilled a hole at the back-end and run the cable in there).

The speakers got replaced some weeks ago by the Kicker set (tweeter and all main speakers).

At the moment I am quite happy with the setup. Only the steering wheel controls are an item I need to have a look for sure. Automatic switching to reverse works fine too with good quality of reverse camera. I have also added an USB camera which is supported by the DVR app. The camera is simply mounted at the front of the car in the lower grill compartment and almost invisible there. This way I can also use it as a visual distance sensor when parking.
 
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nicodache

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Jun 23, 2014
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523
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50.45459,3.95254
I got my one upgraded in the past two days now. However I have decided to do some experiment and go for this one here.
Hello Skybeam, I've seen these 9" android auto tablets all over the internet, and you have pages and pages with seemingly that same model on aliexpress.

I'm being tempted to fit that one next summer once manufacturer warranty expires, but I'm wondering about fitment and finish. doesn't it look too cheap ? how is the fitment in the car ? I've seen some pictures where the top of the touchscreen protrudes quite a lot from the dashboard.

Look at https://youtu.be /wRTkHpSZs3M?t=7s ; is this as ugly as it seems ?

Could you upload some pics here ?

thanks
-- M
 
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SkyBeam

Member
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
41
Yes it looks exactly like in the video. The plastic is matte black and quality is quite ok. Just the silver linings on the vents look a bit cheap as they are just painted. But it does not disturb me a lot.

The screen sticks a bit out on the top end but it does not disturb me either.

I got my unit upgraded with PX5 board (2GB RAM, Android 6) and will probably install custom ROM soon. For me it's just working fine. The crappy amplifier however got replaced by an external Class-D Pioneer amplifier with 4x45W. Just sufficient for me along with the Kicker speaker set.

The climate controls anyway are taken from the original unit. So no change hier. The top-end plastic finish around vent holes looks matte black, just as the top original plastic cover is. My non-nav headunit got a glossy black finish around the climate controls and my headunit now got a matte black one. I personally prefer the matte black one as the glossy one attracts fingerprints and micro-scratches a lot. I personally think this is totally impractical for car use.

If you don't like the big screen or the design of this dash, then go for a 2DIN fascia and chose from any of the 2DIN radios available on the market.
 
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