Got rid of my double din and replaced it with a 7" Galaxy Tablet

04SCTLS

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So I put the kenwood 9140 into my pickup and parked a one din deck with ipod controls temporarily for something.

Got a stand alone Garmin 1490T with bluetooth for my iphone in front of the ashtray I never use.
I checked out the 7" Galaxy tablet PC and decided to put one in my car in place of the Kenwood.
It came in from new egg 339.00 today:D
I don't use cds or dvds so I decided to think out of the box.
The tablet is only 3/8 inch wider on either side of the heater controls and message controls so nothing will be blocked.
I couldn't bring it closer because of the current stereo.

I really wanted a nice music player and don't care about satellite or radio.
I'm going to make an aluminum sheet face cover in place of the openning
and then velcro the tablet in place.
It's wi fi only so I can take it out easily to go into mcdonalds or something.
I ordered a car charger and have a headphone to rca cable to plug it right into my kenwood equalizer with bass controls out to my 2000 watts of amps.

I already plugged it in with a headphone out to aux in on my single din JVC
and it sounds great and the interface is a pleasure to surf through with no artwork issues.

I'll post some pics in about a week when I get the mods done to make it work.
I feel like I'm taking this to the next level:cool:

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Thats pretty cool. Interested to see it mounted more permanantly.

Also I don't think you get true digital audio out using the method you described. I think it's fairly complicated to actually turn a tablet into a headunit sound quality-wise.
 
Thats pretty cool. Interested to see it mounted more permanantly.

Also I don't think you get true digital audio out using the method you described. I think it's fairly complicated to actually turn a tablet into a headunit sound quality-wise.

You get the same sound plugging an ipod into a house receiver with a headphone to rca cable.
The player says 5.1 in the 6th picture if you look closely.
I played my best eqd technically sounding music and I'm very happy with the punch.
I'm not going to be watching movies in surround sound but I could in stereo and with this device there are no restrictions while driving.
The controls are right at my fingertips so i don't care about the steering controls.
 
Interesting mod, and you're blazing the trail on this one. My biggest limitation would be the storage capacity of the current tablets. My music collection is well over 90 Gb now, and I like having the convenience of having all of it and room to grow on a 160 Gb Ipod.

I think you'll see this trend start to grow. Pioneer already has an Apps head unit that just interfaces with an iPhone to allow you to directly control or run its apps on it. There will be others that will jump on the bandwagon, and I wouldn't be surprised if accessory/installation component companies are already researching and/or manufacturing adapters to accommodate something like this in the future.

I'm waiting for when the head units will have holo-projectors for truly "3D" maps and videos. :p
 
Interesting mod, and you're blazing the trail on this one. My biggest limitation would be the storage capacity of the current tablets. My music collection is well over 90 Gb now, and I like having the convenience of having all of it and room to grow on a 160 Gb Ipod.

I think you'll see this trend start to grow. Pioneer already has an Apps head unit that just interfaces with an iPhone to allow you to directly control or run its apps on it. There will be others that will jump on the bandwagon, and I wouldn't be surprised if accessory/installation component companies are already researching and/or manufacturing adapters to accommodate something like this in the future.

I'm waiting for when the head units will have holo-projectors for truly "3D" maps and videos. :p

I only have 8 gigs of music so a 16 gig card is fine for me.
I don't want to wait for something if I can have what I want now.
 
You only have 8 gigs of music and the Pointer Sisters is part of it? Don't take me wrong, I have the same album. It just that I normally only see that kind of diversity from people with huge collections. I have 300 gigs on my pc, another 300 needing a home and who knows how many cd's that need to be ripped. But only 8 gigs at a time is ever in the car with me, so I'm with you there
 
You only have 8 gigs of music and the Pointer Sisters is part of it? Don't take me wrong, I have the same album. It just that I normally only see that kind of diversity from people with huge collections. I have 300 gigs on my pc, another 300 needing a home and who knows how many cd's that need to be ripped. But only 8 gigs at a time is ever in the car with me, so I'm with you there

This 8 gigs also includes Mozart Symphonies 1 thru 41 and Beethoven Symphonies 5, 6 and 9.
I'm only in the car 15 minutes at a time.
There's only so much time to listen to music.
I wind up sampling songs mostly till I find the one i want right now.
With a 16 gig card I can double my collection.
If you do this with a wireless tablet you can have Pandora radio
and other internet music also.
 
Interesting mod.

what i want to do with mine is pull out the factory thx nav and install a pioneer double din with bluetooth. I have an ipod touch 8gb and iphone 4 16gb so i can pair it up with either and play the music off them.

I may even look into that apple only unit.
 
I've thought about doing this and even research a carputer running android with a touchscreen. In my scenario, that little area above the glove box is the perfect spot to mount an SSD or 2.5" hard drive. Something that can handle the vibration and heat.

My only problem with the galaxy tab is that the screen is too big. See how it shrouds the AC controls and vents? Maybe a slightly smaller (and cheaper) tablet would do.
 
HP touchpads are $99.00 now if you can find one. I think they are kind of large though
 
My music collection is well over 90 Gb now, and I like having the convenience of having all of it and room to grow on a 160 Gb Ipod

Damn thats sorta alot of music lol. I got a external 1TB and well it has 400gb left and its music beside like 5gb of pics and misc..

Think that is going look aswome and give the LS a more updated look. Bc honestly i love the MKZ interior lol throw that in a LS and i be ok lol :D
 
Thats pretty slick...

I've always wanted to do that with an Ipad or something like that too...

It would be like a slick in car PC without all the hassles!
 
I've thought about doing this and even research a carputer running android with a touchscreen. In my scenario, that little area above the glove box is the perfect spot to mount an SSD or 2.5" hard drive. Something that can handle the vibration and heat.

My only problem with the galaxy tab is that the screen is too big. See how it shrouds the AC controls and vents? Maybe a slightly smaller (and cheaper) tablet would do.

Best Buy had a slightly narrower tablet for 300.00 but I didn't want to take a chance on a no name cheapie.
At least the Galaxy has been around a while and has some legs.
I heard they are discontinuing the 7" and going with the 10 inch screen
but that won't matter for apps and so forth.

I loaded some music on a micro sd and took it with me to check out tablets.
I fell in love with the Galaxy music player.
The unit is only slightly wide to the space and won't block any controls.
You'll see when I put it in permanently.
People have those single dins with the large screens which IMO look more
out of place.
And it's cheap compared to a double din deck and gives me what I want now!
 
Best Buy had a slightly narrower tablet for 300.00 but I didn't want to take a chance on a no name cheapie.
At least the Galaxy has been around a while and has some legs.
I heard they are discontinuing the 7" and going with the 10 inch screen
but that won't matter for apps and so forth.

I loaded some music on a micro sd and took it with me to check out tablets.
I fell in love with the Galaxy music player.
The unit is only slightly wide to the space and won't block any controls.
You'll see when I put it in permanently.
People have those single dins with the large screens which IMO look more
out of place.
And it's cheap compared to a double din deck and gives me what I want now!

So it will not be removable at all? Or permanently as in a permanent dock for it to rest in?

What I actually thought of doing was replacing the deck and everything with a tablet, and just having an EQ in the dash to split front/rear and what-not. What stopped me from going further was lack of any sort of FM tuner. I would miss FM radio some, and online streaming is about as good as the coverage map for 4G/3G. If I could find some sort of FM Tuner for a tablet, then I would be doing this as well.

Plus I was going to run my bluetooth OBD2 plugin and have the torque app running so I can feel all fast and furious :p
 
So it will not be removable at all? Or permanently as in a permanent dock for it to rest in?

What I actually thought of doing was replacing the deck and everything with a tablet, and just having an EQ in the dash to split front/rear and what-not. What stopped me from going further was lack of any sort of FM tuner. I would miss FM radio some, and online streaming is about as good as the coverage map for 4G/3G. If I could find some sort of FM Tuner for a tablet, then I would be doing this as well.

Plus I was going to run my bluetooth OBD2 plugin and have the torque app running so I can feel all fast and furious :p

By more permanently I meant more than just holding it up to the space.
I'm going to use 2 strips of velcro and when I figure out where to put them I will sand the back of the galaxy in those places and glue the strips with JB Weld epoxy.
The structure that holds the deck just needs a piece of aluminum sheet folded on both sides and fastened with screws to make it a rigid box.
The rest is easy.
I'll be able to take it out in seconds and use it or put it in my pocket .
I'll make it up as I go along ;):D
 
So it will not be removable at all? Or permanently as in a permanent dock for it to rest in?

What I actually thought of doing was replacing the deck and everything with a tablet, and just having an EQ in the dash to split front/rear and what-not. What stopped me from going further was lack of any sort of FM tuner. I would miss FM radio some, and online streaming is about as good as the coverage map for 4G/3G. If I could find some sort of FM Tuner for a tablet, then I would be doing this as well.

Plus I was going to run my bluetooth OBD2 plugin and have the torque app running so I can feel all fast and furious :p

Im sure there is an FM app out there, my new Droid X2 has one installed. Its just called FM Radio
 
wow, someone has way too much money lol, an ipad over a avic Z in a cayenne. great work though, if it was mine, i would like the ipads dock's motor to not scream like a banshee.

i wonder if the AVIC will control an ipad likes it does a Ipod, but leave controls up to the pad?


Im sure there is an FM app out there, my new Droid X2 has one installed. Its just called FM Radio
as far as FM tuners, the hardware has to be built in for it to have it, HTC has been including this into their most of their phones for awhile now, maybe they also include it on their tab (flyer)
 
Black ls there is the pie adapter that allows you to control your iPod and iPod touch and iPhone via the nav screen and it will also display the music info on the screen. Its the pie sat adapter.
 
That would be awesome to do, have my avic Z2 covered by an Ipad.. but Umm, just putting the Z in by itself is almost impossible since there is very little room to work with in the rear. But that install is awesome besides the motor on the Ipad.. Annoying loud
 
Black ls there is the pie adapter that allows you to control your iPod and iPod touch and iPhone via the nav screen and it will also display the music info on the screen. Its the pie sat adapter.

But the stock nav sucks......cant even play dvd's.

That would be awesome to do, have my avic Z2 covered by an Ipad.. but Umm, just putting the Z in by itself is almost impossible since there is very little room to work with in the rear. But that install is awesome besides the motor on the Ipad.. Annoying loud

Yeah its annoying loud.

Just showing it can be done with the right amount of skill and money.
 
This took me about 12 hours and about 3 times reworking it to get it to fit to my liking.
I wanted to keep my very rare 1/2 din Kenwood 9042 equalizer with bass controls for the subs and not put the tablet a 1/2 din higher to keep it at the optimum finger reach with your hand on the shifter, that made it more complicated.
Kicker still makes a similar eq but I like the Kenwood and have 3 of these puppies (1 in my 1000 watt Camaro and a spare)I bought on ebay.
It sounds fabulous even better than the Kenwood 9140, and put a big huge smile on my face kind of like I get when I let my Supercharged Camaro rip!
I used some wood spacers and velcro to hold the modified bezel in place.


And here's the rest of my KING KONG 3 amp 2000 watt monster stereo.:D
1000.1 and 600a4 old school Rockford for bass and door speakers and tweeters.
200 watt Alpine for the coneless Aura Bass Shakers under the seats.
All amps mounted on 1" rubber isolation posts from Grainger.
4 rated 100 watt rms each 6x8 Infinity Kappa's in the doors.
2 monster Cadence 12" 4 or 1 ohm subs rated 1200 watts continuous running at 2 ohms parallel.
I used the factory tweeters from the door speakers though the picture shows a Pyramid.
One of the Pyramids crapped out on me on a sunday and the factory tweeter sounded so much better I replaced both of them.
I built my own complex custom box 2 years ago a huge 3.7 cu/ft that ports into the car where the factory subs were.
It takes up very little trunk space and can be taken out in a minute!

Oh
and I'm going to put my Garmin 1490t w bluetooth over the speedometer though in this pic it's over the tach.
My speedo is 5 mph off at 75 and I like the look of the garmin 3d display with the speedometer and speed limit signs in that place.

Like silvery wine in a spaceship...;):):)
Gravity all nonsense now...:D:D:D:D

This thing leaves me shaking if I crank it up for any length of time:steering:invasion: :wrench:dancefool

I'm very pleased with myself :D and how this turned out.

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What the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, holy :q:q:q:q it looks like a damn server behind your back seat.

Nice work on the tablet, it would be awesome if when it was up it was flush with the rest of the consol
 
What the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, holy :q:q:q:q it looks like a damn server behind your back seat.

Nice work on the tablet, it would be awesome if when it was up it was flush with the rest of the consol


I could have bought a slightly narrower 7" tablet but the Galaxy has been around a while and I just love the music player.
I couldn't even get the other off brand tablets to turn on at Best Buy.
When I went to look at the tablet in a Best Buy I brought my own music on a micro sd card to test it out.
There's not quite enough room in an LS for a flush mount without hacking the heater vent bezel and the fingers would have to go that much further forward to control it.
Plus the way I mounted it I can take it out in seconds and go into McDonalds or anywhere there is wi fi.
If there was an ATT wireless tablet I would have gotten that but I'm ok with my iphone synced to my garmin.

Life is choices....:eek::cool:

It also comes on instantly as I pause the player and put the tablet to black with one touch of the power button and it comes back on in 2 seconds when I turn it on.
I leave it constantly charging otherwise it drains down to 30% overnight.
Powering it down means it will take about 15 seconds to boot up.
 

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