New '05 H2 with XM/NAV/CD shuttle/Rear DVD players

[greenhummer]

Picked up the new car a couple of weeks ago and then dropped it with the dealer for a few days so they could fit some aftermarket stuff to it.

Like many other owners, I found the fact that the Bose system could not play CD's while using the Delphi NAV was bogus. Also needed DVD players for the kids in the back.

So, I had them install an external 10 CD shuttle and two DVD headrest players. Only thing I did not know at the time is that they would be installing this "on/off" switch to prevent "noise" from getting into the XM radio.

Basically you have to flip the switch (operates a relay) if you want to listen to XM without the additional engine noise. Of course there is a switch to toggle between the CD and DVD units - given the limited inputs on the Delphi unit I can understand that.

However, the "on/off" switch seems to be kind of bogus and is a pain to deal with. I know that Klaus has posted links to a 6 CD player that is not supposed to introduce XM noise. However, has anyone really tried this on an '05 Hummer with the Premium Bose stereo with NAV, external CD changer, XM, and rear DVD players??

From one post, I could see that another H2 owner had the same relay switch installed. Could not see any followup to his posting though. I was looking for "well, actually that relay switch is not necessary...".

Nice of the dealer to gloss over the fact that they'd be putting this bogus switch in... :-)

thanks,

Greenhummer.

[greenhummer]

Picked up the new car a couple of weeks ago and then dropped it with the dealer for a few days so they could fit some aftermarket stuff to it.

Like many other owners, I found the fact that the Bose system could not play CD's while using the Delphi NAV was bogus. Also needed DVD players for the kids in the back.

So, I had them install an external 10 CD shuttle and two DVD headrest players. Only thing I did not know at the time is that they would be installing this "on/off" switch to prevent "noise" from getting into the XM radio.

Basically you have to flip the switch (operates a relay) if you want to listen to XM without the additional engine noise. Of course there is a switch to toggle between the CD and DVD units - given the limited inputs on the Delphi unit I can understand that.

However, the "on/off" switch seems to be kind of bogus and is a pain to deal with. I know that Klaus has posted links to a 6 CD player that is not supposed to introduce XM noise. However, has anyone really tried this on an '05 Hummer with the Premium Bose stereo with NAV, external CD changer, XM, and rear DVD players??

From one post, I could see that another H2 owner had the same relay switch installed. Could not see any followup to his posting though. I was looking for "well, actually that relay switch is not necessary...".

Nice of the dealer to gloss over the fact that they'd be putting this bogus switch in... :-)

thanks,

Greenhummer.

[Klaus]

Sorry to hear about the poor install. If the aftermarket DVD system audio uses a standard RCA connection, this is the adapter I would use:

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=617

I assume your XM Radio is factory installed. You would not have any added switches at all with this setup.

[greenhummer]

hi Klaus,

Seems that you're the expert on this stuff. The XM and NAV are factory installed. The CD external changer and DVD players were add-ons. Because there are two DVD headrests, they put in a three-way toggle switch to switch between the two DVD players and the external CD changer. i.e. this toggle switch is important if you want to play the DVD audio on the Bose system.

Seems like the CD/DVD is going through the CDX input - is this the "AUX" input? I hit the CD-shaped button to get the CDX selection and then toggle the manual button to select between the external CD player and either of the DVD players.

With this input adapter, can you select the DVD player or CD player by hitting the Delphi NAV buttons? I suppose there is still a toggle switch necessary to switch between either of the two DVD players in the back.

thanks,

Greenhummer

[Klaus]

I didn't understand that you had two separate DVD players.

The GM audio systems have built in support for the following external items:

External CD Changer (CDX)

XM Radio (XM1 and XM2)

RSE (Rear Seat Entertainment) (Overhead DVD)

The DVD selection is for the factory overhead DVD players audio. The adapter I recommended tells the audio system that there is an overhead DVD player installed, and gives you that option on your NAV unit. When selected, it will give you the audio that is connected to the RCA jacks on the adapter.

Since you have two separate DVD players, some form of switching will be necessary. I'll try to do a little more research on this tonight.

Be aware that I don't do this for a living, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

[greenhummer]

So the CD player "just" plugs into the radio and then this special adapter hooks up the DVD into existing wiring harness without really having any dedicated DVD input?

Amazing that these dealer guys can get things so ****ed up. I think there is no way around a two-way toggle switch between seperate DVD players (one in either headrest). But to have one on/off switch for XM and a three-toggle for DVD/CD? Plus this manual switching setup has some great features:

1) if the on/off switch is not in the "on" position, the CD player is powered off so you cannot load CD's to it.

2) When going back to XM, you still have to put the three-toggle position switch back into the middle position - this is where the CD works too.

3) Sometimes you get some "fun" CDX errors which require turning the car off and on again.

In addition, the CD player is just that: I could not get a DVD or MP3 capable player apparently.

Apparently you just select the DVD input by hitting the "BAND" button? Of course the "DISC" button would be reserved only for CD playing.

I think staying at a Holiday Inn Express qualifies you way more Klaus!

thanks,

Greenhummer.

[Klaus]

Here's the most promising adapter I found. Note that this is an updated version 2 of the adapter, so don't buy an older version.

Adapter:

http://www.logjamelectronics.com/pacaaigm24.html


Manual:

http://www.pac-audio.com/instructions/aaigm24_v2.pdf

Info:

Operation

The factory radio will perform like before. To activate the auxiliary functions, press the CD/Aux or BAND button. Press the CD button twice if equipped w/CD/AM/FM radio). To select Aux1 press REV, to select Aux2 press FWD. If the vehicle is equipped with factory XM and the factory CD changer, the Auxiliary source will be heard through the Rear Seat Entertainment or RSE mode of the radio. The CD/AUX button will select between Aux1 and Aux2. When equipt steering wheel control “Program” button also toggles between the two aux sources in all modes.

>>>>Note: Only Aux1 can be heard from rear headphone jacks.

[greenhummer]

hi Klaus,

Thanks for the reply and research. Looks like a handy part when you have dual DVD players in the back. However, I might be more conservative and go with the tested part you already pointed out to me:

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=617

There's already an external kill switch to take care of the "XM noise". I'm going to use that switch to toggle between the two DVD inputs which will be very seldom - i.e. two small kids, load the DVD in the closest headrest most of the time.

So, looks like adding the DVD player into the '05 NAV screen is not an issue. However, I still don't understand why one CD player would not introduce XM noise while the other (one you pointed out) does. My understanding is that you hook up the CD player with a T-connector. This kind of connection on any electrical bus has the side effect of introducing noise. However, if the T-connector is properly matched for impedance then the introduction of noise should be "OK".

Does the DVD player that you pointed me just have a better impedance matching T-connector? Also, how many physical inputs are there on the radio? From what I read, there are three ports: XM, CD, and Radio. The suggested solution would hook up the DVD player to the Radio port and does the external CD player just hook up to the CD port? If the XM port is not involved, how can there be noise while playing XM when the CD shuttle is on? The dealer indicated that there is just ONE port which they used to hook up both the external CD player and DVD player using TWO back-to-back T-connectors.

Kind of odd that the "right" solution for hooking up external DVD and CD has not propagated through the Hummer community. It's a real weak-point on the truck.

At this point, my plan is to order the 6-disc CD player and the SVG-707 input adapter from Discount Car Stereo and keep my fingers crossed that the XM noise issue will disappear.

Is there any merit to buying the Caddy Escalade '03 CD changer that you installed on your own H2?

thanks a bunch in advance,

Greenhummer

'05 Lux H2 with a wannabe "slick" integrated NAV/CD/DVD solution!

[Klaus]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by greenhummer:
hi Klaus,

Thanks for the reply and research. Looks like a handy part when you have dual DVD players in the back. However, I might be more conservative and go with the tested part you already pointed out to me:

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=617

There's already an external kill switch to take care of the "XM noise". I'm going to use that switch to toggle between the two DVD inputs which will be very seldom - i.e. two small kids, load the DVD in the closest headrest most of the time.

So, looks like adding the DVD player into the '05 NAV screen is not an issue. However, I still don't understand why one CD player would not introduce XM noise while the other (one you pointed out) does. My understanding is that you hook up the CD player with a T-connector. This kind of connection on any electrical bus has the side effect of introducing noise. However, if the T-connector is properly matched for impedance then the introduction of noise should be "OK".

Does the DVD player that you pointed me just have a better impedance matching T-connector? Also, how many physical inputs are there on the radio? From what I read, there are three ports: XM, CD, and Radio. The suggested solution would hook up the DVD player to the Radio port and does the external CD player just hook up to the CD port? If the XM port is not involved, how can there be noise while playing XM when the CD shuttle is on? The dealer indicated that there is just ONE port which they used to hook up both the external CD player and DVD player using TWO back-to-back T-connectors.

Kind of odd that the "right" solution for hooking up external DVD and CD has not propagated through the Hummer community. It's a real weak-point on the truck.

At this point, my plan is to order the 6-disc CD player and the SVG-707 input adapter from Discount Car Stereo and keep my fingers crossed that the XM noise issue will disappear.

Is there any merit to buying the Caddy Escalade '03 CD changer that you installed on your own H2?

thanks a bunch in advance,

Greenhummer

'05 Lux H2 with a wannabe "slick" integrated NAV/CD/DVD solution! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I like the USASpec adapter that you plan to buy.

There are no "ports" on the back of the radio. Here's how the "external" audio works (it took me a while to believe it). There are two sets of L and R external inputs in the radio connectors. One set is for the "Phone" (OnStar), and one is for the three possible external audio units (XM, CDX, DVD). All of the external device's L channel audio wiring is tied together and all of the R channel audio are tied together and travel to the radio connectors. That is why only one of the external audio devices can be played at a time (you can't be listening to XM up front and the kids be listening to the DVD or CDX in the back). When you select one of the external audio sources, the truck's computer commands that device to power up via the Class 2 databus, and commands the other external audio devices to power off. Whatever external device is playing is actually sending audio not only to the radio, but to the other device's inputs as well (I hope the external devices all have diodes internally for their audio outputs!).

My concern is that the dealership may have butchered your wiring to connect that switch. You may very well see a mess when you look at your wiring. I hope I'm wrong. I also think that switch may be the reason for the noise you get. Since I have no idea what the dealer did or the changer the dealer installed, I can't comment on its quality.

I wouldn't recommend you install the changer in the dash like I did. I junked my OnStar and used the OnStar antenna on the roof over the driver's head for the NAV's GPS antenna. Anyway, the cartridge changer is much easier to install.

[greenhummer]

hi Klaus,

Now this mess is getting clearer....

The "kill switch" installed so that XM would come through cleanly turns off the power to the external CD player installed. So, looks like the aftermarket CD player they put in does not really interact with the Class-II bus correctly: i.e. it is not powering off like it should.

They said they used a T-connector to hook up the external CD player. The kill switch operates a relay that takes the CD player out of the loop.

I guess the question now is which is the best aftermarket CD player to put in? I noticed that you've posted links to both Crutchfield and Discount Car Stereo.

I understand how the DVD player is going to hook up with the input adapter. However, does the CD player just T-bone off the connectors? i.e. no special input adapter needed for the CD player?

thanks,

Greenhummer

[Klaus]

The description says that the changer uses a T type connection. Basically both devices connect inline between the factory wiring and the NAV unit. No special input is required for the changer.

I'm not sure Crutchfield sells the adapter (I couldn't find it on their web site). However, I've bought from Crutchfield for more years than I care to remember and their customer service is good. You could call them and see if they can get you what you want. As long as it is the right USASpec part numbers you should be good to go. I would recommend buying both items from the same source.

[greenhummer]

OK. Verified with the Florida dealership that did "Mdrums" installation that the CD player is indeed the USA Spec SCD-G7i. It is available through http://www.discountcarstereo.com or http://www.crutchfield.com. Crutchfield do not list it as a compatible CD player for the '05 H2 but all the other source say it is.

Getting the dealership to install the SCD-G7i CD player and put in the USA Spec SVG 707 Auxiliary input adapter to handle the rear DVD players. The cool thing about the input adapter is that the NAV unit will recognize the DVD player and a DVD icon should pop up -- just hit the "Band" button to select the DVD input. Will get a relay switch put in to switch between the two DVD players -- will hardly ever use it.

I highly doubt there will be any problems with this setup. Thanks to Klaus for his expertise. I will follow up with a post to confirm this configuration.

Greenhummer '05 Lux with NAV/XM/CD/DVD