Kenwood DNX893S in the XLR

[rexster314]

Looks like the Kenwood DNX893S is going to work in my XLR. They are buttoning up everything now after about 3 hours. Added a backup camera and Sirius/XM. I'll update as soon as I take possession of the car.

Follow up:
First off, the guys at Houston Car Stereo on Hillcroft in Houston are jam up guys, willing to do anything to make a happy customer. Their leather sofa in the waiting room never made me tire of sitting.

We used the Metra GMOS-06 network adapter, PAC-TR7 and the PAC SWI-RC steering wheel adapter.
The owner was very good in trying these adapters out, even though every catalog does not list them as suitable for our XLR vehicles. At the very least I would get an updated Nav unit in my car with sound bypassing the Bose system using the Kenwood's amp along with a much needed backup camera. If everything worked as hoped for, I would retain OnStar, Bose, and all the other things that go along with it. I would also retain control over the steering wheel controls as well. After a couple of hours in the shop, the owner came out and said everything was working, Bose, OnStar, backup cam but they had no sound output. I immediately pulled up the wiring diagram that is in the thread "App Radio" and showed it to the tech. He had me text him the link to h is phone, he pulled it up and within 10 minutes we had some serious sound coming from the Kenwood. So I have a new Kenwood Nav unit, with HD radio, Garmin navigation, Android Auto, bluetooth phone and music plus DVD that can play while driving if the passenger/co-pilot wants to watch a movie. I'm not sure I'm going for a Sirius/XM tuner as I have it on my cell phone and can port it over to the Kenwood via bluetooth, time will tell and it's an easy add-on later
The steering wheel controls work for the volume up/down and instead of "Source" for the smaller button it's a scan button for whatever media source
I'm listening to at the moment.





<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/177311048" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/177311048">20160802_165607[1]</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user35609895">Rex McCall</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

[David_B]

Make them give you the wiring diagram so we can know what works for sure.

 

[rexster314]

Make them give you the wiring diagram so we can know what works for sure.

A Metra/Axxess interface was used: GMOS-06
Pac-TR7 Trigger for the Bose
PAC SWI-RC for the controls

They used the wiring diagram in the APP RADIO thread, which worked perfectly. I believe they used the factory GM GPS antenna with an adapter.
Microphone for bluetooth phone installed just above the rear view mirror
USB cables for Apple iPod and Android installed in the arm rest/console for easy access

 

[rexster314]

Forgot to add that in addition to the DVD feature (playing while in motion) the Garmin allows me to input an address/POI while the car is in motion. For a co-pilot, that is great to have

 

[rexster314]

I made several custom wallpapers for the Kenwood today. And yes, you can change the buttons colors if you wish

 

[rexster314]

Followup after almost 2 weeks of the Kenwood. Android Auto is great! My wife is not a techie, in fact pretty much a Luddite. With her phone with the Android app installed, all she has to do is plug in the USB cord, everything starts up automatically and will usually pick up with the last song on Pandora. Perfect phone interface, and voice commands for sending text, making phone call, Google map use, which is perfect for her as she has a problem using the Garmin nav.

Pandora works perfectly as does the Tune In radio app.

 

[ccclarke]

Your install sounds like a major improvement over Cadillac's latest CUE release which has compatibility issues with Android and iOS, and offers nothing in the way of screen customization or DIY nav updates.

I like CUE in the way it integrates with the rest of the car and allows the driver to configure so many settings in one place. For the most part, these configuration settings are adjusted once and forgotten, the majority of CUE interaction comes in the form of its infotainment functions.

Cadillac shortsightedness when they developed CUE is common knowledge to everyone but the engineers who designed it. Cadillac really dropped the ball in customer support with no upgrade paths available for owners who wish to purchase newer (ie faster, more capable) hardware to support the newer software being released. Capability for future improvement should have been designed into the hardware from the beginning as a requirement. As a sales tool for both new and used vehicles, this could have had major implications.

My four year-old iPad receives continuous (free) software releases to increase the functionality and security of the hardware which was designed for growth. Why should I need (as opposed to want) to buy a new iPad every two years?

Sadly CUE gets no love, other than bug fixes (like volume increasing on startup) and no new functionality added to systems over two years old. Cadillac's promised app store has yet to materialize.

Standard of the World? Maybe the Third World. . . Building stylish, high-performance, luxurious cars they can do. Support for their products after the sale, (especially something as rapidly-changing as data-hungry, convenience-related electronics) leaves a lot of room for much-needed improvements.

Apparently, Delphi isn't capable of selling GM on the logic of adopting a modular architecture for technology that changes in two to three year increments. They would rather you spend tens of thousands of dollars (in depreciation and higher initial prices) to buy a new vehicle.

Basically, if you want to upgrade CUE, you need to buy a new car. . . Tesla is following Apple's model and provides free updates (via Wi-Fi) when new software is introduced. As an upgradeable system, Cadillac could have made a lot of money for owners wanting to modify their vehicles to the latest configuration. Some aftermarket support is available, but can invalidate an existing warranty if it changes the configuration of the vehicle, or the software can be written over by a dealer doing a patch.

Since your infotainment unit only interfaces with the source inputs and not the vehicle systems (the DIC does that) it's a liability issue for CUE owners to change anything and a configuration management challenge for GM to implement.

Your install is the best XLR upgrade to date. Enjoy!

CC

 

[XLRATING]

Wonder if anyone other than Tesla (like Chevy, Ford etc) has done any better with providing update capacity? I've never been a fan of running so many vehicle controls thru the radio anyway because it makes it so difficult to do anything aftermarket.

 

[rexster314]

In my case, the only thing I lost in this change out was station information in the HUD, a small loss as it wasn't very useful in the first place

 

[onalaska]

The HUD is almost useless anyway if you wear polarized sunglasses like I do. I never notice the radio display on the HUD and during the day I can not see the radio display with my sunglasses on.
How is the Kenwood display visibility in bright sunlight as compared to the original radio display?

I am convinced that Cadillac is expecting owners to replace their cars every 3-5 years and is not concerned about what happens after then. Unfortunately I don't fit into their targeted group.

 

[rexster314]

Steve, I have some Wayfarers that are not polarized that I keep in the XLR just for that. Also got a pair of Maui Jim's I keep in the upright console for backup.
The Kenwood has like 5 adjustable "tilts" to the screen face. One is a negative tilt downward as well. Out of those options, one of them gives me pretty glare free viewing.

 

[David_B]

Yes, Cadillac only cares about new-car sales. just like every other manufacturer.

The fact that Tesla keeps losing money while it does do upgrades to it's old cars shows there's not a lot of money in that. I expect even Tesla will stop doing it if they ever become profitable.

Unfortunately our consumer society has wanted ever newer things, and the manufacturers have figured out how to give it to us. Making it almost impossible to maintain anything old.

I expect in the next 100 years the only "collectable" cars from this era will be those locked in an environmentally stable building that have never been driven.

When you can't get a headlight for a car made in 2009 just 7 years old, imagine trying to get the same when they are 40 years old?

 

[XLRATING]

I am convinced that Cadillac is expecting owners to replace their cars every 3-5 years and is not concerned about what happens after then. Unfortunately I don't fit into their targeted group.

I think you're absolutely right, as it appears Cadillac is moving to a sales model with pricing high enough that it pushes towards leasing (& lease terms are typically 3 years). Not an uncommon "luxury car" sales model, since it "keeps people coming back for more" as they turn in leased vehicles & replace them.

At the same time, if I had to guess, not many manufacturers probably care what happens past 3-5 years, especially once the new car warranty expires & they're off the hook.

I've already told my dealer the same thing you've said, that clearly Cadillac doesn't want me as a customer because the direction they're heading isn't for me, which of course the dealer tried to refute. I wish Cadillac luck in their new approach & their new customer base.

 

[graytoad]

Looks like the Kenwood DNX893S is going to work in my XLR. They are buttoning up everything now after about 3 hours. Added a backup camera and Sirius/XM. I'll update as soon as I take possession of the car.

Follow up:
First off, the guys at Houston Car Stereo on Hillcroft in Houston are jam up guys, willing to do anything to make a happy customer. Their leather sofa in the waiting room never made me tire of sitting.

We used the Metra GMOS-06 network adapter, PAC-TR7 and the PAC SWI-RC steering wheel adapter.
The owner was very good in trying these adapters out, even though every catalog does not list them as suitable for our XLR vehicles. At the very least I would get an updated Nav unit in my car with sound bypassing the Bose system using the Kenwood's amp along with a much needed backup camera. If everything worked as hoped for, I would retain OnStar, Bose, and all the other things that go along with it. I would also retain control over the steering wheel controls as well. After a couple of hours in the shop, the owner came out and said everything was working, Bose, OnStar, backup cam but they had no sound output. I immediately pulled up the wiring diagram that is in the thread "App Radio" and showed it to the tech. He had me text him the link to h is phone, he pulled it up and within 10 minutes we had some serious sound coming from the Kenwood. So I have a new Kenwood Nav unit, with HD radio, Garmin navigation, Android Auto, bluetooth phone and music plus DVD that can play while driving if the passenger/co-pilot wants to watch a movie. I'm not sure I'm going for a Sirius/XM tuner as I have it on my cell phone and can port it over to the Kenwood via bluetooth, time will tell and it's an easy add-on later
The steering wheel controls work for the volume up/down and instead of "Source" for the smaller button it's a scan button for whatever media source
I'm listening to at the moment.
View attachment 6567

View attachment 6568 View attachment 6569

Wow, thank you for all your information. Very much appreciated if I ever decide to update this ancient system. BTW: I would love to see the video but it is set to private so it wont show. Also: Do you mind me asking how much this whole conversion set you back?

 

[rexster314]

Wow, thank you for all your information. Very much appreciated if I ever decide to update this ancient system. BTW: I would love to see the video but it is set to private so it wont show. Also: Do you mind me asking how much this whole conversion set you back?

Funny, I checked the video settings on Vimeo, and it's set for public viewing. I did a few tweaks on the settings however. Can you check again and let me know?

The drive out price on the install was 1800$, including tax. The 893S head unit is pretty pricey, but it has lots of features available. The price on head unit alone was $1030, which is not bad considering it goes for 1299$ list, and around 1200$ even on eBay. I had what was then the top of the line Kenwood DNX8120 installed in an 09 Buick Enclave in 2008 and that was around 1500$ installed, so not too bad all things considered. Wife loves it, especially the back up camera which gives an excellent view and is pretty wide angle so you can see approaching cars in a parking lot. It is also a Kenwood product. It's 330,000 pixels CMOS camera.

 

[graytoad]

Funny, I checked the video settings on Vimeo, and it's set for public viewing. I did a few tweaks on the settings however. Can you check again and let me know?

The drive out price on the install was 1800$, including tax. The 893S head unit is pretty pricey, but it has lots of features available. The price on head unit alone was $1030, which is not bad considering it goes for 1299$ list, and around 1200$ even on eBay. I had what was then the top of the line Kenwood DNX8120 installed in an 09 Buick Enclave in 2008 and that was around 1500$ installed, so not too bad all things considered. Wife loves it, especially the back up camera which gives an excellent view and is pretty wide angle so you can see approaching cars in a parking lot. It is also a Kenwood product. It's 330,000 pixels CMOS camera.

Nope, still not working for me. If I pass my mouse over it it ask about watching it on You Tube and if I click that it still comes back as Private.

Anyone else having trouble with the video?

That strikes me as what I would have expected for an install such as this: especially since they did a fair bit of testing and trying to get it right.
Back up camera too: Sweet! Where does that mount? I have seen some off the license plate bolts etc.

 

[rexster314]

I'll upload it to another location later.

Here's a pic of the rear camera. Total time for the installation was about 5 hours. Now that they know what to do it could probably be done in 4. The Kenwood also has an extra video in for a front camera which might be handy since the front is so low. I don't claim the license frame. Wife drives it more than me so...
I forgot the video was on YT. Here's one from Vimeo



<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/177311048" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/177311048">20160802_165607[1]</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user35609895">Rex McCall</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

[64rdc19]

It's really good to see that there are options available for upgrades on audio for the XLR [emoji1303][emoji847][emoji41]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rexster314]

It's really good to see that there are options available for upgrades on audio for the XLR [emoji1303][emoji847][emoji41]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Kenwood is one of their top of the line units. Using one of the new APP radios, or one that doesn't have CD/DVD player or Navigation would be considerably cheaper. The wiring to accomplish the install would be pretty much the same, no matter what type of head unit you want

 

[davidxlr]

My CD/DVD is inoperable on my 05 XLR. Radio works fine. Appears to be a laser issue. Not going to try and repair or replace with OEM as cost doesnt make sense just to keep the car "original". Your successful story seems to check all the boxes for me. However Im not sure there is anyone is my area that is up to so it unless its the Best Buy Geekies. Any suggestions on the type of shop that I should search for to do the install if I go with your set up. Thanks for all the info and any other suggestions!