I am trying to find a way to play cassette books on tape in my new EX. While I can plug a walkman into the aux audio input, its inconvenient at best. There appear to be very few options for receiver/cassette/cd players that fit the double DIN opening in the dash and uses the OEM amplifier. Checking with several sources including Crutchfield, it seems that the Element is sufficiently new that no one has knowledge whether a single DIN unit and a tray to take up the excess space would work (similar to the add on for the DX). Does anyone have experience or advice? thanks
Is there a Cassette Tape/CD Player that fits?
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http://www.installer.com sells a single din radio install dash kit and wiring harnesses for the Element.
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Yes!!! Kenwood just came out with a really great head unit that I installed last night. Check out the Kenwood DPX-MP4070 It plays MP3s, has a great tuner, nice built in amp, and has lots of bells and whistles. Also, it works with the factory system including the subwoofer.
Crutchfield says it will not fit the E. That is not true. This unit is a double-din and fit perfectly. The E's opening is actually slightly larger than the a double-din. Kenwood supplied a trim plate to fill the gap. Doing the math, it turned out that Crutchfield was actually cheaper than most other shops on line due to the free shipping (I'm in Alaska -- so this is no insignificant), free wiring harness, etc. I did have to call the order in though as the automated system will not give you a Honda harness for this radio -- you have to talk to a person and request it. You'll also have to convince the phone operator that it will fit your E (they didn't believe me!)
It took a while to figure out the wiring so that the stock amp is turned on. You have to wire the antenna and amp wires (three wires from head unit to one on Honda wiring harness) together so that current flows not only to the antenna but to the factory amp, letting it know that stereo is on and it should turn on. [There is probably a better way to do this... Not smart enough to figure it out unfortunately.]
The unit also includes an aux-in port and a subwoofer port, both RCA plug-ins on the back. I had to cut into the E's wiring to hook these up -- I attached RCA cords directly to the E's wiring and then plugged these cords into the head unit. There are directions elsewhere on this site about how to hook these cords up and also directions on how to hook this up without cutting into the car. [In the even I ever sell me E and want to return the stock radio to it, I'll have to rewire the aux and subwoofer harnesses.]
The sound quality is a definite improvement, with a much better sound field using the E's existing speakers. Admittedly, I don't crank the radio up to the point that you can hear it miles away -- however, I'm still very pleased. The tuner also picks up remote stations much better than the factory head unit.[/code]
Crutchfield says it will not fit the E. That is not true. This unit is a double-din and fit perfectly. The E's opening is actually slightly larger than the a double-din. Kenwood supplied a trim plate to fill the gap. Doing the math, it turned out that Crutchfield was actually cheaper than most other shops on line due to the free shipping (I'm in Alaska -- so this is no insignificant), free wiring harness, etc. I did have to call the order in though as the automated system will not give you a Honda harness for this radio -- you have to talk to a person and request it. You'll also have to convince the phone operator that it will fit your E (they didn't believe me!)
It took a while to figure out the wiring so that the stock amp is turned on. You have to wire the antenna and amp wires (three wires from head unit to one on Honda wiring harness) together so that current flows not only to the antenna but to the factory amp, letting it know that stereo is on and it should turn on. [There is probably a better way to do this... Not smart enough to figure it out unfortunately.]
The unit also includes an aux-in port and a subwoofer port, both RCA plug-ins on the back. I had to cut into the E's wiring to hook these up -- I attached RCA cords directly to the E's wiring and then plugged these cords into the head unit. There are directions elsewhere on this site about how to hook these cords up and also directions on how to hook this up without cutting into the car. [In the even I ever sell me E and want to return the stock radio to it, I'll have to rewire the aux and subwoofer harnesses.]
The sound quality is a definite improvement, with a much better sound field using the E's existing speakers. Admittedly, I don't crank the radio up to the point that you can hear it miles away -- however, I'm still very pleased. The tuner also picks up remote stations much better than the factory head unit.[/code]
Yes!!! Kenwood just came out with a really great head unit that I installed last night. Check out the It plays MP3s, has a great tuner, nice built in amp, and has lots of bells and whistles. Also, it works with the factory system including the subwoofer.
Crutchfield says it will not fit the E. That is not true. This unit is a double-din and fit perfectly. The E's opening is actually slightly larger than the a double-din. Kenwood supplied a trim plate to fill the gap. Doing the math, it turned out that Crutchfield was actually cheaper than most other shops on line due to the free shipping (I'm in Alaska -- so this is no insignificant), free wiring harness, etc. I did have to call the order in though as the automated system will not give you a Honda harness for this radio -- you have to talk to a person and request it. You'll also have to convince the phone operator that it will fit your E (they didn't believe me!)
It took a while to figure out the wiring so that the stock amp is turned on. You have to wire the antenna and amp wires (three wires from head unit to one on Honda wiring harness) together so that current flows not only to the antenna but to the factory amp, letting it know that stereo is on and it should turn on. [There is probably a better way to do this... Not smart enough to figure it out unfortunately.]
The unit also includes an aux-in port and a subwoofer port, both RCA plug-ins on the back. I had to cut into the E's wiring to hook these up -- I attached RCA cords directly to the E's wiring and then plugged these cords into the head unit. There are directions elsewhere on this site about how to hook these cords up and also directions on how to hook this up without cutting into the car. [In the even I ever sell me E and want to return the stock radio to it, I'll have to rewire the aux and subwoofer harnesses.]
The sound quality is a definite improvement, with a much better sound field using the E's existing speakers. Admittedly, I don't crank the radio up to the point that you can hear it miles away -- however, I'm still very pleased. The tuner also picks up remote stations much better than the factory head unit.[/code]
Crutchfield says it will not fit the E. That is not true. This unit is a double-din and fit perfectly. The E's opening is actually slightly larger than the a double-din. Kenwood supplied a trim plate to fill the gap. Doing the math, it turned out that Crutchfield was actually cheaper than most other shops on line due to the free shipping (I'm in Alaska -- so this is no insignificant), free wiring harness, etc. I did have to call the order in though as the automated system will not give you a Honda harness for this radio -- you have to talk to a person and request it. You'll also have to convince the phone operator that it will fit your E (they didn't believe me!)
It took a while to figure out the wiring so that the stock amp is turned on. You have to wire the antenna and amp wires (three wires from head unit to one on Honda wiring harness) together so that current flows not only to the antenna but to the factory amp, letting it know that stereo is on and it should turn on. [There is probably a better way to do this... Not smart enough to figure it out unfortunately.]
The unit also includes an aux-in port and a subwoofer port, both RCA plug-ins on the back. I had to cut into the E's wiring to hook these up -- I attached RCA cords directly to the E's wiring and then plugged these cords into the head unit. There are directions elsewhere on this site about how to hook these cords up and also directions on how to hook this up without cutting into the car. [In the even I ever sell me E and want to return the stock radio to it, I'll have to rewire the aux and subwoofer harnesses.]
The sound quality is a definite improvement, with a much better sound field using the E's existing speakers. Admittedly, I don't crank the radio up to the point that you can hear it miles away -- however, I'm still very pleased. The tuner also picks up remote stations much better than the factory head unit.[/code]
Yes!!! Kenwood just came out with a really great head unit that I installed last night. Check out the Kenwood DPX-MP4070 . It plays MP3s, has a great tuner, nice built in amp, and has lots of bells and whistles. Also, it works with the factory system including the subwoofer.
Crutchfield says it will not fit the E. That is not true. This unit is a double-din and fit perfectly. The E's opening is actually slightly larger than the a double-din. Kenwood supplied a trim plate to fill the gap. Doing the math, it turned out that Crutchfield was actually cheaper than most other shops on line due to the free shipping (I'm in Alaska -- so this is no insignificant), free wiring harness, etc. I did have to call the order in though as the automated system will not give you a Honda harness for this radio -- you have to talk to a person and request it. You'll also have to convince the phone operator that it will fit your E (they didn't believe me!)
It took a while to figure out the wiring so that the stock amp is turned on. You have to wire the antenna and amp wires (three wires from head unit to one on Honda wiring harness) together so that current flows not only to the antenna but to the factory amp, letting it know that stereo is on and it should turn on. [There is probably a better way to do this... Not smart enough to figure it out unfortunately.]
The unit also includes an aux-in port and a subwoofer port, both RCA plug-ins on the back. I had to cut into the E's wiring to hook these up -- I attached RCA cords directly to the E's wiring and then plugged these cords into the head unit. There are directions elsewhere on this site about how to hook these cords up and also directions on how to hook this up without cutting into the car. [In the even I ever sell me E and want to return the stock radio to it, I'll have to rewire the aux and subwoofer harnesses.]
The sound quality is a definite improvement, with a much better sound field using the E's existing speakers. Admittedly, I don't crank the radio up to the point that you can hear it miles away -- however, I'm still very pleased. The tuner also picks up remote stations much better than the factory head unit.[/code]
Crutchfield says it will not fit the E. That is not true. This unit is a double-din and fit perfectly. The E's opening is actually slightly larger than the a double-din. Kenwood supplied a trim plate to fill the gap. Doing the math, it turned out that Crutchfield was actually cheaper than most other shops on line due to the free shipping (I'm in Alaska -- so this is no insignificant), free wiring harness, etc. I did have to call the order in though as the automated system will not give you a Honda harness for this radio -- you have to talk to a person and request it. You'll also have to convince the phone operator that it will fit your E (they didn't believe me!)
It took a while to figure out the wiring so that the stock amp is turned on. You have to wire the antenna and amp wires (three wires from head unit to one on Honda wiring harness) together so that current flows not only to the antenna but to the factory amp, letting it know that stereo is on and it should turn on. [There is probably a better way to do this... Not smart enough to figure it out unfortunately.]
The unit also includes an aux-in port and a subwoofer port, both RCA plug-ins on the back. I had to cut into the E's wiring to hook these up -- I attached RCA cords directly to the E's wiring and then plugged these cords into the head unit. There are directions elsewhere on this site about how to hook these cords up and also directions on how to hook this up without cutting into the car. [In the even I ever sell me E and want to return the stock radio to it, I'll have to rewire the aux and subwoofer harnesses.]
The sound quality is a definite improvement, with a much better sound field using the E's existing speakers. Admittedly, I don't crank the radio up to the point that you can hear it miles away -- however, I'm still very pleased. The tuner also picks up remote stations much better than the factory head unit.[/code]
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