[jwcarlton]

I apologize if this has been covered; I looked through the first two pages and didn't see anything.

First, let me say that I have an '06 Solstice, bought new off the showroom floor. It has all of the upgrades EXCEPT for Monsoon and XM; I do have steering wheel controls for audio and DIC.

I love the car in every way, except for the sound system. As the former owner of a car stereo store (many moons ago), this is KILLING me! LOL I want crystal clear sound quality, bass when I want it, and most importantly, I want to play Pandora. I wouldn't mind XM, if I didn't have to install an antenna in the middle of my trunk lid.

I really want to replace the whole system, but I want it to look seamless. I don't want the head unit to look aftermarket, and I don't really mind putting in my own amps and running all new wires (if I can find a place for the amps, that is).

Budget is totally open; replacing this is going to save me from buying a new car, so as long as I spend less than $30k, I'll be saving money Realistically, though, I don't want to spend more than $4k on the whole system.

With that said, what would you guys recommend as the best choice for a head unit replacement? It needs to be double-DIN, work with the steering wheel controls, and either have built-in apps for Pandora, or at least Bluetooth with my mobile so that I can run Pandora on my phone without running a wire. I would also like for it to have 5V RCA outputs, but that's not a deal-breaker.

 

[woz]

Check my post with my Pioneer install, i need to finish the documentation but overall it should give you an overview of what's needed. Overall i am quite happy with with the AppRadio features with my i5. If doing it again I would have given a hard look at AppRadio3 that was just released or a cheaper version of the the Pioneer line, maybe the AVH-X5500BHS.

I don't think the tilt of the face is worth the $$$.

It did take a little bit longer then expected to figure out all the setting for AppRadio to get it working as expected but after some research and understanding WTF it's doing the solution is very, very flexable. The most recent update to the AppRadio software also resolved the last problems i had with detecting the head unit.

Bluetooth is 100% reliable as is pandora with and without the app radio mode enabled.

Pandora has also been 100% reliable. But I did read something about a bug for some other models with Pandora and the I5 and i think with the API? it did not impact my model but may impact others. Pioneer offered a free 100$ USD kit for anyone impacted. But i don't know if it was fixed or not...


Hope this helps.