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Toyota Camry Hybrid Audio & Entertainment Questions
Discuss audio/entertainment question for the Toyota Camry Hybrid here.
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For example, you have to use speed dial for the phone or do "dial by voice" which takes forever. You can't view folder/file views on MP3 CDs. You can't update the phone book or mess with any of the Setup or Maintenance screens either.
Thanks for any help!
Get a short cable and your good to go.
Basically they are having bugs and hope to have it out for October. That is why some dealers have them and some don't. Some have been installed, but you can't find them on Toyota parts sites.
The cost would be $373 + about $250 labor (same as XM)
That is bank. I guess being "satellite ready" only refers to the fact that it jives with the nav screen etc. So you are "ready" to add the antenna and tuner which costs just about 10x the amount of a plug and play kit.
It is remarkable with my resistall treatment, extended warranty, prepaid maintenance deal, tint job, and possible sirius let's say I am closer to $40k than $30k...
but the maintenance up to 45,ooo is paid for,
the warranty covers me for 7 yrs/100,000,
and the paint is even covered for chips after their bizarre teflon-like coating.
I have the SIRIUS S50 in my current - oops, former - car and LOVE both SIRIUS satellite radio and the S50 unit. I will need to decide whether to get that transfered to the TCH or buy the new unit developed for the 2007 Camry by Factory Interactive. Factory Interactive makes satellite radio receiver/antenna install kits for the Prius, Hylander and Lexus. They make both XM and SIRIUS units. Their units integrate fully with the console and steering wheel controls so they are essentially OEM. They are now just waiting for some lucky 2007 Camry owner who lives near New Jersey to come in to their factory and provide their car so they can videotape the installation process. They provide installation videos with their install kits. Maybe there are other third party OEM-like options available now that integrate with the existing controls (anyone know?).
As longs as I have a directly-wired system that integrates well and has decent display options, I'll be happy. (No wired or wireless FM modulation for me.)
The sound system is GREAT!
My dealer is basically clueleess and originally told me the Radio gets XM or Sat signals as it came from the factory...............of course he was wrong about that and most other things he BS'd about.
The "doohickey" is the antenna. A satellite radio install kit includes a (1) sat radio receiver, (2) cables/wires for power, audio, and antenna, (3) an antenna, and in some cases (4) a display unit called a PNP [plug-n-play] unit with its own display screen.
If your brand of receiver integrates with the existing car stereo display screen or the car's navigation screen you don't need (4). The Toyota OEM sat radios (not out yet) integrate with existing console displays. Some third party units do also.
Your existing car radio must be "sat ready". The Camry JBL units are "sat ready" but don't have the sat receiver or antenna. "Sat ready" means that the radio has unused ports for audio input connectors and the ability to have the radio controls operate the auxiliary audio input device.
Antenna location depends on (1) brand of sat receiver and (2) whether you get XM or SIRIUS in some cases. Shark fin antennas with no visible tiny wire going to the rear window gasket are usually factory installed since the roof is penetrated. But you can also buy a shark fin antenna and swap it with your existing antenna (make sure to match with your XM or SIRIUS receiver). Then you would have a small wire going to rear window gasket.
I have heard but not confirmed that the 2007 Camry factory sat radio antennas are installed inside the car: on upper middle windshield for SIRIUS and rear deck for XM. Usually outside on a flat metal surface (roof or rear trunk lid) gives better reception. After-market metallized window tint films may affect reception.
Yeah, I talked to a dealer who kept talking about "that Cyrus radio thing".
I will say that I am withholding judgment on the sound system. I love its features, but I'll have to listen a lot more to be sure of the sound quality. It may be the my Passat just has better speaker placement--it has dome tweeters at the top of each of the four doors, near the door hinge. The mid-range/bass speakers are in each door, again near the hinge. I haven't had speakers in the front/rear decks in 7 years, so maybe I just need to get accustomed. *OR* the Panasonic head unit in the non-NAV models isn't as good as the DENSO head unit in the NAV models. I sure hope that's not the case. Will post back later, after logging much more time with it.
Are you thinking of Satellite Navigation? I could see that costing $1200 (that is the MSRP for the Nav option).
Cost should be between $400 and $500. The dealer will try and charge you a bunch for install depending on how much they think they can screw you.
To put it in they simply turn a couple small screws to mount the small decoder box somewhere in car, plug it into the existing cables...and then mount the antenna and voilla...... They should do it for the inflated cost of their base sat decoder box....(the $400-$500) as their cost on that box is maybe $200 to $275
to install receiver $100.00, the receiver $199.00 mounts in the trunk on right side. To install cable , you have to remove console cover, storage compartment, nav unit, glove box, side pass.side kick panel,rt.front door sill plate, rt rear door sill plate,rt.rear panel on inside of roof ext. Antenna mounts on rt side of stoplight on package shelf.
First installation time was 3hrs, have it down to 2 hours after installing 3 units. Prices are dealer prices.
At the moment none are being installed in any Camry's in CAT which is why CC and BB are at a loss as well.
How is it running otherwise?
I thought the premium JBL system only came on the XLE and the Hybrid. In any case, I'm not experiencing the lack of speech clarity that you mention.
Recently, I did shift the balance toward my rear speakers a couple of notches and found I liked the overall sound better that way. Before, it sounded too much like music was mainly coming from the dashboard speakers. Now, it's a much better surround effect. YMMV.
Thanks for the reply. I will be interested in knowing of any customizations you make in the future.
My Yukon was very comfortable and I liked the leather in it. I was told getting a TCH w/ leather may take a while, but the dealership said a local shop could add aftermarket leather for basically the same price so the dealer will arrange for this to be done this week. I believe this option may even be better quality leather than the factory stuff????
I don't believe I have golden ears nor do I believe I am too picky, but the JBL stereo isn't going to cut it for me. The front sound is muddled or muffled sounding and I do not hear anything of consequence out of the back (at fairly normal fade settings).
I went to Circuit City and they said the rear speakers were 2 Ohm speakers so the speakers they had would be half as loud (half current actually but I assume loudness would be about half) so I would need a new Amp as well.
So just changing the speakers won't solve the problem, so I will need a new amp as well b/c I don't want a new head unit b/c it probably would not look right (and steering wheel control issues).
Has anyone done anything to the stereo that they think will work. I have read in the Camry thread that there is some sort of problem in installing a new amp. The CC guys seem to think no problem.
I went to Circuit City and they said the rear speakers were 2 Ohm speakers so the speakers they had would be half as loud (half current actually but I assume loudness would be about half) so I would need a new Amp as well.
I am also not in love with the JBL stereo in the TCH, but will probably live with it for awhile until I have time and money to do a proper upgrade. The first thing I would suggest is to make sure the tone, balance, and fader settings are not WAY off for some reason (it happens). Also, I found that fading toward the rear a couple of notches improved the overall sound for me. It was too front-heavy, as you noted, at the neutral setting.
I don't shop at CC due to more than one negative experience there. I would suggest going to a real car audio specialist, and getting advice from them. Toyota may have some pointers, as well. Normally, I would hope/expect to swap out all of the speakers and use the stock amp, but that may not be possible (or advisable) with the TCH. I'm waiting for further info before I would consider doing anything.
In 1993, a took my week-old Nissan Altima to a local chain called "Car Toys", that claimed to be specialists in all sorts of vehicles. They had pictures of great work in some very high end cars. They had NOT worked on an Altima before, because they had just come out. They cracked a part of my dash on the install and had to buy and install a fairly big panel.
Of course, you're talking about a hybrid car, so something going wrong could really make you miserable. Do you want to be the first TCH they work on?
One question for you. Do you have the non-nav TCH? That's what mine is, and I'm still undecided if I can live with its stereo. I am starting to wonder if the TCH with NAV (being DENSO/JBL) has better sound than the non-NAV (Panasonic/JBL). It just seems like the NAV folks are more pleased with their stereo than the non-NAV folks. Coincidence? There's not enough data yet, methinks.
I need to find out if the Amp can be removed and a new one installed. I have heard some info about the head unit only working w/ the JBL amp so I am interested in more knowledgeable people.
I have the non-Nav JBL. Of course on the lot there was only this one so I did not check other stereos. I have to go back to the dealer (I'm sure they want my check for the car) on Monday so if I can find a regular Camry w/ the Nav I will listen to its stereo.
I probably should talk to someone at the Service desk as well. My salesman and the general sales manager did not know. While we were waiting around the General Sales Manager went to my car w/ me b/c he had not really been in a unit since this was the 1st time they had a car on the lot. He also thought the stereo was not too good either. They did have a recomended Audio person they deal w/ however, but I forget to get his anme in our rush to get out of the dealership late Saturday.
Thx
Sirrius not available from dealers yet. Problems with the kit, I heard.
Install instructions are pretty good but a lot of dash and interior trim pieces to remove. Tuner mounts in the trunk.
Preset button 5 is rewind, preset button 6 is fast forward. There are icons that appear above these buttons when playing a disc...
Gampa
How is the reception?
These are all questions we would like you to answer whenever you are able.. A picture of the receiver and antenna would be appreciated. You can post the pictures easily on www.greenhybrid.com it's another excellent forum for TCH owners.
Enjoy the Blue Ribbon TCH.. I love mine!.
WillyBill
I just got my Mag Grey Hybrid last night. I saw this post about Sirus and was wondering if there was any more info yet. I am sure there are options at places like car toys, but I think I will wait until Toyota has it ready for installs at the dealers. What have been experiences of others?
"heuristix" posted his pictures of a Sirius install at:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/category40.html
Its hard to tell where the receiver and antenna are, but you may want to check it out.
Learning it bit-by-bit. That's all the rest of my life will allow.
The audio controls on the steering wheel. There's an arrow up and arrow down. I'm playing a CDR with, say, 5 albums (folders) on it. Arrow up = next track; arrow down = prev track. Hold arrow up = next disc; hold arrow down = prev disc.
But where is next and prev folder on the current disc? Been through the manual several times as well as playing with the controls and can't find what I want.
pat
Frankly, I think having .pdf files of everything related to my new car is worth $25. (Text in the documents is fully searchable!)
http://techinfo.toyota.com/
Unfortunately for us Canadians, we are not allowed to subscribe (I'm the one who was told by both Hyundai and Toyota that US Canadian cars were not the same !).
I understand that US laws probably force manufacturers to make technical information available at a reasonable cost. American owners : Enjoy !
I did register with Tundra, and it's a good start : I did get the electrical schematics.
I chose a trunk mount for the antenna, and us satrad folks know that the roof is a bit better, but I have found excellent reception.
I was reluctant to pop out parts of my brand new mobile, but it went great and I am superhappy with it for the time being. Can't listen to normal radio any more! I can use the big display for maps or whatever, and it was roughly $650 cheaper than the integrated install. (which still has bugs I am told by the local dealership) I can close my center console when I park and hide it.
I have some abilities that the integrated install can't offer- rewinding and pausing live radio (a la Tivo), 10 dedicated preset buttons, and I can pop mine out to use in my boombox without buying a second sub.
I wish I had better readability in the daytime with this unit, but I look forward to the option of installing a new PnP unit as more are released with newer chipsets soon, and with more integrated storage for iPod-like action.