z120bt in 09 Tahoe LTZ

[ptwat]

Sorry about the crutchfield thing- they told me that Rosen GM720 would not fit a Tahoe either and it is made as a OEM replacement. That is why I read as much from these forums as possible.

I think I read recently that you have to agree to the lawyer page on the z120bt every time it starts up. Vietcu, is that your experience? The lawyer page is one of the reasons I want to replace the OEM Nav radio.

 

[vietcu]

Here is my personal experience with the 120bt so far. It's a ****** head unit for it being their top of the line model, don't get me wrong Pioneer is a great unit but not if this is their flag ship. I saved huge on it paying 850 and a 100 rebate coming so total is 750 so I had to jump on it, or else I would have saved up for the Kenwood. You do have to hit the OK button to bypass the "lawyer" page on start up, not that big of a deal for me. Navigation was the main thing I got this for, and it is nothing compared to TomTom or Garmin, will get me where I want to go but hard to get POI on this sucker. Radio quality is great, only draw back is I cannot control the output volume of movies as this is also the second reason I got this unit. Radio would play fine at volume 10, but when running DVD I have to bump it up to 15-20 range. Went through all the work of getting Hard drive loaded with movies only to find out it will not play to the rear monitors. And the last thing that I am pretty peaved about is not being able to use Bluetooth. Their MIC is a total piece of crap, everyone that has this installed is complaing about it. There are some lucky ones that can use bluetooth with this head unit, but from what I can gather, maybe 1% of the buyers are able to use it.

If I had to do it all over again, not sure I would go with this unit if I had a choice. But then again it all depends on what you are getting the unit for. Quality seems great so far, very easy to use once you get a hang of it. But the options that I am interested in just isn't cutting it. If you haven't bought this unit yet, I would suggest reading more about it in the avic411 forum.

 

[ptwat]

So maybe it is time to take another look at the Kenwoods. I had looked at them before and did not like something about them but can't remember. I definitely want a HU so that I can play a different source in the RSE. Did you look at them before deciding on the z120bt?

 

[felixgun]

If you need to know more about the screen itself go to avic411.com for all your pioneer questions about the screen and components. I have one of these in an 08 Tahoe LTZ and it is great. The nav feature is by far the weakest component but it still works and I use it all the time.

The user interface is awesome and I own the MSN Direct Tuner (to pull in stocks,news,movie times, weather, etc.), HD radio for digital radio stations, pioneer rear cam, and the PAC-OS4 and PAC-SWIPS (for bose speakers and the steering wheel controls). It has an SD slot which I use a 16gb sd card for music, and I bought the usb/audio pioneer cable for ipod/iphone hookup which works great. It also plays video via DVD, SD, and iPod/USB. Bluetooth audio connection works AWESOME but the phone hookup to my iPhone 4 has a spotty microphone. This IS the flagship model of pioneer and all in all, I would buy it again. People have also mistaken it for being a factory screen because it looks so factory and sits flush with everything else and it is a 7" screen with no knob and has "Pioneer" written very small on the very top of it.

 

[felixgun]

I want to replace my OEM Nav unit with Z120BT or equivalent. Looked at the Rosen units but they seem expensive for what would be a slight upgrade. The Z120BT looks pretty good but I would like to preserve the Rear Seat Entertainment, Onstar, backup cam on the HU and BOSE Centerpoint. Wondering if anyone has done that setup on same system and how much of the OEM extras was preserved.

I had to buy two adapters. I have Bose/Onstar so I had to get the PAC-OS4 and I also got the PAC-SWIPS for steering wheel controls to work. I don't have rear seat entertainment so I don't know... I got the corresponding nd-bc4 from pioneer for the rear-cam because my 08 tahoe ltz did not come with the backup cam unfortunately.

 

[ptwat]

Okay, so an update is in order. I now have a z120bt in possession with an assortment of cables and adaptors. Got the z120bt for a good deal from Al & Eds who pricematched the lowest price I could find on the internet ($930). I also have the rebate ($100) to turn in on the z120bt since Al & Eds is a authorized Pioneer vendor. I have a PAC OS-4 and SWI-PS and opted for the GMRVD cable to keep the RSE functions. I had to send the OS-4 back to PAC to reflash to get the latest firmware so I am waiting for that. Last night I soldered all the cables together and man is that a gob of wires just to adapt the three OEM connectors. I have not taken the OEM out yet since I am waiting for the OS-4 to come back. I do want to get in there this weekend to do any cutting to make room for all that wiring.
Question 1- how did you guys dress up the wiring and adaptors? Is there enough room back there? did you mount the PAC devices, relay and chime to anything or let them hang? Did you have to use the chime device?
Question 2- did you run the ipod cable (CD-IU50V) to your center console bin and if so how did you get the cupholder out? I read on one of the forums where there are four clips that hold it in (two on each side)- is that your experience?
Question 3- Did you cut the brown wire loop on the OS-4 and run the Mute Output (-) to the Mute in on the z120bt?
Question 4- Did you use the center channel or the sub channel connection on the brown connector adaptor to the sub channel on the z120bt?
Lastly I guess I am a little surprised about how many modifications I had to do to the adaptor cables. 1. The mute wire. 2. I added outputs to the brown connector in order to get backup camera out with the center channel and sub. 3. The bypass of course.

 

[Modded]

To answer question 1, I just let all my wiring and adapter sit right behing the A/C control and break peal controls. There is a faid amount of room back there because behind those controls are about 6" of space. And yes you have to use the chime device. It sounds weird but I have had mine for a bit over 2 months and I am used to it now.

2. Don't know.

3. No, I did not cut my mute loop, so if the mute button is held down over 1 sec it causes my HU to shut off and activates Onstar. If it is cut, it will not shut off any longer.

4. The center channel sub wire is for vehciles with a center and sub (or Bose system). Escalades I know for a fact have both.

LASTLY, when you program the SWI-PS to the OS-4 steering outputs, DO NOT cut the purple or brown loops on the connector that goes into the SWI-PS interface. Program the SWI for version 2 and then program your controls.

 

[ptwat]

Thanks for the info! I don't use Onstar so no big deal there. The HU has a mute input and I thought I read somewhere on this site there is a problem if you don't use it. I will have to try to track that down again.
I have Bose with Centerpoint so I figure one of those is the Centerpoint channel. I hooked up both on the z120bt- one on the "Sub" output and one on the "Center" output so I will have to see what happens when I fire it all up.

Thanks again,
Tom

 

[ptwat]

Did some prep work for my install today. Ran the Ipod cable to the console storage and did a test fit for the z120bt. Vietcu has mentioned above that he cut the plastic in the back of the HU well and when I looked at that today it looks like that only helps at the bottom of the HU well. I marked the photo attached. There is metal behind the plastic at the top of the well so it does not look like it helps much to cut that plastic.
Is this where most people are cutting out the plastic back?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[vietcu]

You see the red lines I drew? Sorry for it not being straight. I cut that whole piece off starting at the red line. Make sure to remove that screw in the back circled as well. The red stars that I put on the black piece, is another piece of plastic. Not sure if it was needed to be removed to make the unit flush, but I did it as well and removed that piece once I removed the front plastic piece. Hope that helps.